FILM FEST KNOX

Showcasing and advocating for personal, ambitious regional cinema.

Mark your calendars as FILM FEST KNOX returns to downtown Knoxville from November 12–15, 2026!

Launched in 2023, FILM FEST KNOX is an annual event held every fall in downtown Knoxville, with screenings hosted at the Regal Riviera. In addition to three full days of film programming, FILM FEST KNOX features regional and local filmmaking competitions, workshops, and social events.

The fourth edition of the fest will honor acclaimed artist Tim Blake Nelson with the James Agee Prize and will showcase his work as an actor, writer, director, and producer of American regional cinema. In recognition of this year’s honoree, FILM FEST KNOX will present a rare theatrical screening of Nelson’s Eye of God (1997), the Independent Spirit Award-winning story of a small-town waitress—played by Martha Plimpton in a stunningly great performance—whose pen-pal arrives after being released from prison. Nelson will be presented with the James Agee Prize on Saturday, November 14, following a screening of one of his most recent films, The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd. This film premiered recently as a Gala presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival. Nelson’s sixth film as writer/director, it stars Amanda Seyfried as a woman who develops a complicated relationship with a convicted murderer (Scoot McNairy) while teaching creative writing to prisoners.

FILM FEST KNOX is an international film festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, hosted by Visit Knoxville and the Visit Knoxville Film Office in partnership with Regal and The Public Cinema.

Learn more and view the full schedule at FILMFESTKNOX.COM.