In January 2024, Asheboro area artist and visionary, Ty Brueilly brought Asheboro it's first ever International Film Festival and it extended so much life and culture to downtown, thanks to teamwork with the historic Sunset Theatre and the City Of Asheboro.
It was well attended and well received by close to 1,000 attendees!
Now in our third event year, the MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD AWARDS at SUNSET FILM FESTIVAL will take place once again at the historic and beautiful Sunset Theatre, from August 7-9, 2026 and will continue the tradition of giving our audiences the opportunity to see a wide array of films from film-makers all around the world.
Although the main intentions for our screening blocks are dedicated to finding films made in or around North Carolina, we also include documentaries, music videos, shorts, late night horror content and urban comedy from all over the world. 100 film titles were included in both the 2024 & 2025 schedule, mostly short films, and we are currently working on screening our submissions so far for the 2026 schedule.
Intimate Q&A panels are held following each film with representation, along with some meet and greet sessions are planned. Exclusive Asheboro Undecided & Comedy Hurts podcasts are planned for live filming on stage.
Past interviews have been with former Rolling Stone Music Editor, Mark Kemp and our guests of honor, Richard & Anastasia Elfman in 2025 and The Creative Businessmen sitting down with our guest of honor Allen Danziger (original 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre') and cast/crew members of 'Cannibal Comedian' in 2024.
The opening night networking event, is dedicated to ice breaking and meeting fellow filmmakers and the opening night reception is a celebration with live music and a comedy hour.
The award segment of our event is a formal award ceremony, for the films that are programmed into the festival with awards chosen by and given by three distinct groups of judges, who remain anonymous.
Another component of the award ceremony are cultural awards for the arts, entertainment, journalism and activism within the community of Asheboro, a way for visiting filmmakers and audiences to get to know what Asheboro has to offer.

Awards & Prizes

New awards and categories in 2026

Rules & Terms

Screening blocks are prioritized to film-makers or representatives or supporters of the film who can personally attend the festival. If no one is able to attend or support, we will program that film into our supplemental screening blocks later in the year, rest assured it will have no influence on awards or promotion on our end.

We reserve the right to change our schedule at the last second if there is no representation for a film in atttendance.

Mightier Than The Sword Awards at Sunset Film Festival is open to all forms of films from any year, yet take priority for North Carolina films.

Mightier Than The Sword Awards at Sunset Film Festival is largely composed of short films, 30 mins or less and our screening blocks only have room for 4-6 feature films.

We will not accept or consider any films from companies or film-makers who have broken the house rules of the Sunset Theatre.

We also do not accept any "slideshow" type projects.

21 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Thomas A. Fowler

    Ty and the team are great over there! Was going to go in-person but crazy snowstorm brought travel to a standstill. Ty kept in touch and shipped our award by mail. They're a group of kind, awesome people, enjoyed the festival and hope to attend to another in person when there's another project!

    July 2025
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  • Anne Hickey

    Great communication! Great all around! Honored to be a part of this with the music video for the band Mama Doom. You really see the dedication and love for independent film in the work that Ty put into this festival. Would give more than 5 stars if I could.

    March 2025
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  • Aaron Crocker

    I would highly recommend this festival! We were honored to have our music video selected, and straightaway I found Ty to be extremely communicative, organized, and motivated. I was fortunate enough to attend the festival in-person and enjoyed watching the other selections and meeting other filmmakers. We had some weather during the festival, but Ty pulled everything together despite it all! What a fun time!--As an aside, the city is beautiful as well.

    February 2025
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  • John Tedeschi

    Great opportunity, thank you for including A Book by Their Cover in your important film festival. Very supportive, encouraging, and the mission of your Film Festival has a great perspective and cause.

    February 2025
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  • Alvin Sloan

    A great festival, with excellent communication—well worth submitting to.

    January 2025
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