Atlanta Film Festival celebrates 50 years of moviemaking
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Cinemas including The Plaza Theatre will screen roughly 180 works. Photo: Courtesy of the Atlanta Film Festival
The Atlanta Film Festival will celebrate the city's moviemaking past and future when it rolls out the red carpet for the 50th year.
Why it matters: The event, which runs from April 23 to May 3, is the ninth longest-running film festival in the country, according to festival leaders.
- What started as a grassroots effort by a dozen or so local cinephiles, filmmakers and creatives has become an 11-day Academy Award-qualifying festival and a springboard for careers.
Catch up quick: AFF has grown from screening films at the Piedmont Park bathhouse into a global competition and platform connecting filmmakers, audiences and industry pros.
- Organizers now review thousands of submissions each year — sometimes as many as 10,000, Escobar said. Roughly 180 works made the cut this year.
Fun fact: The focus on helping filmmakers advance their careers and build their networks dates back to its founding, when the festival offered shared cameras and equipment to local filmmakers.
Zoom in: Here are the screenings and events that Escobar won't miss:
📹 "Sound + Vision," an experimental media festival within a festival at The Goat Farm featuring film and video art installations, live music, a fashion show and more.
🎞️ "That Evening Sun," a 2009 AFF winner that helped elevate the careers of actors like Carrie Preston and Ray McKinnon and shows the festival's impact on a filmmaker's career.
- Preston ("The Good Wife," "True Blood") and McKinnon ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?," "Apollo 13," "Rectify") plan to appear.
🎥 "Richard Jewell," director Clint Eastwood's take on the security guard at the 1996 Olympics bombing who was hailed as a hero for saving lives before facing relentless media scrutiny.
- Actor Paul Walter Hauser, who played Jewell, is expected to attend.
State of play: Since 2020, the Atlanta film production scene has weathered industry-shaking events like a global pandemic, labor strikes and a pullback in spending on original content from streamers and studios.
Yes, but: The beginning of 2026 has been "incredibly promising," Escobar said, adding that workers are waiting shorter periods between jobs and wages are starting to recover.
What's next: The festival kicks off with a screening of "Idiots" and an opening-night party at The Plaza.
Go deeper: Explore the festival's history / See the event calendar