Atlanta Film Festival 2020 – The Final Weekend : Sonic Cinema

Atlanta Film Festival 2020 – The Final Weekend

Posted by Brian Skutle Posted on Sep - 25 - 2020 0 Comment

I haven’t really talked about the movies I have seen at the Atlanta Film Festival this year. It’s certainly nothing against those films, many of which I’ve really liked, but this year, I just fell into a routine with these write-ups of previewing what is ahead in the festival. That, in and of itself, is worth discussing, and there will be time after the festival to discuss the films I watched afterward. (Also, you can check out the reviews linked below.) So let us look ahead of the last three days of the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival.

Friday, September 25
Leading into the last weekend is a collection of features and shorts that I hope to watch more of before the end of the festival, but will only be doing one of tonight. I did watch (virtually) the “Eat the Rich” short film block this morning, and while I’m not a big fan of any of the shorts in the block, all three- Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Nimic”, “Chewing Gum” and “Electric Swan”– are compelling and have interesting visual and narrative ideas. Also in the early set tonight is “Test Pattern”, about a couple dealing with the aftermath of a sexual assault, and Joshua Leonard’s “Fully Realized Humans”, a comedy about soon-to-be parents that will be my film choice this evening. The later set includes “Comedies of Errors”, a comedy short film block; “Ema”, about a set of adoptive parents played by Mariana Di Girolamo and Gael García Bernal; and “Malpaso”, about twin brothers who have to look after one another after their grandfather dies.

Saturday, September 26
Good trouble and short films are the order of the day for the Closing Night of the festival. At Pullman Yard they are doing two fundraiser events where they are screening the documentary about Georgia Civil Rights icon, John Lewis, “Good Trouble”– both screenings are sold out, but the film is available virtually to take in, and it’s well worth doing so. The screening I will be attending on Saturday is for “The Glorias”, Julie Taymor’s biopic about feminist icon Gloria Steinem, with Julianne Moore in the role of Steinem; that is sold out, as well. The only things still available are the “Exit Interviews” and “What’s Up With the Youth?” narrative short film blocks, and if you enjoy short films, I would say that will be worthwhile, although I have not seen either block.

Sunday, September 27
Closing out the festival are a pair of screenings of a couple of films that sound like a good way for this festival to end. On the documentary side, there is “For the Love of Rutland”, about a small town in America shaken up politically by displaced refugees. On the narrative end, which I will be watching, is “Sylvie’s Love”, about a young woman (Tessa Thompson) helping her father out at his record store in 1950s New York, and the love story that changes her life forever. I can’t think of a more appropriate way to close out this year’s Atlanta Film Festival.

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”
“Dead by Midnight: Y2Kill”
“The MisEducation of Bindu”
“The Outside Story”
“Curtis”
“Beast Beast”
“Once Upon a Time in Venezuela”
“Black Conflux”
“Test Pattern” (Quick Take Video)
“Fully Realized Humans”
“Homegoing”
“The Glorias”
“Fandango at the Wall” (Quick Take Video)
“Sylvie’s Love”