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.
Atlanta’s preeminent, Oscar-qualifying film festival Out On Film brings five of 2025’s most anticipated LGBTQIA+ narrative films and documentaries to Southern audiences with its “Spring Mini-Fest’25,” taking place over three consecutive evenings March 17-19 at Landmark’s Midtown Arts Cinema. Back for a third year, Spring Mini-Fest kicks off Monday, March 17 with the comedy of errors The Wedding Banquet (2025), starring Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone.
March 18 will feature two anticipated documentaries: Sally, a rich portrait of Sally Ride, the first woman in space and her 27-year secret romance, and Speaking Out, featuring three men’s gripping stories of sexual trauma and recovery.
Spring Mini-Fest’25 wraps up March 19 with An Unexpected Community, a star-studded look at the popular pandemic-era female/queer Zoom group Women On The Net plus the sweeping post-WWII romantic drama On Swift Horses, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi and Will Poulter.
Tickets for all films are on sale now at outonfilm.org.
The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival (AJFF) will present 50 films celebrating the diversity of Jewish experiences around the globe for its 25th year. From curated feature films with unexpected titles such as Guns & Moses and Sabbath Queen to documentaries about the likes of controversial German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl and Oscars original song favorite Diane Warren, there are movies of a variety of genres in this year’s lineup.
The festival’s opening night event includes the Atlanta premiere of the NYC-set ensemble screwball comedy Bad Shabbos at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Special guests include stars Kyra Sedgwick, Jon Bass, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Milayna Vayntrub, Meghan Leathers and Theo Taplitz along with director and writer Daniel Robbins and producer Adam Mitchell.
This year’s lineup includes the worldpremiere of Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause and the North American premiere of Eid, the critically-acclaimed first major dramatic feature by a Bedouin-Israeli filmmaker. Highlighting themes such as LGBTQIA+ stories, women’s empowerment, world conflicts and intersectionality, the festival explores the global Jewish experience and its connections to diverse communities, welcoming audiences from all backgrounds.
The AJFF Closing Night & Awards Show March 5 at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center will include Jury Award presentations, noshing over a dessert reception and the Atlanta premiere of Brazil’s life-affirming road trip movie Cheers to Life with director Cris D’Amato and producer Julio Uchoa in attendance.
The 2025 festival also celebrates iconic star Jerry Lewis with screenings showcasing his artistic range: the Southeast premiere of the documentary From Darkness to Light,which explores the troubled production of The Day the Clown Cried, the notorious lost Holocaust movie that haunted him for years; and a digital restoration of 1960’s The Bellboy. Jerry’s son, Christopher J. Lewis, will join Q&As and book signings, offering a personal glimpse into his father’s life and lasting influence.
The festival will return to venues across Atlanta, also including Springs Cinema & Taphouse Georgia Theatre Company Merchants Walk, the historic Plaza and the Tara Theatre. An additional 10-day streaming window from March 7-16, 2025 offers access to 21 features and 14 short films, extending reach to all Georgia residents.
Founded in 2000, the AJFF is one of the largest cultural events of its kind in the world, celebrating the power of film to foster understanding, dialogue and collaboration.
Tickets are now on sale to AJFF members and available to the general public Feb. 5. Visit AJFF.org or call the box office at 678-701-6104 for details on all the movies, talk-backs, events and guests planned for the festival.
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, consisting of over 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons (including yours truly), announced the group’s democratically chosen nominees for its 16th Dorian Film Awards. The Dorians go to both mainstream and LGBTQ-themed content, celebrating what the group calls “the expert Q+ eye on entertainment.”
Leading with an impressive nine nominations is writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s thought-provoking horror tale I Saw the TV Glow, a film overlooked by many other kudos groups considering 2024’s theatrical and digital releases. Star Demi Moore’s thriller of a comeback The Substance is a close second, with 8 Dorian nods.
From there, the genre-defying trans mobster musical Emilia Pérez and tense ménage-à-trois dramaChallengers each hold six nominations, and Dorian-nominated director Brady Corbet’s artful epic The Brutalist makes more than good with five. Other movies GALECA anointed with multi-nominations: Anora, Nickel Boys and Wicked all with four nods each, and Problemista and Queer with three apiece.
