The feature-length documentary The Games in Black & White by Atlanta Story Partners will premiere at the 49th Annual Atlanta Film Festival Sat., April 26, 2025 at the Rialto Center for the Arts. Centered around the enduring friendship of Ambassador Andrew Young and 1996 Olympic CEO Billy Payne, characterized as one of the most successful partnerships between the races in the American south in the civil rights era, the film presents the first comprehensive story of Atlanta’s 1996 Olympic Games from initial bid to enduring legacy. Ticket availability through the Atlanta Film Festival website will be announced in weeks ahead.
“Beyond the highlight reel of extraordinary athletic feats, this film illustrates how two men, one Black, one White, embodied the promise of the civil rights movement and helped fulfill the destiny of ‘the city too busy to hate,'” explained George Hirthler, Atlanta Story Partners co-founder, the film’s writer and producer.
Atlanta Film Society Executive Director Christopher Escobar added the documentary is a natural to present at the Atlanta Film Festival, known for attracting the latest and greatest independent films from around the globe to Atlanta as well as sharing the city’s story with the world: “We’re excited not only to premiere this film but also to present it within walking distance of where all this history took place, at an incredible, historic Atlanta venue, Rialto Center for the Arts.”
Co-produced by award-winning filmmaker and Atlanta Story Partners co-founder Bob Judson, The Games in Black & White features a cast of Centennial Olympic all-star organizers as well as interviews with gold medalists such as Johann Olav Koss and Dan O’Brien, the latter filmed in modern-day Centennial Olympic Park. The filmmakers captured interviews in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Oslo and Paris to share additional, previously unheralded legacies of the 1996 Olympics.
Grammy-winning producer Dallas Austin served as music director and produced the film’s theme song, “The City Too Busy to Hate,” which will be released in advance of the premiere. The film also features an original score by local jazz musician Joe Alterman. Atlanta-based actor Greg Alan Williams narrates the film.
Along with Payne and Young, the filmmakers completed interviews with more than 40 people associated with the 1996 Games or the Olympic Movement, including former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Martin Luther King III and former Atlanta First Lady Valerie Jackson, among others. The team also interviewed U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland; LA28 Board Chair Casey Wasserman; five-time Olympic medalist and LA28 Chief Athlete Officer Janet Evans; and LA28 Chief of Games Management Doug Arnot, who was also managing director of venues and operations at the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.
The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) is an Academy Award-qualifying festival and the Southeast’s preeminent celebration of cinema. Every spring, the 11-day festival presents approximately 150 local and international works representing 50+ countries. The 49th Annual Atlanta Film Festival will take place April 24-May 4, 2025, with announcements ahead about an array of slated films and events.
This documentary will be screened at the Atlanta Film Festival April 26 at 6:30pm at The Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University. Tickets available here.
Oakland is woke-land for a duo of friends looking to flip the script on clean living and justice in Carlos López Estrada’s Blindspotting (A-). Daveed Diggs of Hamilton and Rafael Casal parlay rap, poetry and spoken word into a creative indie about two blue collar bros trapped in conflicting narratives after a late-night shooting. The humor is sweet and the drama sobering as the co-stars (also co-writers) address race, identity and gentrification in a brisk and frisky production. The film’s frantic pace, bubblegum colors and lyrical landscapes lure viewers into an eccentric and exquisite singular urban atmosphere. Diggs is superb and rises to the challenge of one iconic sequence in particular that truly tests the charismatic chops he showcased on NYC stages. Casal channels a young De Niro as his fierce foil, balancing rage and tenderness in grand doses. Wonderful actresses Janina Gavankar and Jasmine Cephas-Jones are highlights in the supporting cast, balancing all the testosterone in some clever conversations. A split second or two that are too on-the-nose, including split screens, threaten to make some of the motifs a bit too obvious; but overall, it’s a stunner. Come for the buddy comedy, and stay for the message. Despite the timely topics and hefty themes, it’s optimistic and will become a talked-about touchstone.
The “some” of all things that Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! (A) purports all people desire is becoming part of a loving and supportive community. Not really a spoiler if you admire this writer/director like I do! For the Texas student athletes hazing each other in the random days before university classes start, you’d never guess that this oft-imbibing tribe is an enduring community; but leave it to Linklater to capture a note-perfect ode to love and friendship. Blake Jenner is superb as the wide-eyed protagonist freshman, always equipped with a quip and the grip of an all-star baseball pitcher’s outstretched arm of gratitude. Glen Powell is a standout among a perfectly cast cavalcade of jocks as the wise, witty and literate ring-leader. And Zoey Deutsch scores one for the ladies’ team as a compelling theatre major love interest and perfect foil for all the frat-tactic acting out. Linklater’s fluid, episodic and unforced structure is just dandy for the lazy last days of summer as the college kids put on their different hats and try out different roles, quite literally in the dance clubs, country watering holes, house parties and dugout. The characters are sharp and funny and just vulgar enough to still be charming; and the through-line of tender acceptance and blossoming connections is a delight. The nostalgic ’80s vibe is perfectly evoked and the dreadful bro-couture consistently hilarious. Oneupmanship as the ultimate bond of brotherhood is carried out in sequences involving bongs, ping pongs and ’80s songs, often to revealing effect. The film is being billed as a spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused, but it is really a continuation of the art of new love explored in the Before trilogy, the coming of age encountered in Boyhood and the rag-tag ensemble shenanigans of School of Rock. It’s a lark with lots of heart, and that’s quite an art.
provided year-round by parent organization, the Atlanta Film Society.
Justin Kelly’s I Am Michael (B+) is a gripping true story about a gay magazine editor who has a series of revelations that lead him to attempt to alter his sexual orientation. Fully realized by James Franco, the title character is complex and sympathetic as he wrestles with issues of faith and identity. The quirky actor should be commended for courageousness in a mature and layered performance and in behind the scenes work to get this fascinating story told. The film’s reverse coming out story with a main character who transforms from player to prayer coupled with the filmmakers’ unwillingness to be reductive leads the narrative down unexpected and rewarding paths. As the protagonist’s love interests, Zachary Quinto and Emma Roberts are effective foils for what seems like a folly. It’s all sensitively handled and executed with earnestness. What could have fallen into a Reefer Madness style propaganda film about the ex-gay movement actually lifts up nuance as a core asset and provides fodder for thought.
Jon Avnet’s Fried Green Tomatoes (A) offers a whistlestop whirlwind into the universal truths of friendship, sisterhood and possibly a whole lot more under the surface of women in the South. Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy are appealing in the framing modern-day empowerment story, but it’s the flashbacks centering on rascally restaurateurs played by Mary-Louise Parker and Mary Stuart Masterson that really take hold of the imagination. Several subplots that aren’t fully sketched are eclipsed by the overall emotional impact of a journey that showcases the power of secrets and sacrifice.