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is year, the Macon Film Festival is celebrating its 15th year. But, this is also the year of the COVID-19 pandemic and not what festival organizers were expecting when thinking of ways to mark the special anniversary. Instead of scheduling celebrations, officials have worked creatively to ensure the festival carries on while similar ones have had to cancel. To do so, organizers are taking year 15 into unchartered territory as a hybrid, 17-day, in-person and online streaming experience. Happening Aug. 13-30, a handful of showings will be live at the Grand Opera House, a few more in a drive-in setting at the Museum of Arts and Sciences and the bulk streamed online. Officials describe the selection of films provided by independent filmmakers as "superb." Steven Fulbright, festival chairman, expressed regret that traditional relationships with downtown theaters, restaurants, nightclubs and other venues won't be at the forefront this year, nor will there be the same spontaneous gatherings, discussions and shared meals among filmmakers and fans in lobbies, on sidewalks and at establishments that have become synonymous with the Macon Film Festival and its Southern hospitality. ough Fulbright, who is also Visit Macon's director of tourism, briefly bemoaned 2020's downside, he quickly found silver linings. "We went into limbo in mid-March wondering what to do," he said. "It was a big decision to shift to mostly online streaming but we had to tap into all possibilities. We found a great hosting platform for our films that checked all the boxes important to us for viewers and filmmakers and moved ahead. We were thrilled to say to the community and filmmakers, 'We're doing it!' Filmmakers work so hard and depend on festivals like ours to build momentum for their films." He said the Museum of Arts and Sciences' Mark Smith Planetarium will again host a full-dome film festival with showings both alongside and independent of planetarium presentations. Regular festival entries still will be shown in traditional topic blocks, including the Macon Made block for local filmmakers. Each entry will be shown twice at specific, scheduled times. T Fifteen years of FILMS & CHILL MACON FILM FESTIVAL MARKS 15 YEARS WITH CREATIVE APPROACH TO HYBRID FESTIVAL BY MICHAEL W. PANNELL 76 maconmagazine.com | AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020