Attendees of the 2025 Athens Film Festival stand on a red carpet outside of Ciné in Downtown Athens on Aug. 14. Athens native Aaron Strand, director and screenwriter of the Opening Night film “Withdrawal,” went to the event to promote his project. “(The beauty of filmmaking is) you get to say things about yourself, but it’s behind the guise of characters. It’s not my story that’s on the screen. The characters get to exist on their terms and in their world, and in that way, it’s like putting on a mask. You (can) say whatever you want (to) from behind the mask,” Strand said. Photo by Maypop Wren
The 2025 Athens Film Festival began with a red carpet event outside of Ciné in Downtown Athens on Aug. 14 at 5 p.m.
The 2025 Athens Film Festival, a celebration of local filmmakers and their work, kicked off on Aug. 14 at 5 p.m. with a red carpet at Ciné in Downtown Athens.
The event was organized, in part, by University of Georgia class of 2009 alumnus Chuck Griffin, who founded the Automatic Film Society in hopes of reintroducing the festival after the original, dubbed the “Kudzu Festival,” was discontinued in 2001. It was brought back for the first time since then in 2024, according to Athens Film Festival Board of Directors member Kidd Fielteau.
““There is a network of films coming (to the Athens Film Festival) from all over the world, and it’s an opportunity, not only to celebrate what other filmmakers are doing, but to promote Athens-based (films) and show the world what we can do.”
— Clint Ross,
“American Deadbolt” producer
“(Planning) it was like, ‘Okay, what do we want to do this year that’s different? Or what do we want to do that’s the same?’” Fielteau said. “(Athens) is known as the musical town (and) the college town. It’d be cool to have Athens known (also) as the filmmaker town, where (filmmakers can) come to showcase their movies or to shoot (them).”
Oracle of Style founder Dr. Rosaria Meek interviews “Heart to See” Director and Screenwriter Don-Dimitri Joseph at the Athens Film Festival Opening Night Red Carpet at Ciné on Aug. 14. Joseph’s film depicts the experience of a character close to blindness, an experience Joseph worked carefully to research to ensure accuracy. “I ended up partnering with the Visually Impaired Blind Society, and I met with Saving Ven, who actually has lost her vision,” Joseph said. “And I just spent time with her, and she walked me through how to navigate experiencing this world when you don’t have vision. And I just wanted to take that into my performance for this character.” Photo by Maypop Wren
Actors, directors, producers and screenwriters from various films attended the red carpet, including Athens native Aaron Strand, director and screenwriter of the Opening Night film “Withdrawal,” which is about a young singer-songwriter with a heroin addiction.
“At this point, almost every single person in this country has been touched in one way, shape or form by addiction, and we still don’t talk about it,” Strand said. “It’s something that is inhibiting our ability to address this problem on a (systematic) level. We’ve got to talk about decreasing that stigma, (so) it’s been affirming to see (that), throughout this process, those around me (have felt) empowered to (discuss) their stories.”
The Athens Film Festival will continue through Aug. 17 with several screenings, including the premiere of “American Deadbolt,” produced by Clint Ross.
“There is a network of films coming (to the Athens Film Festival) from all over the world, and it’s an opportunity, not only to celebrate what other filmmakers are doing, but to promote Athens-based (films) and show the world what we can do,” Ross said. “That’s what I’m excited about.”
