The Local Lense on the Red Carpet Premiere of "Race"

Hosts Beth Keener and Greer Howard hit the red carpet for the Atlanta premiere of Stephen Hopkins' "Race," starring Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt, Carice van Houten.

Beth Keener & Greer Howard hit the red carpet at Atlantic Station in Atlanta for the premiere of "Race."  The movie tells the incredible story of US Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens. Thrust onto the world stage during the 1936 Olympics in Germany, he faces off against Hilter's Nazi regime. "Race" is an inspirational film about courage, determination and friendship.

Beth & Greer interview star Stephan James, who trained for the film at Georgia Tech while he was in town filming "Selma" in 2014. Actress Kim Fields hosted the evening, which was also attended by Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges.

Check out the video below. "Race" opens nationwide on February 19th.

Photos: 2,200+ Turn Out for Atlanta Jewish Film Festival's Opening Night

The huge crowd awaits AJFF's opening night presentation of "Above and Beyond."

For the third year in a row, the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Vinings served as the venue for the opening night gala and film presentation of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Formerly held at the similarly sized Fox Theatre in Midtown, the Cobb Energy Centre's large ballroom and 2,700+ seat capacity make for an exceptional space for the largest annual film event in Atlanta.

Nearly a dozen of Atlanta's finest restaurants catered the event, offering up custom dishes for the enthusiastic audience. Live music—presented by the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival—and an open bar aided in the festivities, which included several raffles, an interactive red carpet photo booth and lots of mingling with Atlanta's movers and shakers.

The film presentation was documentary "Above and Beyond," which Christo reviewed earlier this week. Directed by Roberta Grossman (AJFF alum with 2013's "Hava Nagila (The Movie)") and produced by Nancy Spielberg (Steven Spielberg's sister), "Above and Beyond" chronicles the incredible story of Israel's first air force and their growth from a rag-tag team of volunteers to a powerful military force.

It was an incredible evening and a great start to the 23-day festival. Check out several photos after the jump!

An Instagram Reel of the 2014 Savannah Film Festival

Norman Reedus walked the red carpet at the opening night of the Savannah Film Festival. Photo: Cameron McAllister, ReelGA.com #savff #savannah #normanreedus #twd #thewalkingdead #redcarpet #reelga

A photo posted by Cameron McAllister (@reelga) on Oct 10, 2014 at 12:16pm PDT

In the past, We've posted some photos directly on here from around town for various festivals. But since the @ReelGA Instagram account remains pretty active while we are fest-ing, I'll just share what the 2014 Savannah Film Festival looked like with those of you who may not be following us on the photo app.

We took a lot of pictures of stars on the red carpet, the historic spires and structures of downtown Savannah and of the bright lights of the Trustees and Lucas Theatre marquees. The cream of the crop made it to Instagram. Enjoy! Make sure you are following @ReelGA for more throughout the year (even though not everything is #GAfilm related).

Check out over a dozen photos after the jump!

A Conversation with James Ponsoldt, director of "The Spectacular Now"

James Ponsoldt walks the red carpet at the
Atlanta Film Festival for his film,
"The Spectacular Now"

In the past two years, James Ponsoldt has not only seen two of his films show at Sundance, but both have competed for the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize. The Athens native now lives in Los Angeles, but when it came time for his latest feature, Georgia beckoned him back.

Proclaiming himself as a writer first and foremost, "The Spectacular Now" marks the first of Ponsoldt's six films (three shorts and three features) where he doesn't have a writing credit. Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter, the screenwriters behind hipster mega-hit "(500) Days of Summer," adapted Tim Tharpe's award-winning novel. Upon reading the script, Ponsoldt approached the two with both enthusiasm and his own plans in mind.

"'I want to set it in Athens, Georgia and I want to film it on anamorphic 35mm.' And they said, 'alright.'" Tharpe's novel takes place in Oklahoma, a setting that the first version of the screenplay kept. Luckily, the story's ties to the Sooner state are loose enough. But what else made Ponsoldt want to film in his hometown?