We are fortunate tonight to be in the presence of amazing storytellers--from the talented filmmakers, performers, editors, producers, writers and directors whose passion and drive to tell original stories makes our work so necessary; and specifically the multi-talented writer, directer, actor and producer Mr. Ray McKinnon who serves as one of this  festival's most distinguished alumni and who remains one of our steadfast supporters (and for that we are grateful!); to Patterson Hood and the Drive-By Truckers, whose songs tell stories, and whose music is infused with the rich history of Southern storytelling culture, a band whose very songs have been compared to independent films.

 Just as each song tells a story, and each film tells a story, so too the festival itself tells a story.

 The 2010 festival's story began nine days ago at the Carter Center with a song.  The voices of the Freedom Riders led us to the theatre where Stanley Nelson's brilliant documentary to the story of the brave trailblazers who forced political and social change by refusing to take "no" for an answer.

 ...a message a resonant today as it was a half-century ago.

 

Along the way we visited PUTTY HILL, a Baltimore neighborhood where friends and family gather to bid a fond farewell to a friend; 

We took a trip to the Arctic with artists like Robyn Hitchcock and Katie Timsdall to witness the effects of climate  change in Peter Gilbert's BURNING ICE;

We spent a year in RACING DREAMS with three youths all aspiring to live their dream of become a NASCAR SUPERSTAR;

 And we witnessed history--from Andrew Young's historic CROSSING AT ST. AUGUSTINE and local hero ALLEY PAT'S groundbreaking radio broadcasts to the  controversial handling of California's Gay Marriage Ban in 8 THE MORMON PROPOSITION;

We shared a few laughs with revisionist historical shenanigans of THE BATTLE OF PUSSY WILLOW CREEK as well as gut-busting moments with the comedians of SOULED OUT COMEDY & I AM COMIC and DUBMSTRUCK.

 Tonight, the ride ends, happily it turns out, and with a song, as the Drive-By Truckers share THE SECRET TO A HAPPY ENDING, as well as some other surprises (like the pre-world premiere sneak peak of  their new video--THIS FUCKING JOB--directed by Atlanta Film Festival alum Scott Teems and starring Ray McKinnon--who won the 2009 ATLFF Grand Jury Prize for THAT EVENING SUN) 

Before the program--a few words of thanks to:

• the technical crew:Randy Smith and Full Circle, Jesse Taylor, Lab 601, Rodrique and Heather;
  
• the staff: Dan Krovich, Charles Judson, Jeanette Gregory and Paula Martinez--a team that deserves so much more for all their hard work and dedication
• the volunteers and board--with special notice to Gabriel 2, who worked 24/7 for the duration of the event!
• our public funders: the Fulton County Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, the Metro Atlanta Arts Fund and the Georgia Council for the Arts.  A special note of thanks to all of our funders for their steadfast support, and belif in our mission, especially the GCA, who were on the brink of elimination...and were saved by an 11th hour reprieve.  Those who value the arts should take note.
• our members and supporters: as a 501(c)3, we depend on support from donors, patrons and members.  Sign-up to help us, or recommend us to your community support department at your place of work and help us continue to fulfill our mission to lead the community in creative and cultural discovery through the moving image
• our sponsors: with special mention going to Turner Voices--our lead sponsor for the past six years; as well as our Closing Night Sponsors: Comcast, AirTran, VCS, Artmore, RedBrick Beer and Barefoot Wines.

 

In closing: let's end happily, with a DBT quote:

THE LAST AIRBENDER REVIEW
By Jarren Ware

After watching his latest film The Last Airbender, I wanted to label M. Night Shyamalan a 1 trick pony but that's not entirely true. Besides The 6th Sense, Unbreakable was pretty good & Signs was ok too. So M. Night Shyamalan is a 2 ½ trick pony. I’m not sure if The Last Airbender was as bad as his last several films (the names of which I refuse to mention for fear that some poor fool will watch it out of curiosity) but it sure comes close.

