Cinema Greens Grounds Host Southern Thriller
Prize winner Tristan Kharvari wrote "Three Things Before I Leave" specifically for the setting, a short film he will direct in October.
At the 40th ATLFF in April of this year, Cinema Greens—a film and television source for plant and location rentals and 2016 ATLFF sponsor—awarded a locations package to one lucky filmmaker. Tristan Kharvari won three shooting days on the extensive acreage and versatile Cinema Greens setting.
"The Cinema Greens Prize propelled a novel project," says Tristan Kharvari, writer and director of THREE THINGS BEFORE I LEAVE. "Initially, I sought to alter a current script that would fit the Cinema Greens ranch. But after seeing it in person, I decided it would be fun to create a new story based on the location. The house has paranormal history associated with it, prompting me to write "Three Things Before I Leave." The isolated location, rustic vibe, and historic graveyard are perfect elements for a southern thriller. Not often does a crew of minority filmmakers get free range to create on grounds such as these."
The cast and crew begins filming on the Ranch October 7th. To find out more information about the project or how you can support Tristan and his vision, visit igg.me/at/threethingsfilm.
What's With the Shorts Block Titles?
Curious as to how the 40th anniversary shorts block titles came to be? Discover the theme, its significance, and what ATLFF programmers want you to know about it.
Each year, our Shorts Programmers craft numerous shorts blocks made up of films selected from thousands of submissions. If you're familiar with ATLFF or any other film festival, you may be familiar with more traditional shorts block titles: Narrative. Documentary. Drama 1. Animation 2. While straightforward, these genre-based titles are reductive representations of all the nuance and freedom any film genre holds. For the first time in our forty year history, our Shorts team took a completely original, more daring stab at how we present these short films and their makers.
Each block is named for a classic anniversary gift material, textile, or object. Most commonly recognized by wedding anniversaries, these materials carry both physical and symbolic weight. As the years and union grow, so does the value of the corresponding gift.
"What this concept does is bring these blocks together in cosmic alignment. They revolve together around one unifying theme, the formation held together by the gravity of the films themselves," muses ATLFF Senior Shorts Programmer Christina Humphrey.
The three-word caption beneath each title at once describes the nature of the material and the nature of the films in the block. We took great care in drawing tactile essence from each material in a way that helps the audience see, hear, and feel a cohesion not typically conveyed by a simple genre label.
Says ATLFF Shorts Programmer Alyssa Armand, "We experimented last year with off-genre block titles—Better Left Unsaid, Based on a True Story, Love NC-17—and they became our most memorable screenings. This year we attempt a mindfulness that removes the need for forced labels and expectations. What better year than our 40th anniversary to let the films speak for themselves?"
Explore the following fourteen shorts blocks, their relationships to our titles, and the energy in their descriptions. Click on each title for individual film synopses, screening time, and ticket information.
THE STORY OF PERCIVAL PILTS
Candy
Short and sweet.
The four animated and two live-action films in this High Museum screening are colorful, energetic, family-friendly, and less than thirteen minutes each. "Crap You!" comes from Theo Taplitz, one of our youngest 2016 filmmakers.
AN ECSTATIC EXPERIENCE
Copper
A pliable backbone.
Pure in nature, copper was the first metal purposefully alloyed to create metals anew. The nine experimental films in this block manipulate images, sounds, and even film itself to create cinematic worlds never before seen.
THE SEND-OFF
Coral
Crucial and vibrant.
Corals create a vast, important ecosystem mined for use in medicine, climate research, and more. The eight documentary shorts in this block are as striking and irreplaceable.
EAT WHITE DIRT
Cotton
Hardy and tight-knit.
The three local, portrait documentary shorts in this group are as versatile and irreverent as the staple fiber woven into American history for better and worse.
THE CITY OF JOY
Gold
A delicate investment.
A highly coveted standard of currency and wealth, gold is fragile but worth it. All four competition documentaries here present subjects determined to forge ahead no matter the cost.
ANOTHER KIND OF GIRL
Ivory
Displaced and dispersed.
The seven documentaries in this powerful block are thanks to seven teenage girls in Jordan refugee camps sheltering those uprooted and scattered by the Syrian crisis; the block is aptly named for the precious pieces ripped from grand giants for human profit.
EDMOND
Paper
Nimble and exact.
A sharp but flexible canvas, paper in the hand of an artist can destroy as quickly as it creates. These eleven shorts in competition showcase the breadth and boundlessness of animation's craft.