In the per-studio counts, A24 has a whopping 25 nominations. Other outfits posting impressive scores: Amazon MGM with 13 nominations, Netflix: (11) and Mubi (10).
Some notable titles in the group’s trademark races include the inventive slapstick comedy Hundreds of Beavers vying for Unsung Film of the Year, Madame Web and Trap looking at Campiest Flick honors, and The Brutalist, Nosferatu and Dune: Part Two among the cinematic dazzlers aiming for Visually Striking Film.
The group’s Timeless Star career achievement honoree will be named when the winners are announced Thursday Feb. 13. GALECA’s members are tentatively scheduled to toast winners and nominees in a brunch the following Sunday.
Along with its film nominations, GALECA announced it is donating $1000 to The Los Angeles Press Club’s emergency relief fund, the amount earmarked for entertainment journalists directly affected by the historically devastating wildfires that have destroyed vast swaths LA, leaving thousands of residents homeless. Professional journalists whose main livelihood involves entertainment criticism, editing and/or reportage can apply for help at lapressclub.org. Additional donations may be made there as well.
GALECA: THE SOCIETY OF LGBTQ ENTERTAINMENT CRITICS 16TH DORIAN FILM AWARDS LIST OF NOMINEES
FILM OF THE YEAR
Anora (Neon) Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios) I Saw the TV Glow (A24) Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios) The Substance (Mubi)
LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR
Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios) Emilia Pérez (Netflix) I Saw the TV Glow (A24) Love Lies Bleeding (A24) Queer (A24)
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist (A24) Coralie Fargeat, The Substance (Mubi) Luca Guadagnino, Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios) RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios) Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR (Original or adapted)
Anora (Neon) Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios) Conclave (Focus Features) I Saw the TV Glow (A24) The Substance (Mubi)
LGBTQ SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR
Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios) I Saw the TV Glow (A24) Love Lies Bleeding (A24) Problemista (A24) Queer (A24)
NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
All We Imagine as Light (Sideshow / Janus Films) Emilia Pérez (Netflix) Flow (Sideshow / Janus Films) I’m Still Here (Sony Pictures Classics) The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Neon)
LGBTQ NON-ENGLISH FILM OF THE YEAR
Crossing (Mubi) Emilia Pérez (Netflix) Queendom (Greenwich Entertainment) Vermiglio (Sideshow / Janus Films) All Shall Be Well (Strand Releasing)
UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR —To an exceptional movie worthy of greater attention
Didi (Focus Features) Hundreds of Beavers (Cineverse, Vinegar Syndrome) My Old Ass (Amazon MGM Studios) Problemista (A24) Thelma (Magnolia)
UNSUNG LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR
Femme (Utopia) My Old Ass (Amazon MGM Studios) National Anthem (Variance, LD Entertainment) The People’s Joker (Altered Innocence) Problemista (A24)
FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (A24) Daniel Craig, Queer (A24) Colman Domingo, Sing Sing (A24) Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez (Netflix) Cynthia Erivo, Wicked (Universal) Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths (Bleecker Street) Nicole Kidman, Babygirl (A24) Mikey Madison, Anora (Neon) Demi Moore, The Substance (Mubi) Justice Smith, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Michele Austin, Hard Truths (Bleecker Street) Yura Borisov, Anora (Neon) Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (Searchlight Pictures) Ariana Grande, Wicked (Universal) Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios) Brigette Lundy-Paine, I Saw the TV Glow (A24) Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing (A24) Guy Pearce, The Brutalist (A24) Margaret Qualley, The Substance (Mubi) Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
Dahomey (Mubi) Daughters (Netflix) The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix) Sugarcane (National Geographic) Will & Harper (Netflix)
Flow (Sideshow / Janus Films) Inside Out 2 (Disney) Memoir of a Snail (IFC Films) Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix) The Wild Robot (Universal, DreamWorks)
GENRE FILM OF THE YEAR For excellence in science fiction, fantasy and horror
Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.) I Saw the TV Glow (A24) Nosferatu (Focus Features) The Substance (Mubi) Wicked (Universal)
FILM MUSIC OF THE YEAR
The Brutalist (A24) Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios) Emilia Pérez (Netflix) I Saw the TV Glow (A24) Wicked (Universal)
VISUALLY STRIKING FILM OF THE YEAR
The Brutalist (A24) Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.) Nosferatu (Focus Features) Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios) The Substance (Mubi)
CAMPIEST FLICK
Hundreds of Beavers (Cineverse, Vinegar Syndrome) Madame Web (Sony) Megalopolis (Lionsgate) The Substance (Mubi) Trap (Warner Bros.)
“WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!” RISING STAR AWARD
Jonathan Bailey Vera Drew Karla Sofía Gascón Brigette Lundy-Paine Mikey Madison Katy O’Brian Drew Starkey
WILDE ARTIST AWARD To a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment
Colman Domingo Luca Guadagnino Coralie Fargeat Jane Schoenbrun Tilda Swinton
GALECA LGBTQIA+ FILM TRAILBLAZER For creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity
Vera Drew Cynthia Erivo Luca Guadagnino Jane Schoenbrun Julio Torres
Formed in 2009, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics honors the best in film, television and Broadway/Off Broadway, mainstream to LGBTQIA+, via the Dorian Awards. A 501 c 6 nonprofit, GALECA serves to remind bigots, bullies and our own beleaguered communities that the world looks to the informed Q+ eye on entertainment. The organization also advocates for better pay, access and respect for its members, especially those in our most underrepresented and vulnerable segments. GALECA’s efforts also include the Crimson Honors, a college film/TV criticism contest for LGBTQ women or nonbinary students of color. See members’ latest reviews, commentary and interviews, along with looks at entertainment’s past, on Bluesky and elsewhere @DorianAwards. GALECA’s YouTube channel features the group’s past Dorians film and TV Toast awards specials, video chats with filmmakers and performers, plus talks with members about their latest books and more. Find out more at GALECA.org. GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment journalists is a core member of CGEM: Critics Groups for Equality in Media, an alliance of underrepresented entertainment journalists organizations.
Outreach director Jim Farmer and Silver Screen Capture’s Stephen Michael Brown among panelists discussing queer cinema of 2024:
The captivating sneak preview for the July 2025 Superman features new Man of Steel/Clark Kent played by David Corenswet (captured here by Silver Screen Capture at a movie event in Georgia, where he filmed much of the feature at Trilith Studios) as a more relatable superhero, flanked by superdog Krypto, a convenient device for shaggy, scrappy soliloquies opposite a spirit daemon. After helming his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, James Gunn has proven a master of wisecracking companions, colorful antiheroes and faithful storytelling rooted in comic book origins. There’s imagery of the defeated protagonist regaining his mojo opposite a cavalcade of domestic and galactic villains wrecking havoc. There are snippets of Smallville, the Fortress of Solitude, Metropolis, The Daily Planet and much more and shots of an intriguing ensemble ranging from Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane) to Nicholas Hoult (Lex Luthor). Also memorable is John Murphy’s electronic homage to the notes of the iconic John Williams anthem. Check out the teaser trailer right here.
The Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) has named Sean Baker’s Anora as best picture of the year. SEFCA’s 89 members (including this reviewer!) located across nine Southeastern states named the following to its top films of 2024.
Runner-up to SEFCA’s top ten and 11th overall was the film I Saw the TV Glow.
The dark comic romcom Anora was clearly a favorite, with Sean Baker winning best original screenplay and breakout performer Mikey Madison snagging best actress for the fierce title role. The epic immigrant saga The Brutalist carried home the most awards including Brady Corbet for best director and Adrian Brody and Guy Pearce for best actor and supporting actor, respectively.
Colman Domingo was runner-up for best actor for the uplifting prison-set drama Sing Sing, and Demi Moore runner-up for best actress for the body horror film about aging in Hollywood, The Substance. Kieran Culkin was runner-up for best supporting actor for the dark comedy A Real Painabout mismatched cousins on a trauma tourism expedition.
