Six months ago, I covered the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival, which had pivoted from its usual April/May schedule to September on account of the pandemic. It also happened to be during the month or so theatres were still open en masse in Georgia, and during the festival, I would learn that the theatre I had worked at since 2001 was closing for good. This week, I learned that I had been approved to cover the 2021 Atlanta Film Festival, which will be running from April 22-May 2. As with the 2020 festival, it will be a hybrid drive-in/virtual festival, with additional in-person screenings taking place in the Plaza Theatre’s indoor auditorium, with proper social distancing protocols in place. After what ended up to be an all-virtual Sundance for me, that’s going to be a great change-of-pace, as the Festival was last year.
For more on this year’s festival, you can go to the official website.
I will dive deeper into the festival selection when the schedule is released, but at first glance, here are the five films I’m most looking forward to:
=“Akilla’s Escape”– “In the aftermath of an armed robbery, Akilla Brown captures one of the bandits, a fifteen-year-old Jamaican boy. Over the course of one grueling night, Akilla is forced to confront a cycle of
generational violence he thought he escaped.”
=“Firstness”– “A maladjusted dad is trying to heal in an experimental therapy group called Infinite Beginnings. Meanwhile, his nonbinary kid is getting close with an older man. Their relationship feels both dreamy and concerning—depending on who’s watching.”
=“Moon Manor”– “Today is Jimmy’s last day alive. He has advancing Alzheimer’s, so he’s decided to die like he
has lived – with intention, humor, and zest. In his last day on Earth, he’ll show an obituary writer, his death doula, his estranged brother, his caretaker, a surreal being, and the guests at his fabulous FUN-eral, that perhaps the art of living is actually the art of dying.”
=“Clean Slate”– “Striving to stay sober, recovering addicts Josh and Cassidy write their traumatic life events into a short film screenplay. The project is jeopardized when Cassidy relapses and is kicked out of the faith-based drug recovery center where the two men have lived for years. The aspiring filmmakers struggle to restore faith in each other, their families, and themselves, all while making a movie about their turbulent road of recovery.”
=“The Letter”– “A gripping family drama about a 94 year-old Grandmother with a fearless spirit who must overcome dangerous accusations of witchcraft that are coming from within her family. Her grandson Karisa, travels home from the city to investigate, and it gradually emerges who sent the threatening letter and why. Filmed with a gentle pace and incredible closeness, THE LETTER is an intergenerational love story revealing indestructible female power.”
Viva La Resistance!
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