HOW TO BE A BLACK PANTHER
Pearl
Shiny but gritty.
The most treasured pearls are wild; humans comb through hundreds of oysters to find just one, and it's never perfectly smooth. These five narrative shorts reveal teenage characters in throes of depths untold.
*Not intended for all teen audiences.
EL ADIÓS
Ruby
Imperfect and scarce.
Rubies are among the rarest and most valuable gemstones; a true ruby has natural flaws that contribute to its individuality and desirability. Named for the 40th anniversary gift, this block hosts seven narratives directed by New Mavericks.
HARMONY
Silk
A costly transformation.
The block title that started it all, silk is an ancient, prized textile woven from fibers produced naturally in silkworm cocoons. The six narrative shorts included here explore the price of one thing becoming another.
MORE THAN MUSIC: SENEGAL
Steel
Scraping the sky.
A foundational piece of urban development, steel defines skylines and anchors urban sprawl. These eight shorts from Atlanta-based filmmakers span three genres: animation, documentary, and narrative.
AFFECTIONS
Tin
Light and loud.
The laughter inspired by these seven comedic narrative shorts will echo like the celebratory collection of cans strewn from the bumper of a matrimonial getaway car.
MANOMAN
Wood
Some assembly required.
All-purpose and adaptable, wood is exactly what you want it to be—once you figure out what that is. The nine puppetry shorts in this block showcase the strength and utility of a genre largely under the mainstream radar.
LA FABBRICAZIONE
Wool
Other-Worldly fibers.
Formerly known as Other Worlds, this block of six narrative shorts in sheep's clothing presents surreal spaces spun from stories insulated with impact.
Twelve Shorts Revealed from 40th Anniversary Lineup
These officially selected short films representing fourteen countries examine the borderless social impact of underheard voices in film.
"The City of Joy," Joe Gomez
We announced six feature selections in December, all of which focus on human narratives with global significance. The 40th anniversary shorts lineup ventures both to further and focus this theme. Whether a reflection of the country of production or country of the filmmaker’s origin, the following short films examine the borderless social impact of voices in film, from both people and places.
“Our shorts program spans the globe every year, but 2016 brings us stellar cinematic worlds crafted by voices rarely amplified in mainstream film,” said Christina Humphrey, ATLFF Senior Shorts Programmer. “These selections show not only multiple regions and cultures, but many genres as well; these twelve alone employ experimental, animation, narrative, and documentary styles,” adds Shorts Programmer Alyssa Armand.
From Ana Teresa Fernandez, “Erasure” captures its director’s solidarity with the 43 men kidnapped in Iguala, Mexico in September 2014. Fabio Palmieri’s “Irregulars” explores European immigrant and refugee voyages. “Battalion to My Beat,” Eimi Imanishi’s Algerian narrative, introduces a young refugee named Mariam with Joan of Arc dreams. Local Atlantan Babacar Ndiaye’s “More Than Music Senegal” documents an underground artist community using hip hop to enact social change.
Chosen from a record-setting pool of over 4,700 submissions, these films span 8 shorts blocks collectively. The stories hail from Algeria, Canada, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, and Western Sahara.
Bacon and God’s Wrath // directed by Sol Friedman
Canada, 2015, 08:55
A 90-year-old Jewish woman reflects on her life’s experiences as she prepares to try bacon for the first time.
Battalion to My Beat // directed by Eimi Imanishi
Western Sahara/Algeria/USA, 2015, 13:45
Battalion To My Beat is set in the Western Saharan refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, and follows the story of Mariam, a rebellious 13-year-old girl who naively envisions herself a Jeanne D'Arc that will free her people from the occupation.
Carnal Orient // directed by Mila Zuo
USA, 2015, 08:34
A dark and strangely surreal snapshot of sexual desire aimed at the exotic.
The City of Joy // directed by Joe Gomez
India, 2015, 21:04
Following a girl living in a slum trying to get an education, a mother in a village raising her two daughters alone, and a man in the city who pulls a rickshaw through the streets of Kolkata to provide for a family of seven, The City of Joy is a portrait of the daily life of three individuals and the city they live in.
El Adiós // directed by Clara Roquet
Spain, 2015, 14:55
A Bolivian maid attempts to honor last wishes of her late mistress.
Erasure // directed by Ana Teresa Fernandez
Mexico/USA, 2015, 06:21
Ana paints herself black in protest of and in solidarity with the 43 men that were kidnapped in Iguala, Mexico in Sept. 2014.