Best supporting actress winner is Ariana Grande as the singing and dancing “good witch” of Wicked with runner-up Zoe Saldana as a singing and dancing lawyer in the unconventional musical Emilia Perez.
This critics’ body awarded the Vatican-set Conclave best ensemble with Sing Sing as runner-up. Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold were runners-up for best original screenplay. Sean Baker was runner-up for best director for Anora.
Best adapted screenplay was Peter Straughan for Conclave with runners-up RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes for the historic drama Nickel Boys.
Best documentary was Sugarcane chronicling the disappearances of Native American children withSuper/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story as runner-up. The Wild Robot won best animated feature with Flow as runner-up. Best foreign language film was the French production Emilia Perez with runner-up The Seed of the Sacred Fig, a political thriller from Iran.
Best cinematography was Greg Fraser for the sci-fi extravaganza Dune Part 2 with runner-up Jarin Blaschke for gothic vampire film Nosferatu. Best score went to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for the tennis threesome dramedy Challengers with runner-up Daniel Blumberg for The Brutalist.
Now in its eighth year, the Atlanta Film Critics Circle has announced its awards for top cinematic achievements in 2024.
The 38 voting members of the AFCC chose director Sean Baker’s Anora, the winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or, as its top film of the year. The sweet and sinister modern fairy tale, which also won Best Original Screenplay, features a breakout performance from Mikey Madison as Ani, a Brighton Beach stripper who falls for the son of a Russian oligarch. Madison is also the AFCC’s Best Lead Actress and Best Breakthrough Performer for her complex portrait of a woman equal parts fragile and bullet-proof. “I think most of the credit is due to the character of Ani and Mikey Madison’s performance. From moment one, you care so deeply about Ani and what happens to her. You want to go with her on this journey, no matter what happens,” said AFCC member Sammie Purcell, associate editor of Rough Draft Atlanta.
This year’s top films were a fascinatingly diverse mix, ranging from a clever spin on the Wizard of Oz in Wicked, to a tennis love triangle with heart-pounding matches in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, one of two films by the Italian director this year along with Queer. In a stunning, expertly crafted opus that never loses your interest despite its three-and-a-half-hour length, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist follows a Hungarian Jewish refugee from Germany’s concentration camps to what initially seems to be an American promised land. Corbet won Best Director for his self-assured, acclaimed epic portrait of the rigors of immigration and creativity. Adrien Brody also won the AFCC’s Best Actor Award for his doleful turn in the film as the tortured, mercurial architect contending with the maddening whims of his benefactor.
“This year, our critics seemed to gravitate to smaller budget labors of love,” said AFCC advisory board member Hannah Lodge. “Films like Anora, The Brutalist, Nickel Boys, Sing Sing, and I Saw the TV Glow remind us that cost doesn’t correlate with worth.”
Despite the diversity of films, AFCC member Spencer Perry, editor and critic at ComicBook.com, saw some common ground in the AFCC’s selections. “Something that feels distinct across all of our top 10 films is the idea of legacy. Be it Vanya’s parents in Anora, the rivalry between Patrick Zweig and Art Donaldson in Challengers, picking a new pope in Conclave, a galactic empire facing war in Dune: Part Two, or even a single robot learning to choose its own destiny in The Wild Robot, all of these films are wrestling with what someone can be or should be, either in their own eyes or in everyone else’s.”
Number three on the AFCC’s top 10 films, screenwriter RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes’s adaptation of novelist Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Nickel Boys, about two Black boys trying to survive a brutal Florida reform school, won Best Adapted Screenplay as well as Best Cinematography.
Perry was also delighted to see the atmospheric, but perhaps lesser seen coming-of-age fantasy I Saw the TV Glow make the AFCC’s top 10 list.
“Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine both deliver amazing work in a movie that is as haunting as it is personal,” said Perry of director Jane Schoenbrun’s moody feature. “I’m so thrilled that collectively we were able to recognize I Saw the TV Glow, a movie that at its core is about finding community despite your own feelings of internal isolation.”
