PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2021
Atlanta Film Society to Host Zoom Conversation to Preview Sundance Film Festival Partnership
ATLANTA, GA — The Atlanta Film Society (ATLFS) and The Plaza Theatre, in partnership with the nonprofit Sundance Institute, will host an official partnership announcement event over Zoom, which is free and open to the public, on Friday, January 22, 2021, from 3:00 – 4:00 PM. The 2021 Sundance Film Festival will be from January 28 – February 3, 2021.
On the Zoom, representatives from ATLFS, Plaza Theatre, and Sundance Institute will give a look at what to expect from Atlanta’s part in this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The event will touch on both what has been previously announced as well as exciting additions in film programming, Beyond Film conversations, Community Partners involved, and give viewers a working sense of how participating in the festival will work in-person, drive-in, or in-home. There will be an opportunity for questions.
Among the Atlanta programming highlights are the films PASSING, MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY and CRYPTOZOO. Sundance also recently announced that the highly anticipated film JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH would be presented in Atlanta.
The films coming to Atlanta will be presented in-person at The Plaza Theatre (1049 Ponce de Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA, 30306) screening both Indoors and at the Drive-In and at Dad’s Garage Drive-In (569 Ezzard St SE, Atlanta, GA, 30312). The selections and programming in Atlanta, along with their screening locations, showtimes, and ticket purchase options, can be found at atlantafilmsociety.org/sundance-schedule.
Throughout this partnership, ATLFS is also excited to display the Atlanta film community’s unique qualities of inclusion and innovation. To this end, ATLFS will partner with several local organizations to form a Sundance Satellite Atlanta Host Committee. These organizations, including Out on Film, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Women in Film and Television Atlanta (WIFTA), BronzeLens Film Festival, Videodrome, and Morehouse Human Rights Film Festival will join forces with ATLFS and the Plaza Theatre to host conversations around Sundance films playing in Atlanta that align with that organization’s mission and background.
These community partner conversations will be part of the Beyond Film programming and many of them will involve the filmmakers of the works coming to Atlanta. Other Beyond Film conversations will include an expert panel on animation that includes legendary Disney/Pixar animator Floyd Norman, and a discussion on post-COVID innovation driving inclusion moderated by 51 Fund founder Naomi McDougal Jones. Beyond Film will also feature past highlights from the Atlanta Film Festival Creative Conference. The Beyond Film content will be free of charge and most of it will be available online via the ATLFS website.
The Institute announced last month the new independent work selected for the 2021 Festival. The Festival will take place digitally via a feature-rich, Sundance-built online platform and in-person screenings across the country on Satellite Screens including in Atlanta (public health permitting). Online, Festival attendees can gather in virtual waiting rooms, participate in live Q&A’s, and congregate in new environments to interact in a range of ways, both new and familiar. The Institute shared details of how the Festival will meet audiences on the online platform and Satellite Screens in December.
You can learn more about the films selected for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and see the online schedule on the Festival’s film program guide at festival.sundance.org. For more information, please visit Festival.Sundance.org and AtlantaFilmSociety.org.