The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) is the area’s preeminent celebration of cinema. Our 11-day festival presents over 120 films from all over the world, representing 110+ countries, selected from over 6,000 submissions. Each year, 90 to 95% of ATLFF’s program is composed of submitted films. ATLFF actively strives to provide a diverse slate of programming with spotlights on filmmakers of color, LGBTQ+ films, women and gender non-comforming filmmakers, and filmmakers from the Georgia. For the 2024 festival, 49% of the program selected from submissions was directed by women and gender nonconforming directors and 59% by BIPOC directors, as well as 24% of selected films coming from Georgia filmmakers.

In addition, each year ATLFF seeks to program a variety of genres and film styles including (but not limited to): experimental films, music videos, comedies, horror and sci-fi, virtual reality, food films, and puppetry films.

ATLFF has been named a “Top 50 Festival Worth the Entry Fee” and one of the “25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” by MovieMaker magazine, and has been recognized as a Best Film Festival by Creative Loafing, Sunday Paper, USAtoday 10 Best, and Atlanta Magazine, as well as the Best Spring Festival by the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

ATLFF’s continued exposure is in part thanks to growing distributor and press attention. Recent distributor attendance includes A24, Paramount, Netflix, Lionsgate, Focus Features, The Orchard/1091 Media, Magnolia, Bleecker Street, The Film Collaborative, Participant Media, Archer Gray, Kino Lorber, XLrator Media, CNN, HBO, Showtime, AMC, Sundance TV, Warner Media, NBC Universal, Filmstruck, Kickstarter, Seed & Spark, Vimeo, and MUBI.

Now in its eighth year, our Georgia Film Award has grown into two juried awards – Georgia Feature Award and Georgia Short Award to further celebrate and recognize the outstanding work of filmmakers in our community. Films made by Georgia-based directors and submitted to either feature film category or short category in Narrative, Documentary, or Animation will be eligible for consideration for the appropriate category upon inclusion in the festival. Georgia film submissions are also considered for non-Georgia competition categories as applicable.

Georgia filmmakers may submit with a discounted submission fee for projects that were both shot in Georgia and come from a director with a current Georgia address. Projects that meet both qualifications can submit at a discount. To obtain the discount code, applicants will need to email GA@atlantafilmfestival before submitting with the following information: the city the director resides in and where in GA the film was shot. Films that are not live-action are also eligible for the discount if the director resides in the state and partially produced the film in Georgia.

Over $100,000 in combined cash and prizes for have been given for awards in the following categories year to year:

The winners of Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and the Georgia Feature Award receive a rental credit from the Atlanta Film Society's own annual credit donated by the Plaza Theatre to perform a week-long Oscar Qualifying Theatrical run at the Plaza Theatre (up to a $6,500 value each).

Best Narrative Feature ($1,500 cash prize + theatrical run prize)
Best Documentary Feature ($1,500 cash prize + theatrical run prize)
Best Narrative Short ($750 cash prize)
Best Documentary Short ($750 cash prize)
Best Animated Short ($750 cash prize)
Best Cinematography ($90,000 value in camera and post rental/services)
Georgia Feature Award ($1,500 cash prize + theatrical run prize)
Georgia Short Award ($750 cash prize)

*Additional prizes may be announced. Current award categories and prizes are subject to change.

ACADEMY-QUALIFICATION: The winners of Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short, and Best Animated Short all qualify for the following year’s Academy Awards in their respective categories.

ATLFF juries are composed of filmmakers, film critics, academics and industry figures. Recent jurors have included Academy Award-nominated filmmakers and representatives from The Los Angeles Times, Indiewire, TIME, Adult Swim, VICE, Vimeo, NPR, Film Independent, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Seed and Spark, Music Box, NEON, Oscilloscope Laboratories, IFC Films, and MUBI.

Films competing in juried categories are chosen solely at the discretion of the ATLFF programming team. Acceptance to the festival does not guarantee placement in competition. Films are not programmed in or out of competition, as competition status is determined once the full program has been locked.

All officially selected features and short films will be eligible for our Audience Awards. In addition to the juried prizes listed above, ATLFF also awards prizes in a variety of non-juried categories. While they vary from year to year, recent non-juried prizes have included Programmer Awards, the Filmmaker-to-Watch Award, and the Southern Documentary Fund Award. All official selections that meet the guidelines of these non-juried competitions, in a year when they are being presented, will be eligible.

