Statesville's Full Bloom: A Weekend of World-Class Cinema

What if one weekend could transform a small-town festival into an international celebration of cinema? Join us as we sit down with Sydney Koppelmeyer, the marketing chair behind the Full Bloom Film Festival, to get an inside look at the ninth year of this incredible event in Statesville, North Carolina. This year's festival promises an eclectic mix of 41 films from around the world, including a special guest from China. We're excited to share the buzz surrounding the children's red carpet event for "The Inventor," penned by the writer of Ratatouille, and celebrate the record-breaking ticket sales that have everyone talking.

Eager to know what makes this festival truly special? We explore the jam-packed weekend schedule, from the box office opening at Lake Mountain Coffee to the grand celebration at the Iredell Arts Council with food trucks and live music. Learn about the strategic marketing partnerships that have propelled the festival's success, the special honors for local filmmakers and how community involvement through themed drinks and exclusive Southern Distilling bourbon bottles adds a unique touch. Don't miss out on hearing directly from filmmakers during Q&A sessions, making this an unmissable event for cinema lovers.

Transcript

Full Bloom Film Festival Overview

Speaker 1 0:00

We're all abuzz for the Full Bloom Film Festival in Statesville, North Carolina. Tune in now for all the details.

Speaker 2 0:08

Welcome to Discover Statesville, the show that takes you on a captivating journey through the heart of one of North Carolina's most charming towns.

Speaker 3 0:15

Welcome back to Discover Statesville. Today, we are joined by Sydney Koppelmeyer, who is the marketing chair for the Full Bloom Film Festival. Welcome.

Speaker 4 0:22

Sydney. Thanks guys for having me. We're glad you're here.

Speaker 3 0:24

We for the Full Bloom Film Festival. Welcome Sydney, thanks. Thanks, guys, for having me, we're glad you're here.

Speaker 1 0:28

We're excited to talk about all things. Full Bloom Film Festival, richard's favorite time of the year. Got to go ahead and mention that out of the gate.

Speaker 4 0:32

It's a magical time, for sure.

Speaker 1 0:34

A lot going on it is.

Speaker 4 0:35

It's a good thing.

Speaker 3 0:37

So Sydney. This will be the ninth Full Bloom Film Festival, so tell us all about this year's event.

Speaker 4 0:45

Oh my gosh. So there's so much going on this year. Where to start right?

Speaker 2 0:49

Yeah right.

Speaker 4 0:50

So we have 41 films. That's the big deal. We have 41 films and this year we're hosting over 60 filmmakers.

Speaker 3 0:57

Wow.

Speaker 4 0:58

So that's the most we've ever hosted in Statesville. They're coming from everywhere. They're coming from a, they're coming from a. Lot are from North Carolina, which is nice, up in Winston a lot of student films. And then we also have from California, chicago, texas, I mean you name it. They're represented here. Our farthest traveling filmmaker is actually from China. That's awesome. So, yeah, it's going to be really exciting. A lot of great conversations for sure are going to be had this weekend about the films that we're showing.

Speaker 3 1:27

You mentioned 41 films. 41 films, so people understand there's a variety of sessions. Some will be feature-length films, but then a lot of the sessions are collections of shorts.

Speaker 4 1:42

Some of those range from animation, comedy, drama. We have it all, which is really special. That's outstanding.

Speaker 1 1:50

So, folks, Richard is on the board for Full Bloom Film Festival and works very hard with the team to bring this to us.

Speaker 3 1:58

Just hard enough with the team. A lot of the team work very hard. A lot of the team worked very hard.

Speaker 1 2:03

It's very passionate about the project, but Sidney and Richard are very familiar with Full Bloom Film Festival. But what I think would be great, since you mentioned shorts and I now know what that means. But for our listeners, who may not even know what a film festival is or why we're having that in Statesville, can we maybe just step back and talk about what is? I hear you call this a boutique film festival, but what is a film festival and what's so exciting about the Idle Arts Council? You know about you guys bringing having that here in Statesville, north Carolina.

Speaker 4 2:35

Yeah, so to start with, these are all independent filmmakers. They have a smaller movie budget than when you would see at the movie theater. Well, no, I, that's right.

Speaker 3 2:51

So, all right, we do showcase independent filmmakers from all over that.

Speaker 2 2:52

You know these films may not have been picked up by a distributor yet, or anything like that.

