Community Calendar

The 32nd annual Cucalorus Film Festival will take place from November 19-22, 2026, in Wilmington, NC. The full lineup can be found by viewing the film guide. This year's festival hub will be located at the Coastline Center at Aloft - where you'll find the Ticketbox (pass pickup and ticket purchases), Coastline Main Cinema, Coastline Blue Cinema, and the GigSalad Lounge (workshops during the day, performances at night!). Screenings and events will also take place at Jengo's Playhouse, Thalian Hall, CFCC's Wilson Center, Hi-Wire Brewing, The Rift, and The Pointe 14. Come join us for film screenings, performances, conversations, and social events. We can't wait to create the magic together!

The 32nd annual Cucalorus Film Festival will take place from November 19-22, 2026, in Wilmington, NC. The full lineup can be found by viewing the film guide. This year's festival hub will be located at the Coastline Center at Aloft - where you'll find the Ticketbox (pass pickup and ticket purchases), Coastline Main Cinema, Coastline Blue Cinema, and the GigSalad Lounge (workshops during the day, performances at night!). Screenings and events will also take place at Jengo's Playhouse, Thalian Hall, CFCC's Wilson Center, Hi-Wire Brewing, The Rift, and The Pointe 14. Come join us for film screenings, performances, conversations, and social events. We can't wait to create the magic together!

Cucalorus Film Festival presents: "Everything Else Is Noise"
Screening at Thalian Hall on Friday, November 20 at 4:15 PM
When a contemporary composer sneaks into a colleague’s apartment for a TV interview, a simple profile unravels into a chaotic comedy. Surrounded by power outages, a barking dog, and family rivalries, three women clash over art and ego. This sharp, absurd portrait hilariously strips away creative prestige to reveal the fierce bond beneath the surface.

Cucalorus Film Festival Presents: "Capsized"
Screening at Thalian Hall on Friday, November 20 at 7:00 PM
Filmed right here in Wilmington, NC, this sharp indie drama follows the O'Briens after they lose their home to foreclosure. Naturally, larger-than-life patriarch Ray turns the crisis into a spectacle. He packs his wife, five kids, and the family hamster onto a barely seaworthy boat, aiming for a deep-sea fishing tournament with a grand prize big enough to solve everything. But as the stakes get real, their carefully maintained family equilibrium shatters. Capsized explores the cost of living in one person’s gravity—and what happens when the orbit finally breaks.

The 32nd annual Cucalorus Film Festival will take place from November 19-22, 2026, in Wilmington, NC. The full lineup can be found by viewing the film guide. This year's festival hub will be located at the Coastline Center at Aloft - where you'll find the Ticketbox (pass pickup and ticket purchases), Coastline Main Cinema, Coastline Blue Cinema, and the GigSalad Lounge (workshops during the day, performances at night!). Screenings and events will also take place at Jengo's Playhouse, Thalian Hall, CFCC's Wilson Center, Hi-Wire Brewing, The Rift, and The Pointe 14. Come join us for film screenings, performances, conversations, and social events. We can't wait to create the magic together!

The 32nd annual Cucalorus Film Festival will take place from November 19-22, 2026, in Wilmington, NC. The full lineup can be found by viewing the film guide. This year's festival hub will be located at the Coastline Center at Aloft - where you'll find the Ticketbox (pass pickup and ticket purchases), Coastline Main Cinema, Coastline Blue Cinema, and the GigSalad Lounge (workshops during the day, performances at night!). Screenings and events will also take place at Jengo's Playhouse, Thalian Hall, CFCC's Wilson Center, Hi-Wire Brewing, The Rift, and The Pointe 14. Come join us for film screenings, performances, conversations, and social events. We can't wait to create the magic together!

Cucalorus Film Festival presents: "Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story"
Screening at Coastline Main on Saturday, November 21 at 3:45 PM
Screening at The Pointe 14 on Sunday, November 22 at 4:00 PM
In 2000, four pre-teens recorded a pop album as X-Cetra, then forgot about it as adolescent concerns about boys and drugstore shoplifting emerged. Twenty years later, the tape goes viral, launching the forgotten band resulting in a Rolling Stone feature and a record deal. Decades after their teen dreams faded, X-Cetra reunites to reclaim the pure, unselfconscious girlhood magic captured in their youth. Director Ayden Mayeri starred in Cucalorus 31 hit Honeyjoon.