We strongly encourage you to review the following carefully. By submitting your project, you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to all of the following rules and terms. All projects that have been submitted by our final deadline and that adhere to the following terms will be considered for inclusion in the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival.

If you have any further questions, please refer to our complete FAQ: http://www.atlantafilmfestival.com/submission-faq/

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

In order to be considered, each submission must be accompanied by a submission fee paid in full and a working screener. Once we have all necessary materials, the submission will be marked “In Consideration.” It is the submitter’s responsibility to make sure that all submission requirements are met. If your submission is marked “Incomplete” and you are unsure why, please email submit@atlantafilmfestival.com.

Any submissions that still have an “Incomplete” status on FilmFreeway by our final submissions deadline will be disqualified without refund of submission fees. Reasons a submission will be considered incomplete include (but are not limited to):
- Screener is missing
- Screener has been deleted or password has been changed
- Screener does not have subtitles (if in a foreign language), audio, image, or any feature that prevents us from properly judging it

SCREENERS

All projects must be submitted via secure online screener - either uploaded directly to FilmFreeway or embedded into your submission from a third-party service (such as Vimeo, YouTube, or frame.io). We do not accept any films that must be downloaded (ex: Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer, etc.). The only exception for downloadable screeners is for Virtual Reality submissions (see below).

In addition, we cannot accept screener links via email, they MUST be attached to your submission. We DO NOT accept DVD or Blu-Ray screeners.

The submitter is responsible for ensuring that their screener link and password are active throughout the entire submission cycle (i.e. until March 1, 2025). If you change your screener URL or password, please see that it’s updated on FilmFreeway immediately. If we discover an error with your screener before our final deadline, we will email you, asking you to fix it. Failure to respond by the final submission deadline will result in disqualification without refund of submission fees. If we discover that a screener is incomplete after our final deadline, it may be directly disqualified without refund of submission fees.

For Virtual Reality film submissions, see requirements below:

For 360° video — please provide either or both:
A) Private 360-enabled screener (Vimeo, YouTube or Oculus Media Studio.)
B) Downloadable video link.
NOTE: 360° video is reviewed via headset whenever possible.

For tethered/PCVR and other room scale/interactive projects:
We REQUIRE a full video recording of the experience. While you may include app links and builds alongside that, the video screener is the primary format for consideration. Lastly, please detail any needs for the exhibition (such as schematics, compatible HMD/tech, etc.).

SUBTITLES

All foreign-language films must be submitted with English subtitles. If we discover a foreign-language submission is missing subtitles, we will email you to request an updated screener with English subtitles. If the submitter fails to provide working subtitles by the final submission deadline, the project will be considered incomplete and will be disqualified without refund of submission fees.

CAPTIONS

All accepted films must provide captions in order to screen. Captions are text assets that include all dialogue, speaker identifications, and described audio elements such as sound effects and music. Captions are not the same as subtitles. Filmmakers can access a complete captioning guide here: https://www.3playmedia.com/learn/popular-topics/closed-captioning/

Films without captions are eligible to submit, but will be required to create a caption file upon acceptance in order to screen. Limited captioning assistance may be provided by the festival, but is not guaranteed.

SUBMISSION CATEGORIES

Please review all submission categories carefully before submitting your project. All entrants are required to pay the submission fee of their film’s appropriate category. If you believe you have submitted your film to the wrong category, contact us immediately. While we can typically facilitate a change in category, the entrant will be responsible for any changes in submission fees. We cannot offer partial refunds for categories with a smaller fee. If the new category has a higher fee, the entrant is responsible for paying the difference.

Submission to multiple categories is not encouraged. Please read category descriptions carefully to determine where your submission belongs. If you wish to submit to multiple categories, a separate submission fee must be paid for each category. ATLFF reserves the right to determine eligibility of a submission in each respective category. Refunds will not be offered for submission to an inappropriate category.

Our submission categories are defined by length and format rather than genre. We accept films in all genres. If you have questions about any of our submission categories, please email submit@atlantafilmfestival.com.

ATLFF will not pre-screen or evaluate films prior to submission for the purpose of recommending a category for submission.

