Tag: film

Ahead of the release of The Exorcism, we caught up with endlessly talented multi-hyphenate Chloe Bailey to discuss the film, how her metro Atlanta roots impacted her creative voice, and her biggest inspirations.

Each installment of chefATL explores the diversity of Atlanta through the lens of its dynamic culinary culture. A recent episode paired host Bilal Sarwari, interim executive director of Slow Food USA, with the Deer and the Dove chef Terry Koval for an insightful discussion.

In her new shot-in-Atlanta romantic comedy The Idea of You, Anne Hathaway plays a divorced, 40-year-old single mom who falls for a 24-year-old Harry Styles-esque boy band member, played by Nicholas Galitzine. Director Michael Showalter (The Big Sick, Wet Hot American Summer) chats about filming in Georgia, turning the Atlanta Motor Speedway into Coachella, and Hathaway's excellent comedic timing.

These are Atlanta's 500 most powerful leaders. We spent months consulting experts and sorting through nominations to get a list of the city's most influential people—from artists to chefs to philanthropists to sports coaches and corporate CEOs. In this section, we focus on arts, film, music, entertainment, and sports.

The 90-minute feature film, directed by Ryon and Tyson Horne and written by AJC journalists Ernie Suggs and DeAsia Paige, had its world premiere Thursday night at Center Stage theater in Midtown and began streaming on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s website on Friday. The doc features exclusive interviews with T.I.; Jermaine Dupri; Arrested Development; Goodie Mob; DMC of Run DMC; Lil Yachty; Atlanta mayors Andrew Young, Kasim Reed, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Andre Dickens; Sleepy Brown; DJ Toomp; and many others.

Movie theaters have famously struggled to get a streaming-obsessed audience out of their Cloud sofas and back into the multiplex—with the exception of Atlanta’s historic Plaza Theatre. Working alongside another bastion of Atlanta film culture, Videodrome, the Plaza has become a buzzing nexus of cinema since owner Chris Escobar took over in 2017. With the launch of “Plazadrome” collaborations in 2018, the film synergy has been off the charts.

The Georgia State University professor is tackling a story very close to home as writer and producer of a new documentary, The Harvest. Debuting September 12 on PBS’s The American Experience, The Harvest explores the story of first integrated public school class in Leland, Mississippi, of which Blackmon was a part of. The film is produced by prolific Oscar-nominated filmmaker and producer Sam Pollard (Citizen Ashe, Black Art: In the Absence of Light), who also worked on the documentary adaptation of Blackmon's Pulitzer-winning book, Slavery by Another Name.

Occasionally poignant and often delightfully goofy, the film features Asante Blackk as Adam Campbell, a sensitive introverted high school artist who documents the before and after alien times in melancholy paintings that hang on his family’s living room wall. Those paintings, and a big chunk of the film’s creative vision, come courtesy of Atlanta-based artist William Downs, who worked closely with director Cory Finley to bring Landscape With Invisible Hand’s unique look and feel to life.

Lately, Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter spends most of her days at Tyler Perry Studios working on an undisclosed project. But last Thursday, she visited the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre for several hours, empowering women and sharing hard-earned lessons from her storied career.

For his directorial debut, it would have been easy for Michael B. Jordan to give audiences another run-of-the-mill entry in the hit 47-year-old Rocky film franchise. But between rounds in the ring—with help from screenwriters Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin and story from Ryan Coogler—Jordan crafts a film about toxic masculinity, the challenges Black men face in communicating their emotions about past trauma, the lasting impact of childhood friendships, and the importance of forgiveness.