How to Be A Black Panther // directed by Daisy Zhou
USA, 2015, 19:59
On July 4th, 1968, Han Kang navigates through the day in a small homogeneous suburban town as the only Asian American teenager. Today, both the anniversary of America's independence and the death of a dear African American friend ignites celebration, mourning, anger, and revelation.
Irregulars // directed by Fabio Palmieri
Italy, 2015, 08:55
Each year 40,000 people from Africa, Asia and the Middle East try to enter Europe. They flee from war, persecution and poverty. Since the ways by land have been interrupted, they board overloaded vessels and face a dangerous and often deadly voyage across the Mediterranean.
The \little \boy // directed by Mona A. Shahi
Iran, 2015, 07:35
People are leaving a town by the order of military, but one little boy doesn't want to follow them. He wants to complete his own mission, but….
More Than Music: Senegal // directed by Babacar Ndiaye
USA, 2015, 12:58
At a time when Hip Hop seems to be headed in a disappointing direction, there exists an underexposed community of Artists who've managed to transform the genre to address their community's needs.
The Quantified Self // directed by Gleb Osatinski
USA, 2015, 15:30
When well-meaning parents turn the self-tracking into a family religion, the consequences fall outside the quantifiable.
Seide // directed by Elnura Osmonalieva
Kyrgyzstan, 2015, 13:40
Seide lives in a snowy mountain village with her humble family and her beloved horse. When she's forced into an arranged marriage with a man from a wealthy family, she fights to save her horse from being slaughtered for food for the wedding.
A Message From Kathy Berardi on This Saturday's Class
Kathy Berardi wasn't always a short film production extraordinaire. See what she learned and why she wants to pay it forward this Saturday in part three of a four-part series.
"When I produced my first comedic short film in August 2007, I was taking on a bigger feat than I could possibly imagine. For one, my focus up until then had been on screenwriting at the UCLA School of Theater Film & Television. I found myself falling into the producer role as I had previous corporate experience in project management and pretty savvy organizational skills. What I didn’t have, however, was experience with making a short, nor did I make it a point to invest in any course on actual short filmmaking.
So, when the director asked me to line up resources like a “grip” and a “gaffer” and to get estimates on a “gennie” (film crew lingo for “generator”) in addition to helping line-up casting, get sponsors, and balance the budget, I wondered: a) just what these foreign sounding resources and equipment were and b) how these assignments had anything to do with creative storytelling, which, as a producer, I assumed my role would be since I was also a co-writer on the script.
These things were just the tip of the iceberg. The calamities that befell both me and the production—caused by relying on too many low-budget or no-budget “favors"—were immense. Combined with my sheer inexperience, these aspects made the production itself as laughable as the subject matter should have been.
What I learned from that crash-and-burn experience in attempting to make a short film that, ultimately, never saw the light of a post-production day, let alone the lofty screens of a film festival, was invaluable to me. I later went on to produce professional-grade short narrative films that won awards and helped establish my film career. These were completed with Emmy Award-winning crews, budgets that were larger than the cost of a starter house in the metro Atlanta real estate market, and by obtaining support from major sponsors like the Director’s Guild of America, Panavision, and Kodak. While I have since stopped grieving the loss of that first project, I use those hard lessons from it to help me instruct aspiring filmmakers in those key areas in which I should’ve better prepared myself.
"My quest is to save future first-time filmmakers from the lost energy, time, money and resources that I squandered in my first production. In truth, that first painful production actually was an achievement for me in that it was my first lesson in short filmmaking. I advise my students that learning from others’ experiences before making their own films is of foremost importance. I also recommend starting with low-budget or no-budget films. Use friends and family as volunteer cast members, shoot with a smart phone, and download inexpensive or free editing programs and apps to get the final version produced. The goals of your early short films should be to learn the process and the key roles and responsibilities of all involved. Have several of your own low-budget films underway and volunteer to work on others’ short film sets (which differ significantly from features and television). Only then should you invest your time and money or that of others into producing a short film of substance. It will provide the gateway to your filmmaking career.
If you sincerely strive to make to get noticed as up and coming Hollywood talent with your next short film, I’d love nothing more than to guide you in the best and proven practices used by the industry’s top professionals. Join me for the “PRODUCING YOUR SHORT FILM--Someone's Got to Do it & Why It Should Be You” this Saturday, October 10 from 12:00-3:30."
Members get 20% off this crucial workshop! Not yet a member? It's never too late.
Producing Your Short Film: Why It Should Be You
Think you have what it takes to produce a short film? Kathy Berardi agrees! Learn why on Saturday, October 10th at The Lovett School.