GEORGIA FILMS

A discounted submission fee is available for submissions that were both shot in Georgia and come from a director with a current Georgia address. Projects that meet both qualifications can submit at a discount.

In order to qualify for a Georgia Film discount, your project must be:

- Filmed at least partially in Georgia
AND
- By a director currently residing in the state of Georgia

Films that are not live-action are also eligible for the discount, if the director resides in-state and the project was partially produced in Georgia.

If this applies to your project, email ga@atlantafilmfestival.com to obtain the discount code.

All films submitted with this code must adhere to the rules of the festival at large and the category to which they submit. If you submit using this code without meeting the necessary criteria, you will be disqualified from consideration for the festival and will not be issued a refund.

Submitting with the Georgia Film code will not impact a film’s chances of being accepted into the festival either positively or negatively. This code is intended as a way to support our local filmmaking community by offering a low-cost means of entry (and also makes it easier for us to identify local films in our submissions pool).

COMPLETION DATE

Any project that was completed on or after October 1, 2022 will be eligible for consideration at the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

Works in progress are accepted with the following stipulations:

Incomplete projects must be clearly listed as such. Films should be marked either “Rough Cut” or “Work In Progress/WIP”. All missing and incomplete materials or changes to be made (e.g. temporary score, missing VFX, no color correction) should be clearly indicated in your cover letter, project title, and/or on an opening title to the film itself.

You may update your screener up until the final submission deadline, as long as the link and password for the submission remains the same. However, ATLFF cannot guarantee that your submission will be re-screened and considered each time you update it. Therefore, you should not submit your project if it is not complete enough to adequately represent the final product.

Updated cuts must be accessible via your FilmFreeway account. We cannot accept updated cuts via email.

No updated cuts will be accepted after the final submission deadline.

If selected, the final version of the film must be available by February 2025.

PREMIERE STATUS

ATLFF does not require a World Premiere in any category, but we do consider premiere status when making final selections.

Films should not have screened publicly in the greater Atlanta area prior to the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival, and we strongly prefer to program works that have not yet screened in the state of Georgia. Exceptions to this rule may be made on rare occasions and are solely at the discretion of the programming team. A Georgia Premiere is required for consideration in the feature competition categories, excluding the Georgia Feature Award. Feature films that have acquired US distribution of any kind prior to selection at ATLFF are not eligible for competition.

Feature films that have been (or will be) publicly released online, on VOD, or DVD prior to the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival are not eligible to screen. Short films that are available online are programmed on a case by case basis, but we typically prioritize films that have not yet been released to the public.

Films that have screened online as part of a virtual festival presentation are still eligible for screening at ATLFF.

It is the submitter’s responsibility to notify ATLFF of any updates in premiere status as they occur, especially if the film is selected for another festival in the state of Georgia.

DEADLINES

Please keep track of deadlines closely if you plan on submitting within a certain submission window. All deadlines are set for 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Time (with the exception of our final deadline at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time).

You can find a full list of deadlines under the “Dates & Deadlines” section of our FilmFreeway page.

ACCEPTED FILMS

All works selected must be ready with a final version, or a reasonable expectation of when we can expect a final version, by our notification date for inclusion in the festival.

Upon acceptance into the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival, you grant ATLFF the right to utilize an excerpt from your film for promotional purposes.

All accepted films will screen at least once during the festival, with the possibility of an encore screening for select films/shorts blocks on a case-by-case basis. All scheduling, screening venues, digital platforms, and time slots are at the discretion of the ATLFF staff and are subject to change.

If you need to ship us your film on a physical drive, ATLFF only pays for a return shipment of your drive, not inbound shipping. Flash drives will only be returned upon request, and drives for local filmmakers are pick-up only. We cannot return international flash drives, so we highly recommended sending films online.

DCP capability is limited and dependent on the screening venue. DCP must be approved by the Print Traffic department after the schedule has been finalized. ATLFF is not responsible for any shipping expenses of unapproved print formats.

Any kind of film exhibition (16/35/70mm) is rare and solely at the discretion of the programming team, venue capabilities, and schedule allowances. It is not a format that can be guaranteed at the time of acceptance. If you choose to submit, it is best to assume that (if selected) a digital version would most likely be chosen for exhibition.

