ATLANTA, GA (March 1, 2023) – The Atlanta Film Society (ATLFS) is pleased to announce the first wave of films programmed for the upcoming 47th Annual Atlanta Film Festival & Creative Conference (ATLFF), slated for April 20 through April 30, 2023. Each year, this first wave announcement acts as the earliest glimpse at the upcoming festival and represents the exciting programming choices to come.

This first wave, selected from the over 9000+ film & screenplay submissions, consists of three documentary features and two narrative features.

“We chose this initial wave of films because together they reflect the breadth and diversity of the 160+ films that will make up ATLFF’s final slate.”
Jonathan Kieran, Programming Director, ATLFF

For the second consecutive year, ATLFF has received over 9,000 submitted works from 118 countries. In 2022, the total programmed films included 56% BIPOC directed, 53% women+ non-binary directed, and 18% from Georgia-tied filmmakers. These first selections of films will be joined by over 160 others selected from submitted works when the entire lineup is released in late March.

BLACK MOTHERS LOVE AND RESIST
Documentary Feature
Directed by Débora Souza Silva
United States, English, 103 minutes
Wanda Johnson and Angela Williams, mothers of young Black men victimized by police brutality, come together and build a network of community-led support, mutual aid, and healing in this documentary spanning Oakland’s Fruitvale to the American South.

HELLO DANKNESS
Narrative Feature
Directed by Soda Jerk
Australia, English, 70 minutes
Comprised entirely of hundreds of film samples, Hello Dankness is a suburban stoner musical about the psychotropic disintegration of reality in America from 2016 to 2021.

IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL
Documentary Feature
Directed by Alexandria Bombach
United States, English, 118 minutes
Blending 40 years of home movies, raw film archive, and intimate present-day verité, a poignant reflection from Amy Ray & Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls – the iconic folk rock duo. A timely look into the obstacles, activism, and life lessons of two queer friends who never expected to make it big.

MISS VIBORG
Narrative Feature
Directed by Marianne Blicher
Denmark, Danish, 99 minutes
Former beauty queen and senior citizen Solvej lives alone with her dog in a social housing area on the outskirts of Danish provincial town Viborg. Each day, she performs the same old routines roaming around on her scooter dealing her prescription drugs, dreaming of a world outside Viborg and reminiscing over old love letters from her past. When unforeseen circumstances bring her neighbor’s daughter, rebellious 17-year-old Kate into her life, an unlikely friendship forms and new hope for the future emerges.

SHIP HAPPENS
Documentary Feature
Directed by Jordan Bellamy & Josh Gilligan
On Sept 8, 2019, The Golden Ray, an outbound 656 foot cargo ship loaded with 4200 vehicles capsized in the Saint Simons Sound off the coast of Brunswick, Georgia. In order to protect a fragile ecosystem amidst the backdrop of ongoing global commerce, concerned locals work to hold authorities accountable when the salvage project to remove the ship suffers every setback imaginable.