Puppetry Short Films, Live Events and Special Presentations Abound at ATLFF

The Atlanta Film Festival has a long-standing love affair with puppetry. A city devoted to the art form, Atlanta is home to the Center for Puppetry Arts, the nation’s largest organization dedicated to puppetry. In November, the Center will open its brand new 14 million dollar expansion, The Worlds of Puppetry Museum. It will feature two galleries—one devoted to the Global Collection and one dedicated to the Jim Henson Collection, the world’s most comprehensive collection of Henson’s puppets and artifacts.

For the last several years, puppetry shorts, special presentations, live events and installations have counted among ATLFF's most popular attractions—and we owe an immense deal of gratitude to Beau Brown, our special Puppetry Programmer. Working with Elizabeth Leary, Beau helps curate and plan ATLFF's striking puppet programing.

Beau is Director of Atlanta's Puppet Slam, The Puckin' Fuppet Show; officially recognized and sponsored by the national Puppet Slam Network. Additionally, Beau works as the Community Coordinator for the Center for Puppetry Arts, the Puppetry Track Director for Dragon Con and the National Puppet Slam Curator and Host. As a filmmaker and lead puppeteer for New Puppet Order, Beau has made several short films—many of which have been seen in ATLFF's annual Touch the Puppet Head presentation.

In 2015, ATLFF had an exceptionally strong puppetry program. While our puppetry shorts block boasted films from Australia, Spain, USA and the United Kingdom, we also featured Heather Henson's Handmade Puppet Dreams, a selection of short puppet films by independent artists exploring their hand made craft specifically for the camera. If you made it to our spectacular "Game of Thrones" party, you saw many puppets making their way through the crowd—including a larger-than-life dragon!

Since 2013, the Touch the Puppet Head special presentation has been a consistent late-night hit at each ATLFF. Mixing live performances with eccentric puppet films, Touch the Puppet head has seen performances by Lee Bryan, Raymond Carr, Gavin Cummins, Alex Griffin, Jason Hines, Joshua Holden, Charles Kelso, Charles Pillsbury, Carla Rhodes, Dana Samborski, Gregg Van Laningham and Zeb L. West, among others. In 2015, the world premiere of ATLFF's first independent TV pilot showcase, "Pepper's Place," took place at Touch the Puppet Head.

What will 2016's Puppetry Program look like? That's up to you! Submit your puppetry short films now and maybe we can pull some strings.

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We are now accepting submissions for the Puppetry Short category and all other categories for the 2016 Atlanta Film Festival. The Regular Deadline is September 18.

Support Our Filmmaker-in-Residence, Darrell C. Hazelrig, With a Night of Comedic Shenanigans

As part of our year-round filmmaker residency program, the Atlanta Film Festival proudly presents The "Edgor & Izzy" Variety Show!; a special IndieGogo Launch Event for the Feature Film "Edgor & Izzy!" Taking place Thursday, July 16th @ 9:30PM, at the Plaza Theatre!

Come out and support local filmmaker (and ATLFF alum) Darrell C. Hazelrig as he takes the momentum built from multiple award-winning short films into the feature film realm. This film's extremely talented cast, friends, and supporters have put together an epic show for their IndieGogo launch; come support the huge and exciting undertaking going into production on a feature film is!

Every supporter (ticket-buyer or donation) will receive updates from the set of "Edgor & Izzy" when production kicks off in October! One of the great things about indie filmmaking is that we get to include all of you in every step of the process!

EVENT DETAILS

Location: Plaza Theatre, Downstairs
Time: 9:30PM
Price: $10 (all proceeds will go toward the production of "Edgor & Izzy") ; Available below!
Make a Donation: In addition to your ticket purchase, you can make a donation to the production of this film; it takes a village! All donations are tax deductible. See the ticket purchase window below.

"EDGOR & IZZY" SYNOPSIS 
Two brothers find themselves adrift within a nightmarishly fantastical landscape of their own psychological making, forced to work together to overcome their differences in order to escape from the haunting specter of their innermost fears and weaknesses. 

PRODUCTION
"Edgor & Izzy" is scheduled to kick off production in October. It will be filmed locally, as well as out west in some of our nation's most iconic locations, such as Death Valley and Old Route 66. The vast majority of its cast and crew are Atlanta-based, all of which are super excited to bring this fantastical story to our audience here at home and beyond!

WHAT SHENANIGANS TO EXPECT
In addition to a special discussion with the film's cast and crew, some of them -- as well as awesomely infamous local talent -- will be strutting their stuff on stage for a night jam-packed with laughs (and probably a healthy dose of comedic irreverence)! 

LINEUP:

DAD'S GARAGE
Improv Comedy 

EVAN FOWLER
Stand-up Comedian

BEAU BROWN
Adult-Themed Puppetry

HEATHER LUTTRELL
Singer/Songwriter

TIPPY TAPAGE
Tap Burlesque

HOSTED BY:
Brian Bremer

Check out all of the performer photos, bios, and videos we'll be releasing on our Facebook page all week! Come be part of the excitement! 

FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE:
Darrell Hazelrig (Writer/Director), Christopher Sailor (Producer), Shannon Reis (Producer/Casting Director), Elizabeth Leary (Producer), Molly Coffee (Production Designer), Jessica Hinckle (Script Supervisor), plus many more!

OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT "EDGOR & IZZY"

Become a Fan on Facebook
Join the Launch Party Facebook Event
Check Out the Website