For those of you out of touch with all things dope, Avatar: The Last Airbender was arguably the last good cartoon on television & no doubt the last original program to air on Nickelodeon worth watching. Long story short, the world is split into 4 nations: Air, Earth, Water & Fire & there are people who can manipulate the elements of their respective nation (Waterbenders, earthbenders etc.) The Fire Nation sucks & is taking over & everyone is waiting on the Avatar, the single person possessing the ability to control all 4 elements, to bring balance & save the world. The Avatar is a 10 year old boy named Aang who cryogenically freezes himself by accident and shows up to the party a century late. That's a really bare bones synopsis and I know it’s a cartoon but trust me, but it's pretty sick... Get familiar... With the original animated version that is... Not the movie.

With the Twilight franchise as the sole exception, filmmakers making adaptations of other works will never be able to completely satisfy fans of the original. Even when I put my personal Avatar fandom aside, and ignored differences between the series and the film and then reminded myself that it wasn't necessarily a film for a 22 year old college student, this movie still sucked.  I thought going in that it’d be tolerable because all M. Night Shyamalan (who will be referred to simply as Night for the rest of this review) had to do, at the very least, was get the DVD box set of the show & add decent actors & some super cool special effects. 20 minutes into the movie I knew that this was apparently too much to ask .The films biggest shortcoming is that despite the fact that the ending is clearly a set up for a sequel; it tries to cram too much story into a small window of time. I understand that this is a pretty big challenge with film adaptations but I've seen it done rather well before. Night however, apparently believes that advancing the plot is more important than character development. Because of this people familiar with the television series are left disappointed as they’re never allowed to “feel” the characters they know, and those who are being introduced to it don't care when things go good or bad because the only detailed information they have on the character is their first name.  

This film stirred up a little controversy because Night casts White actors to portray characters who were originally Asian. My problem with the casting is that Night cast crappy actors to portray characters who were originally good, mark my words: there are some potential Razzie winners in this one. All of the actors (except maybe for Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire) gave vapid and emotionless performances, delivering their lines as if reading from a teleprompter (the unprompted laughter & groans I heard from my fellow moviegoers throughout the film assured me I wasn't being an over analytical douche about this). Where the film falls it falls hard, as it not rushes sloppily through the story. The ellipses between time periods and transitions into flashbacks lack any form of originality or imagination settling for boring fades and inconsistent voice over narrations (I probably am being an over analytical douche about that).  

If anything saves The Last Airbender it might be the fight scenes.  Though the special effects are not necessarily mindboggling the scenes are able to keep one's attention despite the fact that the film is clearly holding back to earn a PG rating. The fights also do a good job of incorporating the different styles of martial arts with the different types of bending, but only a nerd like me would recognize & appreciate that so, they've got slow motion in 'em... slow motion is always cool.

So unfortunately The Last Airbender is yet another big budget flop, and yet another reason for us to hate M. Night Shyamalan who is creeping toward Michael Bay status in my book.  I think that we'd spare ourselves a lot of disappointment if we'd lower our standards and just accept the fact that sometimes lightning only strikes 2 ½  times.

Recommendations:

If you're a fan of the original of the series, stay away! Even if you download a pirated copy of this movie you'll feel like you deserve some money back.

If you’re not a fan of the series but thought you might check it out, Paramount has already compiled all the cool parts together for you to enjoy at your leisure, take advantage!

If you have a kid who really wants to see it and you love that child dearly and will do whatever it takes to see him smile, take him and enjoy the fact that he enjoyed it so much.

If you have a kid who really wants to see it and you can't wait till he turns 18 so you can kick him out without any legal repercussions, tell him you're not taking him to see it and you're not going to say it again... Then be glad that you saved a couple dollars and be proud of your authoritarian parenting skills.

 

Jaren Ware is an Atlanta Film Festival 365 intern

Le Cercle Rouge Review
By Samuel Colen

Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge (1970) opens silently with a prisoner escaping from a train. We do not learn until later that he is a murderer, but no matter. Such details are not important. In Melville's world, there is little difference between criminal and cop. They are two faces of the same coin, each as ruthless and cunning as the other.

