Tallahassee Film Festival

Tallahassee Film Festival We bring independent film screenings, filmmakers, and other arts events to Tallahassee and regional Tallahassee Film Festival Inc.

The Tallahassee Film Festival prides itself on exceptional and unexpected programming. We believe film is an art form that has the ability to make changes not only in someone’s life, but in the world, and therefore we respect and nurture our selected filmmakers as artists with something important to say. We’ve created this Festival as a safe space for artists and filmmakers to share their work with an audience of both their peers and those who appreciate film. The Tallahassee Film Festival held its inaugural event in May 2008. Since then, the Festival has brought groundbreaking films and filmmakers to Florida’s Capital City. We’ve showcased films by Oscar winning directors — before they were Oscar winners. We’ve premiered films from all over the world and from many of the most prestigious film festivals. Over the years, the Festival has become an international hub for filmmakers to network, party and share their work with like-minded and cinema-appreciative audiences. is an all-volunteer, 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization in Tallahassee, Florida.

🌟SHELBY, directed by Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Daniel Fiore, is an intimate portrait of a man whose life in the...
10/06/2026

🌟SHELBY, directed by Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Daniel Fiore, is an intimate portrait of a man whose life in the Louisiana swamps borders on myth. Living alone among dense cypress, deep water, and untamed wildlife, Shelby has carved out an existence defined by adventure, danger, and ingenuity. The film immerses viewers in his world of underwater logging, treasure hunting, and unpredictable encounters with the wild, an environment where nature’s secrets and human resilience meet in striking, often surprising ways. What begins as a story of swamp survival gradually reveals a deeper, more human narrative: a man shaped as much by hardship and vulnerability as by bravado and skill.

https://www.shelbymovie.com

📍 Challenger Learning Center Fogg Theater (Theater #2)
🗓️️ Saturday, 10/10 @ 5:30 pm
🎟️ Tickets ($15) can be purchased at the door or online at https://tallahasseefilmfestival.com/product/shelby/

Daniel Fiore brings decades of experience—from Deadliest Catch to National Geographic—to this documentary, but Shelby is also the product of a personal journey. Fiore first sought characters for a television series, only to discover in Shelby someone far more complex than a larger‑than‑life swamp dweller. Years spent alongside him in the bayou transformed a professional search for authenticity into a genuine friendship, granting Fiore access to moments that could never be staged. Through this film, he shares the Shelby he came to know: humorous, resilient, deeply human, and far richer than the television persona many remember. If audiences leave the theater feeling they’ve truly met Shelby, Fiore has achieved his purpose.

🔊One night only! A rare and bespoke show for the books, friends!
10/04/2026

🔊One night only! A rare and bespoke show for the books, friends!

🎬 The 18th Annual TFF kicks off in FOUR DAYS! We’re thrilled to be hosting a multitude of filmmakers and special guests ...
10/04/2026

🎬 The 18th Annual TFF kicks off in FOUR DAYS! We’re thrilled to be hosting a multitude of filmmakers and special guests here in the capital city!

Now’s the time to reserve your passes! All Access passes are on sale at tallahasseefilmfestival.com for pick up in person at the fest. Tickets to individual programs can be purchased at the door (and in advance online for some select programs). Film venues are Challenger Learning Center of Tallahassee and Cap City Video Lounge!

🌟 SHORTS 8 – AGAINST THE CURRENT, a powerful & thought provoking lineup of documentaries spotlighting individuals and co...
10/04/2026

🌟 SHORTS 8 – AGAINST THE CURRENT, a powerful & thought provoking lineup of documentaries spotlighting individuals and communities who challenge the forces that seek to marginalize, divide, or define them. Through stories of activism, memory, creativity, and collective care, these documentaries trace currents of resistance across America—protests on the courthouse steps and reckonings with the legacy of segregation, prison-based artistic collaboration, community-built institutions, and a grassroots movement that transformed personal struggle into hope for millions.

Together, these five films reveal the power of ordinary people to push back, speak out, and reshape the world around them.