Member of AFCC’s advisory board Jason Evans noted how close many of the awards were this year, with Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) beating out Colman Domingo in Sing Sing by just one point. “The number of places and categories that were decided by only one or maybe two points is stunning,” said Evans, “a sign of the quality of the films and work this year,” and an indicator of “how competitive this awards season is likely to be.”
The AFCC inaugurated Best Voice Performance and Best Dog awards this year. In a near sweep, the canine star of Deadpool & Wolverine, Peggy, was the AFCC’s top dog. The British pugese, who previously captured an award as Britain’s ugliest dog, has turned her runt of the litter status into Hollywood stardom this year.
Lupita Nyong’o won the AFCC’s first ever Best Voice Performance for her work as an intelligent robot Roz in The Wild Robot, who finds an escape from loneliness in the company of the wild animals that inhabit a desert island, including a gosling with whom she forms a special bond.
“Voiceover acting is so often overlooked, but it’s such a key part of animated films. Lupita Nyong’o brought something really special to The Wild Robot. In animation, voice acting isn’t just about delivering lines — it’s about bringing the character to life,” said AFCC member and entertainment journalist Tatyana Arrington. “It’s a huge part of what makes animated films work, and I really think it deserves more recognition.”
Jesse Nussman, AFCC advisory board member, said he hopes studios are taking note of the vision driving this year’s award winners.
“What strikes me about many of the films that took home multiple awards — Anora, Nickel Boys, The Brutalist — is their specificity. They’re the work of filmmakers who feel unburdened by marketplace demands or fears of alienating their audiences,” he said. “Hollywood, if you’re listening? We want more.”
Complete AFCC Award List
BEST FILM:
Anora
TOP 10 FILMS (ranked):
1. Anora
2. Challengers
3. Nickel Boys
4. The Brutalist
5. Conclave
6. Dune: Part Two
7. Sing Sing
8. Wicked: Part One
9. The Wild Robot
10. I Saw the TV Glow
BEST LEAD ACTOR:
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
BEST LEAD ACTRESS:
Mikey Madison, Anora
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Ariana Grande, Wicked
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST:
Sing Sing
BEST DIRECTOR:
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Sean Baker, Anora
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes, Nickel Boys
BEST DOCUMENTARY:
Sugarcane
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE:
Kneecap (Ireland)
BEST ANIMATED FILM:
TheWild Robot
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Nickel Boys
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Challengers
BEST STUNT WORK:
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER:
Mikey Madison, Anora
BEST FIRST FEATURE FILM:
Josh Margolin, Thelma
BEST VOICE PERFORMANCE:
Lupita Nyong’o, The Wild Robot
BEST DOG:
Peggy as Dogpool, Deadpool & Wolverine
About the AFCC
Co-founded by longtime Atlanta film critics Felicia Feaster and Michael Clark in 2017, the Atlanta Film Critics Circle is an attempt to fill a void in the local film community, and in the representation of Atlanta’s media on the national stage. The AFCC is supported by its Advisory Board and longtime critics Jason Evans, Will Leitch, Hannah Lodge, Michael McKinney, Jesse Nussman, Kyle Pinion, and Josh Sewell.
Composed of a dynamic mix of 38 Atlanta-based critics working in newspaper, magazine, and online journalism, the AFCC’s mission is to establish a national presence for a film critics group in Atlanta and to foster a vibrant film culture in Atlanta, already home to an exploding film industry production presence.
Members (critics living in and/or currently writing for global, national, regional and/or Atlanta metro area outlets) of AFCC voted on December 8 for the group’s annual awards.
