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2008 Index of Winners

Best Visual Artist (Emerging) BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Cullen Washington Jr.

Best Visual Artist (Emerging) BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Mark Collins

Best Visual Artist (Established) BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Rocio Rodriguez

Best Visual Artist (Established) BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
R. Land

Best Film Festival BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Atlanta Film Festival
For sheer variety, quantity and quality of films, the 32-year-old ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL still belongs on the top of the bill of local movie-related events. Parent organization the IMAGE Film & Video Center recently renamed itself Atlanta Film Festival 365 and has shown some welcome stability under executivemore...
For sheer variety, quantity and quality of films, the 32-year-old ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL still belongs on the top of the bill of local movie-related events. Parent organization the IMAGE Film & Video Center recently renamed itself Atlanta Film Festival 365 and has shown some welcome stability under executive director Gabe Wardell and festival director Dan Krovich. Plus, its springtime schedule and convenient central location at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema put Atlanta’s best, most welcoming face forward in between screening times. less...

Best Film Festival BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Atlanta Film Festival

Best Film Series BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Splatter Cinema

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kajjers/2461078958/
More so than the average big Southern city, we’ve shown an increasing appreciation for the slasher movie, where buckets of blood bring bundles of entertainment. SPLATTER CINEMA recognizes the allure of gore, which makes the occasional film series so vital to the cultural scene. And these ain’t just any movies from back in the day: Splatter goes after original and spruced-up 35 mm prints of such classics as Demons, I Drink Your Blood, Suspiria and The Thing, educating younger audiences while offering a stiff dose of nostalgia for the old school. www.myspace.com/splattercinema.

Best Film Series BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Plaza Theatre

Best Gallery BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Saltworks Gallery

Best Gallery BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Eyedrum Art and Music Gallery

Best Gallery BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Whitespace Gallery
Inside a converted carriage house on Edgewood, Susan Bridges’ Inman Park gallery WHITESPACE has been supporting and showcasing local talent since its inception in October 2006, and we felt it was high time to make note. In the past 12 months, Mehmet Dogu’s Gallery Light Rug, John Otte’s Seen |more...
Inside a converted carriage house on Edgewood, Susan Bridges’ Inman Park gallery WHITESPACE has been supporting and showcasing local talent since its inception in October 2006, and we felt it was high time to make note. In the past 12 months, Mehmet Dogu’s Gallery Light Rug, John Otte’s Seen | Unseen and Fereydoon Family’s Stepping Blind have been outstanding contributions to the local art scene. We love the gallery’s thoughtful presentation and abundant respect for these lesser-known artists with big minds and big ambitions. less...

Best Gallery BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Eyedrum Art and Music Gallery

Best Improv Group BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Dad’s Garage Theatre

Best Improv Group BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
PushPush Arts

Best Local Actor BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Julia Roberts

Best Local Actor BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Jack McBrayer

Best Local Author BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Hollis Gillespie

Best Female Actor BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Courtney Patterson

Best Female Actor BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Alison Hastings

Best Filmmaker BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Rainforest Films
Giving Tyler Perry all due respect as a phenomenally successful filmmaker, king of all media and coveted employer, is it too much to ask that his films be better? Atlanta-based RAINFOREST FILMS beat Tyler Perry at his own game with This Christmas, an African-American family story with a terrific castmore...
Giving Tyler Perry all due respect as a phenomenally successful filmmaker, king of all media and coveted employer, is it too much to ask that his films be better? Atlanta-based RAINFOREST FILMS beat Tyler Perry at his own game with This Christmas, an African-American family story with a terrific cast (including Delroy Lindo, Regina King and Idris Elba) and an agreeable moral message that avoided preaching at its audience. Director Rob Hardy and producer Will Packer founded Rainforest Films in 1994. It’s grown beyond the early days of guerilla marketing and low-budget erotic thrillers such as Trois to produce recent success stories such as The Gospel and Stomp the Yard. less...

