A Board's Eye View
B. Sonenreich announces the ATLFilmParty feature fundraising series
Two years ago, ATLFilmParty received a large grant from Hinge’s One More Hour Fund — most of it went straight to the artists who’ve helped produce, capture, and edit our in-person events and digital presence since AFP’s beginnings.
Last year, we co-hosted a screening and talkback series at Atlanta Contemporary with Ebony Blanding, Amber Bournett-McClain, Nina Lee, Kevon Pryce, Jonathan Banks, and Paras Chaudhari, sponsored by Topo Chico.
We also hosted two standout competitions at Goat Farm: our Dance Canvas partnership brought a grant and mentorship to Joshua Cleveland (Cycle 1, Season 3 winner), and our first women- and nonbinary-only competition for sex-positive shorts sent Madison Hatfield home with a Muse World mentorship and a grant of her own.
In 2025, I personally took a step back from my full-time job in the film industry and dove into my dream job at VOX ATL, where I co-build teen-centered and teen led curriculum for everything publishable — from journalism and media literacy to creative nonfiction and poetry. It’s the most joyful experience and it’s hard to even articulate what it means to have a job that is so meaningful and rarely feels like work.
I no longer spend time or energy complaining about what I do as an occupation; therefore, I’ve found more time on my hands to read, go to movies, think, and improve my chess game. It took several years to get back into it, but I picked up Begin Chess from Half Price Books in Decatur and I’ve been studying patience and tactics this year.
Five years ago, ATLFilmParty started as a house party; in contrast to what it has become, AFP began scrappy and punk-edged — sort of like a spark that could’ve gone out at any minute. At the start, I was 28-years-old and throwing parties was kind of like playing spit — a card game my sister and I learned in Greece as kids — move quick and the first player to slap the pile wins whatever pile they slapped. Aggression, or nothing. If a venue opened up or someone suggested a pop-up, I’d jump at the opportunity. I was younger, faster at getting sponsorships and more interested in initiating a multitude of community partnerships instead of focusing on and fostering a few that could last.
My thirties, and consequently the next five years of ATLFilmParty, are different. It’s more like playing chess. I have my strongest pieces at the center early and I’m moving strategically. While the earlier version of me would have moved recklessly with film party (only to realize it’s a losing move after lifting my hand off the piece), at 33, I’ve been practicing patience with aggression. I’ve turned down every screening opportunity that came my way this year, strategically waiting for the right move — and honestly, I’ve been enjoying my work at VOX ATL so much, I figured I’d put a hold on AFP until I really knew what I’ve learned from the past five years of running it.
While obsessing over the board of chess that is running a business, I started understanding how I’ve improved at games like Spit, Chess, Boggle, Dominoes and Go. This is what I’ve arrived at:
When I play with the people I love, they celebrate my wins and — more importantly — they allow me to fail up, to lose in small moments only to consequently gain a better understanding of how every moment is a chance to take more steps towards feeling better about how I interact with my ideas.
So, in all of that blablabla, here’s my point: I’ve decided to experiment with ATLFilmParty by hosting something that feels more meaningful than ever — a new series of fundraisers tailored to fund Atlanta filmmaker friends who have showed up to AFP and are making their first features. 100% of door proceeds will go directly to their feature film.
ATLFilmParty will be hosting the first party of this series featuring Atlanta filmmaker, Kevon Pryce, who served as an artist in residence of ATLFilmParty from 2024-2025, and is in production for his first feature film.
Kevon is a loved one. He’s been coming to ATLFilmParty (only losing best dressed to his girlfriend, Starr Ferguson) since the competition was in a house on Oakland Drive. Together, they make my life cooler. I’ve watched Kevon build out marketing campaigns for Atlanta Film Festival, debut his first short through a global pandemic when the indie film festivals were struggling to survive, and now Kevon is shooting live music tours. Kevon is inspiring as he is adaptable, but we need to make it to the finish line with his debut feature — and we need your buy in.
I’ll be announcing more information on this series in the coming months.
Thank you attendees and readers for bearing witness to me figuring this whole film party life out! It’s an honor to feel cracked open with love for my friends who make magic telling stories on the big screen.
With gratitude,
B. Sonenreich
Shout outs: Thank you to Matt Booth, Jordan B. Kady, and Videodrome at large. This incredible idea of individual parties for individual Atlanta filmmakers is a direct product of your responses to my endless emails, texts, and hangouts. Y’all are my North Avenue star. I will return my movies this weekend!
Readers: if you or anyone you know is interested in sponsoring this event series (cash or in-kind), I encourage you to reach out to me directly at brooke.sonenreich@atlfilmparty.com.
AFP is now a nonprofit project under Global Day of Unplugging, which means donations are tax deductible.