Cucalorus Film Festival, presented by PNC, hosts its 19^th annual cinematic celebration November 13-17, 2013 in historic downtown Wilmington, NC. Early selections have been posted on the festival website including Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake, a minimalist homoerotic drama that premiered at Cannes this year. Bobcat Goldthwait’s genre-defying found-footage horror film Willow Creek; Vincent Bal’s charming, fast-paced period drama The Zigzag Kid; Dan Krauss’ real-life horror story The Kill Team; and Ektoras Lygizos profoundly unsettling indie drama Boy Eating the Bird’s Food (recently announced as Greece’s official Oscar contender) join a total of 68 films on the early selections roster.

Showing big love for the Tar Heel state, the list includes 20 North Carolina films such as the intimate bio of writer, therapist and philanthropist Lucy Daniels (In So Many Words) and the engaging doc One Band Indivisible, an intimate portrait of the charismatic marching band at Hillside, a historically African-American high school in Durham.

Cucalorus embraces an eclectic collection of provocative artists - choreographers, poets, musicians, and performers through a series of unexpected programs like Dance-a-lorus, Visual/Sound/Walls, the Bus To Lumberton, and Jengo’s Cabaret. Dance-a-lorus, a boundary blending performance bringing film and dance together, will open the festival on Wednesday, November 13 on the main stage at Thalian Hall. Wilmington native Joel Fernando will curate the revamped Blue Velvet Tour (now called the “Bus to Lumberton”) as a multi-media experience spanning all five days of the festival. Additional screening venues will include Jengo’s Playhouse, City Stage Theater, TheatreNOW, and Ziggy’s.  

More than 100 shorts hit Cucalorus screens each year, bringing emerging artists from all over the world to share short form films – animation, experimental, drama, and documentary. Scott Hardison’s America 6.1; Dear Valued Guests by Jarred Alterman and Paul Sturtz; Chapman University’s charming animation Blue, and Noah, a narrative that plays out entirely within the confines of a computer screen; join the list of shorts on the early selections list. The festival presents shorts in themed and creatively packaged blocks throughout the festival. The full festival schedule will be released in late September.

Next week, Cucalorus will announce an expanded lineup of films as part of the Works-in-Progress program, funded this year with grants from Alternate ROOTS and the Fledgling Fund. The program connects projects in development with unexpected audiences for critical dialogue and community action. The Cucalorus Film Festival is presented by PNC and funded in part by the North Carolina Arts Council and the City of Wilmington.

Festival passes are on sale now with discounted pricing until September 29.

Cucalorus brings people together to celebrate, discover and create independent films. The annual festival provides a non-competitive environment to honor and support filmmakers.

Media contacts:

Dan Brawley, Executive Director, dan@cucalorus.org

Ryan Jaccard, Communications Coordinator, comm@cucalorus.org