Speaker 3 2:54

Yeah, that's true we also showcase a lot of student films. So we've had an ongoing relationship with like School of the Arts and Winston-Salem and others, so we try to showcase student films. So it's a really cool opportunity to see film that you're likely not going to see anywhere else unless you frequent film festivals Right Of which there are many, but not a lot quite like ours, and so I think you know one of the neat things about ours is that you know, here we are in Statesville and you're watching really impactful films that were made in, you know, kyrgyzstan or youyrgyzstan or all over the globe, which is really cool yeah.

Speaker 4 3:30

That reminds me. Actually, a film I'm really excited about this year is called the Inventor, which is an animation stop-motion film. So you know, when you take a shot and then they adjust it's usually a puppet or a clay person and they're adjusting them slightly. There is a full feature animation film that we're screening this festival. It was actually written by have you guys seen Ratatouille?

Speaker 3 3:55

I love Ratatouille.

Speaker 4 3:56

It's the same writer.

Speaker 3 3:57

You don't have to have kids to enjoy.

Speaker 4 3:59

Ratatouille I also enjoy Ratatouille. No kidding, that was something we're really excited about, but that's a pretty large-scale win for the festival in Statesville, so it's pretty exciting.

Speaker 1 4:12

That's something new, because that is a film for youth, right, yeah, so we're doing a children's red carpet, which is really cool.

Speaker 4 4:18

We're rolling out the red carpet for our kiddos. They can come take some photos. It for our kiddos, they can come take some photos. The first 50 kids are going to receive little paint kits, which is really exciting because the film is actually about Leonardo da Vinci and his kind of coming of age story and just to spark a little creativity in our young ones. So I really hope you guys are. I hope children come out to see that That'll be nice. 14 and younger are actually free with the company of an adult.

Speaker 1 4:47

And that's happening on Saturday. That's Saturday at 2.30.

Speaker 4 4:49

The red carpet starts at 2 to get your cute photos in for your Instagram.

Speaker 1 4:53

Yeah, so walk through the ticket process in the box office If people haven't bought online. Actually, start with some exciting news. You shared some exciting news earlier in the month. Yeah, you did a presentation with us earlier in the month.

Full Bloom Film Festival Weekend Overview

Speaker 4 5:08

Yeah, so we actually have a record-breaking ticket sales as of right now, which is very exciting. It's our ninth year. I feel like we're really hitting our stride. I feel like we're really spreading the word with our filmmakers, with our attendees. A lot of people are coming back, which means the world to us, yeah, so we're really excited to see those ticket sales go up and people get to see a lot of independent film from all over the world in Statesville.

Speaker 1 5:34

Yeah, that's amazing. That's a lot to be proud of.

Speaker 3 5:35

Yeah, it's super cool and one of the things so we have access to sort of the back door of the tickets coming in and so we can see who's purchasing tickets and things like that. So one of the things that came up in a recent meeting is you know, we're looking at the people that are Sydney mentioned all the filmmakers that are coming from all over the place. You know, we sort of know the usual suspects that come to the film festival every year and when we're looking at recent ticket sales there are people that we don't know or recognize. So that's outstanding. That means that the word really is.

Speaker 2 6:04

Yeah, kudos to marketing the marketing.

Speaker 3 6:07

I really can't Enough. Good things can't be said about the marketing committee, but that's the deal People are learning about the film festival. We feel like we've had this really great gem here in Statesville. You've done a great job of really telling that story to people both inside and outside the community. We're getting a lot of traffic now, which is awesome.

Speaker 1 6:24

Yeah, and I saw that. Sydney, you were able to partner with Visit North Carolina. They showcased it some, oh my gosh, we're so grateful for them. First Statesville that was great, and I know that you're bringing Visit nope, nc Tripping. Yep, christina Riley from NC Tripping is coming in.

Speaker 4 6:40

I'm really excited about that one.

Speaker 1 6:42

I love it when she's in town because I'm sure she will be eating in our restaurants and featuring. She comes in and she features. I love NC Tripping in general, but I think that's exciting that she'll be here this year. Maybe it's her first film festival.

Speaker 4 6:55

I think so yeah, so she's in for a treat for sure.

Speaker 1 6:58

Yeah, that's going to be exciting.

Speaker 3 7:02

So tell us, so start, box office opens this Wednesday, yes, and kind of start there and kind of run through. What does a weekend at Full Blue Film Festival look like?

