“The Idea of You” and “Sing Sing” are among 142 total creative works set to play the 48th annual Atlanta Film Festival this year.
The Atlanta Film Festival – along with its 14th annual Creative Conference, which is the festival’s education programming series – will take place April 25 – May 5 at the Plaza and Tara Theatres and virtually, according to a press release.
Directed by Michael Showalter, “The Idea of You” will open the festival on April 26 at the Plaza. The film stars Anne Hathaway as a 40-year-old single mother who begins an impromptu romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of a boy band. “Sing Sing” will serve as the closing night film of the festival, playing at the Plaza on May 4. Directed by Greg Kwedar, the film stars Colman Domingo as a man imprisoned in Sing Sing for a prison he didn’t commit. While in prison, he and other incarcerated men find purpose in a theater group.
“In its 48th edition, our city’s longest-running celebration of cinema will offer audiences a fascinating and diverse array of feature and short films across a variety of genres and topics from both around Georgia and the world,” said Christopher Escobar, Executive Director of the Atlanta Film Festival, in the release. “We’re excited to be welcoming audiences back to the Plaza Theatre, but for the first time in our 48-year history, we’ll be screening at the Tara Theatre too!”
According to the release, more than 24% of the films in the festival have ties to Georgia filmmakers. In addition to “The Idea of You” and “Sing Sing,” the festival’s eleven marquee screenings include director Jianjie Lin’s “Brief History of a Family,” “I Saw the TV Glow” from writer/director Jane Schoenbrun, and “Evil Does Not Exist” from Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, whose 2021 film “Drive My Car” garnered him two Academy Award nominations.
“We’re so excited to be bringing another edition full of artful, challenging, and flat-out fun films to Atlanta this spring,” said Programming Director Jonathan Kieran in the release. “When we make selections for ATLFF, we always follow our sense of discovery, of seeing what movies will be in the years to come. And we think anyone visiting the festival this year will come away knowing what we know, that cinema has a really rich future ahead of it.”
The Atlanta Film Festival will take place in person at the Tara and Plaza Theatres, but will also offer virtual screenings. All films expect the eleven marquee films will be available virtually following their in-person screenings.
The festival’s Creative Conference will run from April 30 to May 3. The conference offers education programming for filmmakers and festival attendees alike. According to the release, this year will include roughly 32 in-person panels and eight virtual panels. The lineup for the Creative Conference will be announced at a later date.
More information about tickets and how to watch films virtually can be found online.