Best Filmmaker BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Tyler Perry

Best TV Series Made in Atlanta BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
“This Is Atlanta with Alicia Steele”

Best TV Series Made in Atlanta BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
“Good Eats”

Best Male Actor BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Chris Kayser
CHRIS KAYSER has long enjoyed a reputation as one of Atlanta’s finest leading men, giving a particularly memorable performance in Actor’s Express’ enigmatic Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) in 2007. He affirmed the depth and flexibility of his craft with two shows in 2008. In the Alliance Theatre’smore...
CHRIS KAYSER has long enjoyed a reputation as one of Atlanta’s finest leading men, giving a particularly memorable performance in Actor’s Express’ enigmatic Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) in 2007. He affirmed the depth and flexibility of his craft with two shows in 2008. In the Alliance Theatre’s Eurydice, he offered a heartbreaking portrayal of a father who wouldn’t let a little thing like being dead get in the way of his love for his daughter. Kayser offered some of the most implosive work of his career in Georgia Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice as the despised moneylender Shylock. One of Shakespeare’s most problematic roles, Kayser played the character not as a vengeful villain but as an intelligent man twisted by a lifetime of anti-Semitism in Venice, with his sadistic behavior emerging as a misguided act of defiance. With work like that, what will he do for an encore? atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/eurydice/Content?oid=453632. less...

Best Male Actor BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Chris Kayser

Best Poet BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Jerry Cullum
JERRY CULLUM started dropping poetic science about art at his blog Counterforces and Other Little Jokes last year. Cullum beats back the darkness of art ignorance, unafraid to weave Olafur Eliasson, YouTube and the Finno-Ugric artists of Estonia into a continuous tapestry of art-savvy ruminations. We’remore...
JERRY CULLUM started dropping poetic science about art at his blog Counterforces and Other Little Jokes last year. Cullum beats back the darkness of art ignorance, unafraid to weave Olafur Eliasson, YouTube and the Finno-Ugric artists of Estonia into a continuous tapestry of art-savvy ruminations. We’re glad someone with his feet so firmly planted in the art community and his head so clearly reaching for the intellectual stratosphere has given himself a place to talk back. And a place where anyone can listen in. counterforces.blogspot.com. less...

Best Performance Artist BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Zombies
What does it say about the Atlanta area that ZOMBIES have become such popular subjects for the arts? The past year saw the national release of the Atlanta-filmed horror flick The Signal, in which a mysterious transmission turns couch potatoes into violent lunatics (not technically zombies, but closemore...
What does it say about the Atlanta area that ZOMBIES have become such popular subjects for the arts? The past year saw the national release of the Atlanta-filmed horror flick The Signal, in which a mysterious transmission turns couch potatoes into violent lunatics (not technically zombies, but close enough). Dad’s Garage Theatre produced the world premiere of the stage musical Song of the Living Dead, featuring musical numbers about brain-eating undead ghouls; and zombies crashed a prom in the high school horror-comedy Dance of the Dead filmed in Rome, Ga., and due on DVD in October. Maybe no one who’s ever driven in local traffic would be surprised at the proliferation of creatures that embody both mindlessness and rage. At least they’re appearing in creative examples of mindless rage. less...

Best Local Playwright BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Steve Yockey

Best Poet BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Kodac Harrison

Best Spoken Word Artist BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
The Subliminator

Best Art Blog BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Sara Speert Photography

Best Museum BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
High Museum of Art

Best Trend BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Lowbrow art

Best Opening BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Something Like a Fahamenon

Best Opening BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Damn Dirty Ape

Best Poet BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Theresa Davis
There’s no shortage of appreciation for Alice Lovelace in Atlanta. She first made her mark on the city in the ’70s and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia Writers’ Association. Following in her footsteps as an arts and human rights advocate through poetry, Lovelace’s daughtermore...
There’s no shortage of appreciation for Alice Lovelace in Atlanta. She first made her mark on the city in the ’70s and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia Writers’ Association. Following in her footsteps as an arts and human rights advocate through poetry, Lovelace’s daughter THERESA DAVIS is also making a name for herself. A socially aware poet who’s also part of the party circuit, Davis is in demand at poetry slams, spoken-word nights and as an MC for community-awareness gatherings such as Eyedrum’s Concrete Pandemonium. Thanks to Lovelace and Davis, the Atlanta poetry scene’s become a family affair. www.theresa-davis.com. less...

