Capping a successful final weekend, the 42nd annual Atlanta Film Festival, held April 12-22, is pleased to announce the 2018 ATLFF award winners.
In addition to taking home the awards, winners of the Narrative Short, Animated Short, and Documentary Short Jury Awards now qualify for the 2018 Oscar® shortlist. ATLFF is one of only 14 festivals in the country that is Oscar qualifying in three or more categories.
The 2018 Atlanta Film Festival juried prize winners are:
- Narrative Feature Jury Award – RESTOS DE VIENTO (WIND TRACES)
- Narrative Feature Special Jury Prize – DISAPPEARANCE
- Documentary Feature Jury Award – MAN MADE
- Documentary Feature Special Jury Award – NOS LLAMAN GUERRERAS (THEY CALL US WARRIORS)
- Narrative Short Jury Award – FOR NONNA ANNA
- Documentary Short Jury Award – ZION
- Animated Short Jury Award – (FUNDAMENTAL)
Additional 2018 ATLFF Awards:
- WonderFilm Award (presented by WonderRoot): WALLS OF HOPE
- Georgia Film Award – STILL
- Filmmaker-to-Watch Award – Connor Simpson (KUDZU)
- Innovator Award – Daveed Diggs (BLINDSPOTTING)
- Rebel Award – Jason Reitman (TULLY)
- Phoenix Award – Kiersey Clemons (HEARTS BEAT LOUD)
Every year, the Atlanta Film Festival is pleased to showcase diverse feature and short films that connect audiences to filmmakers from around the world. In 2018, ATLFF screened a record 208 films after receiving more than 7,600 submissions from 56 countries. More than 55 feature-length films and 150 short films were selected, making this year’s film festival the most diverse, by the number of countries represented, and the largest, by the number of films, in Atlanta history.
Highlights included Opening and Closing Night presentations and galas, seven feature-length World Premieres and ten Marquee screening events. Notably, 68 percent of this year’s selected submissions were directed by either a woman or filmmaker of color and a record 49 films had had production or filmmaker ties to the Peach State reflecting the growing role of Georgia to the filmmaking industry.
This year, ATLFF launched a new initiative to honor Originators, Innovators, and Rebels in the film industry. On April 13, ATLFF awarded its inaugural Innovator Award, created to recognize visionaries and those forging their own path within the film industry, to Daveed Diggs for his work on Broadway’s “Hamilton” and ATLFF Opening Night film BLINDSPOTTING.
Prior to the April 15 ATLFF Marquee screening of TULLY, the festival also awarded Academy Award-nominated director Jason Reitman with the ATLFF Rebel Award for writing and directing films like THANK YOU FOR SMOKING (2005), JUNO (2007) and UP IN THE AIR (2009) about characters that defied expectations and cut against the grain.
Actress Kiersey Clemons, known for her roles in FLATLINERS and THE ONLY LIVING BOY IN NEW YORK and set to star in the upcoming DC Comics Flash movie, received the inaugural ATLFF Phoenix Award prior to the April 20 red carpet screening of HEARTS BEAT LOUD.
*Photo: X