The Atlanta Film Festival
Karsh mentioned the Flicks on 5th Summer Film Series below and I wanted to let you know about the Atlanta Film Festival that starts next week and runs June 9-17 at various venues around our city. It’s the 30th annual festival, brought to you by Image Film and Video, and the indie films are better than ever.
I won’t yack about it here as their website is the place to go. Lot’s of very cool stuff this year. Check it out!
A couple of things I’d like to point out about our 30th anniversary film festival:
* The 30th Annual Atlanta Film Festival will feature over 150 films from all over the world, over a span of nine-days, in Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead.
* Films include narrative, documentary, shorts, student films, experimental films, animation and films by teens (Teen Screen). If you want to see films you won’t find anywhere else, then don’t miss the Atlanta Film Festival!
* Films you won’t want to miss: Quinceneara, American Blackout, loudQUIETloud: A Film About Pixies, The Moon and the Son, The Little Matchgirl, Laura Smiles, Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story, Purvis Of Overtown…the list goes on.
* On Thursday, June 15th, we’re screening two ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA shows at Lefont Garden Hills Cinema in Buckhead. Also on Thursday, we’re screening WHAT REMAINS with Sally Mann in attendance. Other highlights include the news feature, GENIUS with CNN Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
* Venues include: Rialto Center (Opening/Closing), Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, Cinefest at Georgia State, The Speakers Auditorium at Georgia State, Lefont Garden Hills (Animation Extravaganza), Woodruff Arts Center-Rich Theater, Center for Puppetry Arts, and Piedmont Park (Screen On The Green).
* For those of you interested in the art of filmmaking, we have a fantastic panel lineup this year. Go here to read panel descriptions and to learn about the panelists:
http://www.atlantafilmfestival.com/AFF_PANELS.html
* And if you just want to party, we have nine nightly parties at nightclubs including The Mark, Sutra Lounge, Django, The Warren and more.
Click here for the AFF party schedule:
http://www.atlantafilmfestival.com/AFF_parties.html
You can purchase tickets in advance by visiting http://www.atlantafilmfestival.com/ or by calling 1.800.838.3006. Get your tickets today!
BACKSEAT drives into the ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL
After winning the Audience Award at the Austin film Festival and playing to rave reviews at film festivals across the country, BACKSEAT will have its Atlanta premiere at this year’s 30th Annual Atlanta Film Festival.
In Backseat, a ‘coming of age late’ story about prolonged adolescence, two old friends flee New York City on a three-day road trip to Montreal to escape their problems and meet the great Donald Sutherland. Between running drugs and meeting a man who only communicates through instant messaging, they run head-on into the always lingering problem of real life.
Directed by award-winning commercials director, Bruce van Dusen (who wrote and directed the Sundance hit COLD FEET),
BACKSEAT is an off-beat and refreshing comedy about generation x as it struggles through prolonged adolescence and into adulthood. With a cast of truly wonderful up-and-comers (Will Janowitz from The Sopranos, Rob Bogue from Guiding Light, Aubrey Dollar from Fox’s Point Pleasant) and featuring a soundtrack with some of the biggest indie acts currently playing the US music scene, BACKSEAT is that rare gem at film festivals – an entertaining, and ultimately moving snapshot of a few regular folks struggling to make sense of their lives and what they want from them.
A truly indie effort, BACKSEAT was shot in 17 days on super 16mm film at over 45 locations throughout New York State. And took over three years to finance – primarily through the genorosity of family and friends.
What some of the things critics have said:
“…..Toss in a faithless girlfriend, a brick of cocaine, a tightly wound cousin, a stripper, and a guy who communicates only through the Web and you have some of the ingredients that give narrative spice to Backseat. But the heart and the pleasure of this movie reside in the conversations and in the moments in which nothing happens, or in the off-kilter way that things happen when they do happen. Co-star and screenwriter Alexander has delightfully tapped into the realities that lie just this side of absurdity.”
– Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
“Sideways: The Extra Funny Version Without the Wine Metaphors…..{and} what’s most surprising about this “freshman” effort by Alexander, is how effortless it all appears. Alexander’s humor is derived from a very real knack for comedy coupled with an equally acut understanding of his audience, so Backseat ends up a truly memorable, funny…yes…Guy Road Trip Movie.”
-Laura Kyle, efilmcritic.com
“…the combination of good acting, a clever soundtrack, sharp dialogue, and unexpected situations make this crew one to watch.”
-Rise Keller, moviehabit.com, Denver
BACKSEAT will screen on one night only, June 13th, at 7:15pm at CINEFEST on the Goergia State Campus. See http://www.atlantafilmfestival.com for tickets and information.
Come on out and support indie filmmaking!