Photo via Carrboro Film Fest.
Carrboro Film Fest is marking a major milestone this winter, as the locally organized and town-sponsored film festival enters its 20th year. Ahead of its return, there are some changes for filmgoers – while the event’s contents remain devoted to celebrating the South.
The festival has bounced around between different venues over the last few years, ranging from The ArtsCenter’s old location to virtual screenings during the COVID-19 pandemic to the Carrboro Century Center in 2024. This year marks another move – but it’s to a location organizers hope will provide a permanent home to its screenings and filmmaker discussions.
After not being finished in time to host last year, the Drakeford Library Complex will be the site of the 2026 Carrboro Film Fest, running from Friday, Jan. 23 through Sunday, Jan. 25 at 203 South Greensboro Street. Festival Director Bryan Reklis said he believes the event has continued to gain momentum after the pandemic and its rebranding to highlight southern filmmaking in 2019. He said he hopes having the Drakeford Library Complex as a venue will help it build further.
“We’re really happy to showcase this space,” Reklis told 97.9 The Hill. “It’s a great town space, it’s a public space that fits in with our mission of community gathering. Talking about important issues and processing life together in public is part of what we love about film – and this place is a space to do that.”
Carrboro Film Fest aims to highlight independent cinema from across the southern United States, accepting films that are only made in the South or whose creators are from the South. Each year, Reklis and the other organizers’ goal is to bring together filmmakers with audience members for screenings, Q&As and panels. The 2025 lineup, he said, features 44 films of varying lengths and various themes.
“We actually have nine different southern states represented in this year’s festival,” said Reklis, “and half of the films have a North Carolina connection, which is really great. We love to support local people, independent people who are making films and doing great work around here that you really can’t see if you don’t go to a festival.
“I think that’s going to be a great thing that sets us apart from just a night out at the movies,” the festival director added.
The opening film of this year’s festival is one of the few feature-length projects: “Leads,” which is written, directed and edited by Bryan Poyser. The Texas filmmaker relied on the community at Texas State University, where he teaches, to provide a sense of location for the film and help execute his vision — as he used students and faculty to act and shoot the comedic family drama.
“Leads” made its premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, and its screening in Carrboro will bring Poyser to North Carolina for the first time.
“The story is about an acting professor played by Heather Kafka – who is another longtime collaborator of mine,” the director told 97.9 The Hill, “who almost made it in her acting career, but is now teaching and being a single mom and having all kinds of issues. And then her wayward, volatile brother drifts back into town – played by Justin Arnold, who will be [at the screening] – and decides he wants to become an actor too. [He] kind of invades her class of Gen Z kids and causes a ruckus.”
The opening night screening will be followed by a Q&A with Poyser and reception at the Drakeford Library Complex. The rest of the schedule features ‘blocks’ of short films grouped together by theme or style – and includes one block of North Carolina-specific documentaries. That incudes “The True Cost of Power,” a documentary by Durham filmmaker D.L. Anderson detailing the Town of Carrboro’s recent lawsuit against Duke Energy and efforts behind corporations to downplay fossil fuels’ impact on climate change.
Reklis said demand for this year’s slate of films has been high – which leads to another change the festival is implementing for 2026.
“We are also going to, this year, have a stand-by line,” he said. “So, if a film like ‘Leads’ or any of the other blocks is sold out…you can still show up, wait in line, and there may be seats available [from] weekend pass holders who don’t show up. We will then sell some tickets last-minute to try to make sure all those seats are filled and everyone who wants to see the film gets to.”
The full schedule for the 2026 Carrboro Film Fest can be found on the festival’s website.
Featured photo via Carrboro Film Fest.
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