{"id":15289,"date":"2023-05-07T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/?p=15289"},"modified":"2023-05-07T20:18:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T00:18:23","slug":"atlanta-film-festival-2023-the-more-things-change-the-more-things-stay-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/2023\/05\/atlanta-film-festival-2023-the-more-things-change-the-more-things-stay-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Film Festival 2023 – The More Things Change, the More Things Stay the Same"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n