Festival season is here(!), which means that the Atlanta Film Festival is right around the corner, April 10-19 to be exact. The films will be shown at the Landmark Cinemas at Midtown. Panel discussions will be held at the Woodruff Arts Center Saturday and Sunday.
The opening night film is The Lena Baker Story which recounts the story of the only woman to ever be sentenced to the electric chair in Georgia. This screening will be at 7.30pm, followed by an Opening Night Extravaganza at The Contemporary. Who doesn’t love an after-party?
Some notables that will be shown during the festival this year are Farm Girl in New York which sounds like it will have a definite Christopher Guest appeal to it; Woodpecker which will appeal to all of the David Lynch fans: “Exploring the twilight of uncertainty between narrative and documentray styles, all truth becomes subjective in the existential comedy about a troubled man desperately searching for an elusive bird that may, or may not , be real.” Young @ Heart will of course be adorable. Stephen Walker documents a New England nursings homes chorus which performs punk songs to audiences. Skills Like This won audience pick at SXSW this year.
The closing night film, and the one that I am the most excited about seeing, is The Visitor. I saw the preview when I went to go see the disaster that was Miss Petigrew Lives for a Day. It looks amazing. I love any movie involving the geriatric, and this one looks like it will fall perfectly into my “fist-pumping, go-get-em, you can do it movie list” . The premise: a lonely widower is living out the remainder of his days with little interest in anything. He is sent abroad and when he returns home to his New York apartment he finds that a young immigrant couple have been squatting in his apartment. The couple ends up staying with him and help hm find a renewed sense of self and purpose. Of course, the male-half of the couple is arrested and the movie goes on from there. I have no doubt that this will address the immigration issue, but unlike many an overly-political film (cough cough Children of Men) not at the cost of the story. The Visitor is directed by Thomas McCarthy who also did The Station Agent which bodes well for the quality of this film.
Tags: atlanta film festival, farm girl from new york, the contemporary, the lena baker story, the visitor, woodpecker, young @ heart
recent comments