In-person movie viewing is back in Macon. With films featuring everything from cooking to crafting, a unique event will be popping up in Macon this Saturday.

Treasure Maps: The Georgia Storytelling Roadshow is visiting Macon with a pop-up event on June 26 at 7:30 p.m. at The Grand Opera House. 

The show is produced by the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, L’Arche Atlanta and StoryMuse and features a collection of 10 short films produced by Georgia storytellers who have developmental disabilities.

The event is free to attend and will also feature food trucks, installations and more. The project’s creative director Shannon Turner said that the project is intended to tell stories that wouldn’t be heard otherwise.

“I think that the people we work with are hidden treasures in our community, because of the way we have a tendency to marginalize people with developmental disabilities,” Turner said. “So we’re really trying to pull those stories into the center and show that they are treasures.”

Turner is also the founder of StoryMuse, the organization that collaborated with GCDD to organize the event and produce the short films. The Storytelling Project is a continuation of GCDD’s effort to document the lives of developmentally disabled Georgia citizens in a  creative way.

“[GCDD] decided that storytelling would be a fantastic way to help with their advocacy efforts,” Turner said. “They wanted particularly to help legislators that they were talking to understand their constituents.” 

The series of short films for the event is called “Treasure Maps,” and will tour in other locations including Atlanta, Savannah, Athens and Columbus beginning June 18. 

Each of the stories is unique to the self-advocate storyteller, so the short films cover a variety of subjects.

“Each story is just this gorgeous, gorgeous manifestation of the storyteller,” Turner said. “The filmmakers got to have fun and play with genre because of that. All of us have a unique personality, and the stories really exhibit that.”

Some of the topics of the films include an Indian cooking show, a reading of a children’s book authored by one of the storytellers and even an “HGTV-style” program on arts and crafts, according to Turner.

In addition to the unique short films being shown, Turner said each show has a unique program linked to the host city. Macon will feature local food trucks, screenings at the Grand Opera House and a musical performance from local musician Newton Collier, a former member of Otis Redding’s band.

“It helps get a real local flavor,” Turner said. “Now, likewise, these shows have become gorgeous manifestations of their communities.”

The presentations will have live, local co-hosts distinct to each location, including a local celebrity and a self-advocate. Each film will also feature CART, an instant translation of spoken words into English text, and ASL to provide accessibility for all participants.

For more information on the Georgia Storytelling Roadshow, “Treasure Maps” and the Macon show on June 26, visit the program’s website here.

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