El Dorado will draw international and Arkansas directors to its sixth annual film festival, taking place Oct. 10-12.

The festival will include four full-length films, which will show at the South Arkansas Arts Center, according to a press release.

Seven films from the Louisiana Film Prize and a 60-minute block of short films from Los Angeles-based Dust Sdios will also play at the festival, said Alexander Jeffrey, the executive director of the festival.

Dust’s films will be of the science-fiction genre, Jeffrey said.

Three of the short films will be by El Dorado natives, according to a press release.

Jeffrey said the festival has continued to grow in credibility the longer it’s been in existence, bringing in filmmakers from as far as Australia.

“I’m really excited for this year,” Jeffrey said.

Tickets for the event are $30 each, according to the press release.

The festival thrives in El Dorado, said Colleen Means, the marketing director South Arkansas Arts Center.

“El Dorado is an art community,” Means said.

Because of the town’s saturation in the arts, Means said residents place a lot of value on the festival.

“Good artistic endeavors are highly appreciated here,” Means said.

The venue seats 300 people, creating an intimate experience, Mean said. The audience has many opportunities to interact with the filmmakers

Jeffrey said the purpose of a film festival has changed from allowing people to see independent movies, which viewers can watch on platforms like Hulu. Now film festivals exist to give people a unique experience.

The four full-length films include “I Am Human,” “Lost Bayou,” “Tommy Emmanuel: The Endless Road” and “El Cuarto Reino.”

Both “I Am Human” and “Lost Bayou” showed at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019, according to a press release.

“El Cuarto Reino” takes place on the edge of New York and discusses undocumented workers and the American dream, according to a press release.

“Tommy Emmanuel: The Endless Road” follows the musician through his career. Filmmaker Jaime Lewis said she was working on the project when she attended the festival in 2017 and has looked forward to showing her own film in El Dorado ever since.

“It just feels like a bit of a homecoming which is really great,” Lewis said.

She said the film involved extensive travel and research.

“It’s Tommy’s life story, but it’s also this story of fatherhood and family,” Lewis said.

“I Am Human” is a documentary pertaining the link between humans and technology, and “Lost Bayou” details the story of an addict who returns to Louisiana to reconnect with her father.

The festival begins at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 10 with Dust’s short films and then is followed by Louisiana & Memphis Film Prize short films, according to the festival website.

The next day, Dust’s films again play at noon as well as the mish mash short films. Arkansas short films and drama short films will show at 2:30 p.m. “El Cuarto Reino” and the comedy short films will begin at 5 p.m., and “I am Human” will end the day’s showings at 7 p.m.

The final day comedy and drama short films will show starting at 10 a.m. At 12:30, “El Cuarto Reino” and mish mash short films will play followed by Arkansas short films and Louisiana & Memphis Film Prize showings at 3 p.m.

At 6 p.m., “Lost Bayou” will start, and “Tommy Emmanuel: The Endless Road” will end the festival’s films at 8:30 p.m., according to the festival website.