Celebrate the art of film in all its glory on April 20 to 30, 2023!

We, as a society, owe a lot to film. Films can provide viewers with a new perspective on society, broadening their horizons and offering fresh insight into the lives and cultures of people in other societies. As such, it's a welcoming thought to consider that film, like any art, has anchored its way into our culture. 

Thankfully, the Atlanta Film Society's commitment to celebrating cinema is undeviating, now with Atlanta Film Festival going strong for four decades. The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF), one of only two dozen Academy Award-qualifying festivals in the United States, is the region's preeminent cinema celebration. It's one of the country's largest and longest-running film festivals, welcoming over 28,000 visitors to discover hundreds of new independent, international, animated, documentary, and short films selected from over 10,000 submissions worldwide. ATLFF is also the most prestigious event in its category, having received awards for Best Film Festival from Creative Loafing, Sunday Paper, 10Best, and Atlanta Magazine.

The Opening Night will showcase the Polite Society, which stars Priya Kansara and Ritu Arya. The film follows a martial artist-in-training who enlists the help of her friends to save her older sister from her impending marriage in the name of independence and sisterhood.

There will also be 17 Marquee screenings combining Hollywood star power with the best of indie film. The 155 creative works announced from submissions will feature diverse filmmakers championing voices and stories worldwide. Among the narrative features announced today are "This World Is Not My Own," a documentary film that depicts the life story of artist Nellie Mae Rowe through motion capture technology to replicate human expressions and movement, and "It's Only Life After All," a documentary that follows the lives and careers of one of America's most iconic folk-rock bands, the Indigo Girls. Another film worth mentioning is "The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster," starring Laya DeLeon Hayes and Chad Coleman. It tells the touching story of grief and hope through the eyes of a teenage anti-hero who goes on a desperate quest to cure death.

Moreover, ATLFF's popular educational programming extension, the 13th Annual Creative Conference, returns with in-person panel discussions, virtual panels, and one-on-one, in-depth virtual conversations with industry experts from all over the country. The theme of this year's programming will focus on the community, craft, and the future of filmmaking. It will also touch on screenwriting, directing, producing, development and pitching, using AI in filmmaking.

Pushing the boundaries to make the festival more accessible than ever, this year's ATLFF will host both in-person and virtually. All virtual screenings will be available via Eventive. In contrast, screenings will take place at the Plaza Theatre, Dad's Garage, The Carter Center, and The Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University. 

Festival passes are now available for purchase. Individual event tickets will be available beginning in April. Tickets for in-person screenings range from $12 to $15; virtual access is $9.99 per film/panel, with an unlimited virtual all-access pass for both films and the Creative Conference for $85 total.