My Mayfly, the first feature film from writer-director Paula Kay Hornick, will celebrate its world premiere at Film Fest Knox on Saturday, November 14, at 9:15 p.m. at Regal Riviera, Theater 2, 510 S. Gay Street in downtown Knoxville. Starring Adelaide Clemens with Alicia Witt and Johnathon Schaech, it was shot in the Great Smoky Mountains and Knoxville. The film follows a woman whose relentless pace of life has little room for the people and things that matter most. When she embarks on a solo fly-fishing trip to prove something to herself, a harrowing experience in the wilderness and an encounter with a mysterious forest ranger force her to confront the past she’s been running from and reconsider what truly matters.
“Sharing My Mayfly with the community that helped make it feels like a homecoming,” says Hornick. “This story grew out of experiences that changed my own understanding of what matters most. The Smokies became an essential part of telling it, and getting to celebrate here with our local crew and cast makes this premiere especially meaningful.”
A post-screening Q&A with Hornick and Clemens will follow.
Get tickets for the world premiere
A story four decades in the making
As a teenager, Hornick lost her sister Georgann in a tragic accident while Georgann was in her care. She carried that guilt and shame for much of her life.
Years later, a seven-day hospital stay brought what she describes as a profound spiritual experience. Then, in 2020, a television series she had created stalled when the pandemic shut the studio down.
During the pandemic, Hornick taught herself to fly fish, inspired years earlier by A River Runs Through It. On the river she found a quiet she hadn’t felt in years, and a way to weave those three experiences into one story of grief, forgiveness and surrender.
“If the film inspires someone to step outside, reconnect with nature, spend more time with ones they love or even pick up a fly rod, that would make me especially so, so happy.”
A phone call and a 24-inch brown trout
On Halloween 2024, executive producer Meryl Metni called Hornick about the script. Metni had never fly-fished. After reading the screenplay she hired a guide, learned, and texted Hornick a photo of herself holding an enormous brown trout. Before they hung up, she offered the investment that made the film real.
Producer Ginger Sledge signed on to consult and build the team. Close friends Kylie Davis and Tammy Parmentier-Jones invested, and Hornick deferred part of her own pay as writer, director and co-producer to close the gap.
Twenty days in the wild
About 80% of My Mayfly was filmed outdoors in and around Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with interiors shot in Knoxville. The 20-day shoot brought a lightning storm on day one, a lead actress sidelined with COVID before filming began, and a black bear that wandered through a location scout.
When a storm turned one forest trail to mud, the crew carried cameras, grip and lighting equipment half a mile into the woods by hand. On September 16, 2025, as news came of Robert Redford’s death, Hornick asked the cast and crew for a moment of silence on the river: his film was what first showed her the beauty of fly fishing.
The cast also includes Michael Milligan, Melanie Hutsell, Camden Schaech, Rocky Meyers and Sinan, a trained Knoxville squirrel who is scheduled to walk the red carpet at the premiere.
An old friend’s score and two original songs
Composer Craig Dobbin, who wrote jingles with Hornick years ago, wrote the original score. Hornick, also a songwriter, co-wrote two original songs for the film, “Moving Along” and “Bigger Than Me,” with longtime collaborator Catt Gravit.
Screening details
FILM
My Mayfly (world premiere)
FESTIVAL
Film Fest Knox
DATE AND TIME
Saturday, November 14, 2026, 9:15 p.m. EST
VENUE
Regal Riviera, Theater 2, 510 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, Tenn.
TICKETS
Get tickets for the world premiere
RUNTIME
82 minutes
About Paula Kay Hornick
With a long-standing career in the music industry as an artist manager, songwriter and music video director, Paula Kay Hornick makes her feature film writing and directorial debut with My Mayfly.
About Film Fest Knox
FILM FEST KNOX is an annual festival dedicated to showcasing ambitious regional cinema, held in downtown Knoxville in partnership with Regal and The Public Cinema. The festival has twice been recognized by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.”
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