At the very least, the 2013 Atlanta Film Festival will open strong and close great.  The festival has announced that their opening night film will be Jeff Nichols' Mud.  It's a deeply southern film that some have compared to a lost Mark Twain novel, and it's a fitting opener to this year's AFF.  Furthermore, the festival will close out with one of the best films I've seen so far this year, The Spectacular Now from Athens, Georgia native James Ponsoldt, who previously won the Atlanta Film Festival’s 2008 Screenwriting Competition and the 2003 Perfect Pitch Award.  I don't know what films will be in between, but I can say without hesitation that you should rush out to get tickets for these two movies.

Click here to go to Atlanta Film Festival's website, and you can follow them on Twitter and Facebook.  The 2013 Atlanta Film Festival runs from March 15 – 24th.