Year Round Programming
NaFF filmmakers often choose to allow their films to be shown by NaFF, beyond the Festival. We are proud to carry these compelling films to the bedsides of patients, to other cities in Tennessee, and to schools. Check out our year-round programming.
NaFF screens nearly 3,000 films searching for gems. After the Festival, those films are reviewed with a new lens. Is the film uplifting? Does it reveal a larger world? Does it give the viewer a greater sense of hope or courage or connection? These positive emotions have been shown by science to help with the healing process. NaFF makes these films available to adult patients in long-term care. Volunteers carry them to the bedside and watch along with the veteran, where sometimes they are the only visitor for months. Hospitals may choose to make the NaFF library available to their patients and staff.
A grant from the Tennessee Commission of Film Entertainment and Music enabled NaFF to help Chattanooga create its first film festival called “Gig City Film Festival” in early 2013. The concept is to help cities create and host their own. NaFF supports with consulting, procuring films, marketing, and on-site management.
For nine years, NaFF has conducted a program with teens who face special challenges associated with proverty. A team of film professionals, guided by producer Carolyn McDonald, help the teens create their own film and star in a documentary about the process. The teens write, block, act, and edit their work. Finally, they walk the red carpet, give media interviews, screen their film and answer questions following their screening. It is one of NaFF’s most successful programs.
Certain documentaries have bracing truths to tell. Lipbscomb and other universities provide monthly screenings of NaFF films for their students.
Community Cinema is a groundbreaking public education and civic engagement initiative featuring free monthly screenings of films from the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. On location in more than 90 cities, it brings civic organizations together with community members and to learn, discuss, and get involved in key social issues. In Nashville, Community Cinema is sponsored by NaFF, WNPT and the Nashville Public Library.
