The Call for Entries for the 2017 Atlanta Film Festival is now open!
Submit your film or screenplay for 2017 Atlanta Film Festival consideration today! Earlybird deadline is June 30th!
From March 24 to April 2, 2017, we will be celebrating our 41th anniversary and we are looking to you to help us make it our best yet.
Last year, we received over 4,700 film submissions from more than 120 countries across all 6 populated continents (sorry, Antarctica). Out of nearly 200 films that play the Atlanta Film Festival each year, roughly 80% of those come from submissions! In programming next year's festival, we are looking for groundbreaking works in narrative and documentary features and short films, animations, experimental films, puppetry films, music videos, virtual reality films and episodic pilots. We are pleased to have Pivot as our documentary film sponsor for 2017.
We received nearly 600 screenplay submissions last year, making for our most competitive Screenplay Competition since its inception in 2008. We are looking for innovative and compelling storytelling, for characters that surprise and challenge you, for words that pop off the page, and for narratives that twist and turn like a country back road. This year we’re accepting both feature scripts and pilot scripts; you’re more than welcome to submit in both categories.
Films and screenplays must comply with category requirements and filmmakers must complete the process and payment to be considered for ATLFF '17. Have questions? Check out our Film Submissions FAQ and our Screenplay Submissions FAQ.
WonderRoot's Local Film Series Wants You to Submit Your Films!
WonderRoot is looking for submissions for the fall edition of its Local Film Series! Experimental shorts, documentaries, narratives, animation, music videos, and video art are all considered. Submit by August 21.
WonderRoot is looking for submissions for the fall edition of its Local Film Series! Experimental shorts, documentaries, narratives, animation, music videos, and video art are all considered, as long as they are made in Georgia.
The deadline for submissions is August 21st and the next screening will be on September 24th at the Plaza Theatre. Jury prizes will be awarded and winning filmmakers receive funding to submit their work to other local and national film festivals, as well as a private consultation with the ATLFF's Creative Director, Kristy Breneman, and Senior Shorts Programmer, Christina Humphrey.
Submit your local film today!
Puppetry Short Films, Live Events and Special Presentations Abound at ATLFF
The Atlanta Film Festival has a long-standing love affair with puppetry—with short films, special presentations, live events and more all showcasing the best puppet offerings each year. Submit your puppetry short now!
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.
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.
Animated Shorts Compete for Oscar Eligibility at ATLFF
At the 2015 Oscars, two ATLFF official selections competed for the Best Animated Short award. As an Academy Award®-qualifying festival, will our winning film from this year go on to receive a nomination?
Academy Award® nominated film and ATLFF '14 official selection "The Dam Keeper"
In 2015, the Atlanta Film Festival became Oscar-eligible for the Documentary Short Film category, meaning that the jury award-winning film in that category would then qualify for the shortlist of films that the final nominees are chosen from. However, ATLFF has already been Oscar-qualifying in the animated and narrative short categories for many years.
Earlier this year, two ATLFF official selections were nominated in the Best Animated Short category at the Academy Awards®. "The Dam Keeper," by Robert Kondo and Daisuke 'Dice' Tsutsumi, was part of the animated short competition during the 2014 festival and "The Bigger Picture," by Daisy Jacobs, played this spring as part of the 2015 ATLFF animated short competition.
The winning animated short film from ATLFF '15, thus qualifying it for Academy Award® consideration, is the locally produced "Starlight" from the Atlanta-based filmmakers and animators Tamarind King, Shir Wen Sun, Marisa Tontaveetong and Yu Ueda. "Starlight" follows a stray cat as it navigates the sights and sounds of Atlanta's famed Starlight Six Drive-in Theatre during a busy night. One of the animators, Marisa "Ginger" Tontaveetong, was announced as one of ATLFF's Filmmakers-in-Residence earlier this year. We will have to wait and see if "Starlight" goes on to compete for an Oscar next winter, but we know we have our fingers crossed!
We are now accepting submissions for the Animated Short category and all other categories for the 2016 Atlanta Film Festival. The Regular Deadline is September 18.
WIFTA is Looking for Submission for its Summer Series at Ponce City Market!
Women in Film and Television Atlanta is hosting a summer film series in September and is now looking for submissions!
Women in Film and Television Atlanta is hosting a summer film series in September and is now looking for submissions! Check out the categories and submit your film today. There is $1000 in prize money plus the chance to get your film screened at Ponce City Market!
Animated Feature Films Find a Welcome Home at ATLFF
Animated features have become a staple in recent years at ATLFF, signifying a healthy and growing animation industry in Atlanta and beyond.
Animated features have become a staple in recent years at the Atlanta Film Festival, signifying a healthy and growing animation industry in Atlanta and beyond. Animation studios pump out family-friendly blockbusters every few weeks at your local cinemas, but the indie animated scene is working hard to produce beautiful and complex features and short films and ATLFF is pleased to showcase as much as we can.
In 2014, two-time Academy Award-nominee Bill Plympton brought his latest feature film "Cheatin'" to the Atlanta Film Festival. A dialogue free film, the rapturous artistry and beautiful music propels the film into a league of its own. Earlier this year, ATLFF helped spread the word about Plympton's efforts to crowd fund his next feature film, "Revengeance." We hope that whenever he wraps work on that, we will be among the first to screen it!
