Submitted PhotoRails to Reels Film Festival winners from left to right: Miles Doleac, Best Narrative Director for "Demons"; Director Karl Fernandez and Actor David Volino, Best Narrative Short for "The Rose Garden." 

After months of preparation, the fourth annual Rails to Reels Film Festival ended Saturday night “in fantastic fashion,” organizer Thomas Burton said.

He noted the following award-winners:

• Director Miles Doleac, of Hattiesburg, won the award for Best Narrative Feature for his film “Demons.”

• “The Rose Garden” won the award for the Best Narrative Short, with Director Karl Fernandez and Actor David Volino in attendance.

• Director Fiona Cochrane, from Australia, won Best Documentary Short for her film “25 Tracks” and Best Music Video for “Fix My Bail,” which feature The Black Sorrows.

• Rick Bowman won Best Documentary for “Banjos, Bluegrass & Squirrel Barkers.”

• Burton also noted the presence of a number of Mississippi filmmakers, including Lynn Forney, Dylan Scott, Sean Riley, Matt McCoy, Caleb Haynes, Jimmy Andrews, Daniel Ethridge, Chelsea Carter and Dale Tice.

• Director Doug Phillips, from Washington, D.C., also came to the festival.

Burton said, too, that this year’s FLASH Film Festival, hosted by Meridian actor Elliott Street, yielded some fresh storytelling in Meridian during an intensified production period beginning on Thursday night. Director Michael Williams worked on a film called “Royal,” featuring music by the band “Lost In Constellation” and filmed in the Temple Theatre. Burton said the film illuminated corners of the Temple Theatre that he’d never quite perceived before.

Director Miles Doleac created a film called “Light and Shadow,” filmed deep into the night at Weidmann’s Restaurant.

“It had a film noir look to it, and it was good to see Meridian in that backdrop,” Burton said, noting that both of those films received a showing on Saturday.

Burton mentioned another “flash” film created at Brickhaus Brewtique, in Meridian, and shown later in the weekend. The film was called “Broken Circle,” directed by Jake Mardis.

“We get so used to seeing Meridian in our daily routine, and these filmmakers brought out things we don’t usually notice,” Burton said, noting a dreamlike quality that the films bestowed upon Meridian.

The festival stretched from Friday evening to Saturday night, and even on Saturday afternoon a clutch of film-goers was watching the stream of productions. The festival also included interaction between filmmakers and audience members on Saturday night.

Burton noted that the question-and-answer session sparked discussion about the filmmaking process and that it also explored the need to continue to strive for a diverse group of filmmakers in future festivals.

“We want to get more people involved from different backgrounds, genders and races,” Burton said.

Organizers presented more than 30 films in the festival, Burton said.