Peaberry Film Festival Opens with Metro-Atlanta Premiere of Natchez
October 3 | Historic Canton Theatre | Canton, GA
CANTON, Ga. — Peaberry Film Festival is proud to announce its Opening Night selection, the Metro-Atlanta premiere of the Tribeca-winning documentary feature Natchez, screening Thursday, October 3 at the Historic Canton Theatre.
NATCHEZ captures an unsettling clash between history and memory in a small Mississippi town; a layered mosaic of people contending with the weight of the past in a place where it is always present. Equal parts amusing and disturbing, the film journeys through an antebellum tourist destination at a crossroads as it grapples with a deeply troubled history so thoroughly ingrained in its present, audiences are left to wonder if it’s actually past at all.
“This is the third year in a row that Peaberry has opened with a film that explores Southern history through different lenses,” said Festival Director Brent Lambert-Zaffino. “This is a gorgeous movie. We are very proud to be bringing it to Canton.”
For this special Opening Night screening, Peaberry is partnering with Canopy Atlanta, a community journalism nonprofit that collaborates with residents to tell stories about their communities—neighborhood by neighborhood—redefining who journalism is by and for.
The evening will begin with Genia Billingsly’s short film Healing the Land, which explores the Chattahoochee Brick Company’s history of land exploitation. The screening will be followed by a wide-ranging discussion with Billingsly, Canopy’s Floyd Hall and Mariann Martin, and Festival Director Lambert-Zaffino. The conversation will highlight the films, the weight of history, the role of storytelling, and the importance of collaboration in an increasingly fragmented world.
"The film Healing the Land connects the legacy of convict leasing with the site’s industrial pollution,” said Billingsly, “framing this troubling history through the lens of community journalism and storytelling."
The Peaberry Film Festival runs October 2–5, 2025 at the Historic Canton Theatre in Canton, GA, presenting a weekend of local and international shorts and features—both narrative and documentary—paired with post-film discussions, live music, and after parties.
