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)

First Wave of Features from 40th Annual Atlanta Film Festival Announced!

Next year will make history. Today’s international climate fosters social, economic, and political revolution, yielding stories of incomparable gravity. Independent filmmakers continue to connect the world with these stories, and the Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) extends to these voices a platform four decades in the making.

“As the U.S. approaches a pivotal election year, this 40th anniversary lineup builds upon six feature films whose subjects, communities, and conflicts resonate with Atlanta and the world beyond,” said Kristy Breneman, ATLFF Creative Director and Features Programmer. Of this first slate, two are narratives and four are documentaries.

All six were selected from an impressive pool of over 4,750 submissions—an ATLFF all-time record. The films and their makers comprise an international showcase, together representing Bangladesh, Canada, India, Pakistan, Palestine, South Africa, and the United States.

Four of the features mark directorial debuts. Directed by Ted Marcus, “Like Lambs” is a dramatic narrative thriller that illustrates a student revolution. “Romeo is Bleeding,” directed by Jason Zeldes, follows Donté Clark’s quest to restore peace in his Richmond, CA streets. “Sink” is a narrative directed by Brett Michael Innes that adapts his novel about a Mozambican domestic worker, her South African employers, and the tragedy that befalls them. “Speed Sisters” is Amber Fares’ documentary tale about the first all-female race car driving team in the Middle East.

“Driving With Selvi” and “A Journey of A Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers,” documentaries from India and Bangladesh respectively, feature strong female subjects from Georgia’s fastest growing demographic.

ATLFF ‘16 meanwhile marks the first year within the Atlanta Film Society (ATLFS), a fortified organization title birthed in October of 2015. The ATLFS name reflects a year-round mission to lead the community in creative and cultural discovery through the moving image. Connection with a filmmaker dramatically magnifies the impact of his or her moving images, and ATLFF strives to bring our filmmakers to Atlanta no matter where they are in the world. This objective introduces a story’s audience to its storyteller, enriching the audience experience with access to the source of passion, context, and craft.

The 40th annual Atlanta Film Festival takes place April 1-10th, 2016. The festival is currently conducting its third annual and largest ever Kickstarter campaign to bring filmmakers to the festival. (atlantafilmfestival.com/fund) #40Kin40Days

Driving With Selvi

directed by Elisa Paloschi
Canada/India, 2015, Tamil, 74 minutes

Selvi, like so many girls living in India, is forced to marry at 14, only to find herself in a violent marriage. One day in deep despair, she chooses to escape, going on to become South India’s first female taxi driver. We first meet Selvi at a girls’ shelter in 2004—timid, soft-spoken, a fresh runaway from a difficult life. Over a ten-year journey, we see a remarkable transformation as Selvi finds her voice and defies all expectations—learning to drive, starting her own taxi company, leading educational seminars, and much more. This character-driven story highlights the challenges that millions of devalued women and girls in India face. In a society where women are often considered expendable or worthless, Selvi is exceptional—a charming, strong, and utterly courageous young woman who moves beyond the pain she’s experienced to create a new life.

#Documentary #International #NewMavericks

A Journey of A Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers

directed by Geeta Gandbhir, Sharmeed Obaid-Chinoy
USA/Bangladesh/Pakistan, 2015, Bengali/English/Creek, 95 minutes

“A Journey of A Thousand Miles” follows a unit of one hundred and sixty women who, between June 2013 and July 2014, travel far from their families, friends and all that is familiar at home in Bangladesh to join the United Nations Stabilizing Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). They form one of the world’s first all female, predominantly Muslim peacekeeping units; shattering every stereotype the world holds about the capabilities of Muslim women. The women—young and old, married and single, mothers and daughters—come from every corner of Bangladesh. The film focuses on three women in this unit as they grapple with the harsh realities of becoming foot soldiers in a United Nations Peacekeeping Mission.

#Documentary #International #NewMavericks

Like Lambs

directed by Ted Marcus
USA, 2016, English, 83 minutes

When economic apocalypse strikes America, students at an impossibly exclusive boarding school kidnap their most privileged classmates. After they release a video to the media stating that unless trillions of dollars in illegally withheld offshore taxes are brought in to halt the collapse, the wealthy elite must watch as their precious babes are executed on national television.

Starring: Liam Aiken, Connor Paolo, Justin Chon, David Dayan Fisher, Godfrey, Chanelle Peloso, Kale Browne
#Narrative

Romeo is Bleeding

directed by Jason Zeldes
USA, 2015, English, 93 minutes

A fatal turf war between neighborhoods haunts the city of Richmond, CA. Donté Clark transcends the violence in his hometown by writing poetry about his experiences. Using his voice to inspire those around him, he and the like-minded youth of the city mount an urban adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with the hope of starting a real dialogue about violence in the city. Will Richmond force Donté to compromise his idealistic ambitions? Or will Donté end Richmond’s cycle of trauma?

