Words by Drew Wheeler and photographs of the kick-off party by Jake Zerkel
The Athens Film Festival returned bigger (an additional day! another venue!) in 2025. Again, Flicker Theatre and Bar kickstarted the four-day celebration of film with cartoons. Ciné hosted the features. The Globe and the Morton Theatre split various slates of short films, and Paloma Park hosted a feature documentary. Anyone looking to do something other than sit quietly in a darkened room watching some awesome exemplars of international and local filmmaking could avail themselves of the various workshops, panels, networking events and parties. Me, I was there for the movies!
Thursday
The animation block at Flicker leaned more experimental this year with Wanda Nejman’s As Many Words As I Know and Amanda Therese Bonaiuto’s Confetti. Atlanta-based filmmaker Christopher Flippo spoke about his excellent, rotoscoped, coming of age via skateboarding reflection, The Brain Bucket. The standout entry was my pick for Best of Fest Animated; The Ones Who Never See the Moonlight gorgeously examines the extraterrestrial relationship between a dog on the moon and a giraffe on Earth revolving below. In its U.S. premiere, the animated short by Solène Marché, Lou Thoby, Tom Saurel, Evelyne Philippart, Marie Fantini and Amélie Soto evoked multiple cries of sympathy and joy at both screenings I attended.
The afternoon continued with back-to-back-to-back screenings at The Globe featuring narrative and comedic shorts from around the world, while Ciné hosted a red carpet event and the opening night feature, Aaron Strand’s Athens-shot Withdrawal, which eventually won the Athens Film Festival’s Okra-reel for Best Narrative Feature. Surprisingly, my favorite films of the day were the Laugh Your Ath Off comedies. Cole Kelley’s Bad Tat, Clay Horwitz’s Don’t Forget You’re a Boy, Nigel Edwards’ Holy Cereal, Mason Paul Hurst’s Life with Jockey, and John Williams’ Now V Then each built upon the goofy goodwill of its predecessor; however, Alex Parkinson’s dairy-focused Night Cap stole the most laughs. It’s my pick for Best of Fest Comedy. Lorenzo Lee Zottoli’s Words That Don’t Exist was another Thursday highlight, which is especially impressive given its budget, which didn’t exist either, as mentioned in a charming Q&A. Shawn Tang’s Cry Damn It Cry and Lope Serrano’s star-studded The Cause of the Accident that Started the Fire (look for Oscar nominee Karla Sofia Gascon) were other, notable, Thursday shorts. Night owls could check out music videos from around the globe like AFF Best Music Video winner “Macaroni Moon.”
Friday
Day two started at Ciné with the first of the Reel Peaches Georgia Shorts, showcasing exciting local films like Rebecca Levy’s AFF Best Georgia Film winner Still Life. At Flicker, Mind Frames – Shorts about Mental Health and Personal Struggle offered a second chance to see Zottoi’s Words That Don’t Exist and the world premiere of Over the Rail from France. World Class Animation 2 was one of Friday’s most anticipated events, as veteran animator Connie Nartonis Thompson hosted and led the Q&A. A second viewing of The Ones Who Never See the Moonlight only strengthened its award-winning status, but the darkly comic Rushmore from Oriane Azzhiri, Sarah Balanger, Alex Bruneau, Eva-Luna Delmas, Emeline Guidé, Clara Maynard, Tom Perrony and Elie Plisson won over audiences in its U.S. premiere. Alice Jeanne Dybowski’s Vacances made another memorable impression in its world premiere.
I chose to skip Friday’s features, the hockey doc Hockeytown at Paloma Park and American Deadbolt at Ciné, for my two most anticipated programming blocks, Women in Film and Blood Red & Black. After last year’s thrilling Women in Film where Kathia Calil’s How about My Lipstick? stole the show, day, and nearly the entire festival, I was stoked to see this year’s entries. Hosted by UGA Professor and Ugly Sweater filmmaker Lauren Musgrove, Women in Film boasted seven strong entries, the best of which was tough to determine. Abigail Cunningham’s dance documentary, Terpsichore, was my Best of Fest Doc, but Hanna Gray Organschi’s F*ck That Guy, produced by Spike Lee (!), is one of those shorts with feature potential. I would love to see Organschi and her leads (Carys Douglas and Victoria Pedretti) expand this story and world. Ultimately, F*ck That Guy is probably my Best of Fest Narrative Short; I still tell people about last year’s pick, Chessboxer, and I imagine I’ll be talking about this short next year. The follow-up Q&A with Cunningham, her producer Kaeley Beam, Rebecca Levy, and her filmmaking partner Katie Ree provided encouragement to anyone in the audience wishing to make their own film. The entire Women in Film slate is worth checking out, so I want to get their names out there. Find Pedretti’s Get Lost, Lana Crnogorčić’s music video Diving Into Tramontana, Maya Jankovic’s Sunday or Duda Gambogi’s Babylonia if you can.
The day’s final event (for me, at least) was the Blood Red & Black Horror shorts. I am a horror connoisseur and former co-host of the HorrorBull Podcast, so I was ready to be scared, grossed out and amused. In its world premiere, J. Dalton Cooper’s Athens-shot contemporary thriller Tallies looked great. My favorite scary short was Neil Miguel Watson’s brief but effective Monster in the Closet. UK entry Backmask from Fitch/Baker sported a retro horror vibe. Australia’s An Artist’s Curse, from Steven J Mihaljevich, is particularly haunting.
Saturday
The final full day of movie watching kicked off with Saturday morning cartoons at the Morton. Audiences got one more chance to see the festival’s best animated short, The Ones Who Never See the Moonlight, as well as other charmers like Pingu & Bear, The Brain Bucket and Manta Dreams. The spotlight next turned to documentaries where Terpsichore graced the screen again. The day featured the U.S. premieres of two features at Ciné, Jay Karales’ Mass State Lottery and the closing night film A Cell Phone Movie, from Will Sterling; the AFF Best Documentary Winner, Middletown, made its Georgia premiere at the Morton. The rest of the day was filled with shorts, old and new, funny and scary, local and global. Reel Peaches Georgia Shorts 2 featured the world premieres of Heart to See and Potential Side Effects. If I could have recommended one Saturday slate, it would have been Laugh Your Ath Off Comedy Shorts 2, which added the world premiere of Comedy/Tragedy to a lineup already packed with genuine laughs. JOKERJOKERtv brought its YouTube livestream to Flicker for a showcase of local music videos. At Best in the Globe 3, Diminuendo from Indonesia made its Georgia premiere, while The Last Day from Iran and AFF Best International Short Winner Wrong Number from Kenya debuted in the U.S. The day’s biggest excitement came from the scheduled appearance of writer/director/actor Ray McKinnon and actor Eddie King at the Morton to screen their 2001 Academy Award winner for Best Live Action Short, The Accountant. What a get for the Athens Film Festival; too bad co-star Walton Goggins could not make it. More global and horror shorts rounded out the day. Highlights included the world premieres of Amra and Their Evening.
Sunday
Sunday offered another chance to catch the Best of the Fest – Top Narrative Shorts, an encore of Best Narrative Feature winner Withdrawal, and the return of the inaugural festival’s most intriguing lineup, the Athens Student Showcase, where the promise of film future shines today.
For those of you wondering where you can watch these excellent films now that the festival is over, head to athensfilm.com where you can buy a Virtual Pass and watch all the short film selections from August 18–25. I know I missed a few I wanted to see, so I’m thrilled about this new feature. Chuck, I’m already ready for next year’s festival!
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