The 16th annual George Lindsey UNA Film Festival will premier the documentary “Muscle Shoals” and include a filmmaker’s workshop for aspiring middle-school filmmakers Feb. 28 through March 2.

“Muscle Shoals,” which screened at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, recounts the history of the Shoals music scene. The feature film will be screened twice for audiences: once as a VIP event Feb. 27 in the Marriott Shoals Conference Center and again as the official opener of the festival March 1 at 6:30 p.m. in Norton Auditorium.

“The premier of ‘Muscle Shoals’ is the festival’s special guest this year,” said Jason Flynn, assistant professor of film and digital media production and co-director of the film festival.

The festival will also be sponsoring a Young Filmmakers workshop for 25 theater students at Florence Middle School. The workshop will be held March 1 in the Communications Building and will be conducted by Mary Ellen Latropoulos, director of education at the Children’s Media Project in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The students will have the opportunity to produce and edit a short film within the four-hour conference.

The three-day festival serves as an independent competitive film festival that takes submissions from around the world in categories ranging from young to professional filmmakers in a range of genres. This year’s film festival includes more short films in the line-up, which allows the festival to show more films.

“There are very few opportunities to see individual films, and the audience can expect to see a wide range of films at the festival,” said Cynthia Burkhead, assistant professor of English and co-director of the film festival.

“October Sky” and “Walk the Line” actress Natalie Canerday will serve on the festival’s advisory board as well as the MC of the award show March 2.

In addition to the film screenings, the festival also has a competition for screenplays. There will be a table reading of the winning screenplay March 1.

“The audience can expect good quality and also expect to not have expectations, which, to me, is a part of the appeal of a film festival,” Flynn said. “(The Communications Building is also) pretty kick-ass and an upgrade from venues in the past.”

Free tickets will be available for UNA students on a first-come, first-serve basis when they show their student ID at the Student Engagement Office in the GUC, and all other tickets are $20. Proceeds will go to the Southern Music Foundation, which works to benefit the music entities of the Shoals area with special consideration going toward the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.

“With our suitcase of a community, a lot of students go home on the weekends,” Flynn said. “Don’t go home on this weekend; stay in town this weekend and try the festival out.”