Cucalorus Film Festival presents: "CAITY"
Screening at Coastline Main on Friday, November 20 at 1:00 PM
Screening at The Pointe 14 on Sunday, November 22 at 7:30 PM
Sixteen-year-old Caity prepares for the new Halloween season at her family-owned haunted house alongside her newly sober father, Paul. When she recognizes signs of a relapse from Paul, she tries to cover for him. As she struggles to keep the business afloat, she begins flirting with her own destructive habits while navigating a budding attraction to new employee Hannah. This moody, coming-of-age drama features a poignant central performance from Chiara Aurelia.

Historic Poplar Grove rings in the 2026 holiday season with 4 weeks of “Merry and Bright,” a dazzling festival of lights and holiday magic. Prepare for a totally interactive, no time limit evening full of curated, one of a kind lighted and themed scenes that will take you through hidden gardens, under the sea and beyond. The ancient Oaks of the Grove cascade with lights, 30 themed and magnificently decorated Christmas trees inspire delight, roaring fire-pits and marshmallow roasting areas create cozy memories, different food trucks each night tickle the taste buds, snow machines elicit squeals of joy and indoor barns bustle with culinary delights, adult specialty libations, wine and beer and arts and craft vendors.

Back for Year 5 is Santa Earl, a professional and vetted Santa who has won over the hearts of little ones as they’ve grown up with him. Mr. Twister’s balloon creations will be in The Big Top Tent and the Historic 1850’s Manor House will be decked out in its Victorian finest for you to take in the cozy sights and sounds of the Holiday Season.

Santa, Mr. Twister, marshmallow roasting, letters to Santa, letters to the troops at the vintage USO, a walk-through of the Victorian manor and all the photo ops you can handle are INCLUDED with paid admission of $10 per person (all ages) in advance ( under 2 years old are free ), $12 at the gate. Tickets are available at www.poplargrove.org or at the entry kiosk the night of, although capacity restrictions may apply. There is plenty of free parking and overflow parking will be available at Scotts Hill Baptist Church, located behind our site. You can come anytime you like during the evening of the date selected and stay as long as you like for the ultimate interactive experience! Pre-sale purchased tickets may also be changed at any time before your booked date by contacting us.

Show runs from Friday, November 27th to Tuesday, December 22nd from 5pm-9pm.
Poplar Grove is a non-profit organization and 250 year old Historic site with all funds raised helping us continue our mission of “Education, Conservation and Preservation.”
See website for details or follow us on Facebook at “farmersmarketpoplargrove” and poplar_grove on Instagram.

Historic Poplar Grove rings in the 2026 holiday season with 4 weeks of “Merry and Bright,” a dazzling festival of lights and holiday magic. Prepare for a totally interactive, no time limit evening full of curated, one of a kind lighted and themed scenes that will take you through hidden gardens, under the sea and beyond. The ancient Oaks of the Grove cascade with lights, 30 themed and magnificently decorated Christmas trees inspire delight, roaring fire-pits and marshmallow roasting areas create cozy memories, different food trucks each night tickle the taste buds, snow machines elicit squeals of joy and indoor barns bustle with culinary delights, adult specialty libations, wine and beer and arts and craft vendors.

Back for Year 5 is Santa Earl, a professional and vetted Santa who has won over the hearts of little ones as they’ve grown up with him. Mr. Twister’s balloon creations will be in The Big Top Tent and the Historic 1850’s Manor House will be decked out in its Victorian finest for you to take in the cozy sights and sounds of the Holiday Season.

Santa, Mr. Twister, marshmallow roasting, letters to Santa, letters to the troops at the vintage USO, a walk-through of the Victorian manor and all the photo ops you can handle are INCLUDED with paid admission of $10 per person (all ages) in advance ( under 2 years old are free ), $12 at the gate. Tickets are available at www.poplargrove.org or at the entry kiosk the night of, although capacity restrictions may apply. There is plenty of free parking and overflow parking will be available at Scotts Hill Baptist Church, located behind our site. You can come anytime you like during the evening of the date selected and stay as long as you like for the ultimate interactive experience! Pre-sale purchased tickets may also be changed at any time before your booked date by contacting us.

Show runs from Friday, November 27th to Tuesday, December 22nd from 5pm-9pm.
Poplar Grove is a non-profit organization and 250 year old Historic site with all funds raised helping us continue our mission of “Education, Conservation and Preservation.”
See website for details or follow us on Facebook at “farmersmarketpoplargrove” and poplar_grove on Instagram.