This north Alabama city’s Southern charm, welcoming leaders and residents, and can-do attitude have made it the backdrop for two soon-to-be-released feature films.

Now, local and state leaders see more movie-making potential not just for the Limestone County seat, but the entire state.

The two BuzzFeed-funded movies are the upcoming holiday flick “Kangaroo Christmas” and the newly wrapped, family-friendly “Houdini.”

Hawaii-based producer Branscombe Richmond and director Brian Herzlinger both fell in love with Athens’ down-home setting and incredibly accommodating citizens. The pair led the back-to-back productions in 2025 and earlier this year after the local government and business community welcomed them and the new economic development opportunity.

Richmond did the initial location scouting for the first film around the Huntsville area. Aided by local Athens resident Ashley Chewning, he was looking for a setting with a hometown feel.

“As soon as I saw the town square, I went, ‘This is it,’” Richmond said.

Herzlinger, who had recently relocated to Birmingham to be closer to his wife’s family following many years in Los Angeles, was soon sold on Athens as the location for “Kangaroo Christmas” too after receiving a warm welcome.

“The community was very excited about us being there,” Herzlinger says. “And the mayor was just like, ‘You have an open door here. What do you need? Talk to me. Let’s go.’ And he lived up to that tenfold. He was fantastic, as were the people around him, as were his staff, as were the locals in general.”

Chewning quickly became a liaison between the movie and her community, eventually earning the title of production coordinator while also being an extra on set. A Mobile native who had periodically worked in movies as an actress prior to moving to Athens with her husband and family in 2020, Chewning not only helped land Athens as the location for principal shooting, but also helped rally local involvement in the film.

“The community’s just come together and really been very supportive, from the restaurants, to the stores, to the mayor’s office,” Chewning said. “Public works has been awesome — we’ve gone to them for a couple of things. The county has been wonderful. Everybody kind of wants to pitch in.”

After identifying Athens as the desired filming location, the production worked closely with Alabama Entertainment Office to apply for the state’s film incentive program. Alabama’s incentive program is competitive, easy to navigate and efficient. A production’s approval is essential to their finalizing Alabama as the selected filming location.

Working closely with members of the Alabama Entertainment Office staff, and particularly Director Meghann Bridgeman, the application process proved easy and efficient to navigate.

“She’s unbelievable and just a genuinely wonderful and accommodating resource for the productions I’ve been on,” says Herzlinger. “So, I am very grateful for her.”

Shooting for 14 days in September and October of 2025, and utilizing multiple locations across the city, “Kangaroo Christmas” took on a life of its own in terms of local involvement. People from around the community were hired as both extras, as well as for other production jobs, allowing some community members, including children, their first-ever experience working on a professional movie set.

By frequenting local eateries and shops while in town and reserving blocks of hotel rooms for out-of-town cast and crew, the benefit to the city went beyond just exposure and fun for locals, and had meaningful economic impact for Athens.

Athens provided the “Kangaroo Christmas” crew with the perfect backdrop for the movie — including a local wildlife reserve — about an escaped marsupial who saves a grieving family from heartbreak during the holidays, who then returns the favor by helping the feisty kangaroo evade a corrupt zoo manager. It’s the type of wholesome adventure and film that promises to make Athens shine.

According to Mayor Ronnie Marks, having the film shot there benefited the city culturally and financially, and he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity for his constituents.

“I think any time we expose people, even to the movie business, as they’ve selected our town, is that we run with it, we showcase it,” he said, looking back on the experience. “And you never know when it may trigger some young person or another person to say, ‘Hey, I want to do that.’ Any time you can show a kid what they might be interested in, you just don’t ever know what you’re going to trigger, and the good things that are going to come out of it.”

The experience in Athens was so good, Herzlinger and others were soon ready to return.

“I cannot say enough about the local Athens community and how they were,” he said. “They just opened their doors and their hearts to us. They really let us set up shop there and really added so much to the production value of the film. The attitude was amazing.”

They returned earlier this year to shoot their next animal-centric movie, “Houdini,” about a young girl who discovers a dog with magic skills that helps her save her family’s financially distressed magic shop.

Holly Hollman, communications and grants manager for the mayor’s office in Athens, sees an even broader investment happening.

“Well, they’re utilizing some of our downtown merchants for food, they rented downtown space this last time, and they’re staying in our hotels,” she said.

“They do bring in some actors, but then they utilize some local actors from Huntsville and the Athens area. So they’re not only highlighting us filming here, but spending money here, which is fantastic.”

Hollman said there is hope to one day offer workforce development classes for students interested in filmmaking at Athens Art League, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that promotes arts education around Limestone County.

“As Athens Arts League, right now we mainly focus on visual arts and music, but I would love to at some point build us to where we could help facilitate opportunities for students in elementary and high school that may be interested in seeing if those are careers they would like to look at,” she said.

Now, Athens not only has the filmmaking experience to help it secure more productions going forward, it can also serve as a model for other small cities and towns around Alabama about how to bring filmmaking activity — and investment— to their area as well.

“It’s a different vibe in every city,” said Chewning. “And even around in Limestone County. And I think just the beauty of our state and what we can offer — the history of our state — we just have a lot of different unique places.

“We have the big cities, we have the small towns, we have the rural, we have the urban, we have the natural beauty I think shines. And then the people. The people here are what make Alabama so special, and our southern hospitality really shines. I saw that in each movie, when the crew comes in, and they’re not from here. So, if they’re coming from New York or from California, and they get the southern hospitality, they just feel very welcomed.”

The local community has been so inspired by their experience working on “Kangaroo Christmas” and “Houdini” that they are now actively planning on developing a local film commission to help bring even more business to the area.

 “Athens is a great example of what can happen when a community welcomes a production, and I know that same opportunity can be realized across the state,” Bridgeman said.

Courtesy of the Alabama Department of Commerce’s Made in Alabama website.