            They are drawn together by fate, unknowingly destined to meet - as the title card forewarns.  This is the point of the film. Who can keep track of the seemingly infinite connections that bind humanity together? Even the most clear and best laid plans can be undone by the very forces that brought it into being. Fate, which brought men together in one instant, can in the next tear them apart.

            This existential logic is intriguing enough, but the true brilliance of the film lies in the fact that it is at heart a simple heist film - superbly executed. The players are stock, and the setup is simple. A recently released conman, Corey (Alain Delon), has learned how to rob a jewelry store. Incapable of doing so on his own, he recruits the help of Vogel (Gian Maria Velonte), an escaped murderer. True to form, they meet by chance when Vogel hides in the trunk of Corey's car to escape police. This leads to a brilliant scene between the two after Corey has driven to an open field. It is an exercise in superior exterior photography and sparse dialogue. Vogel emerges from the trunk, holding Corey at gunpoint. He asks, "Aren't you afraid?" "Of what?" "Of me, for one. And of getting caught by the police." To this, Corey silently tosses a pack of cigarettes to Vogel, and their companionship is sealed.

            To help them, they recruit Jansen (Yves Montard),  an alcoholic ex-cop and sharpshooter. Corey rescues him from a den of booze and monstrous visions. Standing in their way is the cat-loving Captain Mattei (Andre Bourvil), the man who escorted Vogel when he escaped. With his job on the line, he is willing to strike crooked deals with members of the underworld and is just as morally compromised as the men he is pursuing. Indeed, they are all motivated by the same object: survival.

            Melville's characters are stoic. They are grim, and they talk little. They have work to do. Their lives are not glamorous, nor do they expect them to be. They are driven neither by delusions of grandeur nor psychological disorders. In fact, Melville never reveals their motivations. It is understood.

            The filmmaking echoes the characters. The editing is deliberate, neither fast nor slow. Determined. Melville will tell his story, but on his own time. You, the audience, will wait and allow the characters to reveal themselves in pieces. It is a welcome reprieve from the ‘flash bang', rapid-cut, action-oriented thrillers of today. Not that Le Cercle Rouge lacks excitement. No. The shootouts and chases are superb, made sublime by the deliberate editing which allows true fear and doubt to build in the minds of the audience. ‘Good things come to those who wait.' Today, it is a forgotten lesson, but one which Melville well understood.

            It is a shame Melville's films are not better known in America today. A forerunner of the French New Wave, he was a member of the Resistance during the war and a devout admirer of American culture and cinema (his last name is an homage to Herman Melville). The influences of each are readily apparent in his work. Much of the approach to character in Le Cercel Rouge can in fact be explained by the post-war cynicism which took hold of France after the Second World War. The coloring (Melville used beautiful blue hues throughout) can be seen as patriotic. Though the basic structure of the film is reminiscent of the old pre-war Warner Brothers gangster films, this film is French. Like Kurosawa in Japan, who took Western literature and made it Japanese, Melville does the same with the American gangster flick. In so doing, he took a genre defined by low budgets and high entertainment value and elevated it to the realm of art. He made it beautiful.

 Samuel Colen is an Atlanta Film Festival 365 intern and current student at USC

Coming to Atlanta July 15-18 is the 9th edition of ARGFest, a conference and gaming festival that’s all about Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG) and Transmedia Storytelling. If you think you haven’t heard of, or participated in an ARG, who’d be wrong if you followed on any level of The Dark Knight's Why So Serious, Halo 2’s I Love Bees, The Blair Witch Project’s pioneering experience or the dozens of ARG’s that have been developed over the last ten years.

With the rise of social media, more dynamic and interactive websites, and mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad, ARGs and Transmedia Storytelling have become one of the hottest topics of discussion over the last two years.

We sat down with 2010 ARGFest Chairperson Brooke Thompson to talk* about this year’s fest and the past, present and future of Transmedia Storytelling and Alternate Reality Gaming.

