Atlanta Underground Film Festival Online

Directed by Dusty Saunders - 80 min. Animated Feature

As tension rises in the big city for the Omniball Championship, Boney, a skeleton pizza delivery man starts his shift. Animated entirely from Boney’s POV in one continuous, unbroken take, we follow his delivery route where every stop is weirder than the last.

Directed by Christian Carroll - 94 min. - Narrative Feature

After the murder of her uncle, activist Māori photographer Emma returns from NYC to New Zealand to claim her inheritance. Once home she begins to have visions of a mythical monster called Broken Beak and as more family members die, Emma feels compelled to right an ancestral wrong.

Directed by Ryen McPherson - 48 min. - Narrative Feature

A modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" told entirely through the lyrics of the Wu-Tang Clan.

Directed by Matthew Thomas Laughter - 84 min. - Narrative Feature

Benjamin Marsh, laid-off and over-extended, won't have the money to give his boyfriend the life he deserves. But after his estranged mother's death, he must return to his backward hometown of Whitehope to receive his inheritance. But Pastor Deanan, a backwoods David Koresh, has more apocalyptic plans for Benjamin and his boyfriend Sam.

Directed by Trevor Stevens - 108 min. - Narrative Feature

A live action comic book crime odyssey that tells the Legend of your two new favorite bandits. The Winners of Slamdance 2018 Grand Jury Prize and Audience awards for their first feature film, "Rock Steady Row", return with their second feature, "The Misadventures of Vince & Hick".

Directed by Timothy Hall - 90 min. - Narrative Feature

After the death of a Southern preacher, his ne'er-do-well daughter returns home to collect her inheritance.

Directed by Ethan Monte - 13 min.

A young man is visited by two strange birds who lead him through an intense transformation.

Directed by Paulina Knaak - 21 min.

A widower grapples with the role that grief plays in his life. When identities are transformed, some people navigate through it with ease. Some people avoid it. Can Noah bridge the gap between the two?

Directed by Xinran Gu - 7 min.

On a vacation, sensitive and vulnerable Becky tries to gain self-esteem by sudcing a man who is pursuing her sister.

Directed by Melanie van Betten Jeffcoat - 17 min.

Inspired by real events, Lockdown follows a mother who arrives to pick up her daughter from school and suddenly finds herself trapped in a terrifying fight for survival. Without relying on graphic violence, the film creates tension through uncertainty, fear, and emotional realism, capturing the psychological impact of school violence with restraint and humanity.

Directed by Elvira Ibragimova - 24 min. 

Ex-playwright turned elite matchmaker Diana is plagued by medical bills and on the brink of losing her job. Desperate, she uses her wealthy clients' lists of impossible romantic demands as casting breakdowns, hires her broke actor friends to portray these “dream dates,” and inadvertently launches an underground empire.

Directed by Callum McKean - 4 min.

When Jacob learns his best friend, Mr. Oak the golden doodle, won’t be by his side forever, he sets out to turn each day into an unforgettable adventure.

Directed by Bennett Solomon - 20 min.

A young trumpet player must juggle preparation for her college admission while trying to earn back the money her father gambled away.

Directed by Anett Castro - 7 min.

The Lights Between is an indie romance short film about two lifelong friends, a small town state fair, and the quiet moments that change everything. Violet and Theo have known each other forever. On a fall night filled with neon lights, powdered donuts, and half said feelings, they wander the fair together. It is a coming of age story about friendship, timing, and realizing that love is sometimes closer than you think.

Directed by Crystal Jin Kim - 22 min. 

An estranged hospice custodian fears the idea of an undignified death. He goes to bed in a suit every night in case he should die in his sleep, grows increasingly fashionable, and rockets into ludicrous fame.

Directed by James Jones - 10 min.

Driven by a mother’s desperation, Lyala Smith is coerced into unspeakable acts by the elusive Trevor—leaving it to renowned psychiatrist Landon Smith to piece together her fractured mind and uncover a terrifying secret.

 Directed by Jesús Castillo - 40 min. 

A gay teenager wants to audition for a transvestite character in a play, however, he is afraid that the uninformed society will think that he is like the character, or even that he wants to be a woman.

Directed by Mikey Corker - 38 min.

Into The Light follows two young South African surfers whose dreams offer a way out of poverty, addiction, and hardship. As they overcome the lasting effects of apartheid and fight for a better future, they discover that surfing is more than a sport. It's a path to hope, resilience, and a new life. 

