I’ll be honest- I did not expect to do another lead-in to this week’s Atlanta Film Festival, but the schedule got finalized even more after I posted last week, and I’ve been able to (mostly) set my personal screening schedule, so another post leading in to the festival is necessary. Starting with Thursday, here is my drive-in screening schedule through Sunday, as it stands now. (I will post the rest after the weekend.)
Thursday, September 17
Opening night it usually centered on the local short film block- titled this year, “Stomping Ground”– but because of the lack of day-time screenings because of the drive-in format, Thursday has four different screenings going on. While the most enticing one is “The Nest”, with Jude Law and Carrie Coons, the one I will be taking in is “Some Kind of Heaven”, a documentary about retirees at a planned community in Florida, and I will be taking in “Stomping Ground” and the foreign film, “The Orphanage”, virtually. (I have actually watched “The Nest” via studio screener- that review will run Thursday morning.)
Friday, September 18
The marquee screening of the evening is “Blast Beat”, about a Columbian family leaving their native country to try and seize the American Dream, but the one that actually has me most interested is the documentary, “In the Cold Dark Night”, which is about the investigations of the racially-motivated murder of Timothy Coggins. If you want something more genre-oriented, though, there’s an animated block I will probably watch virtually, as well as a collection of music videos, or there’s a live screening of “Climate of the Hunter”, Mickey Reece’s sort of vampire drama that I watched for Fantasia Fest, and is an entertaining B-movie.
Saturday, September 19
Again with the documentaries. That’s ok, though, because the ones I’m choosing are ones I’ve been most anxious to see at this year’s festival. Tonight, it is “Cinema Pameer”, which is about a movie theatre operating in war-torn Kabul, Afghanistan. Narratively, I hope to take in the domestic drama, “The Killing of Two Lovers”, via screener to check out Robert Machoian’s film about a father struggling to keep his family together. Also screening tonight is the fantastic Pepe the Frog doc, “Feels Good Man”; the “Power Moves” (New Mavericks) short film block; and the wrestling documentary, “Ring of Dreams”, while I will also be staying out for the “Late Night, Great Night” midnight shorts block this night after “Cinema Pameer. (Also, before the screenings, I will be taking in a film scoring clinic with composer Evan Hodges as part of the Creative Conference.)
Sunday, September 20
Sunday will be completely about the genre films for me. While two narrative films in “Freeland” and “Milkwater” will likely be the biggest draws of the day, and there’s a documentary playing in “Once Upon a Time in Venezuela”, my night will begin with the “Outta This World” sci-fi and fantasy short film block, and end with the horror anthology, “Dead by Midnight: Y2Kill”. Seems like a good way to wrap up my first weekend of the festival.
Now that I’m really seeing the shape of the festival’s offerings come into focus, I’m really excited by what people who attend have awaiting them this year. I’ll have more next Monday with what I’ll be taking in through the week…so long as food poisoning doesn’t strike again.
2020 Atlanta Film Festival: The Reviews
“John Lewis: Good Trouble”
“Feels Good Man”
“Climate of the Hunter”
“Overseas”
“The Nest”
“The Orphanage”
“Some Kind of Heaven”
“The Killing of Two Lovers”
“In the Cold Dark Night”
“Cinema Pameer”
2020 Atlanta Film Festival
Announcement
The Festival Will Go On
What to See, How to See It
Viva La Resistance!
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
