32nd Annual Cucalorus Film Festival

by Wilmington Today ContributorOct 21, 2026Festivals, Tourism

Tickets are on sale for the 32nd Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington, NC, featuring 91 films, new venues, and NC-made features.

Tickets went on sale early this morning for the 32nd annual Cucalorus Film Festival, Wilmington’s long-running celebration of independent cinema and bold, genre-bending performance. The four-day festival returns to its riverside roots with a major local milestone: 10 feature films produced in North Carolina anchoring this year’s lineup.

In all, Cucalorus plans 91 films plus 13 performances, installations, and expanded cinema events, spread across 75+ events throughout downtown Wilmington.
A riverfront reset: new hubs and major venue updates

One of the biggest changes for 2026 is a full festival takeover of the Coastline Center, which becomes the primary home base for screenings and community gathering.
• “Coastline Main” and “Coastline Blue” will host a packed schedule of film screenings.
• The GigSalad Lounge will operate as a daytime networking hub for conference programming, then shift into a nightly performance venue with a full bar.
Additional venue moves and additions include:
• Dance-a-lorus relocating to the Wilson Center
• A new “Best of the Fest” multiplex program launching at The Pointe 14
• Thalian Hall continuing as the marquee venue for headliners
• Jengo’s Playhouse running day and night with shorts blocks and late-night programming

Festival leadership says the Coastline Center hub is designed to bring back that classic riverfront energy while creating an immersive, all-day space for filmmakers and audiences to connect.

Narrative features: Hollywood names and homegrown stories

Cucalorus’ narrative features lineup blends recognizable talent with a strong showing from North Carolina filmmakers and Wilmington-based cast and crew.

Highlights include:
• Riptides, a dark comedy featuring HBO’s Girls alum Alex Karpovsky, with Steve Little, Dylan Baker, and Bojana Novaković (screening Saturday, Nov. 21 at Thalian Hall)
• Capsized, a Wilmington-lensed feature following a family on a barely seaworthy boat as their larger-than-life patriarch risks everything in a deep-sea fishing tournament to avoid foreclosure (screening Friday at Thalian Hall)

The narrative slate includes 17 narrative features overall, including world premieres such as:
• Hot Wieners and Coffee Milk (a cozy Halloween dramedy)
• There Should Be Flowers (a haunting psychological mystery)

Local actor Banks Repeta appears in Henry’s Ebb, described as a poignant story about a young boy escaping abuse alongside his imaginary friend.

Other feature standouts named in the program include:
• The Virgins (teen horror) from Asheville filmmaker Jennifer Trudrung
• Little Doors (deadpan comedy) by Anthony Overbeck
• Everything Else is Noise, a witty absurdist comedy from acclaimed Mexican director Nicolás Pereda

Documentary features and shorts: SXSW winner leads a deep non-fiction slate

Leading the documentary category is Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story, billed as the SXSW 2026 Grand Jury Winner. The film follows childhood friends whose teenage album unexpectedly goes viral during the pandemic, reuniting them after two decades.

Other documentaries in the lineup include:
• 13 Demands (a Duke University protest documentary) by Dilsey Davis
• Daughters of the Forest (a sci-fi mushroom epic)
• A City in the Forest (a Cop City exposé) by Lev Omelchenko
• Papertown, a mill-closing portrait by Jeremy Seifert
• Locally produced Nerdcore: Making it Anyway
• Wilmington filmmaker Mark Anders’ White Lightning, centered on runner King Combest

Short-film fans will also find a major offering: 60 short films split into nine thematic blocks, each named after dog breeds. Blocks include Löwchen Shorts (dramatic), Dandie Dinmont Shorts (comedy), and Klee Klai Shorts (experimental). Each block screens twice during the festival.

“Best of the Fest” comes to The Pointe 14

A new addition for this year is the inaugural “Best of the Fest” day at The Pointe 14 on Sunday, Nov. 22, bringing a curated set of festival highlights to a traditional multiplex setting.

The Pointe 14 screenings include:
• The Löwchen Shorts block (with films featuring major stars including Taylor Sheridan, alongside local talent such as Patrick Basquill)
• A repeat screening of Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story
• CAITY, a moody coming-of-age story set around a family’s haunted house

Expanded cinema, live performances, and the Cucalorus Film Conference

Beyond screenings, Cucalorus is also leaning into its performance and expanded cinema identity.

Notable events and collaborations include:
• Canadian cabaret comedian Shirley Gnome with a kids’ show that “goes off the rails”
• A special edition of “Can I Kick It?” with Shaolin Jazz performing a live score for the Wilmington cult favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• The Party Robot taking over the festival’s annual “Bus to Lumberton” experience, described as a site-specific homage to David Lynch’s Blue Velvet
• On Sunday, local troupe Mouths of Babes presenting Mobalorus at the GigSalad Lounge, featuring short plays, puppetry, and multimedia work

The Cucalorus Film Conference also returns for its second year with workshops and panels, including Camera Moves Tell the Story and Editing Blue Velvet. The conference will include the Cucalorus Film Foundation’s announcement of this year’s Filmed in NC Fund recipients, followed by a Keynote Brunch featuring Emily Best, CEO of indie film crowdfunding platform Seed&Spark.