ATLANTA, GA (February 15, 2022) — The Atlanta Film Society (ATLFS) is pleased to announce the first wave of films programmed for the upcoming 46th annual Atlanta Film Festival + Creative Conference (ATLFF), slated for April 21 through May 1, 2022. Each year, this first wave announcement acts as both the earliest glimpse at the upcoming festival as well as a representation of the exciting programming choices to come.  

The first wave includes two documentary features, two narrative features, one music video, and one experimental short. These are representative of the innovative, brazen, and compelling breadth of stories to be found across ATLFF’s 2022 programming.

YOU RESEMBLE ME (Tu me Ressembles)
Directed by Dina Amer
USA/France/Egypt, French/Arabic, 91 minutes

Cultural and intergenerational trauma erupt in this story about two sisters on the outskirts of Paris. After the siblings are torn apart, the eldest, Hasna, struggles to find her identity, leading to a choice that shocks the world. Director Dina Amer takes on one of the darkest issues of our time and deconstructs it in an intimate story about family, love, sisterhood, and belonging.

#NarrativeFeatures

THE UNKNOWN COUNTRY
Directed by Morrisa Maltz
USA, English, 86 minutes

An invitation to reunite with her estranged Oglala Lakota family launches a grieving young woman (Lily Gladstone) on an unexpected road trip from the Midwest toward the Texas-Mexico border. In this largely solitary journey with an unknown destination, Tana navigates the complex, post- 2016 election social climate, and a natural landscape that is increasingly surreal. Along the way, she bonds with unexpected people that are as much a part of the landscape as the mountains and roads. At times at ease, at times on edge as a woman traveling alone, familiar faces and strangers shape her journey as she grapples with the pain of her recent loss and seeks to understand her place in the world.

#NarrativeFeatures

IN THE BONES
Directed by Kelly Duane de la Vega, Co-Directed by Jessica Anthony & Zandashé Brown
USA, English, 94 minutes

In the Bones is a lyrical documentary that explores the personal and political by interweaving the lives of 12 characters living in Mississippi during a legislative session in which equal pay for equal work and abortion rights are being decided. Although set in three distinct regions of Mississippi, In the Bones is a much broader exploration of our culture, an unsettling portrait of America that shines a light on the weight women live under in this country and also the resilience expressed in everyday acts of survival.

#DocumentaryFeatures

OUTTA THE MUCK
Directed by Ira Mckinley & Bhawin Suchak 
USA, English, 80 minutes

As we journey back to his family’s hometown of Pahokee, FL, filmmaker Ira McKinley reconnects with his niece Bridget and nephew Alvin, exploring a shared history that spans seven generations. Told through stories that transcend space and time, Outta The Muck presents a community, and a family, that resists despair with love, remaining fiercely self-determined, while forging its own unique narrative of Black achievement.

#DocumentaryFeatures

PEACH PURÉE DE PÊCHES
Directed by Stephanie Burbano
Canada, French/English, 3 minutes

Band stand fever dream with goddess Elle Barbara serenading you through the new/old sexual politic.

#MusicVideos

EYES AND HORNS (아이즈앤혼즈)
Directed by Chaerin Im
Germany/South Korea/USA, No Dialogue, 6 minutes

Exploration of masculinity begins with the Minotaur, a mythical creature Picasso used to portray himself in his etching print series. The Minotaur goes through a violent struggle between being male and female. Finally, lines blur and boundaries of sexes disappear.
#ExperimentalShorts