Located in Wilmington’s Soda Pop District, Jengo’s Playhouse at 815 Princess St. operates as a year-round community venue and a site for the Cucalorus Film Festival.

In addition to a 65-seat cinema and full-service craft cocktail bar, Jengo’s is part of a larger creative campus that includes three houses used for artist residencies. Between residency sessions, the houses are listed on Airbnb.

Dan Brawley, head of the Cucalorus Film Festival and founder of Jengo’s Playhouse, recently discussed the venue’s year-round efforts and this year’s 32nd annual festival, which takes place Nov. 19-22.

“We do a lot of classic films, documentaries, new independent and international films,” he said. “And then about half the events at Jengo’s are filmmakers or community groups that we work with to host events.”

Brawley added that Jengo’s Playhouse partners with about 30 different community groups throughout the year.

Brawley said the organization also has the Filmed in NC Fund to help artists in North Carolina, and it awards selected projects $500 to $3,000.

Jengo’s Playhouse and the Cucalorus Film Festival are programs of the nonprofit Cucalorus Film Foundation, said Brawley, who, along with his fellow artists, jokingly coined the Soda Pop District after the former Coca-Cola bottling plant down the street.

Established in the early 2000s, Jengo’s predates the recent wave of revitalization, having served as a creative hub on Princess Street for more than two decades.

And as for artist residencies, Jengo’s Playhouse hosts filmmakers in Soda Pop District properties.

Jengo’s Playhouse is meant to be a space where people can test out new ideas and push the boundaries of the art form, he said.

The Cucalorus Film Festival is no different when it comes to stepping outside of the box.

“One of the things that distinguishes (the) Cucalorus Film Festival from the thousands of film festivals that are out there now is that there’s a lot of performance woven throughout the festival experience,” Brawley said. “From our opening night, which is called Dance-a-lorus, to our Bus to Lumberton experience, to the MCs who introduce screenings, there’s a little bit of performance sprinkled throughout the schedule.”

The hub of the 32nd festival will be Aloft Wilmington at Coastline Center, 501 Nutt St., Brawley said.

“That is like a throwback for us to like 25 years ago when we used to take over the Hannah Block Community Arts Center, and we built cinemas,” he said.

He added that this year’s festival will still have screenings at Thalian Hall, Jengo’s Playhouse and some of its other regular venues, but Aloft will serve as a new center point for this year’s event.

And for the first time, Dance-a-lorus will take place at Cape Fear Community College’s Wilson Center.

Speaking about his goals in the years ahead for both Jengo’s Playhouse and the Cucalorus Film Festival, Brawley said he wants to offer more screenings at the community venue throughout the year. As for the festival, he wants to continue to prioritize representing filmmakers.

“(We’re) doing our best to meet audiences where they are,” he said. “We want to continue to build those two relationships with artists and with audiences, and that’s always the goal."