Best Film Festival

It’s hard nailing down one singular reason why the ATLANTA JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL is the city’s best, so here are a few: 1) It consistently serves up dozens of high-quality big- and small-budget shorts and feature-length films; 2) screenings take place at theaters across the city at a wide range of days and times (this year there were more than 200); 3) audiences have copious opportunities to interact with filmmakers and other folks behind the camera; 3) and, maybe most importantly, despite being a festival that focuses on the experiences of Jewish people, the AJFF offers a lineup of films that are diverse in style, subject matter, geographical origin and more, sure to appeal to movie lovers of all backgrounds. www.ajff.org. less...

The ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL celebrated 40 years in 2016. That’s a feat for any organization, let alone a gathering that held its first screenings in a Piedmont Park bathhouse. Over the last four decades much has changed about the festival — its name, its location, its leadership, its relationship to Atlanta. But the past four years finally found stability in these areas, particularly when it comes to the festival’s namesake. Atlanta doesn’t make it easy for a film festival to feel truly local. There’s no theater row. Traffic and a convoluted urban layout make the city difficult to navigate. But the Atlanta Film Festival has worked around these hurdles to embrace Atlanta’s assets. Festival organizers have moved screenings out of the multiplex and into signature local theaters such as the Plaza, the Rialto, 7 Stages, and the Fox. They’re throwing their parties at Paris on Ponce and welcoming filmmakers from around the world at the Highland Ballroom. 2016 programming, with its more than 150 films, celebrated the risk takers (Gregg Bishop’s Siren, The Forbidden Room), the less represented (Hunky Dory, Speed Sisters), and, of course, the work made in Georgia, including this year’s opening film The Fundamentals of Caring, the much buzzed about SXSW hit The Arbalest, as well as Hotel Clermont, and Athens rock doc A Peculiar Noise, among many others. Certainly the mark of a great film festival is, well, great films. Atlanta Film Festival’s got that part down and it also knows how to make its hometown shine. www.atlantafilmfestival.com. less...

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...