A few months after its global debut, the speculative sci-fi noir film Megalopolis is still reigning supreme as a cult and conversation catalyst sensation, and its writer/director Francis Ford Coppola has many reasons to return to the stomping grounds where he completed this landmark production. While filming at Georgia’s Trilith Studios, the famed filmmaker simultaneously created a living and post-production space called the All-Movie Hotel located in the hamlet of Peachtree City where worldwide visitors can now stay in purpose-built suites for filmmaking and post-production. The curated curiosities at the hospitality complex include props and promotions related to projects such as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, but for those dreaming of the Roman Empire on screen in his utopian fantasy, there’s quite a bacchanal. “There’s one serious critic in this world, and that’s the test of time,” the filmmaker told an audience for a screening of the film at Atlanta’s Tara theatre. “I’ve seen [the movie] more times than you, I suspect, and I’m very satisfied with it.” Coppola continues to cheerfully engage viewers about what societies they’d envision for the future if they weren’t living in the here and now. And if you have the opportunity to stay at his heralded hotel, be sure to look for these ten treasures from Megalopolis.
Columns, spires and background props from the film’s “New Rome” greet guests at the All-Movie Hotel lobby.
Location markers and props from “New Rome” abound on hotel grounds.
Adam Driver and Aubrey Plaza are among the actors who dined and drank from the plates and chalices of the All-Movie Hotel’s lavish room service place settings.
Building replicas line some of the hotel’s common areas.
You may recognize Jon Voight’s impressive statue standing guard before Peachtree City’s golf cart trails at the All-Movie Hotel.
The All-Movie Hotel has many “seals” of approval; this one is in the lobby.
A high-flying reminder of the arena sequence is perched near the hotel pool.
China patterns for in-suite catering hail Caesar.
You may even see gladiators celebrating the holidays.
Did we mention you can stay in the Francis Ford Coppola suite he personally designed while he directed the film? It was a great stay!
Attracting moviegoers to the in-theatre experience is re-invigorating techniques which would make classic movie impresario William Castle proud!
A24, in partnership with Joya Studio, has announced multi-sensory experience screenings of Heretic, exclusively at Alamo Drafthouse theaters nationwide for one-night-only October 30, 2024. This unique experience will fully immerse audiences in the cinematic journey by activating their sense of smell. A highlight of the film features the delightful aroma of blueberry pie, inviting viewers to savor the scent wafting through the theater during this moment in the film. Fans can also look out for exclusive treats and scratch-and-sniff cards at all other advanced screenings of Heretic nationwide on October 30, allowing them to actively participate in the experience and enjoy the aroma during this pivotal scene.
The film Heretic follows two young missionaries played by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed, played against type by Hugh Grant, becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. Heretic hits theaters nationwide November 8.
A24 X Joya Studio genre-themed candles ranging from romcom to western
Joya Studio, known for innovative candles and fragrances, has long been a collaborator with A24. Joya produced an innovative line of genre-themed candles as well as products inspired by the Best Picture-winning film Everything Everywhere All At Once. Joya’s atomization technology is a refined scent experience suiting any space or mood, employing cold-air diffusion to disperse scented molecules as fine, dry air — without the use of heat, water, alcohol or petrochemical-based solvents — creating a safe, eco-friendly and consistent experience. This is the purest possible expression, preserving not only the scent’s aesthetic integrity but also its therapeutic properties.
According to Heretic co-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, “The blueberry pie is activated by Hugh Grant’s Mr. Reed as a metaphor for blind faith and a disturbing reminder to question everything. When we first heard A24’s bold idea to resurrect the multi-sensory experience to underline this crucial sequence, it made us howl with laughter. We’re so excited that audiences have this unique opportunity to be immersed in the world of the film.”
Frederick Bouchardy, founder of Joya Studio, adds he was “fully fired up” the moment he heard about this initiative. “We have enjoyed the collaboration with A24 for years, challenged our own vision with respect to scent design and R&D — always kept this element of humor involved, which I think is really missing from the fragrance world by and large. Every creation at Joya Studio reflects my personal belief in activating the senses, our aliveness. I happen to know that ‘blueberry pie’ translates beautifully in scent, believing we could and would create something at once sophisticated, mouth-watering, uncanny and funny.”
This new movie tie-in stands on the giants of many legendary uses of olfactory gimmicks offered in movie theatres dating back to the late ’50s when exhibitors were looking for a way to lure those smitten with new television contraptions to return to the glory of communal moviegoing.