Speaker 4 7:10

Yes, sure. So our box office is at Lake Mountain Coffee so you can grab a coffee, grab your tickets. We always have volunteers on site, so if you have any questions about scheduling, about parties, they can help you there. And then we jump to Thursday. So we kick off Thursday evening. We're going to be, which I also want to say. We are so integrated into downtown, we are a downtown festival, so a lot of our venues, a lot of our partners and restaurants, I mean everything is just so integrated so nicely. So we're starting at the Wallace. I mean everything is just so integrated so nicely. So we're starting at the Wallace, which is on Broad Street, which is a new event space. We're kind of hosting there for a cocktail hour which is going to be a lot of fun. We're partnering with Bee and Barrel, who's helping us with some mead.

Speaker 4 7:57

I don't know if you guys have had any of that, so that's really going to be fun to try and a lot of honey-infused things, keeping with that bee theme. So we're kicking it off there. Then we're heading over to Shearer, which is on Mitchell's campus, and we're going to do just a curated selection of shorts just to kind of kick off the festival. This is what you're going to see, just build that excitement, and then we're jumping into Friday and Saturday, which are full days of films. By the way, you can look at our schedule on our website fullbloomfilmfestivalcom backslash schedule.

Speaker 4 8:34

And you see how we did that.

Speaker 3 8:35

It's the marketing man. The marketing's so good and you showed on the backslash because I always have a hard time which ones.

Speaker 4 8:38

Yeah and yeah. So Friday's a full day of film. We also have On that day, that's our meet and greet day for filmmakers and for VIPs and sponsors to kind of mingle. And what I also think is so special about this festival are the conversations you get to have with people all across the world about their art, about Statesville, about you know what prompted you to tell this story. I mean, there's conversations. It's my favorite part. So that's just an opportunity for that and that's actually going to be up the road at the Tevin's new gallery yeah, culture Shock, culture Shock.

Speaker 4 9:20

Yeah, so that's cool. So we're incorporating again another nonprofit and that's going to be a really great couple hours. And then let's see Friday we're actually screening Bright Leaves, which is Ross McElwee's film. So Ross is receiving our Buzz recipient award this year and he is a local guy, someone from the community I love them, yeah and has gone on to achieve a lot of success in film with Bright Leaves. He's also a professor at Harvard for film studies, so it's just what a treat that we have him here.

Speaker 4 10:03

He's literally coming home. We're celebrating him, we're honoring him and then, after we're screening his film, we're headed over to the Arts Council for a Big Fat Party.

Speaker 2 10:12

And that's going to be super fun.

Speaker 4 10:14

There's going to be food trucks, there's going to be live music, you name it. It's going to be so much fun. I don't know if you guys had a chance to go last year, that's been my favorite night.

Speaker 3 10:23

That's an important one to showcase because you know, as Sydney talks through the events over the weekend, you know she mentioned VIP sponsor events. So, like the meet and greet and like the Thursday night screening and party, those are all VIP sponsor events and you can purchase a VIP ticket.

Speaker 1 10:39

You too can be a VIP the.

Speaker 3 10:41

Friday night party, though, is open to the public, so you do not even have to have come to a film to come to the Friday night party at the Arts Council. You can just come out and there will be music, and we just want people to come out and have a good time and celebrate the festival.

Speaker 4 10:54

It'll be a really fun night. That's always a big night for us.

Speaker 1 10:57

Yeah Well, richard was saying you don't even have to have bought tickets to the festival and you mentioned it, you touched on it early on, but just especially with the kids VIP that you're doing on Saturday. Now you can buy day passes, right?

Speaker 3 11:10

Yes, yeah, you can buy a single session ticket. You can, we have so many different types of tickets.

Speaker 4 11:15

You've got your single session, your day pass, your festival pass and your VIP pass, and if you're a couple, there's a VIP couple pass which we give you a little bit of a deal there. Okay.

Speaker 3 11:25

Or you can just get with your buddy and you can save a little money buying the VIP's couple's pass.

Speaker 4 11:29

We don't ask for any documentation of a relationship.

Speaker 3 11:32

I need to see it. Okay, so we went through Friday, so tell us about Saturday.

Speaker 4 11:39

Saturday, another full day of film, which, oh again, we should talk about our venues, sorry.

Speaker 2 11:45

Again. We're all throughout downtown.

Speaker 4 11:46

I know we have a venue at Center. We should talk about our venues.

Speaker 1 11:47

Sorry Again, we're all throughout downtown Somehow we should talk about it.

