ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The very first Asheville Film Festival will be held this weekend, complete with local, regional and national features, documentaries and shorts, as well as an Oscars-style awards gala, from Friday to Sunday, Aug. 15-17, at the Asheville Masonic Temple, 80 Broadway St.

Trailers and previews

According to festival co-director Sean Soboleski, Asheville Film Festival was primarily envisioned as an event for Western North Carolina filmmakers to showcase their work.

“Asheville Film Festival is a non-profit that was started this year with the mission to create a platform to support local and regional independent filmmakers and to share their stores,” Soboleski said.

Over 30 films are on the schedule for the weekend. The movies are divided into “blocks” by theme, allowing participants to drop in and out of the festival depending on the stories they are most interested in seeing.

The “Feral Friday Film Block,” for instance, is a collection of horror-tinged, midnight movie material at the end of Friday’s programming. Sunday’s “Mountain Healing Film Block,” meanwhile, is comprised of four uplifting stories of community and resilience.

There’s a lot of talent in Western North Carolina.

Soboleski intentionally scheduled the optimistic shorts for the end of the festival to follow several films about difficult subject matter, including several made in and around Asheville during the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

“Some of the films in this festival touch on some sensitive subjects. The storm is difficult,” Soboleski said. “Helene devastated us, but it also showed the resiliency and character of the people of Western North Carolina and these five documentaries highlight that.”

If festival-goers happen to miss a particularly impactful film, they are invited to attend the “Filmmakers’ Choice Film Block” on Sunday, which will feature festival filmmakers’ favorite submissions from the year’s crop of movies.

Ashe-ollywood’s biggest night

Asheville Film Festival will go all out on the red carpet Saturday night with an Awards Night Gala. Festival filmmakers and the festival board voted on the awards, which will be handed out in traditional categories like Best Film, Best Actor and Best Actress, as well as a few other festival-specific prizes.

“We do just about everything the Oscars do and some other creative awards that we put together,” Soboleski said. “We have Best Directorial Debut, we have Best Student Film, we have Best Indigenous Film and we’re giving away an award called the Mountain Strong Award, which is gonna go to the film that best represents Western North Carolina and our people.”

The winner of Best Film will also receive a cash prize of $1,000.

“There’s a lot of talent in Western North Carolina,” Soboleski said.

Festival schedule

Friday, Aug. 15

First Day Matinee Film Block – 3:30-4:35 p.m.

• “When the River Rose”
• “Underfunded”
• “The Plastic Cycle”

Feature Screening – 5-6:15 p.m.

• “Earley Times: A Family, a Ford, a Way of Life”

Opening Night Film Block – 6:30-8 p.m.

• “A Farewell for One Willow”
• “Generational”
• “The Crepe Creep”
• “Blacklisted”
• “The Motorcycle Man”
• “Redbird”

Feral Friday Film Block – 9:30-11 p.m.

• “Script Tease”
• “A House for My Family”
• “My Shadow”
• “Siren of the Wood”
• “Spectacle”
• “Perfidia”

Saturday, Aug. 16

Filmmaker Workshop with Brad Hoover – 10:30-11:30 a.m.

• “Tools & Techniques of Motion Picture Lighting”

Feature Screening – 11:55-1 p.m.

• “The Other Side of Learning: A Deeper Conversation About Education in the US”

That Hits Different Film Block – 1:15-2:15 p.m.

• “Elderflower”
• “Neon Shadows”
• “Lady in Black”
• “Lookout Mountain”
• “Medication”

Seeking Connection Film Block – 2:30-4 p.m.

• “Rosa’s Dilemma”
• “Sheltered”
• “Erection and Destruction”
• “Darling Vera”
• “Behind Closed Doors”

Nature’s Medicine Film Block – 4:15-5:15 p.m.

• “Water Star Medicine”
• “A Refuge of Scouting”

Awards Night Gala – 7-9 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 17

Love Through Darkness Film Block – 10:30-11:45 a.m.

• “Help Solve a Murder”
• “Love Thru Darkness”

Mountain Healing Film Block – Noon-12:45 p.m.

• “The Sisters of Roots Salon”
• “Tiny Movements”
• “Ku: A Love Story”
• “Northstar Garden”

Filmmakers’ Choice Film Block – 1:30-3 p.m.

For more information about the films, Asheville Film Festival or to buy tickets, visit www.ashevillefilmfestival.org.