KANNAPOLIS – This year’s Modern Film Fest – the fourth – is set for Oct, 5 – 7 at the Gem Theatre
One of the highlights will be the appearance of director Nicholas Meyer. The occasion will be the 30th anniversary screening at 8 p.m. Oct. 5, of “Star Trek: Wrath of Khan,”Meyer’s most well-known film, considered by many fans to be the best movie in the Star Trek series. Following the film there will be a Q&A session with Meyer, who also directed “Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country.”
Before that screening will be a costume contest, open to all genres and mediums. Participants in this family-friendly event are invited to come as their favorite movie, comic book or video game character. Registration for the costume contest begins at 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, at the Gem, and registration is $10.
All registered costume contest participants will receive a free ticket to “Star Trek: Wrath of Khan” which screens at 8 p.m. that same night.The winners of the costume contest will be announced at 7:45 p.m. that night.
That same night, at 7 p.m., the band Graveyard Boulevard will play a free show outside of the Gem Theatre.
Mill documentary
Another highlight will be a locally produced documentary, “Stitched In Time,” which is the story of the rise and fall of Cannon Mill and features the stories of former mill workers.The movie screens at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7.
Jonathan Greene, digital media instructor at A.L. Brown High School, directed the 45-minute documentary, working with his students to develop the film.
‘Jimmy’
Also part of this year’s offerings is the movie “Jimmy,” based on a novel written by Robert Whitlow of Charlotte. The film, which will be screened at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, was shot in Concord.
Burgess Jenkins, who played Jake Garner in the film, is scheduled to attend and be part of a Q&A.
Hunger Games discussion
Hunger Games fans won’t want to miss this year’s North Carolina film industry discussion panel featuring extras from the movie, at 2 p.m. Saturday. “The Hunger Games” was filmed all over North Carolina, including the Philip Morris location in Concord.
The event will be held inside the Gem after the noon screening of “Colored Confederates: Myth or Matter of Fact” and before the screening of the documentary “Atlantic” at 3 p.m. The panel discussion is free.
‘Colored Confederates’
“Colored Confederates: Myth or Matter of Fact” will screen at noon, Saturday, Oct. 6, with the director, Ken Wyatt, attending.
This new documentary about “an obscure corner of Civil War history,” according to Wyatt, examines whether or not blacks fought on the Confederate side of the Civil War. One prominent voice featured in the documentary is H.K. Edgerton, activist, Civil War reenactor and former head of the Asheville NAACP.
“If someone takes down a Confederate Flag, he’s there to fight for them,” Wyatt said of Edgerton.” Bruce Levine, Ph.D., professor of African American studies at the University of Illinois, is on the “opposite end of the spectrum” in the myth of the black confederate, Wyatt said.
‘Martin Hill: Camera Man’
Anyone interested in film history will want to catch “Martin Hill: Camera Man,” a documentary by Joanne Hock screening at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6.
Martin Hill has amassed a collection – housed in a dilapidated bowling alley – of Hollywood history in the form of the cameras used to film numerous Academy award-winning films, is one of the largest in the world. Cameras in Hill’s collection were used to film “Gone With the Wind,” “The Grapes of Wrath,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” “Star Wars” and all of the Charlie Chaplin’s movies.
Beatles fans won’t want to miss Seth Swirsky’s documentary, “Beatles Stories.” The movie focuses on Beatles fan Seth Swirsky, who was fascinated by all the stories about the Beatles he heard when he was growing up. Starting in 2005, he began seeking out and filming people who had stories to tell, including celebrities.
Admission to any movie is $4.
For more information on the festival visit www.modernfilmfest.net