Speaker 4 11:49

I know it's a lot. We have a venue at Center Stage Alliance, which is on Broad Street. We have a venue at the Arts Council of course Acoustics are great in there for film. We love it. And then we also have a venue at Shear Hall, which is a lot of our red carpet films are there. And then we have one over at Rotary, which is up the road too, so everything's walking distance, which it's wonderful for filmmakers attendees. A lot of film festivals are like scattered in cities, so there's a lot of driving, not here, which is another great part of our downtown, okay, but Saturday, saturday is a full day of films and that evening we are screening. Oh, oh gosh, I'm blanking the Keeper. Sorry there's so many films to recall. I would jump in and bail you out, but I mean, remember Is it a different film.

Speaker 2 12:41

I was like no, I'm like bail her out, bail her out.

Speaker 3 12:43

I'm like I don't remember what it is.

Speaker 4 12:46

It's actually called the Keeper, which is a really touching film based on a true story of a veteran who's hiking the Appalachian Trail, who's struggling with depression and suicide. So when that film was submitted, we instantly actually thought of Purple Heart Homes, which is such a wonderful resource we have in Statesville. We're so lucky to have them here, but they're also a national brand, so we're actually partnering with them that evening and just to kind of help tell that story, talk about the need, talk about just that really important story of our veterans and how we can support them. So again, we're so integrated into this town and I love it so much, so that's going to be really special. And then, after we always have to end the night with a party, so after we're going over to the end on front street, which is just a gorgeous, gorgeous in downtown, and we're hosting um, that's our awards night, so our filmmakers will receive those awards.

Speaker 1 13:45

We're so lucky to have that bed and breakfast as an asset and Gerilyn and Mike do such a nice job with it and they do a great job with you guys helping with hospitality.

Speaker 3 13:55

Gerilyn's on our. She's on the Full Bloom Film Fest board.

Full Bloom Film Festival Community Partners

Speaker 1 13:58

Yeah, lucky to have them in the community. So you mentioned Lake Norman, not Lake Norman, lake Mountain. Yes, coffee Shop is the box office and one of the things you guys did last year that I thought was really cool and maybe they did it, but there was a themed drink for the film festival. Do we think we're going to see that? Come back?

Speaker 4 14:18

I have hinted at them. I wish I had that much power. I frequent their coffee shop so much. But I've hinted that went over so well, it did it was such a cute, touch.

Speaker 1 14:31

And it was a good drink.

Speaker 4 14:32

Oh yeah, and also I'm just so grateful that we're also they're open to our festival and to us and they're integrating as well.

Speaker 3 14:42

Yeah, box office has been there for a number of years now. It's the perfect spot. Now, speaking of drinks, we do have another community partner.

Speaker 4 14:49

Yes, now it's the perfect spot. Now, speaking of drinks, we do have another community partner yes, oh yes, southern Distilling. We love Southern Distilling and the Film Festival, so we actually partnered with them a couple months back about doing a couple reserved bottles of bourbon. I went to the tasting, which was really fun.

Speaker 3 15:08

You guys did a full barrel. I don't think the rest of the board got. I went to the tasting, which was really fun. You guys did a full barrel.

Speaker 4 15:11

I don't think the rest of the board got an invite to that. We came for two barrels, we left with three, so it was a fun trip for sure Ponsors should have been invited to that.

Speaker 1 15:18

I'm not quite sure how that happened. I'm not sure I was invited to that.

Speaker 4 15:21

Well, it's who you know, nice.

Speaker 3 15:26

Clearly not enough people.

Speaker 4 15:27

Yeah, so actually they're going to be featured. Southern Distilling is going to be, or those bottles specifically are going to be featured throughout the festival. They're reserved bottles, meaning only from that barrel.

Speaker 3 15:40

There's no other bottles like it, so that's just another great perk They've got the Full Bloom Film Festival logo on the bottle and you can go buy these right.

Speaker 4 15:50

Yep at your local ABC.

Speaker 3 15:51

Yeah, they're available now that's super cool. Collector's item.

Speaker 1 15:55

Yeah, did you negotiate a give back on the bottle sales?

Speaker 4 15:59

If you come to a party there might be some you can try, and I'm not a bourbon girl, but they're pretty good. I mean they're pretty good.

Speaker 1 16:09

I mean, they're pretty impressive. I am a bourbon girl. Oh good, I will be looking for.

Speaker 3 16:13

I'll know where to find you so another cool thing that you mentioned, you mentioned on the front end about the 60 filmmakers coming, which is cool, and so we also mentioned that you know an opportunity to see films here that you would never see outside of other film festivals unless they get picked up. You know some of these films are probably right on the cusp of getting picked up by a distributor For sure.

Speaker 3 16:33

But one of the cool parts about having those filmmakers attend is that at all these sessions, the majority of the sessions here will have Q&A sessions after a lot of the screenings.

