2025 Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition Winners Announced!
ATLANTA, GA (March 7, 2025)— The Atlanta Film Society is pleased to present the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition Winners. Chosen from 1,106 total submissions, the following three feature film screenplays, one pilot, and one short represent this year's competition's finest and best entries. The authors will receive invaluable mentorship opportunities to help hone their craft and plan the next steps in their careers, in addition to cash prizes. Please join us in congratulating these impressive authors and take a look at the synopsis of their scripts:
Feature Screenplays
Xiayang Li - A-MA // Los Angeles, CA
(96 pages // Drama)
Synopsis: Faye, an ex-addict, seeks redemption while dealing with her overbearing mother, Sophia, and her senile grandmother A-Ma. Pressured by her gang-affiliated friend Johnny, Faye gets involved in drug dealing to repay unsettled debts and finds herself entangled in a web of danger. When her payment fails, the gangsters raid their home while A-Ma is alone. A-Ma surprises intruders with her hidden killer skills, making them targets of a triad gang. Faye and A-Ma bond on their journey as fugitives from the vicious gangsters. She discovers A-Ma's past as a legendary gangster. The triad captures Sophia, prompting Faye and A-Ma to rescue her. They engage in a bloody battle, resulting in the triad's downfall. Faye takes a bullet for Sophia, resolving their strained relationship.
Sarah Peele - PURE INTENTIONS // Brooklyn, NY
(99 pages // Comedy)
Synopsis: Two evangelical teens in 90’s rural Missouri set out to buy vibrators in a misguided attempt to remain pure. (They’re not touching themselves if they use a vibrator, right?) With their church’s inaugural father-daughter purity ball fast approaching, EMILY and KARA sweet talk “slutty” upperclassman – and sworn enemy – JADE into driving them to the Big City (suburban mall) to buy back massagers (vibrators) in exchange for one for herself. This simple errand snowballs into an epic quest that leaves each girl questioning the very nature of sin, sex, and girlhood.
Alex Parkinson - RIDE OR DIE // Atlanta, GA
(105 pages // Comedy)
Synopsis: Fred, Tom, Pete, and Gerald are lifelong friends. Facing middle age, they discover the joys of stopping at the local coffee shop after an intense ride together through their neighborhood. But when a group of women cyclists, led by middle-aged mean girl Carla, insults Gerald and challenges the guys to a cycling showdown to win the coveted patio tables at their local coffee shop, Fred must improve his cycling game to keep Tom from losing his shit and from dismantling their peloton forever.
Pilot Screenplay - Television (One-hour)
Briaunna Caver - BROOKLYN BLACKS // Clovis, CA
(58 pages // Other)
Synopsis: An incoming college freshman, unconsciously burdened with grief, decides on a whim to visit her estranged relatives for a wedding, only to be roped into a manhunt for the missing three-tier cake.
