The 48th Annual Atlanta Film Festival and Creative Conference April 25 - May 5, 2024

It’s time for my favorite event in Atlanta, the Atlanta Film Festival! Chosen from over 10,000 submissions, the festival brings both feature and short films to Atlanta. This year’s lineup of 142 selected films will feature diverse filmmakers who continue to uplift voices and stories from around the world, representing 118 countries. As always, there is an emphasis on films from the local area, with over 24% of films at the festival with ties to Georgia filmmakers. The Atlanta Film Festival is an event film lovers won’t want to miss. ATLFF is presenting some of the best upcoming films that Hollywood has to offer, including movies from top studios and films, along with films from around the world.

The 48th annual Atlanta Film Festival and Creative Conference will take place Thursday, April 25 - Sunday, May 5, 2024, at the Plaza Theatre and Tara Theatre in Atlanta and virtually. 

The long-running festival has always been a distinguished event, recognized as one of the “Ten Best Film Festivals in the US” by USA Today readers and one of the “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” by MovieMaker Magazine.

The Opening Night Presentation of Amazon Studios’ “The Idea of You” will take place at the Plaza Theatre on Friday, April 26. The Idea of You takes place after a chance encounter at the Coachella Music Festival, Solène (Anne Hathaway), a 40-year-old single mom, begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet. It’s not long before Solène discovers that life in the spotlight might be more than she bargained for. Director Michael Showalter is expected to take part in red-carpet interviews and will receive the Atlanta Film Festival’s “The Rebel Award” in an on-stage presentation before the start of the film. There will be a Q&A with Michael Showalter immediately after the screening.

The Closing Night Presentation film is “Sing Sing” on Saturday, May 4th, and will take place at the Plaza Theatre. “Sing Sing” is about Divine G, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit. He finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art. Filmmaker Greg Kwedar and cast members Clarence ‘Divine Eye’ Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield, Sean ‘Dino’ Johnson, and Jon Adrian ‘JJ’ Velazquez are expected to take part in red carpet interviews and a Q&A after the film.

The festival is also known for its short film categories and is one of the few festivals in the country that offer Academy Award-qualifying for all three short categories: Narrative, Documentary, and Animated.

The 14th annual Creative Conference, ATLFF’s popular educational programming extension, returns Tuesday, April 30 - Friday, May 3. The Creative Conference offers educational programming for upcoming filmmakers, festivalgoers, newcomers, and members of the greater community to learn from industry experts. The Creative Conference features workshops, panels, talks, and demos that will delve into the world of filmmaking, focusing on topics such as screenwriting, pitching, acting, producing, casting, funding, and distribution and how they all come together to make a film or television episode. Thirty-two in-person panels and twelve virtual panels are planned during the 11-day festival.

The full schedule of films and events is available at  www.AtlantaFilmFestival.com and through the ATLFF 2024 app. Festival passes are on sale now on the site. Tickets for individual events will be available online.

46th Annual Atlanta Film Festival and Creative Conference April 21 - May 1, 2022

 

It’s time for my favorite event in Atlanta, the Atlanta Film Festival! With 29 feature-length films, including 11 Marquee screenings and a total of 155 creative works from around the world, the Atlanta Film Festival is an event film lovers won’t want to miss. ATLFF is presenting some of the best upcoming films that Hollywood has to offer, including movies from top studios and films that previously played at Sundance.  

ATLFF 2022 will be more accessible than ever, offering a mix of in-person and virtual screenings and virtual Q&A sessions with filmmakers. Screenings will be held at three venues, the Plaza Theatre (1049 Ponce De Leon Ave NE), Dad’s Garage (569 Ezzard St SE), and The Carter Center (453 Freedom Parkway). All virtual screenings and events will be presented via Eventive. 

The long-running festival has always been a distinguished event, recognized as the ‘Best Spring Festival’ by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and one of the ’25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World’ and one of the ’50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee' by MovieMaker Magazine.

The Opening Night Presentation, taking place at the Plaza Theatre on Friday, April 22, 892, is a dramatic thriller starring John Boyega, the late Michael K. Williams, Nicole Beharie, and Connie Britton. 892 follows a Marine war veteran who faces mental and emotional challenges when he tries to reintegrate back into civilian life. Screenwriter Kwame Kwei-Armah will be on-hand for the red carpet screening. 

The Closing Night Presentation on Saturday, April 30, at the Plaza Theatre is the Disney+ documentary Mija. Directed by Isabel Castro, the film follows Doris Muñoz, who began a career in music talent management and met Jacks Haupt, an auspicious young singer, and both share the ever-present guilt of being the first American-born members of their undocumented families.

The narrative features lineup is outstanding, including Cha Cha Real Smooth starring Dakota Johnson and written and directed by Cooper Raiff, Emily the Criminal starring Aubrey Plaza and Theo Rossi, and Summering, a coming of age story directed by Georgia-native and celebrated ATLFF alumni James Ponsoldt. Documentary feature highlights include Look At Me!, an inside look at a gifted young rapper's tumultuous rise to fame before his death at the age of 20, with never-before-seen footage as XXXTentacion's inner circle speaks out, and REFUGE, a story about fear and love in the American South from local Atlanta directors Erin Levin Bernhardt and Din Blankenship. 

The festival is also known for its short film categories and is one of the few festivals in the country that offer Academy Award-qualifying for all three of the short categories: Narrative, Documentary, and Animated. One hundred twenty-four short films make up the festival, 24 of which are from Georgia.

The popular Creative Conference will be ongoing again at the festival, with workshops, panels, talks, and demos will delve into the world of filmmaking, focusing on topics such as screenwriting, pitching, acting, producing, casting, funding, and distribution, and how they all come together to make a film or television episode. The highlights include Masterclasses, panels, and conversations with actress Antonia Gentry (star of Netflix’s Ginny and Georgia), actress Priah Ferguson (Stranger Things), actor Atkins Estimond (Hightown), producer/director Cherien Dabis (Only Murders in the Building, Ozark), actress Danielle Deadwyler (The Harder They Fall), showrunner Nick Antosca (Candy), cinematographer Daniel Patterson (The Last OG), director Stacey Muhammed (Black-ish, Queen Sugar), comedy writer Robert Peacock (Mad About You), VFX editor Barry Murphy (1883), and many more.

The full schedule of films and events is now available at www.AtlantaFilmFestival.com. Festival passes and tickets for individual events are on sale now on the site.

The Atlanta Film Festival is the chief annual operation of the Atlanta Film Society (ATLFS), one of the oldest and largest organizations dedicated to the promotion and education of film in the United States, which enriches the community through screenings, classes, workshops, and other events year-round.