Indie Memphis Unveils 2026 Lineup Led by Sam Pollard and Ira Sachs

Indie Memphis will open its 28th film festival on November 5 with "The Lorraine," Sam Pollard's documentary about the Memphis hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The festival runs November 5–8 at the Halloran Centre and Malco Powerhouse.

Ira Sachs' acclaimed "The Man I Love" closes the festival on November 8. The program also includes the Oscar-contending documentary "Once Upon a Time in Harlem," directed by William Greaves, and "Sour Minnows," Harrison Atkins's breakout from Fantasia.

"Stepping into the Artistic Director role for this 28th edition feels like coming home to a city that simply refuses to be ignored or categorized," artistic director Brandon Harris said in a statement. "After a year away, we knew we couldn't just come back with a standard program; we had to return with a slate that speaks urgently to our fractured present. I've programmed this year's festival to reflect the restless, boundary-pushing spirit of independent cinema, looking for films that possess a certain southern grit, a formal audacity, and an unflinching eye for the immense complexities of modern life."

Harris returns after a year away from the festival. His slate spans six sections alongside the opening and closing nights: Departures, Documentary, Hometowner, Narrative, Sounds, and Throwbacks.

The Departures section carries some of the program's most formally adventurous work. It includes "Aanikoobijigan" by Adam & Zach Khalil (85m), "Chronovisor" by Kevin Walker & Jack Auen (100m), "A City in a Forest" by Nolan Huber & Lev Omeichenko (98m), "Clay" by Kevin Jerome Everson (62m), "Every Contact Leaves a Trace" by Lynne Sachs (83m), "Feelings" by Jeanetta Rich (70m), "Humboldt USA" by G. Anthony Svatek (89m), and "Sour Minnows" (83m).

The Documentary competition fields 16 titles. "Once Upon a Time in Harlem" (100m) leads a lineup that includes Judd Ehrlich's "Jane Elliott Against The World" (90m), Dawn Porter's "When a Witness Recants" (112m), Jason Osder and William Youmans's "Who Killed Alex Odeh?" (84m), Michele Stephenson's "True North" (96m), Taimi Arvidson's "Cheyenne" (105m), and Daniel Christian's "Possum Town" (99m), among others.

The Narrative section features Sophia Takal's "Act One" (104m), Alexandre Rockwell's "The Projectionist" (94m), Alex Karpovsky's "Riptides" (80m), Dan Sallitt's "What Can't Be Mentioned" (61m), Liz Sargent's "Take Me Home" (91m), Caroline Golum's "Revelations of Divine Love" (73m), and five more features.

The Hometowner section spotlights Memphis-connected filmmakers with four titles: Christian Walker's "Hallelujah Station" (45m), Princeton James's "Hoop Street" (91m), Malik Martin's "Outside Ain't Free" (50m), and Glenn Payne's "Safe & Sound" (102m).

The Sounds section mixes music documentary and fiction, including Tamra Davis's "The Best Summer" (84m), Al Warren's "Bobby Rush: King of the Chitlin Circuit" (84m), and Jon Brick's "Ronzo" (75m).

Throwbacks reaches into the festival's regional archive with four restored or revisited titles: Phil Morrison's "Junebug" (2005), Robinson Devor's "Police Beat" (2006), S. Torriano Berry's "Embalmer" (1996), and Chris Jolly's "Curse of the Seven Jackals" (2001).

Tickets are on sale now. With Pollard's opening film grounding the festival in Memphis's own civil rights history and Sachs closing it with one of the year's most discussed American independents, the 28th edition positions Indie Memphis as a regional festival betting that urgency and local identity can draw the same audiences.