It occurred to me as I was going through the Atlanta Film Festival this year that my past three years of covering the festival have been dramatically different from my first three. In 2019-2021, I had off of work for the better part of the festival (save for one day in 2019 when I worked). In 2022-2023, I had to balance the festival with work throughout, often missing out on some key Marquee screenings due to needing to be at work because we didn’t have enough people to cover. This year, it was a balancing act with work, as well, but the way my schedule is structured, I could conceivably make every screening I wanted to, so long as an emergency didn’t arise, or I didn’t have to go out of town.
Well, a funny thing happened on the last Saturday of the festival.
While my time at Regal often made working on weekends a necessity, my current job- even though it’s in the same industry- doesn’t require us to unless an auditorium goes down for whatever reason. Saturday, May 4 started off weird as it was- I forgot to check which theatre I needed to go to for my first screening- the Andy Kaufman documentary “Thank You Very Much”– and, when I realized my mistake, I pivoted from my original plans to staying at the Plaza, and taking in two short film blocks before the Closing Night red carpet, and screening, of “Sing Sing”. By the end of the first block, I felt good in the choice. But in the middle of the second block, I received an email that an auditorium went down in my usual neck of the woods. How did I know I received this email? The way I take notes during short film blocks is I jot down some brief thoughts on each short during the credits of the last one, so that, when I write about them later at Patreon, I have some reference point. After the middle short of the second block, I saw the email, and took the time to start investigating if I needed to leave. I did end up having to leave, unfortunately, but we got the auditorium back up, so it was worth it. What about the films I missed? Thankfully, the short film block could be watched during the virtual catalog period of the festival, and I’ll have a chance to watch “Sing Sing” later in the year. The only thing I really missed out on was the red carpet, but- as you’ll hear on my end-of-festival podcast- this year offered plenty to share in that respect.
(I also ended up missing out on Ewan McGregor at the festival’s late night screening of “The Phantom Menace” for Star Wars Day, but I wasn’t planning on going to that, anyway, though- if I had thought something like that was possible- it would have made a Hell of a 20th time seeing the film theatrically.)
When all was said and done, I watched 70 features and short films during this year’s Atlanta Film Festival. That is my most in my six years covering the festival. This was the most in-person screenings I’ve done since 2021, and the first time I’ve done an official short film block in person since 2021. The more one watches, however, the likelier that the overall quality goes down. While the highs in this year’s festival were very high, what didn’t land made the lineup feel more uneven than it was.
Over the years, you can chart several of my favorite films of a respective year to the Atlanta Film Festival. In 2019, there was “The Farewell” and “Afterlife”. In 2020, “Curtis” and “Cinema Pameer” hit a powerful, personal note in the year of COVID and drive-thru screenings. In 2021, “Clean Slate”, “Moon Manor” and “Nine Days” all solidified the festival’s ethos of empathetic cinema. In 2022, “Refuge”, “Portraits from a Fire” and “Master of Light” all gave me insight into lives not my own. But last year, genre films changed the game, with “Quantum Cowboys” and “Hundreds of Beavers” being the high points in a year that decided to expand the festival’s ideas of its connections to people. All of those films have stayed with me, even if I haven’t had the chance to watch them since.
Reflecting on this year’s festival, I’m not sure if there were any films I loved as much as I have most of those films I listed above. There are quite a few that I gave my highest rating- or something near it- but few that really resonated with me on a personal level the way even the sillier films above do. There are films that I cherish, though: the documentary “Atikamekw Suns”, and its story of Native people’s rage and sadness at systemic indifference towards them; the lyrical, unusual homecoming reunion in “A Strange Path”; the thrilling, comedic, emotional action of “Thelma”; the dive into Atlanta hip-hop in “The South Got Something to Say”; and the lovely look at humanity and passion that was “Pianoman”. You’ll have to wait until the end of the year to see if any of these make my own list of favorites of the year, but they are the ones I think about most as the 2024 Atlanta Film Festival moves further away from view.
I’ll have more to say in my podcast for this year’s festival, including interviews with filmmakers from the red carpet. For now, though, this is what I’m thinking about as the festival ends. What makes it feel like home? The humanity that comes through in the films that stand out year in and year out, and our shared hopes to connect with one another even when it’s challenging.
2024 Atlanta Film Festival – The Reviews
“Atikamekw Suns” (at In Their Own League)
“Faceless After Dark”
“The Trap”
“Happy Campers”
“A Strange Path”
”Boca Chica” (at In Their Own League)
“The Idea of You”
“Thelma”
“A Song for Imogene”
“I Saw the TV Glow”
“The Body Politic”
“Naked Ambition”
“The South Got Something to Say”
“Red Rooms” (YouTube Quick Take)
“Babes”
“Pianoman”
“Family Tree” (YouTube Quick Take)
“Power”
“Do You Say What You Mean?” (YouTube Quick Take)
“Rape Play” (at In Their Own League)
“Dragoons” (YouTube Quick Take)
Sonic Cinema to Cover the 2024 Atlanta Film Festival
Thanks for Listening,
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
