Samantha LaCroix and David Jongebreur only met less than a year ago, but their dreams are already coming true. The McDonough Storytellers Film Festival, cofounded by LaCroix and Jongebreur, is coming to McDonough June 5-6.
The two-day festival will take place across multiple locations in McDonough’s historic town square, including Story on the Square, the town bookstore owned by Jongebreur and his wife, Stephanie Gordon. That’s how Jongebreur and LaCroix first met – LaCroix was looking for a location for a film she was making, and Story on the Square was the perfect fit.
Very quickly, Jongebreur mentioned to LaCroix that he was interested in the idea of creating a film festival for McDonough. Even though he didn’t have experience with the film industry, it was something Jongebreur had been contemplating for a while. He would often get post-work drinks with a friend of his who worked in film and talk about what all goes into getting a festival off the ground and running.
“I’d kind of been interested in doing something like that, partly because storytelling is such a big part of what we do,” Jongebreur said. “But the other part of it is it would be really fun for our town square and all the merchants on the [square] to participate in something that is more than just our store.”
When LaCroix walked in the door, Jongebreur suddenly found a partner that could make this idea into a reality. But both wanted the festival to focus on more than just film. They wanted to celebrate good stories, no matter the medium.
Therefore, this June the McDonough Storytellers Film Festival will include awards categories that celebrate the best films, novels, movie posters, games, music videos, advertising campaigns, and more. There will be more than 25 awards categories, according to a press release, and winners will be selected by a panel of over 15 judges.
“It doesn’t matter what genre you’re in, or what type of entertainment. I think that’s what drew me from the beginning,” LaCroix said. “Everything has a story, and if it’s a good story, people are going to respond.”
LaCroix and Jongebreur began meeting weekly and gathering local support for the festival. Once they began receiving submissions and got other hosting locations on board – Macon Street Tacos and Queen Bee Coffee Co. – Jongebreur said he knew that their idea had legs and could really work for the community.
“The biggest challenge, I think, is just the unknown, because we’ve not done a festival before,” Jongebreur said. “I’m sure we’ll run into some hiccups along the way, and I’m sure the second, third, fourth year of the festival is gonna be so much easier.”
The first day of the festival, June 5, will focus more on education, with a plethora of panels and workshops for attendees and filmmakers to enjoy. The second day will focus on screenings. According to LaCroix, there will also be a screenwriting contest, with readings of the winning screenplays at the festival. There is expected to be music throughout the weekend, and authors are invited to hang out around Story on the Square to network, do signings, and share their work with the public.
The full lineup for the festival hasn’t been announced. The late deadline to submit work is May 4.
LaCroix said she has been trying to generate buzz for the festival everywhere she goes.
“I just went to SXSW in Austin and the whole time, I was plugging the festival,” she said. “‘You don’t have a film? Do you do artwork?’ It’s a fun talking point, because we have so many amazing categories. As long as someone is creative and in the space, there’s probably something that they can submit.”
