This is Randy Brown’s first time ever in Muskogee, but the 52-year-old from Austin, Texas, feels right at home.

“It’s charming,” Brown said Friday afternoon as he chatted at a reception for those visiting here for the eighth annual Bare Bones International Film Festival.

About 1,000 people from throughout the nation and several countries, including Canada, Germany, India and the United Kingdom are or have been here for the festival, said ShIronbutterfly Ray, of the Darkwood Film Institute and film festival organizer.

There won’t be one minute when all the festivalgoers are at one place, Ray said. Some came early in the week and left, others just arrived Friday. There are 166 films in this year’s festival, and each one of those entries brings two or more people to town.

Brown is here in hopes of getting recognition for his short, “Totally Connected.” He said it is like a comedy piece one might see on “Saturday Night Live.”

So far, most of what he had seen about Muskogee was on U.S. 69 and Okmulgee Avenue, but the city made a good first impression.

“The buildings are just gorgeous,” he said. “It just give me this feeling of being in a friendly, small town.”

The film festival isn’t Jordan Hughes’ first time in town. The 21-year-old is from Poteau, where he is a film student at Carl Albert State College.

He was the editor and cinematographer for “The Fortune Teller,” a western about a man who has been shot, passes out and wakes up with memory loss. He is seeking to discover what happened.

Hughes is excited that this is the first film festival the movie was submitted to and the first to accept is for screening. It’s doubly exciting that it has been nominated for an award, he said.

Hughes said it had been about five years since he was last in Muskogee.

“It’s very, very nice,” he said. “Everyone is extremely friendly, and it’s been nice being here.”

See the films

The 166 films selected for showing at this year’s Bare Bones International Festival will be screened today in three venues: