2011 Atheist Film Festival in San Francisco

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Hemant Mehta

There seem to be a lot of film festivals geared toward non-believers lately and that’s a wonderful thing — more of a chance to meet other atheists while enjoying new and old films filled with blasphemy, heresy, and hilarity.

The annual Atheist Film Festival takes place on Sunday, August 21st at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco.

“Too often mainstream films have embraced a generic, watered-down spirituality and magical thinking,” says David Fitzgerald, director of the Atheist Film Festival. “What’s worse, many films treat science and reason as a cold, comfortless, empty worldview and paint skeptical characters as either uptight killjoys who get their come-uppance; or as victims, bitter at their loss of faith who are humbled and tearfully return to God at the film’s end.” But atheist filmmakers are starting to change all that.

They’ll be screening The Ledge and Agora, along with animated shorts and amateur films.

If you’d like to submit your own movie for inclusion, all the information can be found here. The deadline is the end of the month! (If you put me in your film’s credits, I’ll send you a cookie.)

(Thanks to Anne for the link!)

About Hemant Mehta

Hemant Mehta is the chair of Foundation Beyond Belief and a high school math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago.
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  • http://manintheskies.blogspot.com/ Anon

    I honestly don’t see a need for atheist film festivals, there are some secular jews among the best movie makers in the world and even if a director is christian I’ve never noticed any difference in the movie itself. So what if one of the guys in the movie begs to god when the big alien is coming around the corner? That’s a part of the plot.

  • nathan

    Yay!

    I’m a bit worried about the quality of the films since it’s such a niche market, but it’d be awesome if they had some good ones. Agora was amazing.

  • Vanessa

    Oh, yes! I will actually be out there then! I will have to check it out.

  • Reginald Selkirk

    How about Kingdom of Heaven from 2005?

  • Cal

    I think ‘Anon’ is rather missing the point. The point isn’t to replace Hollywood film, or even, to get more atheist filmmakers in Hollywood. You’re right – other than things like ‘The Passion of Christ,’ it doesn’t matter what the director’s religion is, and you can still appreciate the film.

    But I think the point of this festival is to raise awareness of atheism, and that we’re not Satan-worshiping, God-hating, baby eaters. It also gives atheists a chance to watch some films that portray their viewpoints and that they can relate to, and the opportunity to enjoy them with like-minded folks. Granted, the like-minded folks aren’t as hard to find in SF than other parts of the world, but it’s still a welcome chance.

  • http://annainca.blogspot.com Anna

    Sounds great! I will definitely try to be there. I’ve already seen some of the feature films (Agora, Join Us), but I haven’t gotten a chance to watch The Ledge or The Nature of Existence, both of which sound intriguing. I’m looking forward to seeing which short films make it on the schedule, too.

  • joshing

    I’ll be out of the city that weekend for a work trip! Always missing the fun stuff.

  • http://amillionwordstogo.blogspot.com aynsavoy

    Thanks to everyone who has shown interest so far, and to Hemant for plugging the festival! Even if you’ve seen the some of the movies before, we’ll have the directors or special guests doing Q&A after each feature film, plus lots of entertaining short films to fill out the day!

    We’re still working on the program schedule, so be sure to keep checking our website and to follow us on Twitter. Thanks!

    Anne, AFF PR/Promotions