Atlanta Film Festival 2023 – The More Things Change, the More Things Stay the Same : Sonic Cinema

Atlanta Film Festival 2023 – The More Things Change, the More Things Stay the Same

Posted by Brian Skutle Posted on May - 7 - 2023 0 Comment

I’ve covered four different film festivals since 2019. I think, when it comes down to how a festival’s programming aligns with my interests as a film critic, and as an individual, the Atlanta Film Festival is the festival that connects with me strongest. In discussing it with one of the programmers a couple of years ago, I think what I appreciated the most about this festival is that it has an emphasis on characters, on connections, and on empathy. It was something I noticed in 2019, and over the years, it feels like the programming has just deepened that ethos. This year, something shifted in the festival that I kind of loved- the way genre films that play into those ideas and aims became a key part of the programming. And for a genre fan, it was tremendously exciting.

The work/life/festival balance of this year was thrown out of whack this year- for personal reasons, I wasn’t able to get to as many films online during the festival week as I have in the past few years; as a result, my festival went on a week longer as I tried to get everything watched, and edited, for my coverage. For the second year in a row, I missed some in-person screenings I would have liked to because of the need to work, but the 10 in-person screenings I did get to were great choices. (Even though a couple of my virtual screenings made me wish I’d seen those with crowds- they had to be great experiences.) This might be the most I’ve watched from an Atlanta Film Festival, when all is said and done, and I love the versatility of what I watched.

When I think of the Atlanta Film Festival, I think of films where characters connect, and struggle, as life throws them unexpected curveballs. That’s every movie, of course, but the festival- at its best- illustrates this in small stories where an audience’s empathy is on high for the characters it is confronted with, whether it’s Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell”, Willem Bosch’s “Afterlife”, Chris Bailey’s “Curtis”, Machete Bang Bang and Erin Granat’s “Moon Manor”, Jared Callahan’s “Clean Slate”, or Trevor Mack’s “Portrait From a Fire”. all of which have been among my favorite films of the year by year’s end. As a viewer, the curveball this year is how many of those films I loved throughout the festival were from genres I’m not expecting to see much of at the festival- namely, science fiction and western. Even before the festival began, I felt like I’d already seen a couple of films that fit with the past festival films listed above; what distinguished them from the above films is that they were an animated western filmed with science concepts (Geoff Marslett’s “Quantum Cowboys”) and a sci-fi film about war, the loss of connection, and where no characters are seen together (Georg Koszulinski’s “Red Earth”). Yes, I’d also already seen an experimental documentary about the struggles of people to survive 2020 (Lev Omelchenko’s “Twenty”) and would also see, in advance, a drama about two brothers finding a way to connect after one attempts suicide (Sheridan O’Donnell’s “Little Brother”), but genre films would land just a bit differently with me at this festival. There were more I would see during the festival, and some I would see afterwards, that would connect with me unexpectedly. (I’m looking at you, “Hundreds of Beavers”.)

In years past, as the festival has included a virtual component, I’ve made a point to cut off my viewing for the festival in the day or two after the in-person festival ends, even though they’ve allowed access to their Virtual Catalogue for a week afterwards in the past. The reason is simple- at a certain point, you just have to relax, and including online screeners press has access to, I could easily stretch my coverage out over a month. The reason I went the full week after the festival this year was a simple one, and one I’ve already alluded to- my virtual viewing during the festival was not as plentiful as it has been in years past for personal reasons, but also- because of the many more in-person screenings that occurred- virtual access didn’t happen typically until when the film screened. Not as much was available throughout the festival from the first day. That’s certainly the festival’s right to do, and I got to the vast majority of what I wanted to watch, but when time is at a premium, having access like we’ve sometimes had in the past was helpful in getting things watched during the festival, even when it wasn’t in-person. The result was having almost three phases of a film festival- the pre-watching, sometimes inspired by emails I would get from PR and filmmakers reaching out to press beforehand; the festival itself; and the post-festival catch-up. That last part is where most of my short film watching got done last year, but I also saw some features that landed with me in unexpected ways. I’ll share more about that in my podcast wrapping up the festival.

Covering the Atlanta Film Festival in 2019 changed my view of what I could be as a critic, and as a podcaster. Since then, I’ve covered virtual versions of Sundance and Fantasia Fest, as well as the Renegade Film Festival in Marietta. One of the reasons I keep going back to the Atlanta Film Festival is because, well, I love the Plaza Theatre- easily my favorite Atlanta-area theatre, but I also love the way the press isn’t limited to what our access is by the festival. There are not set amounts of screenings you can do virtually (although some movies are not accessible that way, which I’ve come to expect), regardless of how big (or small) your outlet is, and- outside of the red carpet events- you’re free to set up whatever interviews and connections with talent you can. Sometimes, those connections don’t happen- as was the case with one in particular for me- but when you do connect, it can be a great chance to talk to someone about their passion for film, and share your own. Yes, it was great to meet and talk with George R.R. Martin and Vincent D’Onofrio this year for a few minutes to discuss “Night of the Cooters” on the red carpet, as I got to meet Lulu Wang and Awkwafina, Joseph Cross and Joe Berlinger in 2019, and Abi Damaris Corbin last year, but if you haven’t listened to the interviews I did with Geoff Marslett, Brian Lolano and Georg Koszulinski, you should, because those “interviews” are the ones I will think about most coming out of this festival. They went beyond canned interviews and became conversations where- like a lot of the characters and individuals we see on-screen at the festival- there was a connection made that goes beyond the work, and to who we are as individuals.

The big reason I love the Atlanta Film Festival- and Renegade- more than the more well-known festivals I’ve covered? Yes, this is an Academy Award-qualifying festival, and they can show some well-known films, but what tends to stick with me are the smaller films, and stories, that get to something elemental about being human. Those are the ones I take with me year after year, and become absolutely evangelical for when the year comes to an end. That feeling cannot be beat.