“The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF)—one of only two-dozen Academy Award® qualifying festivals in the U.S.—is the area’s preeminent celebration of cinema. ATLFF is one of the largest and longest-running festivals in the country, welcoming an audience of over 28,000 to discover hundreds of new independent, international, animated, documentary, and short films, selected from 8000+ submissions from all over the world. It is also the most distinguished event in its class, recognized as Best Film Festival by Creative Loafing, Sunday Paper, 10Best, and Atlanta Magazine.”
My Experience:
My first experience with the Atlanta Film Festival was back in 2017 as a volunteer. As a volunteer, I connected and networked with filmmakers and actors within the Atlanta Film community. After each shift, I received a ticket to attend a screening. I volunteered pretty much each day of the festival and received a free membership to the Atlanta Film Society.
2019 was the first year I covered the Atlanta Film Festival as press. Since it was my first time covering the film festival, I tried to cover as much as I could including interviews with several filmmakers.
Fast-forward to 2024, Atlanta Film and TV has covered as press for the past few years, from conducting virtual and red carpet interviews, writing film reviews, meeting new people, etc. However, this year, I wanted to experience the festival differently. I wanted to not only attend as a press, but I wanted to be able to view the festival in the lens of a film buff.
In years past, covering the festival, I have had writers from Atlanta Film and TV who would attend the festival on their own. But, this year, not only did I attend screenings with Atlanta Film and TV writers, I was able to hear their perspectives on the films and documentaries screened before anything was written and submitted.
This year, Atlanta Film and TV was able to attend some great films and documentaries, from the opening night screening of The Idea of You, Starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galtizine, to Luther: Never Too Much Documentary, the red carpet premiere of The South Got Something to Say Documentary, to attending the Latinas In Media Keeping the Conversation Moving Forward in Film and TV, to the screening of the premiere of the hilarious film Babes, as well as the closing night screening of the Prison Drama, Sing Sing, and attending both the opening and closing night parties.
In closing, my experience at the 2024 Atlanta Film Festival was great. One thing I appreciated was the customer service that each volunteer provided, which was top-notch. Everything was well organized and done with excellence down to providing a virtual experience for those (such as myself) with an experience to screen and capture the Creative Conference an entire week later.
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