Reggie Watts

Gearing up for its second year, the Yellow Springs Film Festival (YSFF) is back with an outstanding lineup of independent films, stand-up comedy and live music taking place Oct. 4-6.

YSFF is proud to announce its kickoff party Friday Oct. 4^th with a live performance by Comedian and Musician Reggie Watts. Reggie, who most recently starred as the bandleader on CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden will bring his formidable voice, looping pedals, and his vast imagination to town, blurring the lines between music and comedy. This will be followed up by Opening Night featuring a screening of the film, The Uninvited (World Premiere SXSW 2024). The film will be followed by a in person conversation with Writer / Director Nadia Conners and will feature a zoom Q&A with star of the film Walton Goggins.

Other Special Events throughout the festival include the new documentary, Eno on musician Brian Eno (known for producing David Bowie, U2, Talking Heads, among many others). A conversation between Director Gary Hustwit and filmmaker Steven Bognar will follow the screening.

Stand-up comedian Dave Hill will also be performing on Sat Oct 5th. Dave Hill is a comedian, writer, musician, actor and radio host. He has appeared on Inside Amy Schumer, The Jim Gaffigan Show starred in the Joel Levinson film Boy Band, filmed here in Dayton in 2018 and recently been opening for Tenacious D. In addition, a 30^th Anniversary screening of Pulp Fiction will take place featuring live music from the soundtrack, a costume contest and audience trivia.

The narrative film slate includes, In the Summers (WINNER: Grand Jury Prize 2024 Sundance Film Festival), Eephus (Directors’ Fortnight, 2024 Cannes Film Festival), Darkest Miriam (World Premiere 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, Executive Producer Charlie Kaufman, starring Britt Lower) and a Midnight Screening of A Desert (World Premiere 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, music by Ty Segall).

The documentary film slate includes, A Photographic Memory (World Premiere 2024 True/False), I Like it Here (Directed by Ralph Arlyck), Spiz (Directed by Barry Rowen) and Before We Get Started featuring appearances from Judd Apatow, John Oliver, Amy Schumer, Leslie Jones, Seth Myers, Bob Saget, Ray Ramano, Jim Gaffigan, Fred Armisen, Colin Jost and many more.

Closing Night of festival will take place Oct 6^th and will feature a special 25^th Anniversary screening of the film, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai starring Forest Whitaker and music by RZA. The movie will be followed by a in person conversation between Director Jim Jarmusch and YSFF Founder Eric Mahoney with audience Q&A to follow.

In addition, this year YSFF will be giving out the first ever Julia Reichert Award, a $3,000 prize presented by PNC Bank and given to an emerging female documentary filmmaker to help support a current project. Reichert, a long time Yellow Springs resident and Oscar winning Director was a creative force and each year this award will be given in her name. The event will feature the new short documentary, Julia’s Stepping Stones, Directed by Julia’s partner in film and love, Steven Bognar.

YSFF Shorts will feature two additions this year, one in collaboration with the NYC based Production Company Wavelength and will feature their current class of Wave Grant winners. The WAVE Grant, which stands for “Women at the Very Edge,” supports first-time women and non-binary filmmakers of color in creating their first short narrative film. The second program will feature a collection of documentary, narrative and animated short films — both events will be followed by panel; discussions with the filmmakers.

All films and events will take place at the historic Little Art Theatre and The Foundry Theater at Antioch College. YSFF is produced by Hotshot Robot Productions operated by Founder / Executive Director / Programmer Eric Mahoney and Creative & Artistic Director Ian Jacobs in conjunction with the Yellow Springs Community Foundation.