East Lansing Film Festival’s final run, Oct. 22–25: Bruce Campbell opens it in person, then 10 more screenings at Hannah Community Center

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The East Lansing Film Festival opens its last edition Thursday night with “Evil Dead” star Bruce Campbell presenting his new movie in person, and runs through Sunday at the Hannah Community Center.

Founder Susan Woods told WILX-TV that she decided to end the festival after nearly three decades because of fundraising challenges. This year’s theme is “The Final Curtain.” The festival has long been a showcase for independent and foreign films, documentaries and shorts that rarely reach commercial theaters, and a goal for young filmmakers trying to break in, Woods told the station.

Opening night, Thursday, Oct. 22. Campbell, a Michigan native, will present “Ernie & Emma,” an 88-minute comedy he wrote, directed and stars in, about a small-town pear salesman following his late wife’s instructions for her ashes, according to the festival. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and the film starts at 7 p.m. Opening-night tickets are $15, or $8 for students with ID, and can be bought ahead online.

Campbell told WILX that East Lansing audiences “like weird independent movies” and have backed the “Evil Dead” films for years, and he credited longtime MSU professor Bill Vincent, who has appeared in some of them.

The rest of the weekend (all at Hannah Community Center, from the festival’s posted schedule):

Friday, Oct. 23: Short Films Program 1 at 3:15 p.m.; “Wild Inside,” Penny Lane’s documentary about Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl that escaped New York’s Central Park Zoo, at 6 p.m.; Short Films Program 2 at 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 24: “Because I Can,” a documentary about a run in honor of a friend with multiple sclerosis, at 1 p.m.; “Who Moves America,” a documentary about UPS Teamsters before a strike deadline, followed by a panel, at 3:15 p.m.; “Blue Heron,” a drama about a Hungarian immigrant family on Vancouver Island, at 6 p.m.; and the Swedish comedy “Cat Kingdom” at 8:30 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 25: Short Films Program 3 at 1 p.m.; Short Documentaries at 3:15 p.m.; and “Nuclear Boy,” about a teenager who tries to build a reactor in his mother’s shed, inspired by true events, at 6 p.m.

Tickets. A $60 festival pass covers every film, including opening night. For single films after Thursday, the festival’s home page lists $12 general admission and $8 for students, while the individual film pages list $10 for all tickets; both say these are sold at the door only, and the film pages say sales start one hour before showtime. Bring cash or a card and check with the festival if the price matters to you.

Getting there. Hannah Community Center is at 819 Abbot Road in East Lansing. Sponsors listed by the festival include Michigan State University, the East Lansing Arts Commission and Celebration Cinema.

More weekend ideas are on our Lansing page.

Sources:
East Lansing Film Festival, home page (opening night, prices, festival pass, dates), https://elff.com/
East Lansing Film Festival, “Films Schedule” (day-by-day schedule, sponsors), https://elff.com/films-schedule/
East Lansing Film Festival, film pages for “Ernie & Emma” and “Wild Inside” and the other listed titles (descriptions, $10 door price), https://elff.com/Films/ernie-emma/, https://elff.com/Films/wild-inside/
WILX-TV, “East Lansing Film Festival wraps up nearly three-decade run this weekend,” Oct. 21, 2026 (final year, fundraising, Woods and Campbell quotes), https://www.wilx.com/2026/10/21/east-lansing-film-festival-wraps-up-nearly-three-decade-run-this-weekend/
Photo: Gage Skidmore, “Bruce Campbell by Gage Skidmore.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bruce_Campbell_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg

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