EAST LANSING, Mich. — Sunday is the last day of the last East Lansing Film Festival. The independent film showcase, now in its 29th edition, is holding its closing screenings at Hannah Community Center before going dark for good.
Founder and director Susan Woods launched the festival in 1997, after the city of East Lansing backed the idea with a startup grant. She has said a lack of fundraising is the reason this year is the final one, and organizers built the 2026 lineup around a Final Curtain theme.
Over the decades the festival made room for the kinds of movies that rarely reach commercial screens, including foreign features, documentaries and short films from young directors looking for their first audience.
This year opened Thursday night with Ernie and Emma, an independently made film written and directed by Bruce Campbell, the Evil Dead actor and Michigan native who once attended Michigan State. Campbell introduced the movie, which he shot in Oregon, and fielded questions from the crowd afterward. Festival board members also used opening night to surprise Woods with a state of Michigan tribute for her work.
Tickets for the remaining programs are sold at the door on the day of each screening. Woods has said she hopes to keep some form of film programming alive with a series at Hannah Community Center down the road.
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