Directed by Josiah Olmstead - 116 min.

My Grandfather, The Zookeeper tells the story of seven pioneers who helped connect zoos across America, laying the foundation for modern animal care and conservation. Through rare behind the scenes access and personal stories, the film celebrates the dedicated zookeepers whose passion transformed the field.
 

Directed by Jason Kushner - 14 min.

An Atlanta-based community of immigrant Ukrainian women band together to hold neighborhood culture festivals focusing on folk art, food, and music in an effort to collect donations and help support their home country against Russian invaders.

Directed by Randolph Buffington - 8 min.

On the eve of Father’s Day, a bricklayer-preacher named Stack juggles two job sites and one Sunday sermon — all within 48 hours. Set in Cleveland, this short film captures the rhythm of faith, fatherhood, and the quiet grind that holds a family together.

Directed by Asha Alaji-Sharif, Chris Lee Huot - 5 min.

A short documentary that explores the relationship between religion and mental illness, as we learn about Maeta’s journey with schizophrenia, his sexuality and his family.

Directed by Genna Edwards - 11 min.

An alternative contraceptive procedure tests the relationship between a wellness influencer and her skeptical best friend.

Directed by Hagen Mattingly - 25 min.

A seasoned waitress starts a new job at an overnight diner in the deep south, and learns new meaning to the term "customers from Hell."

Directed by Sophia Peaslee - 10 min.

A tryptic surreal short film using the three tenants of the adage “Hear no Evil, See no Evil and Speak no Evil” to illustrate different demons we all face, from addiction to self doubt.

Directed by Jordan Gustafson- 19 min.

In a genre-bending musical full of teenage rebels, poodle skirts, and betrayal, a young gay man tries to woo his crush with a swinging prom party - but when popular kids start turning up dead, the partygoers discover a slasher killer amongst the student body!

Directed by Addisohn G Jones - 26 min.

A mysterious creature convinces a woman to feed it.

Directed by Béla Baptiste - 5 min.

What begins as a routine celebrity interview quickly spirals into chaos when an actress pulls an ASP baton from her purse and violently attacks the host. This dark satire shatters the illusion of polished internet culture, turning a familiar format into an unsettling descent into violence and spectacle. 

Directed by Heidi Kumao - 7 min. - Animated Short

“35 Days” is an experimental, stop motion animation about what happens when a coalition of strangers answers the call to locate a missing cat during the pandemic lockdown of 2020.

Directed by Sarah Lasley - 15 min.  - Experimental Short

A director making a documentary about fossil fuel extraction is consistently subverted by an AI agent that wants to tell a generic love story.

Directed by Neil Ira Needleman - 3 min. - Experimental Short

On Independence Day, America's birthday, I was thinking about an immigrant friend who had to self-deport because Trump's ICE stormtroopers had become a living nightmare.

Directed by Dale Robert Kutzera - 11 min. - Animated Short

A soldier trudges across a desolate battlefield. A shell rockets overhead and explodes in the distance. Reveal that this soldier is a pawn and the battlefield is loosely divided into light and dark squares. This scout brings back news that the "enemy" is not preparing to attack, but just waiting. As pawns are ordered into battle, they wonder if their habit of attacking first isn't the problem. When they refuse to go into battle, the Bishops are outraged and even the King and Queen get involved. 

  No AI was used in the making of this film...and no chess pieces were harmed. 

Directed by Will Custer - 10 min. - Experimental Short

Micah, a young and successful yet spiritually adrift tattoo artist, feels confined by the limitations of human flesh as his canvas. When mysterious forces intervene, he is drawn toward the creation of his magnum opus.

Directed by Diana Mulan Zhu - 8 min. - Experimental Short

The film is a queer sex positive retelling of the mythological trope where women are punished for transgressive gluttony of eating forbidden fruit. Persephone, Chang’e, Eve and many others in both Western and Eastern myths have been cursed for overindulgence and sensual excess. In this version, our maiden discovers a treasure trove of fruit and orgiastically gorges on the apples, melons, figs and raspberries in a sinful, dizzying frenzied feast. Sated and unpunished, unlike the others before her, she rewrites the narrative into a queer futurity of renewal, refusal and erotic subversion.

Directed by Duncan Analco - 6 min. - Experimental Short

As the winter grows harsh, a woman pens a letter to a lover who has yet to write back.