Since it began in 2006 the Carrboro Film Fest has evolved into a small but mighty North Carolina institution, showing Southern films in a welcoming community setting.
“Our mission is to celebrate and interrogate Southern culture through film,” says Festival Director Bryan Reklis. “Film is an art that taps into the vast array of human emotions, and the festival gives audiences an opportunity to experience those emotions in a communal setting alongside the filmmakers themselves, which is one of the perks of a small-town festival like ours.”
The Carrboro Film Fest is also unique in that it is majority-sponsored by the Town of Carrboro, and has been since its inception. This kind of arts support is not uncommon for the Town of Carrboro, known for its progressive policies and inclusive community engagement, but it’s more impactful than ever when one considers how consolidated and IP-driven the American film industry has become since the festival was founded.
Filmmaker Bryan Poyser, whose feature film Leads played at the 2025 Tribeca Film Fest and will open the Carrboro Film Fest on Friday, January 23rd, knows the importance of local festivals. In his words: “For someone who’s been making independent feature films for over 20 years now, great film festivals like Carrboro are one of the last remaining opportunities to have my work seen in theaters by appreciative audiences… there’s still no substitute for sitting in a dark room full of strangers taking in your story moment by moment, all together.”
2026’s festival, held at the new Drakeford Library Complex in downtown Carrboro, will play host to films from Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Missouri. The selected films range in genre and style, but the festival programmers noticed some dominant themes among the many submissions this year: immigrant stories and the wrath of Hurricane Helene.
“After witnessing the destruction of Helene in my own community, I found myself reflecting on the kind of grief that often goes unspoken—the grief tied to land, belonging, and home,” says Asheville-based filmmaker Charly Louise, who is traveling to Carrboro with her film A Prayer for Change. “This film is a testament to the quiet, enduring power of community in the face of change, and to the possibility of new life rising from the deepest grief.”
One film that should prove relevant to most Triangle-area residents is Durham-based filmmaker D.L. Anderson’s The True Cost of Power, about Duke Energy’s decades-long pattern of climate deception and its questionable identity as a “clean energy leader.”
“This film asks a simple but unsettling question,” says Anderson. “If Duke Energy has used its monopoly power to stall cheaper, cleaner energy, who truly pays the price as climate disasters increasingly devastate communities across North Carolina?” To make this screening even more intriguing, the film touches on the lawsuit the Town of Carrboro is currently waging against Duke Energy, and will feature a panel discussion following the film with NC Warn, a Durham-based climate justice organization.
“We’ve got films for everyone,” concludes Festival Director Bryan Reklis. “If you love drama, comedy, horror, documentary, or anything else, we’ve got you covered. And it’s all new, all exciting, and all Southern.”
For details and tickets to the 20th Carrboro Film Fest, see the festival’s website.
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