Show notes below:

ARGFest 2010

 Transmedia Storytelling: In Transmedia storytelling, content becomes invasive and permeates fully the audience’s lifestyle. A transmedia project develops storytelling across multiple forms of media in order to have different “entry points” in the story; entry-points with a unique and independent lifespan but with a definite role in the big narrative scheme. - From Wikipedia

Alternate Reality Game: From An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants’ ideas or actions. - From Wikipedia

giantmice.com

Perplex City

Unfiction

*Sorry about the background noise. With the festival so close to the recording date, we didn’t have time to setup a better place to do the podcast.

Here are the 6 Audience Award Winners for the 2010 48 Hour Film Project. Congratulations to the winning teams. Dates and Venue for the Best of Screening is to be announced.

 

Audience Award—GROUP A

 

"Always Remember the Little Things"

Suspense/Thriller

Whatever

Jeff Shipman

 

Audience Award—GROUP B

 

"Reel Life: I Live with a Method Actor"

Mockumentary

Lemon Party

Matt Swinsky

 

Audience Award—GROUP C

 

"Detention"

Comedy

Mavin

Pat Clark

 

Audience Award—GROUP D

 

"The Unstoppable Edwina Chambers"

Film De Femme

DIM Pictures

Anthony McHie

 

Audience Award—GROUP E

 

"Pray"

Heist

FUGO Studios

Eric Haviv

 

Audience Award—GROUP F

 

"It’s in the Bag"

Mockumentary

Godmother Productions

Linda Harding

JONAH HEX

JONAH HEX is based on the DC comics character of the same name. This short 80-minute movie was directed by Jimmy Hayward - and it is basically a revenge film.
Josh Brolin's character, Jonah Hex, possessed supernatural abilities - developed after his near-death experience. Megan Fox's character - a prostitute named Lilah - was Jonah Hex's love interest. And John Malkovich played the main antagonist/villain, Quentin Turnbull. A nod to Michael Fassbender who gave a above-average performance as Burke(Quentin's psychotic right-hand man).
The action is non-stop, and the bullets and projectiles fly fast and true. But, the script leaves a lot to be desired - lacking depth/substance and filled with one-dimensional shallow characters.
CGI - basic run-of-the-mill.
The ending sets up for a possible sequel.

Verdict:
A lack-luster average production that could have gone straight to DVD.
Recommended for fans of Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich.
A definite rental.
Grade: C

Michael Lye is an Atlanta Film Festival 365 member and volunteer. 

Leave it to movie marketers and mixtapes to fill a void left by today's inexplicably lackluster movie soundtracks.

It’s baffling that the last movie soundtrack to dig deep into the ear canals of listeners and to root itself firmly like the worm from WRATH OF KHAN is Zach Braff’s GARDEN STATE, a movie released in 2004.

Using music to push movies and movies to push music goes way back. In the 1930s, some of the earliest musicals were simply just a string of popular standards that had been out for years intermittently interrupted by dialogue and possibly a plot. In the 1950s, when the musical was in full force, songs from movies routinely topped the charts. In the 1970s, Blaxplotation movies may have had questionable acting, writing and directing; however one thing they generally didn’t have a lack of was incredible music. Of course, there’s the 1980s, a decade in which soundtracks and their movies are so intertwined one can legitimately ask was it the movies that made the music iconic, or was it the music that made the movies so.

So what’s happened? Why have movie soundtracks, one of the best marketing tools a film can utilize to motivate and interest audiences in a film months before a release, become weak sauce?  Outside of attaching songs to shows and commercials, why have record companies* seemingly abandoned a potent way to reach customers?

One of the more exciting developments over the last few years is folks using mixtapes to market their films, to use them as an extended aural teaser for their movies.

An example comes from the film JUST WRIGHT, featuring Common and Queen Latifah. Volume two of their JUST WRIGHT mixtape, at 83 plus minutes, features everyone from Patrice Rushen to SWV to even Barbra Streisand. What better way to get you in the mood for a romantic comedy than back-to-back classics about love and romance? For audiences that are a few years, or more like decades removed from being 18 to 25, this should hit their sweet spot. Listen Here

Another comes from Atlanta Screenwriters Group (which meets here at our offices every 1^st and 3^rd Thursday) Co-President, writer/producer and man of hip-hop Martin Kelly** and his crew Reign of Terror and DJ Dainja. The mixtape is for the in post-production film BATTLE. A film about creating beats and a college student striving to be recognized as a king among beatmakers, this throwback to mixtapes of yesteryear is all about exciting a demo, that would be Hip Hop heads, that can sniff out inauthentic product. Download the Mixtape Here

Hopefully, the movie soundtrack will make a resurgence. Until then, I’ll happily download any and all mixtapes that have me lip syncing, my head nodding, and my butt chair dancing like it’s 1986 again.

