The 2025 El Dorado Film Festival in El Dorado, Ark., begins February 26. The festival will be held at the Southern Arkansas Arts Center and will feature dozens of films made by artists from all across the country.
Alexander Jeffery is the Executive Director of the festival. He’s been a part of the festival since it began, and he says it provides a special opportunity for independent filmmakers.
"Anybody any day can go to a movie theater and see a movie on the big screen, and it’s a very common experience,” he says. “But what makes a film festival unique is that a lot of these movies are not movies that are going to get big theatrical releases.”
A diverse group of filmmakers will feature works at the festival, including parents, hobbyists, big creators and more. Jeffery says the festival makes sure there is a range for what can be viewed as well.
"It’s important for us to show diverse work in terms of, you know, we like to show documentaries. We like to show dramas. We like to show horror. We like to show, like, a broad range of genres, short films, feature length films, short documentaries, feature length documentaries,” Jeffery says.
J.C. Doler is the director of “The Fetch,” one of the feature length films that will be screening at the festival. Doler is a seasoned film festival participant and winner. As a native of Shreveport, Doler gives credit to the local filmmaker population.
"Shreveport is a little indie film mecca. And, a lot of people don’t know that outside of the area,” he says.
“The Fetch” is a horror film about a grieving father haunted by an evil spirit from Irish folklore named The Fetch. According to Doler, the story originated from a short film he wrote and directed that gained enough popularity to turn into a longer movie. Doler says he is excited to show his film to an in-person audience and celebrate the film with his hardworking cast and crew.
"I hope we can fill up the theater, and hopefully we can scare people, and hopefully we can also make people feel lots of heavy emotions. So, that’s what I’m excited for,” Doler says.
Included in the festival’s lineup are the winners of last year’s Film Prize. Chris Alan Evans is the director and writer of “Toots,” which placed in the festival’s top five films. Evans says film festivals provide small creators the chance to have their film seen by an audience. He says due to streaming, it’s more complicated for independent filmmakers to gain popularity.
"And it’s 2025, it’s not 1997 anymore, you know. The independent darlings in the Nineties that were able to make a hundred-million dollars, that's not the landscape anymore” Evans says. “Of course, you want your film to play all over the world and you want it to play in the biggest film festivals. But the most accessible thing for an independent filmmaker is to meet other filmmakers in his or her region and expand your network that way. The El Dorado Film Festival offers that opportunity for all the filmmakers there.”
Melissa Goslin, the director of “Connected,” another Film Prize top five film, shares a similar sentiment. She says that she and her family can use the festival to meet people for future projects.
“They are people that hopefully we’ll be able to work with in the future, that we’ll be able to work on more and bigger projects...and coming together and seeing how we’re doing it and sharing resources that are available to us in the area,” Goslin says.
“Connected” is a film about two children figuring out how to spend their time when the internet goes out. Goslin’s children are the stars of the film, and she says they’re excited about the upcoming festival.
“Honestly, our favorite part, really, is watching everybody else’s films and getting to meet other filmmakers and just getting to talk to other people about their process in this, kind of, weird thing that we do.”
I’m Alaina Atnip with Red River Radio News