#Documentary

Sink

directed by Brett Michael Innes
South Africa, 2015, Afrikaans, 115 minutes

"Sink" tells the story of Rachel, a Mozambican domestic worker living in Johannesburg, is forced to make a life-changing decision after her daughter dies while under the care of her South African employer; return to poverty stricken Mozambique or continue working for the people responsible for the death of her child so that she can keep her home, her visa and continue to support her family. Things become even more complicated when she finds out that her employers are expecting their first child and the story follows the journey of all three as they try to find a way to live with the tragic accident that has brought them together.

Starring: Anel Alexander, James Alexander, Leandie du Randt
#Narrative #International

Speed Sisters

directed by Amber Fares
Palestine/USA, 2015, Arabic/English, 80 minutes

The Speed Sisters are the first all-woman race car driving team in the Middle East. Grabbing headlines and turning heads at improvised tracks across the West Bank, these five women have sped their way into the heart of the gritty, male-dominated Palestinian street car-racing scene. Weaving together their lives on and off the track, “Speed Sisters” takes you on a surprising journey into the drive to go further and faster than anyone thought you could.

#Documentary #International #NewMavericks

ATLFF '15 Best Narrative Feature Winner "God Bless the Child" Hits Theaters and iTunes

The 2015 Atlanta Film Festival's Jury Award-winner in the Narrative Feature category was Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and Robert Machoian's "God Bless the Child," which premiered at SXSW just days before its bow at ATLFF.

After a strong festival run throughout the spring and summer—where it was in competition at most, if not all, festivals—"God Bless the Child" is now receiving a theatrical release in New York City and will be released on iTunes on Tuesday, August 18th.

In "God Bless the Child," an often overwhelmed teenager (Harper Graham) tends to the needs of her four younger brothers, all of whom spend the day challenging each other in games of strength and burgeoning masculinity. All the while, Hannah is searching and waiting for the parent who is missing in action. Deftly walking the tightrope between documentary and narrative filmmaking, "God Bless the Child" gives us a keenly real sense of the joys, and the burden, of raising a family with little support financially or emotionally.

Click here for more information about the Independent Filmmaker Project's (IFP) week-long run of "God Bless the Child" at Made in NY Media Center by IFP. Make sure you pre-order the film on iTunes, or check it out on August 18th!

Support Our Filmmaker-in-Residence, Darrell C. Hazelrig, With a Night of Comedic Shenanigans

As part of our year-round filmmaker residency program, the Atlanta Film Festival proudly presents The "Edgor & Izzy" Variety Show!; a special IndieGogo Launch Event for the Feature Film "Edgor & Izzy!" Taking place Thursday, July 16th @ 9:30PM, at the Plaza Theatre!

Come out and support local filmmaker (and ATLFF alum) Darrell C. Hazelrig as he takes the momentum built from multiple award-winning short films into the feature film realm. This film's extremely talented cast, friends, and supporters have put together an epic show for their IndieGogo launch; come support the huge and exciting undertaking going into production on a feature film is!

Every supporter (ticket-buyer or donation) will receive updates from the set of "Edgor & Izzy" when production kicks off in October! One of the great things about indie filmmaking is that we get to include all of you in every step of the process!

EVENT DETAILS

Location: Plaza Theatre, Downstairs
Time: 9:30PM
Price: $10 (all proceeds will go toward the production of "Edgor & Izzy") ; Available below!
Make a Donation: In addition to your ticket purchase, you can make a donation to the production of this film; it takes a village! All donations are tax deductible. See the ticket purchase window below.

"EDGOR & IZZY" SYNOPSIS 
Two brothers find themselves adrift within a nightmarishly fantastical landscape of their own psychological making, forced to work together to overcome their differences in order to escape from the haunting specter of their innermost fears and weaknesses. 

PRODUCTION
"Edgor & Izzy" is scheduled to kick off production in October. It will be filmed locally, as well as out west in some of our nation's most iconic locations, such as Death Valley and Old Route 66. The vast majority of its cast and crew are Atlanta-based, all of which are super excited to bring this fantastical story to our audience here at home and beyond!

WHAT SHENANIGANS TO EXPECT
In addition to a special discussion with the film's cast and crew, some of them -- as well as awesomely infamous local talent -- will be strutting their stuff on stage for a night jam-packed with laughs (and probably a healthy dose of comedic irreverence)! 

LINEUP:

DAD'S GARAGE
Improv Comedy 

EVAN FOWLER
Stand-up Comedian

BEAU BROWN
Adult-Themed Puppetry

HEATHER LUTTRELL
Singer/Songwriter

TIPPY TAPAGE
Tap Burlesque

HOSTED BY:
Brian Bremer

Check out all of the performer photos, bios, and videos we'll be releasing on our Facebook page all week! Come be part of the excitement! 

FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE:
Darrell Hazelrig (Writer/Director), Christopher Sailor (Producer), Shannon Reis (Producer/Casting Director), Elizabeth Leary (Producer), Molly Coffee (Production Designer), Jessica Hinckle (Script Supervisor), plus many more!

OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT "EDGOR & IZZY"

Become a Fan on Facebook
Join the Launch Party Facebook Event
Check Out the Website