SCHEDULE
SATURDAY
OCTOBER 24, 2026
9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
The Guest Ranch Murders
Directed by Jeremy Scott
Runtime: 56:05
(Drama)
Two couples take a summer vacation trip to a remote river resort and have a good time... until they don't.
10:15 AM - 11:45 AM
Directed by Margaret Magnus, Ben Hoffman
Runtime: 1:13:48
(Documentary)
Tree of Fire is a heartfelt story of loss, survival, and spiritual connection. After a devastating fire, a once-thriving oak – blessed by Avatar Meher Baba – rises from the ashes to offer love and solace. The tree’s survival becomes a living symbol of resilience and Divine love. Through personal testimonies and breathtaking imagery, the film invites viewers to rediscover their own capacity for healing, transformation, and spiritual awakening.
11:45 PM - 1:50 PM
Directed by Rickey Bird
Runtime: 01:47:33
(Documentary)
Kern Oil is a documentary that explores the history, people, and future of California's oil industry through the lens of Kern County—the energy-producing heart of the state. Featuring interviews with workers, industry leaders, historians, and community members, the film examines California's continued dependence on oil, the challenges facing local production, and the impact energy policies have on the families and communities that help power the state. More than a story about oil, Kern Oil is a story about people, jobs, and the debate over where California's energy should come from.
1:50 PM - 3:40 PM
Directed by Michael Soenen
Runtime: 01:31:00
(Documentary)
Nothing to See Here: Watts is a film created by the community—not about it—revealing what becomes possible when people see their enemies differently.
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
PANEL DISCUSSION
Begin Again, Vertically: How Hollywood’s Newest Format Can Change Lives
Havilah Malone is an award-winning actress, executive producer, four-time #1 bestselling author, and the founder of Verticals For Good, a movement using the vertical micro-series format to tell stories that entertain and transform. Her screen credits include HBO’s “Barry” and “Insecure” and CBS’s “NCIS: New Orleans.” Her film “I’m In Love” premiered in the United Kingdom in 2025 and has since won the Filmic Brilliance Award in Los Angeles, along with awards in France, Greece and Spain. Directed by Roberta Sparta, it was inspired by Malone’s Grammy-considered spoken word album “Proof Of What’s Possible.”
Malone knows what it means to begin again. Before turning to storytelling full time, she ran a $160 million technology sales business at HP. A sudden layoff began the journey she chronicles in her #1 bestseller, “Rewriting A New History: A Spiritual Path to Audacious Authenticity and Healing.” In 2026, she launched the Verticals For Good Micro-Series Challenge, inviting writers worldwide to adapt the book into a 10–12 episode vertical series, with the winning script announced live at the LA Vertical Drama Market. An alumna of the Sundance Collab x TikTok Micro-Series Writers Program, she is developing “Kiddie Khans,” an original 50-episode comedy mockumentary vertical series she created, co-wrote and stars in. Her vertical acting credits include “Period Therapy,” a branded micro-series for Cora.
Malone speaks at major media and film events, including the 2026 Festival de Cannes in France, and regularly hosts and moderates conversations at the LA Vertical Drama Market, where she is a featured panelist this year. A former national spokesperson on QVC and HSN, she is a Napoleon Hill Foundation Certified Instructor and a Master Certified Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
5:15 PM - 6:30 PM
Saturday Night Orange Carpet
The Old Towne Film Festival begins with the people who make it possible.
Join filmmakers, storytellers, neighbors, local businesses and friends of the festival on our Community Orange Carpet as we kick off the 2026 Old Towne Film Festival.
Come early, get your photo on the carpet, meet this year's filmmakers and storytellers, and celebrate the community behind the stories.
Everyone's invited. Come as you are.
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Short Films
Directed by Michael Plewa
Runtime: 12:00
(Drama)
Two working magicians fall in love on New Years Eve only to realize their divergent career prospects might be impossible to overcome.
Directed by Russ Emanuel
Runtime: 03:59
(Comedy)
Rockin' the House!
In this series pilot, even on the quietest streets, one can find a certain level of excitement, "Round the Corner". A humorous take on dealing with a zombie pandemic and what 2 competing homeowners go through in their daily lives, sometimes involving “cats” and a “chef” son.
Why Dogs Howl
Directed by Sandi Johnson
Runtime: 09:33
(Comedy)
After meeting online, a BOY and GIRL are out on their first date. It rapidly devolves into the BOY vomiting out his life in a Howl that ultimately encompasses the entire universe.
Directed by Kissan Desai
Runtime: 04:26
(Horror)
A young mother’s attempt to calm her toddler with a popular children’s show takes a chilling turn when the program's cheerful colors and songs begin to trigger something deeply disturbing within her child.
Directed by Dawn Fields
Runtime: 08:30
(Drama)
A bratty 10-year-old girl learns a SCARY lesson about opening her gifts before Christmas morning.
Directed by Connor Mulcahy, Grant Hughes
Runtime: 22:33
(Comedy)
Two troubled half-brothers hide out in a dingy motel room with stolen cash, until one mistake puts everything at risk.
The Projectionist
Directed by Dean Dezara
Runtime: 09:06
(Horror)
Directed by Maxwell Gillanders
Runtime: 09:41
(Sci-Fi)
When a young girl meets an escaped dinosaur, an unexpected friendship 180 million years in the making begins.
8:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Short Films
Directed by Mary Lou Sandler
Runtime: 39:51
(Sci-Fi)
Set against the backdrop of a wellness retreat gone hilariously wrong, four women confront their own curated calm and each other as the line between authenticity and performance begins to blur. Part comedy, part catharsis, Well(ness) pulls back the ring light on self-care culture to reveal the truth hiding behind the hashtags.
Directed by Julie Fergus
Runtime: 5:54
(Horror)
Hush
A night where no words are necessary for an encounter in the snow.
KONGFRONTATION
Directed by Ashley Newquist, Eddie Newquist
Runtime: 11:25
(Documentary)
An epic documentary that captures the raw and intense process of building a first of its kind, billion dollar movie studio theme park in Orlando, Florida as it faces steep challenges and one epic confrontation.
A docu short about a missing content creator and the strange videos of his supposed final moments that start surfacing online after law enforcement finds his broken phone.
Directed by Joseph J. Parisi
Runtime: 10:37
(Horror)
Directed by Catriona Rubenis-Stevens
Runtime: 12:37
(Drama)
A Texan ex-con puts her newfound freedom on the line for a young girl fleeing the state for an abortion who's on the run from a pair of right wing militiamen turned bounty hunters.
Based around real anti-choice laws in Texas, the bounty hunters are looking to turn the pregnant teenager, and anyone helping her, in to the authorities to collect a $10k payout from the state.
Ellen faces down her past and must decide whether to do what's safe or what's right in this timely neo-western thriller.