Schedule and screening venues are decided solely at the discretion of the programming staff, and ATLFF cannot guarantee that any film will play in a DCP-capable theater. Please be prepared to have an alternate print format available. If approved for DCP, you must provide a backup format (such as Blu-ray or a digital file).

SCREENING FEES

The Atlanta Film Festival does not pay screening fees for submitted films. By submitting your project, you acknowledge that ATLFF will not pay to present your work.

THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE

ATLFF regularly uses private, secure third party software to organize, track, and review submissions. By submitting to our festival, you are authorizing us to handle your film using those third party softwares.

CODE OF CONDUCT

Please be advised that the Atlanta Film Festival has instituted a code of conduct by which all attendees of the festival are expected to follow. Those who fail to follow the terms of this code of conduct will face possible dismissal from the festival. Possible grounds for dismissal may include, but are not limited to, the following: gross misconduct or insubordination, theft of property or misuse of agency materials, abuse or mistreatment of clients, guests, staff or other volunteers, failure to abide by agency policies and procedures, any form of harassment or assault. To view the full code of conduct, please visit: http://www.atlantafilmsociety.org/code-of-conduct

COPYRIGHT & LEGAL TERMS

By entering your film for consideration to the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival, you authorize that your work is cleared for festival exhibition and accept full legal responsibility for the intellectual property therein. The submitter and all filmmakers associated with the project shall indemnify and hold harmless the Atlanta Film Festival, Atlanta Film Society, and any representative or affiliates from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.

REFUNDS & DISQUALIFICATION

Once a project is listed “In Consideration” on FilmFreeway, we are unable to offer refunds for any reason, including (but not limited to):
- Submission to the wrong category
- Change in premiere status or distribution
- Duplicate submissions
- Failure to pay the full submission fee by the final deadline
- Failure to provide a working screener by the final deadline
- Project’s failure to comply with submission Rules & Terms
- Improper use of a discount code or waiver
- Rejection from the festival
- Withdrawing your submission for any reason (including changes of heart)

ATLFF reserves the right to disqualify any submission without refund, even after a film has been invited or final programming has been announced, at the sole discretion of ATLFF staff.

Films made with the direct involvement of ATLFS staff and board are ineligible for consideration for the festival and will be disqualified without a refund.

ATLFF reserves the right to decline any submission for consideration for any reason.

If you have any questions that are not answered here or in our Submission FAQ, please email us at submit@atlantafilmfestival.com. We are unable to address inquiries via phone.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Rahsaan Thomas

    Geared towards films made in the South, but still a powerful festival with potential to meet funders and industry connections.

    August 2024
  • Caroline Josey Karoki

    Thank you, Atlanta Film Festival, for selecting our short film. The entire experience was rewarding and validating, and we will be back!

    May 2024
  • Sunny Liu

    As an emerging filmmaker, the opportunity to screen my first feature documentary, PIANOMAN, at the Atlanta Film Festival was an extraordinary experience. I owe special thanks to Jennica Carmona, whose support made it a deeply meaningful moment. Most of our crew had attended high school together, and many of us didn't speak English at that time. Over a decade later, we made PIANOMAN and had the privilege of showcasing it at such a prestigious event, even doing Q&A sessions in English! This felt like a significant milestone, marking a full circle moment thanks to the Atlanta Film Festival. Moreover, the festival covered our travel expenses, arranged our stay at the finest hotel in town, and generously paid for our UBER rides. They truly embraced us as part of their family! I wholeheartedly recommend it!

    May 2024
  • Best time of my life! I had such a wonderful experience at this festival and am so grateful to have been able to premiere my film at such an inspiring and supportive event

    May 2024
  • My review will be a bit biased as I live in Atlanta and was able to attend almost every day. We were honored that our short was selected, however; it was not communicated very well as to whether we were in competition or not. We still do not know to this day.

    Regardless, we had a wonderful time and were treated like rock stars. Our film showed to a packed house in the main Plaza Theatre and a second screening was arranged due to the popularity of the shorts block of locally made films.

    I (Jayson) am not a fan of how narrative shorts and documentary shorts are lumped into the same category when it comes to awards though. That doesn't seem right especially when a win would qualify one for the list of Academy Award qualifiers.

    I would suggest separating the two into different categories in the future.

    August 2023