Hobnobben Film Festival Announces Dynamic Lineup of Films, Screenings and Events

Press release

FORT WAYNE — The 9th annual Hobnobben Film Festival returns to the Cinema Center in Fort Wayne October 3-6, featuring a lineup of films, workshops and events. This year’s lineup includes 141 films across 32 blocks, highlighting local, national and international filmmakers and presenting diverse stories and perspectives.

Opening night schedule

The festival kicks off Thursday, Oct. 3, at the Cinema Center, 437 E. Berry St., with an opening reception at 6 p.m., followed by opening night screenings of the short films and the feature film Last Days of Summer at 7 hours. the reception will include hors d’oeuvres provided by Acme by Full Circle. Opening night celebrates local and regional Indiana cinema.

Friday programming

Friday will be rich in feature and short films, round tables and filmmaker workshops. One of the highlights of the day is the 7:30 p.m. screening of A Long Way From Heaven, a feature-length documentary that tells the story of Brigham Young University’s queer underground as they reclaim their place in the sun . It focuses on the students who lit up the school’s iconic “Y” in rainbow colors and the fallout from that event. Before the screening, filmmakers and participants will be able to attend the awards ceremony, during which the festival winners will be announced.

Other Friday highlights include a block of short films titled Artists Gotta Art, featuring visually stunning and deeply connected stories that demonstrate the profound impact of diverse mediums – film, poetry, sculpture, dress style, music and more . A round table will follow the film. Additional highlights include Dark & Twisty & Pretty Fun, From One Generation to Another and These Films Put the Sci in Fi.

Saturday programming

Saturday also offers impactful programming. The feature-length documentary Loud Enough, which highlights an assault survivor’s journey to get her case pursued, will be shown at 12:45 p.m., followed by a panel discussion with community leaders on how the film is about Fort Wayne and the state of Indiana. One of the films on the block, starring Tom Holland and Lindsay Duncan, is Taking Care, a group of short films exploring grief and the search for wellness.

Saturday also offers light screenings. Here are some of our favorite things: Saturday Night Edition features one hour and forty-five minutes of quirky, funny and playful short films. Party Queens explores the juxtaposition between being a heavy metal guitarist and a chicken farmer. Do We Laugh…Or Cry presents six short films that oscillate between comedic and hard-hitting.

For those interested in the spooky and macabre, Saturday features two horror-adjacent screenings: Saturday Night Scaries and Dracula: The Count’s Kin. Dracula: The Count’s Kin is a local film that imaginatively continues the story of Dracula.

Sunday programming

To close the festival on Sunday, Hobnobben will present This Town Rocked, a feature-length documentary about the late ’80s and early ’90s punk scene in Fort Wayne. The day will also include a variety of film blocks including Finding Home, Longing to Belong and Embracing the Spectrum of Life. AWS will host a panel discussion with several filmmakers, including Argentine filmmaker Maximiliano Wurzel, whose short film Nuestro Reino will premiere at the festival.

Get tickets to Hobnobben

All festival films will be shown at the Fort Wayne Cinema Center, 437 E. Berry St., either in the main theater or in the spectator lounge. Workshops will be held in the Fort Wayne Dance Collective studios, upstairs in the same building. Festival passes are available for purchase at hobnobben.org. Single-day passes are $30 each, except for opening night (Thursday, Oct. 3), which is just $15. A 4-day pass costs $60 and a VIP All-Access pass costs $150. For those who cannot attend the festival in person, virtual tickets are available.