Best Photographer BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Victor Smith Photography

Best Place to Hear a Reading BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Wordsmiths Books

Best Book Store BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Wordsmiths Books

Best Spoken Word BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Java Monkey
Some are quibbling that Atlanta’s poetry scene is dead. They must not have checked the vibe at JAVA MONKEY lately. Special slams held on the patio at the convenient price of free (donations widely smiled upon) and poetry nights every Sunday give this spot a name among Atlanta’s elite artists of themore...
Some are quibbling that Atlanta’s poetry scene is dead. They must not have checked the vibe at JAVA MONKEY lately. Special slams held on the patio at the convenient price of free (donations widely smiled upon) and poetry nights every Sunday give this spot a name among Atlanta’s elite artists of the word. Audiences can be heard snapping, clapping and laughing from a block away, even amid downtown Decatur’s busy nightlife. less...

Best Spoken Word BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Java Monkey

Best Place to See a Movie BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Starlight Drive-In Theatre and Flea Market
What better way to celebrate the nation’s 75th anniversary of the drive-in movie theater than to honor the STARLIGHT SIX DRIVE-IN? Once considered a dinosaur, the drive-in has undergone a mild renaissance in recent years as fans have grown weary of overpriced tickets, mall parking and smaller screens.more...
What better way to celebrate the nation’s 75th anniversary of the drive-in movie theater than to honor the STARLIGHT SIX DRIVE-IN? Once considered a dinosaur, the drive-in has undergone a mild renaissance in recent years as fans have grown weary of overpriced tickets, mall parking and smaller screens. The Starlight not only alleviates all of these headaches, but also offers a variety of movie-watching opportunities, best exemplified in the summer-standout events Monster Bash and Drive-Invasion. While we fret that increasing gas prices might make film fans retreat to their home-entertainment systems and Netflix subscriptions, we have faith that we’ll never, as Danny Zucco once lamented, feel stranded at the drive-in. less...

Best Place to See a Movie BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Landmark’s Midtown Art Cinema

Best Play BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Dad’s Garage Theatre

Best TV Series Made in Atlanta BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
“Georgia Traveler”

Best Public Art/Artwork BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Krog Street Tunnel

Best Public Art/Artwork BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
A (New) Genre Landscape
Thank goodness artist and curator Stuart Keeler hightailed it out of cold Chicago to land squarely in the center of Atlanta’s fitful and fractious public art scene. The sweeping vision of his public art project A (NEW) GENRE LANDSCAPE allowed the city to get a better view of underexposed artists suchmore...
Thank goodness artist and curator Stuart Keeler hightailed it out of cold Chicago to land squarely in the center of Atlanta’s fitful and fractious public art scene. The sweeping vision of his public art project A (NEW) GENRE LANDSCAPE allowed the city to get a better view of underexposed artists such as Ruth Stanford, Craig Dongoski and Michael Reese by putting their temporary, community-based works (and the work of 14 other artists) in 12 of Atlanta’s parks and green spaces. Not that Keeler and the artists were in it alone. The city’s support in the form of administrators Eddie Granderson and Rob Witherspoon, along with a modest sum of cash, helped to wrench Atlanta into the 21st-century public-art dialogue. www.ocaatlanta.com. less...

Best Local Stage Director BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Georgia Shakespeare

Best Local Stage Director BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick
Jeff Watkins (The New American Shakespeare Tavern)

Best Theater Company BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Alliance Theatre
As Atlanta’s largest playhouse, the ALLIANCE THEATRE usually commands such big audiences and so many resources, it doesn’t seem to need a boost from anywhere else. For the 2007-08 season, however, the Alliance refused to rest on such laurels as its 2007 Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre, and offeredmore...
As Atlanta’s largest playhouse, the ALLIANCE THEATRE usually commands such big audiences and so many resources, it doesn’t seem to need a boost from anywhere else. For the 2007-08 season, however, the Alliance refused to rest on such laurels as its 2007 Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre, and offered one of its most ambitious and satisfying slates in memory. Highlights included the luminous cabaret-style revue Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, the revisionist take on Greek mythology Eurydice, and artistic director Susan V. Booth’s charged production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Doubt. Musicals such as The Women of Brewster Place and Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies offered plenty of flash, while the world premiere of In the Red and Brown Water turned out to be the Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition’s best discovery yet. The 2008-09 season looks to be even more eventful. less...

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