36th Annual Atlanta Film Festival Begins Friday

With 125 movies over the course of 10 days, it's time to dim the lights and sit back and enjoy as the 2012 Atlanta Film Festival kicks off Friday night. 

The 36th Annual Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) begins with a 7 p.m. screening of L!fe Happens at the , followed by the Opening Night Party at Paris On Ponce located at 716 Ponce De Leon Place.

The festival runs through April 1 with screenings at Landmark, The Plaza Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, The Rialto and The Goat Farm among others.

The program consists of 29 Narrative Features, 26 Documentary Features and nine Short Program Presentations with more than 50 features/shorts with ties to Georgia. The festival’s main competition consists of seven Narrative Features, three Pink Peach (LGBT) Features, and eight Documentary Features battling for their category’s Grand Jury Prize.

ATLFF ticket and pass information can be found here and see what new ATLFF Executive Director Chris Escobar had to say about festival changes here.

Among this year’s films is John Portman: A Life of Building, a documentary about influential architect and Georgia Tech alum John Portman. Portman helped shape the skyline not only of Atlanta but of 60 cities around the world.

Another documentary in this year’s film festival focuses on an Atlanta icon. AKA Blondie is an intimate portrait of Blondie, the legendary exotic dancer of Clermont Lounge fame. Hurry Up and Wait is slated for this year’s festival and is a musical documentary about Atlanta based band Gringo Star.

AKA Blondie will screen Sunday evening at The Plaza Theatre and see the festival's website for a list of films and screenings.

“We are excited to announce this year’s lineup,'' said Atlanta Film Festival Board President Walker Anderson in a statement. "With over fifty films that have Georgia connections this year’s festival truly is a tribute to the talent from our state. “We are also happy to be highlighting venues across this city and to bring the festival to many different neighborhoods and communities."

ATLFF, now in its fourth decade, is one of the region’s largest and longest-running preeminent celebrations of cinema in the Southeast United States. More than 25,000 festival attendees enjoy independent, animated, documentary, and short films each year, selected from more than 2,200 submissions.

L!fe Happens director Kat Coiro will attend Friday’s festival-opening film. Co-writer Krysten Ritter and Kate Bosworth star in what is described at the ATLFF website as a quick-witted and emotionally grounded comedy … where the social and career paths of impeccably-styled Los Angeles scenesters are brought into sharp relief with the unplanned arrival of a baby.