📍 Challenger Learning Center Cinema B
🗓️️ Sunday, 10/11 @ 1:45 pm
🎟️ Tickets ($15) can be purchased at the door or buy a festival pass at tallahasseefilmfestival.com

🎬 Featured Shorts and Guest Filmmakers:

BIGGER THAN LUIGI – A film by Miléna Mikael-Debass

SAME WATER – A film by Martine Granby

DEAR BELOVED – A film by Jared Callahan

WE MAKE – A film by Brian Foster & Ethan Payne

TO WRITE LOVE – A film by Owen Dubeck (Executive Producer, Mark Codgen is expected to be in attendance for a post-film discussion.)

At long last: THE 2026 SCHEDULE GRID 👀 to choose your own festival adventure! Printed copies will be available at the fe...
10/02/2026

At long last: THE 2026 SCHEDULE GRID 👀 to choose your own festival adventure! Printed copies will be available at the festival, but for now you can pinch and zoom to your heart’s content! You can also use our searchable schedule and add films to your calendar. Links in the comments.

Festival passes are on sale at tallahasseefilmfestival.com.

🌟SHORTS 7 – ALT/ESC, a mind-bending journey beyond the familiar into worlds both imagined and unsettlingly close at hand...
10/02/2026

🌟SHORTS 7 – ALT/ESC, a mind-bending journey beyond the familiar into worlds both imagined and unsettlingly close at hand. From gravity-defying family bonds and AI-driven identity crises to lonely outcasts, online battlegrounds, and last-chance voyages from a dying Earth, “ALT/ESC” invites audiences to consider the worlds we build, inhabit, and long for, whether they exist light-years away or only in our minds. Don’t miss this incredible collection of sci-fi, animation, and surreal storytelling.

📍Challenger Learning Center of Tallahassee Fogg Theatre
🗓️ Sunday, 10/11 @ 1:30 pm
🎟️ Tickets ($15) can be purchased at the door or buy a festival pass at tallahasseefilmfestival.com

🎬 Featured Shorts & Guest Filmmakers:

SABA – A film by Liron Topaz

AFTERLIFE – A film by Charles Scott Bell (Filmmakers Charles Scott Bell, Cierra Bell, and Brian Jackson are expected to attend for a post-film discussion)

THIS CONVERSATION HAS BEEN REMOVED – A film by Andrew Nolan

A VERY SPECIAL PERSON – A film by Paul Taylor (Filmmaker Paul Taylor is expected to attend for a post-film discussion.)

THE LAST SHUTTLE – A film by Jordan Mazzarella & Quinn Michael Kirschenbaum (Filmmakers Jordan Mazzarella, Quinn Michael Kirschenbaum, and Dustin Ropp are expected to attend for a post-film discussion.)

THE GUN – A film by Randall Christopher

MINIATURE MAN– A film by Dylan A. Taylor (Filmmakers Dylan A. Taylor and Angel Avalos, alongside actors Matthew Walker and Ana Gorayeb, are expected to attend for a post-film discussion.)

🌟 WHAT WE DREAMED OF THEN, an intimate and deeply moving exploration of invisible homelessness and the fragile ties that...
09/29/2026

🌟 WHAT WE DREAMED OF THEN, an intimate and deeply moving exploration of invisible homelessness and the fragile ties that connect us. Don’t miss “What We Dreamed of Then” by Taylor Olson at this year’s festival!

📍 Challenger Learning Center Cinema B
🗓️ Sunday, 10/11 @ 3:45 pm
🎟️ Tickets ($15) can be purchased at the door or buy a pass at the link in our bio!

“What We Dreamed of Then” is an intimate, non‑linear portrait of Gideon, a once‑vibrant young father now living invisibly houseless and struggling to maintain a fragile connection with his estranged daughter. Moving fluidly between past and present, the film traces the quiet routines, emotional negotiations, and fragile hopes of someone surviving on the margins. Inspired by works like “The Florida Project,” “Werewolf,” and “Murmur,” Taylor Olson crafts a deeply researched, emotionally authentic exploration of invisible homelessness, revealing how easily a life can slip out of view.