We're approaching Step 3 of 4 in Kathy Berardi's series of Short Film Workshops! Saturday, October 10th, from 12pm-3:30pm, join fellow filmmakers in all stages on their journeys from idea to completion. Read Kathy's thoughts on what makes you valuable as your own producer:
"If you’re a writer with sound organizational skills, you should seek out the opportunity to learn and lead and be one of the producers on the film as well. If you’re a lead actor or director whose name and reputation are riding on the film, you should definitely be involved in a key producing capacity on the film. If you’re strictly a well-organized, go-getter producer looking to deliver an amazing short film, partnering with talented writers, actors and directors is the key way to landing future positions and projects."
Kathy's led two successful, dynamic workshops already this fall, but you're not too late for the last two! Snatch this opportunity to learn from the best and advance your dream.
And did you know Members get 20% off?
ATLFF Celebrates Women in Film with New Mavericks Film Series at Synchronicity Theatre
In partnership with Synchronicity Theatre, the Atlanta Film festival is proud to present the 2015 New Mavericks Film Series, aimed to support women involved in various aspects of the Atlanta film community to achieve a strong voice in the local industry.
In partnership with Synchronicity Theatre, the Atlanta Film festival is proud to present the 2015 New Mavericks Film Series. The film series stems from our year-round program that supports women involved in various aspects of the Atlanta film community to achieve a strong voice in the local industry. Expanded from the festival’s acclaimed female-directed shorts block, New Mavericks meets on the third Wednesday of every month at Java Vino to provide networking opportunities, educational programs, opportunities for professional development, and more.
The upcoming film series will feature opening and closing night films, an animation workshop, an educational film screening on the history of the female filmmaker, and a block of local short films—all directed by women. Purchase a series pass below to get a discount on admission, access to all screenings and hangouts, discounts from area restaurants, and opportunities to win prizes!
AUGUST 21st & 22nd
OPENING NIGHT Friday, Aug. 21st @ 8pm
CHILDREN'S ANIMATION WORKSHOP & SCREENING Saturday, Aug. 22nd @ 12pm
THE HERSTORY OF THE FEMALE FILMMAKER Saturday, Aug. 22nd @ 2:30pm
FEMLANTA Saturday, Aug. 22nd @ 5pm
I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS Saturday, Aug. 22nd @ 5pm
(Q&A Director Leah Meyherhoff)
Christina Humphrey and Alyssa Armand Step Into New Roles as ATLFF Shorts Programmers
The Atlanta Film Festival is pleased to announce the expansion of our programming department, including new titles for two of our talented programmers, Christina Humphrey and Alyssa Armand.
Alyssa Armand (left) and Christina Humphrey (right) have a gravely serious discussion... Probably about Film.
Photo: Portraits by Isadora
The Atlanta Film Festival is pleased to announce the expansion of our programming department, including new titles for two of our talented programmers. Christina Humphrey will now move into the role of Senior Shorts Programmer and Alyssa Armand will take the title of Shorts Programmer.
"I couldn't be any happier to work alongside Christina and Alyssa on ATLFF's female-led programming team. Their dedication to showcasing quality filmmaking and providing outlets and resources to filmmakers will allow these two to continue to expand on our already strong film program."
—Kristy Breneman, ATLFF Creative Director
Christina Humphrey began her ATLFF career in 2011 as an intern. Back then, ATLFF's offices were still housed in the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center. In 2012, she moved into the role of Shorts Programmer and has now overseen ATLFF's Oscar-eligible short film program for several years running. Christina graduated from the University of West Georgia with a Bachelor's Degree in Mass Communications and a Minor in Film. Currently, she is pursuing her Masters of Arts in Film Studies from Georgia State University. Having formerly worked as stage security for Lil Wayne, Christina now spends her off-hours as a part of Contraband Cinema and New Mavericks, swimming across lakes with board members, and as a contributing writer for Reel Georgia.
Alyssa Armand first joined the ATLFF family as a volunteer during the 2013 and 2014 festivals. In the fall of 2014, Alyssa began an internship with the festival before joining the staff as Assistant Programmer in January 2015. Alyssa initially attended Savannah College of Art and Design to study photography before transferring to Georgia State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Film & Video. Although she once slapped her own mother during a Candyland-induced rage, Alyssa insists her wild days are behind her and that her post-work activities mostly consist of binge-watching any-and-every television show ever produced.
Congratulations, Christina and Alyssa! We are grateful for your hard work.