Spotlight on Clermont Lounge's 'Blondie' at Atlanta Film Festival

Staff Report

The 36th Annual Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) has announced its 2012 lineup of narrative and documentary features and short films for this year’s festival, March 23 - April 1. Over the course of 10 days, the ATLFF will screen more than 125 films curated from more than 1,500 submissions, and with many participating filmmakers and industry professionals.

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.

A majority of the festival's films will be screened at the and ATLFF ticket and pass information can be found here. 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. See the festival's website for a list of films and screenings.

This year’s festival will also mark the introduction of the Atlanta Gem series which highlights venues around the city. Each Gem Series presentation is paired with a film to help highlight that location’s unique place within our city’s culture. Additional information about the Atlanta Gems series and other specialized programming will be announced over the coming days.

“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.

Atlanta Film Festival 365, the arts non-profit that produces the Atlanta Film Festival annually also schedules screenings, discussions, workshops and panels year-round to keep cinema top of mind and the art and culture community talking.

For more information, please visit www.AtlantaFilmFestival.com.