Opening and Closing Night Films Announced

Opening and Closing Night Films Announced

The 38th Annual Atlanta Film Festival will open with "Joe," starring Nicolas Cage as an ex-con and unlikely role model who meets a 15-year-old boy (Tye Sheridan) and is faced with the choice of redemption or ruin. Director David Gordon Green ("Pineapple Express," television's "Eastbound & Down") is scheduled to attend. Closing out this year’s fest is "The Double," a stylish black comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska. Eisenberg plays Simon James, a timid man living an isolated existence in an indifferent world until his exact physical double and opposite personality arrives in the form of new co-worker, James Simon. "The Double" is directed by cult favorite Richard Ayoade ("Submarine," television’s “The IT Crowd").

Read More

A Story of a Phone Call, Blondie, and Why Jon and Brantly Watts are Homespun

A Story of a Phone Call, Blondie, and Why Jon and Brantly Watts are Homespun

Kristy and I thought for a second, and while we did think a fest screening was an awesome idea, Homespun needed something to standout and to help it stand on its own. We batted around ideas of screening at The Plaza sometime in the fall, once they had the first three films done. The Plaza was a must include in the equation. It was important these films screen in the same venue AKA Blondie had. Its where that feeling of community felt strongest for all of us. If we're going to put the focus on local filmmakers and give people a chance to meet the subjects of Homespun in person, this is where the screening had to happen. 

Read More

L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema Tour Comes To Atlanta

L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema Tour Comes To Atlanta

 The L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema Tour is a historic collection of films made by African and African American students at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in the late 1960s, after a decade of rising racial tensions.  These films represent their efforts to respond to the political turmoil of their time with an imaginative and entirely independent cinema.  

Atlanta will be the last city to host “L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema,” a Tour of these groundbreaking films, over four weekends (from October 25th to November 24). Several filmmakers, including pioneer Haile Gerima, and two of the Tour curators will be attending and interacting with the public.

Read More