* Maybe if some of them would lower their licensing fees, that would encourage more filmmakers and studios to reachout and use their product.

**Also he was my editor when I wrote for CinemATL, which he will be again when I start writing for the site again.

In collaboration with Creative Loafing’s Screen Grab and the Atlanta Film Festival, Edward Adams (Online Manager/Writer for Creative Loafing) asked 5 questions with the directors and producers behind 2010 ATL Film Fest films NONAMES, THE BATTLE FOR BUNKER HILL and THE THINGS WE CARRY. Get a glimpse into the creative forces behind these critically acclaimed films.

2010 ATL Film Fest: 5 Questions with NONAMES
Writer, Director, Producer Kate Lindboe and Producer Robin Van Ert

2010 ATL Film Fest: 5 Questions with THE BATTLE FOR BUNKER HILL
Writer, Director, Producer Kevin Willmott

2010 ATL Film Fest: 5 Questions with THE THINGS WE CARRY
Producer Athena Lobit and Writer, Director Alyssa Lobit

Summit Entertainment and Gofobo.com would like to invite you to a special Mother’s Day COMPLIMENTARY sneak showing of LETTERS TO JULIET, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Amanda Seyfried, on Sunday, May 9.  The film is rated PG.

 

To attend this screening you MUST download your pass by going to www.gofobo.com/rsvp and enter in the RSVP Code listed next to the theater you wish to attend.  All theaters and codes are listed below.  You will need to print out your pass and bring it to the theater box office to gain admission. Complete instructions on how to download a pass are attached. Each individual flyer has the code for the theater listed. Please note that only the first 100 gofobo passes will be accepted at the box office.

 

*The sneak showing is playing at the following theaters.  Please check local listings for showtimes.

 

Regal Atlantic Station	LTJV1
Regal North Point Market	LTJZ3
Regal Medlock Crossing	LTJ1S
Regal Mall of Georgia	LTJG5J8
Regal Hollywood	LTJM4
Regal Snellville Oaks	LTJB4
Regal Arbor Place Stadium	LTJQ9
AMC Phipps Plaza	LTJV3
AMC Parkway Pointe	LTJ8D
AMC Discover Mills	LTJW6
AMC Southlake Pavilion	LTJ47
AMC Barrett Commons	LTJ7H
AMC Avenue Forsyth	LTJJ4
Carmike Riverstone	FAAFCME5

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                 Press Contacts: Charles Judson - (404) 352-4225 charles@atlantafilmfestival.com

April 26, 2010

2010 ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL
ANNOUNCES AWARD WINNERS

 

ATLANTA, GA - The Atlanta Film Festival is proud to announce this year's Jury and Audience Awards.

Audience Award Winners: 

Feature: ALLEY PAT: THE MUSIC IS RECORDED – Director: Tom Roche

Short: PRAYERS FOR PEACE – Director: Dustin Grella 

 

Shorts Jury Award Winners:

Narrative: FIRSTBORN (EERSGEBORENE) – Director: Etienne Kallos 

Honorable Mention: ANA’S PLAYGROUND – Director: Eric D. Howell

Documentary: BORN SWEET – Director: Cynthia Wade  

Honorable Mention: WOMAN REBEL – Director Kiran Deol

Animated: THE MACHINE – Director: Rob Shaw 

Honorable Mention: PRAYERS FOR PEACE – Director: Dustin Grella            

 

Pink Peach Jury Award Winners: 

Feature: 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION – Director: Reed Cowan, Co-Director: Steven Greenstreet 

Short: CURIOUS THING – Director: Alain Hain 

 

