Atlanta Experimental Film Festival
ATL EXP - Atlanta Experimental Film Fest
ATL EXP is Atlanta’s experimental film festival. The event screens experimental films, AI driven work, motion art, and creative media from Georgia and international artists.
About Atlanta Experimental Film Festival
ATL EXP
ATL EXP (formerly Atlanta Immersion) is Atlanta’s experimental film festival and one of the newer events in the Atlanta Film Series. Now in its 2nd year, the festival highlights experimental films, AI projects, motion art, dance films, abstract storytelling, and creative work that pushes form and technique.
Each May, ATL EXP brings experimental shorts, features, art films, music driven pieces, and hybrid projects to the screen in Atlanta. Filmmakers from Georgia, the Southeast, and around the world submit work that’s boundary pushing, strange, or hard to define.
The festival welcomes traditional experimental cinema and newer forms of creative media, including AI assisted films, generative art, and mixed format projects. It’s a space built for artists who want freedom to explore ideas without fitting into standard categories.
Filmmakers submit to ATL EXP because the crowd is open to unusual work, the screenings are curated with care, and the festival gives experimental artists a real platform in Atlanta. The event includes Q and A sessions, meetups, and room for conversations about process and technique.
If you’re searching for experimental film festivals in Atlanta or planning to submit creative media in Georgia, ATL EXP is where experimental filmmakers and audiences connect.
Award Categories:
ATL EXP honors films and creators who break structure, twist form, and push new ideas. These awards recognize the best of experimental cinema across every style.
Best Short
Top honor. Awarded to the film that hits the hardest through vision, craft, and impact.
Best Experimental Narrative
For storytelling that moves, surprises, or unsettles. Linear or not. Bold, strange, emotional, or dreamlike.
Best Experimental Documentary
For documentary work that uses experimental structure, visual style, or point of view. Creative nonfiction, poetic doc, or hybrid forms.
Best Experimental Horror
For films that lean dark. Surreal dread, psychological tension, visual nightmares, or anything that distorts the genre in a new way.
Innovation Award
Given to the film that pushes new methods. Could be handmade techniques, mixed media, or AI driven work that breaks form.
The Mindbender
Awarded to the film that gets under your skin. Strange, disorienting, hypnotic, or unforgettable.
Best Handmade / Analog Short
For work created through physical or analog processes. Painted film. Collage. Direct animation. Hand-crafted visuals.
Best AI Short
For films that use artificial intelligence as part of the creative process. Visuals, animation, editing, story, or hybrid methods.
Creator of the Year
Presented to an artist whose work, on screen or across multiple projects, defines the spirit of ATL EXP. Fearless, inventive, original.
Audience Choice
Voted on by the crowd during the live event.
Each winner receives a custom crystal trophy. A reminder that your wild, rule-breaking film found its people.
Why filmmakers submit to Atlanta Experimental
• It’s Atlanta’s experimental film festival and gives real space to work that doesn’t fit standard categories.
• The festival programs experimental shorts, features, AI projects, motion art, dance films, and mixed format pieces.
• Georgia filmmakers get a platform to show creative work that usually struggles to find the right audience.
• Out of state and international artists submit because Atlanta has a strong, growing experimental community.
• The audience is open to unusual films, new ideas, and projects that take risks.
• Screenings include Q and A sessions and meetups that make it easy for artists to talk about process and technique.
• It’s one of the few places in Georgia where experimental filmmakers can screen their work for engaged viewers.