ATLFF '16 Jury & Audience Award Winners Announced!

Photo: Border Union Photography

2016 Jury Award Winners

• Narrative Feature Jury Award - HUNKY DORY (directed by Michael Curtis Johnson)
• Documentary Feature Jury Award - DRIVING WITH SELVI (directed by Elisa Paloschi)
• Documentary Feature Special Jury Award - JUANICAS (directed by Karina Garcia Casanova)
• Narrative Short Jury Award - THUNDER ROAD (directed by Jim Cummings)
• Documentary Short Jury Award - KRAINA (directed by Christina Tynkevych)
• Animated Short Jury Award - SHELL ALL (directed by Zaven Najjar)
• Music Video Jury Award - "Dove" performed by Pillar Point (directed by Jacob Krupnick)
   
• Filmmaker-to-Watch Award - ZELOS (directed by Thoranna Sigurdardottir)
• New Mavericks Award (presented by SPANX & The Sara Blakely Foundation) - DRIVING WITH SELVI (directed by Elisa Paloschi)
• Southern Spotlight Award (presented by Cineverse) - QUE SERA (directed by Robyn Hicks)
• Seed&Spark Award (for Crowdfunded Films) - EAT WHITE DIRT (directed by Adam Forrester) and THE NEW ORLEANS SAZERAC (directed by James Martin)

2016 Audience Award Winners

• Audience Award Feature - THE FOUNDERS (directed by Charlene Fisk & Carrie Schrader)
• Audience Award Short - HOTEL CLERMONT (directed by Heather L. Hutson)

ATLFF '15 Official Selection BEAR STORY Receives Academy Award Nomination

Bear Story (Historia de un oso)

ATLFF '15 official selection "Bear Story (Historia de un oso)" received a nomination for the Best Animated Short Oscar! Directed by Gabriel Osorio Vargas, the film tells the story of an old bear's life through a mechanical diorama.

Mountainfilm on Tour ATL '15 also featured a short film that went on to recieve an Academy Award nomination. "Body Team 12," directed by David Darg, also received a nomination for Best Documentary Short.

Body team 12

The Atlanta Film Festival is an Academy Award-qualifying festival in all three short film categories. The winners of our Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short and Best Animated Short Jury Prizes go on to become eligible for Oscar shortlist inclusion.

Tomorrow! Eat, Drink, & B-Animated

International Animation Day is October 28th, and we're bringing the fun to you a week early! This month's Eat, Drink, & B-Indie presented by Stella Artois will bring you a varied panel from the local animation industry. Join us at Manuel's Tavern tomorrow night from 7:30 to 9:30pm to hear from illustrators, lip-sync specialists, animation executives, and more. 

The first 40 (age appropriate) attendees will receive a drink ticket for a free Stella Artois!

Check out ASIFA-Atlanta for more information on their International Animation Day celebration! Their showcase this year focuses on diversity, disability inclusion, and a return to the roots of ASIFA: promoting peace through animation.

Roll Yer Own Animation Showcase Rolls Back Around

ASIFA-Atlanta's 13th Annual "Roll Yer Own" Animation Showcase is back! The event will show animated shorts from local and independent animators throughout the South, as well as a few honorary east coast animators. From a humorous short about a fox and his tale to a projection piece called "Journey to Womanhood", the shorts explore themes of strength, friendship, and so much more. They give a taste of the artistic styling of the south. 

ASIFA is an international animation organization that was founded in France in the 1960s. Fifthteen years ago the Atlanta chapter was formed. This chapter offers animation screening and educational programs year-round. The Atlanta Film Festival partners with ASIFA-ATL for youth animation classes, screenings, festivals, and various events such as Roll Yer Own!

Join us for the Roll Yer Own SHOWCASE on August 31st at 7:30pm at the Historic Plaza theater followed by the Q&A with the animators. The event is $5 for non-members, ASIFA members get in free. 

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. 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)

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Animated Shorts Compete for Oscar Eligibility at ATLFF

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!

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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.

Animated Feature Films Find a Welcome Home at ATLFF

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!

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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.

Watch ATLFF '14 Selection CONFUSION THROUGH SAND on Vimeo Now!

"Confusion Through Sand" was one of the animated competition selections from ATLFF '14. The film comes from ornana, a studio founded by native Georgians Danny Madden (director and animator of the film) and Benjamin Wiessner (producer). "Confusion Through Sand" follows a nineteen-year-old who finds himself alone in a hostile desert, scared as hell and trained to react.

Before "Confusion Through Sand," the guys from ornana had another film play ATLFF. "Euphonia," a strikingly original and expertly crafted low-budget narrative feature about an obsessive sound collector.

This week, "Confusion Through Sand" premiered on PBS as part of ITVS' Independent Lens series. Now, the filmmakers are offering it up on Vimeo free of charge! Already a Staff Pick there, this is not one that you want to miss. A far cry from traditional animation, the film was hand drawn entirely on recycled paper. Check it out!

Animation in Atlanta is the Focus of this month's Eat, Drink, & B-Indie presented by Stella Artois

International Animation Day is October 28th. This month's Eat, Drink, and B-Indie is a week before that, but we still want to celebrate! Atlanta is pretty big on the scene, with Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Floyd County Productions, ASIFA-Atlanta and our various schools all contributing to the rich animation culture here.

At this month's EDBI, we will hear from several of Atlanta's foremost animators—including independent auteurs as well as people from some of Atlanta's biggest animation production companies like Floyd County and Adult Swim! Watch some reels of these incredibly talented people's work and learn their techniques and how they make a living in the industry.

We will also preview ASIFA-Atlanta's International Animation Day celebration!

This is a free event and open to the public!

Join us on the third Tuesday of every month at Manuel's Tavern for Eat, Drink, & B-Indie presented by Stella Artois! The first 40 (age appropriate) attendees will receive a ticket good for a free Stella Artois.