Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 26

A feast for film buffs
Festivals statewide offer year-round celebrations of cinema
BY LAURA RAINES

SCOTT TAKEDA

Lori Kay Allred won the Best Dramatic Short
award at the 2016 Milledgeville Film Festival
for her film "If Not Now," while Kyle Kleinecke's "The Pickle" won the Best Comedy
Short award.
26

MADELEINE GAVIN

eorgia's going to the movies! We're not talking about the
booming $7 billion film-production industry, although that's great
news for the state. We're talking
about the other half of the entertainment equation: the audience. More
people are watching, laughing, crying and learning at Georgia's rich mix
of film festivals.
"We used to have just a handful
of film festivals, but now there are
many, and new ones are popping up
all the time," says Lee Thomas, deputy commissioner of film, music and
digital entertainment with the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
With more filmmakers choosing
Georgia locations and more colleges
training industry workers, she sees
the state hitting a critical mass of film
people, which is generating more interest than ever in the art form.
There are grande dames like the
Atlanta Film Festival (AFF), now entering its fourth decade and drawing
25,000 people. The Milledgeville Film
Festival, which prides itself on showing more than 100 films with South-

"City of Joy," written and directed by Madeleine Gavin, was featured at this year's Atlanta
Film Festival. The documentary follows the first class of students at a leadership center for
women who have survived abuse in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Many film
festivals statewide feature international movies.

ern hospitality, has grown to about
2,000 attendees since its beginnings in
2014. The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
is one of the largest and oldest Jewish film festivals in the country. The
festival, founded in 2000, draws more
than 35,000 attendees.
Each festival has its own personality and mission. Some are genrespecific (horror, sci-fi); others focus
on a particular community ( Jewish,
Latino, Asian) or an art form (documentary, short films). All are growing
and enriching Georgia's cultural life.
With so many ways to watch and
stream entertainment at home or on
the go, why attend a film festival? The
reasons are many.

from Syria, Korea and China."
You won't see these coming out
of blockbuster-focused Hollywood or
shown at your area Cineplex, he says.
Jurors select about 150 films from
6,000 submissions and 120 countries,
so the quality is high. Out of about
4,000 festivals nationwide, the AFF
is one of a few Oscar-qualifying film
festivals. (BronzeLens in Atlanta is
the other Oscar-qualifying festival in
Georgia.)
Monica Sheppard, board member for the Rome International Film
Festival (RIFF), says: "I can't tell you
what a rich opportunity it is to have
a film festival in our town. I get to
see independent films that I'd have
no way of seeing otherwise-films
See something new
I've never heard of-and I leave the
"We showcase independent films theater grateful. It's a window to the
and stories from around the world," world, and that's especially important
says Chris Escobar, executive direc- in a small community."
tor of the Atlanta Film Festival. "We're
committed to artistic merit, diversity Broaden your perspective
and inclusion, so we offer a rich meal
"The cultural-education compowith lots of flavors. We have films nent of our festival is huge," says Seth
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - May 2017