Another audience embraces That Evening Sun

First, That Evening Sun picked up the Audience Award for Best Feature at the SXSW Film Festival. Then, the exceptional indie drama (starring Hal Holbrook, pictured above with some shameless stargazer) received the Audience Award for Best Feature at the Sarasota Film Festival. And now, it's three-for-three, with yet another Audience Award for Evening Sun at the Nashville Film Festival. Do I spot a trend here?

Review: That Evening Sun

An exceptionally fine example of regional indie filmmaking, That Evening Sun deserves savvy handling by a venturesome distributor to maximize its potential to attract audiences and win prizes. When I recently viewed this deliberately paced, richly atmospheric drama -- which won the Audience Award for Best Dramatic Feature, and a Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Cast, at last week's SXSW Film Festival in Austin -- I marveled at Hal Holbrook's career-highlight star turn as an irascible octogenarian farmer who will not go gentle into that good night, a vividly detailed yet subtly rendered performance that could generate serious heat in races for various year-end accolades. You can read my Variety review here. And if you missed it at SXSW, you catch writer-director Scott Teems' filmed-in-Tennessee production next month at, appropriately enough, the Nashville Film Festival.