Atlanta Film Festival - Atlanta Film Festival

The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) is an Academy Award-qualifying, international film festival held in Atlanta, Georgia. Started in 1976 and occurring every spring, the festival shows a diverse range of independent films, including genres such as experimental, horror and sci-fi. Since 2008, the festival has presented the Pink Peach prize, which is awarded to the best LGBT feature and short films, as chosen by the Pink Peach jury. In 2013, the festival started an annual New Mavericks shorts block, featuring films by female filmmakers with strong female leads. In 2015, the New Mavericks program was expanded to include feature films and jury prizes for both features and shorts. The Accountant won the A cademy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2002 after qualifying at the 2001 Atlanta Film Festival.

Over the years, the festival's primary venues have included theaters such as Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, Atlantic Station Regal Cinemas and The Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State. In 2013, ATLFF moved its principle screening operations to The Plaza Theatre in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood and the 7 Stages Theatre in Little Five Points.

Move to Landmark Midtown Art Cinema

In 2007, the festival partnered with the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema to centrally locate the festival to Midtown, dubbed the Heart of Atlantaâ€™s Arts and home to a wide array of restaurants, bars and shops. Making the change allowed attending filmmakers and audience members more opportunities to interact and to attend the myriad of panels, screenplay readings, film discussions and parties that accompany the fest.

Move to The Plaza Theatre and 7 Stages

After 6 years centered at Landmark, the festival moved its home base to The Plaza and added 7 Stages Theatre as a secondary venue. Taking advantage of the Virginia Highlands and Little 5 Points areas, the change pushed the event to be more of a walking festival. According to Artistic Director Charles Judson, the move was mostly praised by locals and introduced out of town guests to Atlanta's unique neighborhoods.

Spin Off of Out on Film

For years the Atlanta Film Festival organization produced Atlanta's Out on Film gay film festival. In the Fall of 2008 the Atlanta Film Festival gave Out on Film to the LGBT community. Out on Film became an independent, 501(c)(3) gay/lesbian operation.

SOUND + VISION

In 2012, the festival partnered with the Goat Farm Arts Center and indieATL to introduce a special, mostly-outdoor event featuring music videos, art installations and live musical performances called SOUND + VISION. The evening is an example of the types of elements film festivals continue to add as they look to redefine themselves, connect with audiences and innovate. An estimated 1,200 people attended in its inaugural year, dropping to just under 800 in 2013, due to inclimate weather. In 2014, the event drew over 1,500 attendees, and eclipsed 3,000 attendees in 2015.