Ten Reasons to Experience the 2011 Atlanta Film Festival

Ten reasons to experience the 35th Atlanta Film Festival:

1. Catch the opening night energy with a screening of “Terri.” It’s about a lonely high school outcast and his unexpected relationship with a difficult vice principal played by John C. Reilly. Opening night ticket: $25; second screening (in Sandy Springs) is the standard ticket price of $10. 7:30pm Thursday at Landmark Midtown; 3pm Tuesday at LeFont Sandy Springs.

2. The fest is 35 years old and so is Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” with Robert DeNiro and Jodie Foster. The festival includes a screening of a digitally restored 35mm print of the gritty 1976 drama. Its cinematographer, Michael Chapman, is scheduled to attend and participate in a Q&A session with his wife, Amy Holden Jones. The two met while working on the film (she was Scorsese’s assistant). 8pm Thursday, May 5, at the Plaza.

3. Volunteer! Festival volunteer manager Jeanette Gregory has lined up more than 100 volunteers, but may need more help as the festival continues. For every two four-hour shifts worked, volunteers receive a voucher to see one fest film. If interested, email Gregory: jeanette@atlantafilmfestival.com

4. Actor Richard Chamberlain is scheduled to attend the screening of his new film, “We Are the Hartmans,” an offbeat story of neighborhood rebellion. Chamberlain plays an older pot-smoking hippie who owns the local hangout.  7pm Saturday, Landmark Midtown.

5.  If you’ve always wanted to but never seen Norwegian trolls, “The Troll Hunter” from Norway could be for you. It involves a group of students investigating bear killings who come upon a feared hunter of trolls. 10:30pm Monday, Landmark Midtown.

6.  Director Mario Van Peebles and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (rapper, actor, screenwriter) are both scheduled to show for the one fest screening of their “Things Fall Apart,” about a college football star and his huge setback. 10pm Saturday, Landmark Midtown.

7.   Amen! “Rejoice and Shout” is a rousing 200-year history of gospel music from director Don McGlynn that includes clips from hundreds of hours of rare film footage and audio recordings. 5pm Sunday at the Plaza.

8. Deals for food and drink! A festival ticket stub will score you some good discounts at local restaurants including Aprés Diem, Doc Chey’s Noodle House, YEAH! Burger, Joe’s on Juniper and many more. More: http://www.atlantafilmfestival.com/2011-festival/festival-food-drink-deals/

 9.  Certainly reflective of the strong film action happening locally, the festival has a nice batch of films that were made here, reflect Atlanta today, or have a Georgia link.  “The Start of Dreams” is a “no-holds-barred look into the fast-paced life” and work of director-actor Kenny Leon, former artistic director of the Alliance Theatre who now runs Atlanta’s True Colors theater, directs on Broadway, and so much more (7:30pm Tuesday, Landmark Midtown). Inspired by true events, “Sahkanaga” is an unusual and atmospheric tale set in rural Georgia — and it does have an abandoned . . . kitten. (6pm Friday and 4:45pm on May 5 at Landmark Midtown). “Disabled But Able to Rock!” is Blake Myers’ long-in-the-works documentary on autistic karaoke performer Betsy Goodrich, whose alter ego at places such as Atlanta’s annual DragonCon is the caped crusader Danger Woman. (8pm Wednesday, May 4 at the Plaza; 4:30pm May 7 at Landmark Midtown).

10. Women are in focus this festival, both as subject matter and behind the lens. “Miss Representation,” from director Jennifer Siebel Newsom, explores how women are less likely to achieve positions of power and influence. The documentary “Eleanore & the Time Keeper” is a “quiet love story” about an elderly woman who has cared for her disabled son for 64 years. (noon Sunday and 5:30pm Wednesday, May 4 at Landmark Midtown).

Alas, we probably could come up with another 91 reasons to experience the 35th annual festival, for there are 124 separate screenings in all. For full details and screening grid: http://atlanta.slated.com/2011/schedule/week.

Why go to the Atlanta Film Festival?

The poster for the 2011 festival, which kicks off Thursday night with “Terri,” a new film with John C. Reilly that enjoyed bright buzz in January at the Sundance Film Festival, gives you 101 reasons.

But most of those 101 reasons are goofy. They range from “to have something to tweet about” and because “it’s better than a phlegm festival,” to “you get to see starving artists fight over popcorn” and “you can show up in a limo if you want to.”

Or here’s a favorite, Reason No. 28: “Kittens! You love kittens! I bet there’s a movie with a kitten.”

But “Why Go?” is this year’s festival theme, and more seriously, there are plenty of solid reasons to experience the festival. The vast majority of screenings of 144 films — chosen from about 1,500 submissions — will be at the  (over all 10 days) and at the (from Sunday to May 6 ).

Of the 144 movies in the festival, there are 68 full-length films, an equal balance of both narrative features and documentaries. About half of the full-length features are to be shown twice during the 10-day festival. The rest of the films slotted are shorts: animated, documentaries or narrative. There’s a healthy mix of comedies and dramas.

There are films for music fans, romantics and sports fanatics, such as “Pigskin & Magnolias: 12 Days of Fandom,” director Josh Locklair’s “love letter to college football fans of the Southeastern Conference” (1:30pm Saturday at Landmark Midtown).

“I’ve heard Atlanta is a big walk-up town, but pre-planning can be a beautiful thing,” said Carol Ann Lafferty, 2011 festival director.  She added that “advance ticket sales are increasing daily. We’re very happy.” Lafferty spent five years as managing director of the Miami International Film Festival. This marks her first time helming the Atlanta fest. She said she’s been fielding calls from industry insiders who are “complimenting us on our outstanding lineup.”

The current economy has “put a chokehold on just about everybody,” Lafferty said, “yet we’re still able to put on an incredible festival.”

How incredible? For starters, festival communications and programming director Charles Judson is especially excited about the campy “Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same,” the first feature directed by Madeleine Olnek. Newsday called Olnek’s work “uproariously neurotic comedy,” and as a New Yorker she’s also been compared to Woody Allen in terms of quirky originality — and perhaps because she shot “Codependent” in black and white. (Two screenings are slotted at Landmark Midtown: 10:30pm Saturday and 2:45pm May 7; director Olnek is expected to attend the latter).

“It’s one of my favorite films of the festival,” Judson said. “It’s one of those films you just discover and by the end you are so in love with it you just have to tell people they need to see it. It’s fun, witty, very intelligent. And it’s not trying too hard. It entertains you, but underneath it makes some good points about how everyone is basically just searching for love.”