Film
PRESENTS
BIG EARS 2025 FILM PROGRAM
The Big Ears Festival will return to downtown Knoxville’s Regal Riviera in 2025 with a collection of films showcasing a dynamic mix of innovative cinema that complements the festival’s spirit of artistic exploration. From thought-provoking documentaries to avant-garde narratives, the film lineup will offer a unique lens into the worlds of music, art, and culture that define Big Ears.
While all film presentations are included in a 4-Day or Single-Day festival pass, this year, we’re excited to introduce a Film-Only Pass, granting access to all film screenings over the festival’s four days, March 27-30, 2025, beginning with a special presentation of Eno on the evening of Wednesday, March 26. The full film schedule will be announced along with the detailed festival schedule in mid-February. Whether you’re a cinephile or just looking to dive into the cinematic side of Big Ears, this pass offers a tailored experience that puts the festival’s diverse and groundbreaking films front and center.
The past is prologue for this year’s film program as we explore foregone favorites within film and music. We travel to a 1978 concert from The Cramps and The Mutants, thrash with Fugazi in the 90s, sing in the congregation with Aretha, journey into post-Soviet Roma culture, and sit in conversation with Jimi Hendrix, Patrice Lumumba, and Jimmy Cliff. Even our Secret Screening (to be announced day-of) is a conversation with the living past.
The 2025 Film Program kicks off with a Wednesday night screening, a first for us. We welcome Gary Hustwit’s Eno, a generative documentary that is different every time it’s shown. We’ll be screening it twice for those audience members who want to experience this firsthand.
We are pleased to host a residency with legendary producer and author Joe Boyd. Joe will be in conversation with NPR Music Critic and Big Ears stalwart Ann Powers about his most recent book And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music. He has prepared an audiovisual accompaniment of the book including never-before-seen footage from his travels across the globe. This presentation is made especially for Big Ears audiences and is not to be missed. Joe is also guest-curating several overlooked and need-to-be-revisited films.
Swamp Dogg will join us for Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted, a wild ride and a documentary unlike anything we’ve seen. He’ll also treat Big Ears audiences to a full band concert and a special treat related to his forthcoming, next-level cookbook “If You Can Kill It, I Can Cook It (Without Salt)”.
Grab some popcorn, grab a Film Badge, and let’s time travel together.
-Lily Keber
Amazing Grace (2018)
Directed by Alan Elliot and Sydney Pollack, Produced by Joe Boyd
236 Scheduled
ENO (2024)
A Generative Film by Gary Hustwit
869 Scheduled
Gadjo Dilo (1997)
Directed by Tony Gatlif
140 Scheduled
House of Direction (2024)
88 Scheduled
Joe Boyd’s And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music
A one-time only audio-visual tour
292 Scheduled
Jimi Hendrix (1973)
Directed and Produced by Joe Boyd, John Head and Gary Weis
290 Scheduled
Preservation
Exclusive Sneak Preview
225 Scheduled
Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted (2024)
Directed by Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson
255 Scheduled
The Napa State Tapes: The Cramps and The Mutants (1978/2021)
Directed by Joe Rees, Mike Plante, and Jason Willis
295 Scheduled
We are Fugazi from Washington D.C. (2022)
Curated by Joe Gross, Jeff Krulik, Joseph Pattisall
379 Scheduled
Lily Keber, Curator
Lily is a filmmaker and educator based in New Orleans. Her directorial debut, Bayou Maharajah, premiered at SXSW in 2013 and has since won many awards including the Oxford American Award for Best Southern Film and Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ Documentary Of The Year. Lily is a co-founder of New Orleans Video Voices, a women-led collective dedicated to increasing media literacy across the Gulf South. In 2015, she was commissioned by Time Inc. to contribute to their coverage of Hurricane Katrina’s 10-year anniversary. The resulting film, Everything Is To Be Continued, exposes how Black working musicians have been excluded from New Orleans’ economic recovery. Lily’s second feature documentary Buckjumping premiered in October 2018 to the largest audience ever assembled at the New Orleans Film Festival.