At nearly 40 years old (37, to be exact), the Atlanta Film Festival has earned the distinction of Georgia's foremost festival event. The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival is a more sprawling, ticket-selling extravaganza. The Savannah Film Festival hosts bigger stars and showcases 'higher profile' films. The Macon Film Festival and Rome International Film Festival are famously friendly and tremendously resourceful. But the years have been kind and the decades of extra experience have paid off for the ATLFF. For a long time, the festival floundered to find its niche– not knowing whether to focus on Southern film, independent film, LGBT film or to just pick up scraps from other, more established festivals. Last year, under the leadership of new executive director, Chris Escobar, and recently crowned festival director, Charles Judson, the festival made great strides towards a unique, truly Atlantan voice. This year, that voice rings out with an uninhibited clarity.
Just as Georgia's film industry, both commercially and independently, has taken off and continues to move at a break-neck speed, the ATLFF has managed to become a destination film fest for international filmmakers while placing a huge emphasis on our locally-grown work. This year's lineup is the most solid, cohesive yet. While we see a few all-stars from this season's earlier festivals (Sundance, SXSW, Toronto); a slew of unique programming enters the race here, including dozens of Georgia-made features and shorts. Congratulations to Judson and company for all your hard work paying off!
Now, what should you see this year? The correct answer would be, 'as much as you can.' The ten day event features plenty for anyone and everyone. Saturdays and Sundays are jam-packed with programming, but you won't have to worry about leaving work to catch a film as weekday screenings are set in the evening. If you can get away during the weekdays, though, please do. The Cinformation seminar series is going to be well worth your time.
I simply can't wait for the big kickoff this Friday. After the jump, I've highlighted this year's most promising fare– including the big names, the buzzed titles and all the homegrown good stuff.
