Nine highlights of Atlanta Film Festival’s closing weekend


FILM PREVIEW

Atlanta Film Festival

Through March 29 at the Plaza Theatre (1049 Ponce de Leon Ave. N.E., Atlanta) and other sites. Tickets, $10 most screenings. www.atlantafilmfestival.com.

The 10-day Atlanta Film Festival hits the home stretch this weekend, but there are still plenty of independent feature-length (narratives and documentaries) and short films from which to choose. Here's a sampling (all screenings at the Plaza Theatre unless noted):

"Satanic Panic 2: Battle of the Bands." It turns out the electronic dance band behind tunes such as "6-6-Sexy" in Atlanta filmmaker Eddie Ray's film aren't Satan worshippers after all; they fight like the devil for the common good (6:30 p.m. Friday, 7 Stages).

"The Sisterhood of Night," a contemporary take on the Salem witch trials, based on the short story by Pulitzer Prize-winner Steven Millhauser about New York high school girls who form a secret society and are accused of sexual deviancy (7 p.m. Friday).

"Breathe" ("Respire"), a French drama from director-actress Melanie Laurent that charts an obsessive, and ultimately destructive, friendship between two teenage girls (9:30 p.m. Friday).

"Montedoro," a mystery in which a middle-aged American woman journeys to a remote southern Italy town hoping to discover her ancestry and, finding it abandoned, ends up on a magical voyage to self-knowledge (2:30 p.m. Saturday).

"Sunshine Superman," a documentary about Carl Boenish, considered the father of BASE jumping (parachuting from a skyscraper or a cliff), with director Marah Strauch appearing at the screening (7 p.m. Saturday).

"Love & Mercy," the Brian Wilson bio-pic with both John Cusack and Paul Dano playing the Beach Boy (12:15 p.m. Sunday).

"Apartment Troubles," a female buddy comedy in which writers-co-directors Jennifer Prediger and Jess Weixler also star as codependent struggling conceptual artists (2:15 p.m. Sunday).

"Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey," following now-90-year-old actor Hal Holbrook, who has performed a one-man Mark Twain show for six decades. Director Scott Teems and editor Anthony Innarelli are from Lilburn and studied film at Georgia State University (4 p.m. Sunday).

"Game of Thrones," a free preview of the season five debut episode of the HBO hit (7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Fox Theatre; limited tickets remain for walk-ups, with doors opening at 6 p.m.).