With the Atlanta Film Festival just around the corner, it’s time to start planning out your personal schedule for the event. Parsing through all those films can be difficult, so the least I can do is offer a few recommendations.
I tend to lean toward fiction over documentary, but there are three stellar documentaries coming to the festival this year that you can’t miss. All of these films involve Georgia stories and each has a “Georgia (Homegrown Films and Filmmakers) designation. Make sure to check them out!
“Ship Happens”
You probably remember hearing about that ship that was stuck in the Suez Canal for about five hours in 2021. But what about the ship that capsized in St. Simons Sound in 2019, and then stayed parked just off the shoreline for a little over two years?
If you lived in Georgia around the time of the capsizing, I’m sure you remember seeing this on the news. I didn’t live in Georgia back then, and when I moved back here for good in 2021, the coverage seemed to have waned a bit. So, what I learned from “Ship Happens,” a documentary directed by Jordan Bellamy and Josh Gilligan, left me floored.
The Golden Ray did not seem so golden out there in the water. It was a giant eyesore in the middle of the sound, but the aesthetic issues were not the core of the problem. Aboard the ship when it capsized were 400,000 gallons of fuel, 4,200 vehicles that were being transported, and 24 crewmen. Once the crewmen were rescued, the question became more environmentally focused. How does one remove this monstrosity while keeping the natural landscape protected?
The mistakes that were made dealing with the Golden Ray catastrophe are riveting, but what makes “Ship Happens” work so well are the cast of characters surrounding the conflict – and what a cast they are! The film gains perspective from locals, journalists, business owners, and scientists, all dealing with the ramifications of the accident in their own particular ways.
“Ship Happens” is playing at the Plaza Theatre on April 22. Tickets can be purchased online.
“The Only Doctor”
In 2019, Dr. Karen Kinsell was the only doctor in Clay County, Georgia. She was working full-time on a volunteer basis, living off her family inheritance, and working out of an office where posters were not used for decoration, but to cover up holes in the walls.
How did Kinsell end up here? “The Only Doctor,” from director Matthew Hashiguchi, examines this question and takes a long, hard look at the crisis surrounding affordable healthcare in one of our nation’s poorest countries through the lens of one woman – a woman who is well aware that she is the only option most of her patients have.
Dr. Kinsell’s story is remarkable, but “The Only Doctor” does a fine job at drawing attention to her strengths while not turning her story into something deceptively heartwarming. The documentary’s presentation leaves no question that we shouldn’t leave the fate of a nation up to people like Dr. Kinsell. As we sit in on patient interactions and watch her deal with COVID-19 and the rollout of the vaccine, we come to realize she’s one of a kind. But she’s still just one woman.
“The Only Doctor” is playing at the Carter Presidential Center on April 23. You can purchase tickets online.
“Fenom”
“It’s a situation.”
That’s what they say about Flau’jae Johnson. The basketball phenom (hence, the name of director Kayla Johnson’s documentary) currently plays at Louisiana State University, where the Lady Tigers just won the women’s NCAA Championship.
But before she was officially named a champ, Johnson already had that mentality. She broke numerous records while on her high school team at Sprayberry High School. She made the McDonald’s All-American team – a list that includes the likes of Michael Jordan and Sue Bird – despite starting to consider college ball as an option much later than many of her peers. And, she’s also got a successful rapping career.
Behind the success, there’s tragedy, which the documentary handles with frankness and sensitivity. But, as you might expect, the real star of the show is Johnson herself. Confident, magnetic, and oozing charm, the movie really shines when it lets Johnson shine – when it sits back and lets the star do the work.
“Fenom” is playing at the Plaza Theatre on April 25. Tickets can be purchased online.
