THE 2026 ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL & CREATIVE CONFERENCE ANNOUNCES FIRST WAVE OF FILMS
ATLANTA, GA (March 9, 2026) – The Atlanta Film Society (ATLFS) is pleased to announce the first wave of films programmed for the upcoming 50th Annual Atlanta Film Festival & Creative Conference (ATLFF), slated for April 23 through May 3, 2026. Each year, this first-wave announcement offers the earliest glimpse of the upcoming festival and highlights the exciting programming choices to come. This first wave, selected from over 5,500+ film submissions, comprises three documentary features and three narrative features.
“We’re proud to offer an early look at these 6 feature films as a first course for ATLFF’s 50th edition, which will include over 30 features and 120+ short films. We have much more in store, and this half-dozen reflects the quality and diversity of the total lineup.”
Berehezade
Directed by Danae Reynaud
Narrative Feature | Mexico, Spanish | 91 minutes
Bere, a struggling stand-up in Mexico City, has effectively alienated all of her friends and family. So when she's abducted off the street for ransom money, her two hapless kidnappers, Mino and Sal quickly discover that no bag of cash will be coming their way. With only her dark sense of humor to defend herself, Bere becomes a Millennial version of Scheherazade, heroine of the 1,001 Nights, entertaining her captors to survive. In her debut feature, writer/director/star Danae Reynaud finds deep humor and sincerity in a tale of comic desperation.
STARJUICE
Directed by Austin Coombs-Perez
Narrative Feature | USA, English | 79 minutes
Robert, a budding actor with a lot to prove, is known around campus as the guy from the StarJuice commercials, but he'd rather earn some artistic cred with his original play, "Mystery Man." When a mysterious classmate with a dinosaur birthmark laughs at his in-class monologue, Robert and his friend Naldo are swept into an antic quest to achieve her approval. With a galaxy-hopping POV and kaleidoscopic aesthetic, Austin Coombs-Perez's feature debut channels the youthful urgency and try-anything energy of true indie originals such as Terence Nance (AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY) and Gregg Araki (KABOOM)
Montréal, ma belle
Directed by Xiaodan He
Narrative Feature | Canada, French, Mandarin Chinese | 92 minutes
Feng Xia (Joan Chen, THE LAST EMPEROR, "Twin Peaks"), a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant and mother living in Montreal, has spent her life shaped by duty to her family, her culture, and a loveless marriage. But when she meets Camille, a spirited young Québécoise, a long-buried desire is awakened. In the balmy and joyful Montreal summer, Feng Xia takes the radical step of choosing herself, embarking on a journey of forbidden love and long-overdue self-discovery. Her awakening becomes a profound reckoning with identity, exile, and the steep cost of liberation.
Maintenance Artist
Directed by Toby Perl Freilich
Documentary Feature | USA, English, some Japanese | 95 minutes
Maintenance Artist dives deep into the extraordinary life and work of Mierle Laderman Ukeles, who has been the “artist-in-residence” at the NYC Department of Sanitation since 1977. A pioneering ecofeminist and Social Practice artist, Ukeles brought the invisible labor of cleaning, caretaking, and motherhood out into the open and made it the focus of her artistic practice. Through a blend of rare archival footage and interviews with Ukeles and those in her circle, the film explores how a single artist transformed maintenance and care — the often-dismissed work of women and working-class people — into one of the most profound artistic and political statements of the twentieth century.
Riverkeeper
Directed by Jason Goldman
Documentary Feature | USA, English | 86 minutes
For fifty years, the Clean Water Act has been a cornerstone of America’s environmental protections, empowering activists and communities to defend their waterways. In Atlanta, Dr. Jackie Echols embodies that promise, restoring the South River and advocating for the predominantly Black, working-class neighborhoods along its banks. When city leaders announce plans for “Cop City,” a massive police training facility that would clear-cut one of Atlanta’s last forests, Jackie joins a diverse resistance movement to protect the land and people.
Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon
Directed by Khoa Ha & Victor Velle
Documentary Feature | United States + Vietnam, English + Vietnamese | 94 minutes
Unfolding as a pop-music mystery and a crate-digging odyssey through the record stores and ultra-rare private collections of Vietnam, Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon tells the epic story of legendary composer Y Vân through the eyes of his granddaughter Khoa, as she journeys to uncover and preserve his lost music. A story told across three generations, Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon brings to life the golden age of Saigon and uncovers a timeless tale of love, music and family.
About the Atlanta Film Festival
The Atlanta Film Festival, now in its fifth decade, is an Academy Award-qualifying festival and one of the region’s largest and longest-running preeminent celebrations of cinema in the Southeast United States. More than 27,000 festival attendees are expected to enjoy independent, animated, documentary, and short films selected from more than 9,000 submissions from 100 countries at the 2023 event. The Atlanta Film Festival is the chief annual operation of the Atlanta Film Society (ATLFS), one of the oldest and largest organizations dedicated to the promotion and education of film in the United States, which enriches the community through screenings, classes, workshops, and other events year-round. It is also the most distinguished event in its class, recognized on USA Today’s ‘10Best Film Festivals’, as well as the 'Best Spring Festival' by Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 'Best Film Festival' by Creative Loafing and Atlanta Magazine, and one of the '25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World' by MovieMaker Magazine. Major funding for the Atlanta Film Society is provided by Mailchimp, the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners through the Fulton County Arts & Culture Department, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Motion Picture Association, Panavision, and the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. www.AtlantaFilmFestival.com