Real to Reel International Film Festival

Our goal is to showcase thought-provoking films and offer a venue where movie lovers who appreciate independent vision can celebrate this unique art form.

The Cleveland County Arts Council is pleased to announce that on July 2025.. the 26th Annual "Real to Reel International Film Festival" will once again open its doors to embrace filmmakers and film lovers alike.

Located in the heart of North Carolina between Asheville and Charlotte, Cleveland County is right in the middle of it all. The mission of the Real to Reel International Film Festival is to offer a forum for independent film, video, and multi-media artists from around the world to showcase their talents and expose the works of these artists to our region.

Visitors to the Joy Performance Center - 202 S. Railroad Ave., Kings Mountain, a renovated classic theater from the 1940s in Kings Mountain, NC can expect to find a great lineup of films from all over the world, a chance to talk with many of the filmmakers and of course a concession stand with all those cinematic goodies.

Schedule of Events:

Matinee 1:00 pm
- Sour Note - NC - Student Short - 0:11:36 - PG
- Jia - Australia - Student Short - 0:01:00 - G
- Heart Cracked Open - NC - Student Doc - 0:17:11 - G
- Fried Rice - Canada - Student Short - 0:08:36 - PG-13
- The Clones of Kevin Nguyen - NC - Student Animation - 0:04:27 - PG
- Holy Heaviness - Iran - Pro Animation - 0:08:57 - PG
- Residuum - GA - Amateur Short - 0:11:17 - PG-13
- Last Call - NC - Student Short - 0:17:30 - PG-13
- Intermission 0:10:00
- Hell in a Climate Heaven - NC - Student Doc - 0:16:30 - PG
- Shaping the Old North State - NC - Student Doc - 0:41:59 - G 
- Small Town Friendly - NC -  Student Doc - 0:28:42 - PG
- Cow Killer - Iran - Pro Short - 0:24:59 - PG-13
- Total Runtime: 3:22:44 

7:00 pm
- A Thousand Years - CA - Pro Short - 0:30:22 - G 
- A Kingdom of Tea and Strangers - TN - Pro Doc - 1:47:00 - G 
- Total Runtime: 2:17:22