47th ANNUAL ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL
April 20th - April 30th, 2023

The Atlanta Film Festival, now in its sixth 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 28,000 festival attendees are expected to enjoy independent, animated, documentary, and short films selected from more than 9,000 submissions from 30 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 WarnerMedia, 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.

The Films We Program

We take pride in the films we program; we're constantly searching for fresh, innovative, and inspiring means of cinema. As one of only two dozen Academy Award-qualifying events in the country, the Atlanta Film Festival showcases nearly 200 films annually to over 27,000 attendees across an eleven-day event each spring. Each year the Atlanta Film Festival receives over 9,000 submissions from 200+ countries across the globe. 

This year we had 7,246 total film submissions. This included 151 total programmed films, including 40 Feature Films, 84 Short Films, and 27 Creative Media (Music Videos, Episodic Pilots, and Virtual Reality). 

Additionally, of the 200+ countries submitted, 30 countries are represented in the final program.

Lastly, we pride ourselves on being all-inclusive and local as well. We have 152 films directed by women + non-binary, BIPOC, and Georgia residents.  This consists of: 

  • 47% BIPOC directed

  • 49% women + non-binary directed

  • 23% of the total lineup programmed from submissions are Georgia films

Specialty tracks in ATLFF film programming include New Mavericks, which highlights strong female filmmakers or lead roles; Pink Peach, which shines a spotlight on LGBTQ narrative features, documentaries, or short films; and ¡CineMás!, which highlights Latin American programming, and Noire, which highlights films led by Black filmmakers.

Creative Conference

Creative Conference events will return to the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival from Tuesday, April 25th - Friday, April 28th from 11:30 am to 5:30 pm. Creative Conference offers educational programming for upcoming filmmakers, festival goers, newcomers, and members of the greater community alike to learn from industry experts. There are approximately 24 events planned during the 11-day festival. All events will take place in person this year.