Documentary Feature Jury Award Winner:

FAMILY AFFAIR – Director: Chico Colvard

Narrative Feature Jury Award Winner: 

PUTTY HILL – Director: Matt Porterfield 

 

2010 Atlanta Film Festival Jury

Narrative Feature Jury: Aaron Hillis – Editor GreenCine Daily, Vice-President of Benten Films; Erik Jambor - Executive Director Indie Memphis; Scott Mosier – Producer (CLERKS, CHASING AMY, ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO) 

Documentary Feature Jury: Godfrey Cheshire – Film Critic, Journalist; Basil Tsiokos – Programming Associate Sundance Film Festival, Film Festival Director, Consultant; Angela Tucker – Writer/Director/Producer (DEADLINE, ELECTION DAY, INVISIBLE MEN), Director of Production Big Mouth Films

Shorts Jury: Mark Bell – Owner and Publisher Film Threat, Jeff Krulik – Director/Producer (HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT, I CREATED LANCELOT LINK), Mitchell Rose – Writer/Director, Performance Artist

Pink Peach Jury: Tim Kirkman – Writer/Director (DEAR JESS, THE NIGHT LARRY KRAMER KISSED ME); Tina Mabry – Writer/Director/Producer (ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE, MISSISSIPPI DAMNED); Molly Mayeux – Producer (THE LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND, RAIN) 

 

About the Atlanta Film Festival

Now in its fourth decade, the Atlanta Film Festival—one of only two-dozen Academy Award® qualifying festivals in the U.S.—is the area’s preeminent celebration of cinema.  It is the one of the largest and longest-running festival in the region, welcoming audiences to discover 150+ new independent, international, animated, documentary, and short films, selected from 1,800+ submissions from all over the world.  It is also the most distinguished event in its class, recognized as Best Film Festival by Creative Loafing, Sunday Paper, 10Best and Atlanta Magazine. Atlanta Film Festival’s executive director was honored as 2008’s Best Festival Director for a National Film Festival at the International Film Festival Summit.

Atlanta Film Festival screenings often include in-person dialog with filmmakers, providing audiences, artists and industry professionals with meaningful opportunities to network, interact and engage.  Recent festival guests have included Josh Brolin (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN), Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Michael Ealy (BARBERSHOP), Jasmine Guy (DIFFERENT WORLD), Chris Moore (GOOD WILL HUNTING,), Howard Zinn (The Peoples’ History of the United States), Ray McKinnon (THE BLIND SIDE), Walton Goggins (THE SHIELD), Margaret Cho (DROP DEAD DIVA), comedian Jeff Foxworthy, Tichina Arnold (EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS), John Sayles (PASSION FISH), Hal Hartley (SIMPLE MEN), Carlos Cauron (RUDO Y CURSI) and Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers).

 

2010 ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL Sponsors

As Presenting Sponsor of the Atlanta Film Festival for the past seven years, Turner Broadcasting is committed to supporting the Festival’s mission to lead the community in creative and cultural discovery through the moving image. The Festival is pleased to recognize significant support of returning Platinum Sponsor Comcast—who will be extending the reach and adding dimension to the festival by providing exclusive Video-On-Demand content as well as sneak previews of festival films, and Hotel Midtown—the official Host Hotel of the 2010 Atlanta Film Festival. The Atlanta Film Festival is honored to welcome REELZCHANNEL: TV About Movies as a new sponsor, joining longtime sponsor, the Georgia Office of Film, Music and Digital Entertainment at the Gold Level.  2010 Silver Sponsors include AirTran, ECG Productions, Epting Events, Max2o and IFC.  Bronze Sponsors include the Guillotine Post, as well as first time sponsors Red Brick Brewing (Official Beer), the Artmore Hotel (Official Closing Night Party Venue), and 944 Magazine (Official Lifestyle Magazine).  The Atlanta Film Festival is also made possible by dozens of additional participating and supporting sponsors.

ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL Supporters

Major funding for ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council, City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs, and Georgia Council for the Arts with appropriation from the Georgia General Assembly, and the National Endowment for the Arts. This program is also supported in part by Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund. 

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