Wrap-up
The 2008 Atlanta Film Festival was in fact the 32nd annual Atlanta Film Festival. The festival is put on by IMAGE (Independent Media Artists of Georgia, Etc.) Film and Video Center, Inc., a long-standing and integral part of Atlanta’s escalating film and video community.
This year’s theme was Originality Unfiltered. I honestly have no idea what that means, besides the fact that they were clearly celebrating all that is original in dramatic feature, documentary, and short films.
This year 60 features, 112 shorts, and 67 “Teen Screen” films (a project promoting films by under 18s) were showcased. Over 1600 submissions from 65 countries and six continents were received. The festival makes a point to show films from all genres, to show some which have secured theatrical distribution and some that haven’t, and in short tries to recognize the best in truly independent filmmaking.
The festival also has panels, a screenwriting competition, after parties, a movie trivia night, an opening night red carpet event, and, in particular celebration of this year’s closing night film “The Visitor,” a live drum circle. Many films have Q & As afterwards where you get to meet and hear from the filmmakers themselves. This year 13,800 people attended this festival. And all this was pulled off without a hitch with an extremely dedicated and hard working staff of only a half dozen people, along with the help of hundreds of friendly, enthusiastic, film-loving volunteers.
This festival is clearly a labor of love as can be seen in the attitudes and energy of all the volunteers and staff.
The Regal Cinema again gets gold stars for providing the venue for the red carpet event and opening night film, “The Lena Baker Story,” (the Regal also provided screenings during the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival).
All other screenings occurred at Atlanta’s own Midtown Arts Cinema, dedicated to the best in inventive, independent, and artistic filmmaking.
This festival was just a damn good time. In a comfortable venue, you meet great people who you can talk film with for ages plus you see great films. My only complaint was that since some films were scheduled at the same times as others and sometimes for just one showing, it was pretty impossible to see them all. But then even a film fiend like myself probably doesn’t need to see quite that many films in ten days, though I would’ve loved to try.
Another thing to note was the number of films like “The Lena Baker Story” and “Dance of the Dead” that were produced and filmed locally in Georgia and surrounding areas. The Atlanta Film Festival showed the world the best of both a growing Atlanta film community and a growing Atlanta film industry. May both continue to thrive.
Narrative Films
So many films, so many genres, so little time
The documentaries showcased at the festival were truly excellent. While I am thankful for festivals like this that provide a screening for documentaries, I deeply wish more could gain theatrical release as pretty much every one I saw was more than worthy of it. Contrary to popular belief, people will come if the story is good enough whether it’s real or not even if, god forbid, we learn something. If any of these make it to a theatre near you, prove them wrong and catch them, if not definitely get the DVDs.
Shorts Programs
The quality of the shorts chosen by the Atlanta Film Festival was generally quite outstanding. The festival showcased 97 shorts plus another 15 finalists from the festival’s Rapid I Movement Competition (where teams each make a film in 50 hours). The shorts were divided into several different “programs” with each shown only once and up against other movies some of which only had one screening as well, so I didn’t get to see as many as I’d like but of the ones I did most were quite good, some true gems.
The 2008 Atlanta Film Festival presented us with some of the best in independent narrative, documentary, and short film to be seen anywhere in the country. With the number of films showcased that were filmed locally in Georgia or surrounding states, the Festival goes a long way to proving that Atlanta has a robust, enthusiastic, ever-thriving and ever-growing film community and filmmaking industry. A great thanks to all the staff and volunteers who made the event a success and a treat for all of us who attended.
L. C. Cruell
Award-Winning Screenwriter, Published Author, Freelance Writer/Editor, Attorney, and Founder RedStateResistance.Com.
JD, Harvard Law School, emphasis on Entertainment Law.
BA, Duke University, Majors: History; Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Minor: Film and Video Theory and Practice.