Writer‑director Taylor Olson is a q***r former athlete and one of Canada’s most compelling emerging filmmakers. His third feature, “What We Dreamed of Then,” continues his celebrated momentum—winning Best Dramatic Feature at Cinequest, earning multiple Best Actor awards, and landing a theatrical release through Vortex.

🌟 SHORTS 6 – DARK CORNERS, an electrifying collection of short films where mystery, obsession, paranoia, and dark humor ...
09/29/2026

🌟 SHORTS 6 – DARK CORNERS, an electrifying collection of short films where mystery, obsession, paranoia, and dark humor collide to probe the unknown lurking beneath everyday life. From vanished teenagers and cryptic visions to artistic fixation, unsettling encounters, and desperate last chances, these films blur the line between reality and nightmare.

Traversing psychological suspense, surreal experimentation, and genre-bending horror, the program offers a thrilling journey into worlds where danger hides in plain sight and answers come at a cost.

📍 Cap City Video Lounge
🗓️ Saturday, 10/10 @ 8:30 pm
🎟️ Tickets ($15) can be purchased at the door or buy a festival pass at tallahasseefilmfestival.com

🎬 Featured Shorts & Guest Filmmakers:

HOW THE LONELY KEEP – A film by Nathan Sellers

CAPSULE – A film by Juan Pablo Montagut

KNITTING CLUB – A film by Diogo Abrantes & João Rito

ATROCIOUS (ATROZ) – A film by Nicolás Sánchez Márquez

METAL– A film by Samuel McIntosh

SUDDEN DEATH – A film by Andrew Moore (Filmmakers Andrew Moore, Colin Kirkpatrick, and Grace Myatt are expected to be in attendance for a post-film discussion.)

🌟OPENING NIGHT FILM! 𝘍𝘙𝘖𝘎𝘛𝘖𝘞𝘕, written and directed by Costa Karalis, is a genre‑breaking, reality‑bending debut feature...
09/27/2026

🌟OPENING NIGHT FILM! 𝘍𝘙𝘖𝘎𝘛𝘖𝘞𝘕, written and directed by Costa Karalis, is a genre‑breaking, reality‑bending debut feature about a woman determined to prove the existence of a magical swamp creature she befriended as a child. Set in a tiny Florida town of 5,000 dreamers and told through the lens of a documentary crew, the film blurs truth and fiction until viewers are forced to question what’s real and what’s imagined, or what forgotten wonder they might still carry. Equal parts heartfelt, uncanny, and absurd, 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 invites audiences into a world where belief becomes an act of defiance and growing up doesn’t have to mean letting go.

🚨Director Costa Karalis and producer Evan Barber are expected to be in attendance for a post-film discussion.

📍Challenger Learning Center IMAX
⏱️10/09 at 7:15pm* 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 will be preceded by the short film, 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘛𝘰𝘱: 𝘈 𝘍𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘊𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺

🍷**Cocktail hour for TFF passholders begins at 6:15pm. Special thanks to LUXE personal chef & catering services LLC.

🎟️ For tickets and festival passes, visit tallahasseefilmfestival.com

The film marks the first feature from Costandinos “Costa” Karalis, a first‑generation Middle Eastern American filmmaker whose work thrives in the liminal space between the fantastic and the mundane. A graduate of Florida State University’s College of Motion Picture Arts with shorts recognized by BAFTA‑LA, CamerIMAGE, NFFTY, and the Cannes Film Festival, Costa describes 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 as “a strange little movie” born from a search for wonder. It’s his ode to the eccentric dreamers of small Southern towns. It’s an absurd, affectionate exploration of believing in strange things and the magic that can still be found there.

Address

Tallahassee, FL
32300–32399

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Tallahassee Film Festival posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Establishment

Send a message to Tallahassee Film Festival:

Shortcuts

Share

Category