Speaker 4 16:43

I think only two of our sessions don't have a Q&A at this point. That could change. We're still getting feedback from filmmakers if they're coming. But yeah, so almost every film screening you're going to go to you'll be able the director or a filmmaker will be there to talk about their film and you can ask questions.

Speaker 3 17:03

Which is really cool, because sometimes you know you finish a film and you're like God I wish that I knew why they did.

Speaker 2 17:08

Yeah, you know, know it'll end and you're like oh, I'm so curious, yeah, and so like you've got the, you've got the people.

Speaker 3 17:13

That I'm not saying they'll tell you, but they might. They might give you some insight as to why they chose to do what they did, which is, which is pretty cool, very special.

Speaker 1 17:19

Yeah, those talks with the filmmakers are are very, very interesting speaking of like just filmmakers in general.

Speaker 4 17:25

we have a lot of local film talent here. We have one film called the Good Daughter, and their costume designer, molly, is actually she's from here, right, yeah, so she's from here, which again states also rich with talent. This is just another example. And we also have a film called the Grief Counselor by Jason Keating, and he he lives in Statesville. It was filmed in Statesville. It was actually filmed at one of the offices the Piedmont offices I work in. So yeah, a lot of local ties throughout this festival, even in our filmmakers. That's really cool.

Speaker 1 18:00

Yeah, yeah, molly Morgan, just fun fact. But 15 years ago and we're talking about coffee I was I don't know if smart enough or dumb enough to own a coffee shop here in Statesville, and I liked my coffee shop too. We definitely got to meet a lot of people, but the fact of it is that our team member who was the best we loved her was Molly Morgan. Oh, I didn't know that, and that is how I got to know Molly. Oh yeah, and as she graduated high school and went off to college and decided that costume design was her passion, so she's.

Speaker 1 18:36

She's traveled to many states working on several different productions and films, and I was to watch her expand like that and really be able to grow in her passion, and then to hear that she's the costume designer on a film right here in Statesville.

Speaker 2 18:50

That that is.

Speaker 1 18:52

That is cool. I'm excited about that one. Yeah, so you said online the program and everything's online. Now that's fullbloomfilmfestivalorg. Yes, yeah.

Speaker 3 19:03

Go online and watch the teaser.

Speaker 4 19:05

Yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 1 19:06

Yeah, that is also one of my favorite parts every year is Brandon on y'all's team is very creative and he takes all the trailers and puts them together and flows them into a trailer. I think this year is one of my favorites.

Speaker 3 19:21

Me too, it's pretty compelling.

Speaker 4 19:22

I do that every year.

Speaker 3 19:23

So this is the third or fourth year that he's made this teaser, and so you know painstakingly he goes through every film, made this teaser and so you know painstakingly, goes through every film, picks out a clip from every film and puts together basically a real teaser for the festival. That showcases every film and it puts music to it and it's very compelling.

Speaker 1 19:43

This year I had all the feels we could submit it to the film festival. Yeah, yeah. It's like, oh, I'm going to smile, I'm going to laugh, I'm going to cry that it to the film festival. It's like, oh, I'm going to smile, I'm going to laugh, I'm going to cry, that's the weekend.

Speaker 3 19:53

If you're sitting on the fence about I'm not sure if this is for me go online and watch the teaser. You'll see something that engages you, that you want to come out and see.

Speaker 1 20:03

We are excited and proud that Statesville's home to a film festival like Full Bloom and excited to partner with you guys in it, and you guys are doing amazing work. So keep up the good work. We will be there. We will be be there this week and I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 3 20:19

I'm going to stop by.

Speaker 1 20:20

You're going to stop by. I should be schlepping. He'll be on the golf cart somewhere right?

Speaker 4 20:27

More than likely Hair blown in the wind. Yeah, more than likely hair blown in the wind that's right.

Speaker 1 20:30

That's right fullbloomfilmfestivalorg guys, don't miss it. Lots of great things happening in Statesville, north Carolina. Thank you, sydney, we appreciate you being here yeah, come see us.

Speaker 3 20:40

Come see us this weekend, thank you thank you for joining Discover Statesville.

Speaker 2 20:45

you can email us at discover at statesvillenccom. Check us out on Facebook at Discover Statesville, nc hashtag Discover Statesville and our website statesfulnccom. Catch us next week as we continue on our journey to uncover the hidden gems, culinary adventures, entertainment, and to be inspired and enlightened as we Discover Statesville.