Ari Folman's "The Congress" was another example of feature animation at ATLFF '14 and became one of the most attended screenings that year. Folman previously directed the Israeli animated documentary film "Waltz With Bashir," which received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. "The Congress" is a live action/animation hybrid, starring Robin Wright, Jon Hamm and Paul Giamatti. Having also screened at the Cannes Film Festival, "The Congress" was one of 2014's art house hits, playing several festivals and select theaters across the globe.
At ATLFF '15, it was stop-motion animation that held the spotlight. In the Spanish film "Possessed (Pos Eso)," a retired flamenco dancer and a disillusioned priest deal with death and demon possession. The Buried Alive Film Festival partnered with us to present "Possessed," directed by Sam, on the first night of the festival.
Do you have an animated feature or short film that you are ready for the world to see? We are ready to watch it!
We are now accepting submissions for the Animated Feature category and all other categories for the 2016 Atlanta Film Festival. The Regular Deadline is September 18.
Russell Sheaffer's Experimental Feature "Masculinity/Femininity" (ATLFF '15) is Available for Free
An example of ATLFF's dedication to both feature and short experimental films, 2015 selection "Masculinity/Femininity" from Russell Sheaffer is available for free on Vimeo On Demand.
"Masculinity/Femininity" is an experimental documentary feature from renowned filmmaker Russell Sheaffer that played this year's ATLFF. Picking up where "Masculinity & Me"—his short film starring James Franco—left off, "Masculinity/Femininity" is presented as a series of monologues, stories and performance pieces by artists, academics and gender theorists.
Sheaffer also had an experimental short film play this year's festival. "Broken Jaw" is a mediation on physical and psychological trauma.
To celebrate the United States Supreme Court's decision on marriage equality, Sheaffer decided to release "Masculinity/Femininity" without cost through Vimeo On Demand. Click here to rent the film free of charge, using Promo Code: Equality.
ATLFF is dedicated to experimental film programming—both features and short films. Our annual experimental shorts block consistently exceeds expectations, and "Masculinity/Femininity" is just one example of an ATLFF experimental feature official selection. Additionally, partnerships with local organizations like Contraband Cinema help keep us focused on experimental film year-round.
We are now accepting submissions for the Experimental Features, Experimental Shorts and all other categories for the 2016 Atlanta Film Festival. The Regular Deadline is September 18.
ATLFF Now Accepting Pilot Episodes in Both Film and Screenplay Submissions
While ATLFF has screened network television shows for years and indie pilot "Pepper's Place" in 2015, we are now opening up both film and screenplay submissions to pilot episodes for the first time ever!
"Pepper's Place," from Zombie Cat Productions and Fake Wood Wallpaper.
Through partnerships with cable networks such as HBO, Starz, SundanceTV, ESPN, Fox Sports, FX, AMC and BBC America, the Atlanta Film Festival has been screening amazing television programming for years. Earlier this year, at the 39th annual ATLFF, we showcased our first ever indie television pilot—"Pepper's Place," directed by Atlanta's own Molly Coffee of Zombie Cat Productions.
Incorporating colorful set pieces, skillful puppetry, and catchy music, "Pepper's Place" was a pitch-perfect and hilarious compliment to our annual Touch the Puppet Head event.
Having seen the success of "Pepper's Place" at ATLFF '15 and the growing number of pilots produced annually, we are now opening up both film and screenplay submissions to pilot episodes for the first time ever!
Working on a one-hour drama pilot? Maybe it's a 30-minute sitcom? Have a great web series idea? We are looking for great works in all categories. Haven't shot your pilot yet? No problem—we have a screenplay competition as well.
The Call for Entries is now open for Pilot Episodes and all other categories for the 2016 Atlanta Film Festival and for the 2016 ATLFF Screenplay Competition. The Regular Deadline is September 18.
The Earlybird Deadline is About to Fly By!
Save some money and submit your film to ATLFF '16 before Midnight on Saturday, June 20!
The Earlybird Deadline is this Saturday, June 20th! This year will be our 40th annual film festival and we need your help to make it the best yet. We are looking for groundbreaking and creative films to show in-and-out of competition.
Submit your Feature film for only $35 or your short film for only $25. We accept submissions through FilmFreeway and Withoutabox. Fees, application and information need to be uploaded by 11:59pm on Saturday.
Be ahead of the game and submit yours today!
For more information check out our submissions page or our submissions FAQ page.
Call For Entries Now Open for 2016 Atlanta Film Festival!
We want your films! Submissions are now open for the 2016 Atlanta Film Festival.
The Call for Entries for the 2016 Atlanta Film Festival is now open! From April 1 to April 10, 2016, we will be celebrating our 40th anniversary and we are looking to you to help us make it our best yet.
Last year, we received 3,761 submissions from more than 120 countries across all 6 populated continents (sorry, Antarctica). Over 200 films featured in ATLFF '15 and 80% of those came from submissions! We are looking for groundbreaking works in narrative and documentary features, short films, experimental films, puppetry films, music videos and television pilots. In addition to our annual film festival, short films will also be considered for our year-round programs like Airport SHORTS or the Film Festival Collective OnDemand channel.
We accept submissions through both FilmFreeway and Withoutabox. To save money, consider submitting your completed film by the Earlybird Deadline on June 20. The Regular Deadline is September 18, the Late Deadline is set for October 23 and the Withoutabox Extended Deadline is November 6. Discounts are available for students and ATLFF members.
Films must comply with category requirements and filmmakers must complete the process and payment to be considered for ATLFF '16. We know you've got some great work, now let us help you show it off!