Leveraging the sense of smell in cinema began with Smell-O-Vision, a system that released odor during the projection of a film via vials connected via tubes to theatre seats so viewers could physically smell what was happening in the movie. Created by Mike Todd Jr. and Hans Laube, the technique triggered by a film soundtrack and previewed at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, made its only theatrical appearance in the 1960 film Scent of Mystery with a notorious tobacco scent at a critical moment.
An alternate process, AromaRama, invented by Charles Weiss, emitted scents through the air-conditioning system of a theater for the film Behind the Great Wall, which opened a mere month before Scent in December 1959. More than 70 different aromas ranging from fireworks to restaurants to horses to spices were injected into the theater during the film. Competition between these two scent-laden films was dubbed by Variety Magazine as “the battle of the smellies.”
The Odorama card from Polyester
In homage to these classic techniques, John Waters released an enhanced “Odorama” version of his 1981 film Polyester including scratch and sniff cards with ten numbered spots audiences could follow along with while watching the movie, with corresponding numbers flashing on the bottom of the screen to prompt a next waft.
The RugratsGo Wild scratch and sniff card
The 2003 animated film Rugrats Go Wild, the 2010 Norwegian film Kurt Josef Wagle and The Legend of the Fjord Witch and 2011’s family comedy Spy Kids: All the Time in the World also included scent cards distributed to moviegoers accompanying numbers on screen to unlock sequential scents. The latter was advertised as “4D Aroma-Scope.”
The Spy Kids 4 scratch and sniff card
Disney has used technologies evocative of classic inventions in U.S. theme park attractions including It’s Tough to Be a Bug!, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Horizons and Monsters, Inc.: Mike & Sully to the Rescue.
The Soarin’ Over California and Soarin’ Around the World films at Disneyland and Walt Disney World respectively inject fragrances into their vast auditoriums including orange and cherry blossoms, pine forests, grass and sea air as motion simulated scenery flies on a big screen below the passengers riding on faux hang gliders.
In 2006, Japanese telecom company NTT Communications developed a scent technique for Terrence Malick’s The New World. During seven key moments in the film, scents were emitted by an internet server linked to the film reel, downloading fragrances including floral scents for romantic sequences; peppermint and rosemary smells for tear-jerking moments; orange and grapefruit effects for scenes of joy; and the essence of eucalyptus, tea tree and herbs for sequences featuring angry characters and actions.
Regal Cinemas’ 18 theatres with “4DX” technology installed incorporate strong smells into the movie experience along with motion enabled chairs, fog and water and air to simulate wind and rain for movies such as Twisters. Scents are also included along with haptic sensations in Darren Aronofsky’s 2023 4D nature filmPostcard from Earth, playing exclusively at The Sphere in Las Vegas. This year a company Olorama has also introduced a scent device for the home to accompany films.
A24’s Heretic arrives in immersive form exclusively at Alamo Drafthouse theaters nationwide for one-night-only October 30, 2024. The film opens wide throughout the U.S. November 8.
According to some fun Peachtree City, Georgia public documents and public zoning hearings from 2022, a local news story and the wonderment of my own eyes:
“The motel … purchased … by … LLC of Francis Ford Coppola, named the All Movie Motel … began submitting building permits … to renovate and make major changes … to include a ‘green room,’ a screening room, a projection room …. a non-commercial kitchen … rooms/suites for actors and movie production staff.”
Plus Roman columns and a Dustin Hoffman statue, of course!?
With #Megalopolis on the mind this week of Cannes Film Festival, here was a neat surprise chronicled in our local newspaper about a filmmaking and wine-making genius who is even inventive about lodging his staff and housing his screening rooms:
The futuristic fall movie “Megalopolis” premiered at Cannes Film Festival with Hollywood stars and Atlanta credits plus our site’s commentary about Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic universe:
Futuristic 'Megalopolis' premieres at Cannes with Hollywood stars and Atlanta credits – and my commentary about Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic universe https://t.co/mWu2PfM5SB
— Stephen Michael Brown (@stephenatl) May 17, 2024