9 essential Atlanta arts events this weekend

Each week, ArtsATL curates a selection of the most exciting arts and culture events happening in Atlanta this weekend, highlighting nine must-see experiences. 

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Thursday

Atlanta Underground Film Festival 

The 23rd annual edition of one of the longest-running underground film festivals in the United States takes place August 6 through August 9 at 7 Stages Theatre. It’s a weekend packed with strange, fearless independent films that don’t fit the mainstream.

Cobb International Film Festival

Now in its 12th year, this film festival at the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre in Marietta will showcase short films, feature films and documentaries from across the United States and around the world from August 6 through August 9. At 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 8, they’ll have a screening of Buster Keaton’s landmark 1926 silent comedy-adventure, The General, in partnership with the American Theatre Organ Society, with live organ accompaniment, just as it was originally shown in theaters.

Atlanta Shakespeare’s August Threepeat

The Atlanta Shakespeare Company is resurrecting its popular August Threepeat, bringing together a repertory of three Shakespeare comedies from the past year. Beginning August 6, they’ll stage The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse. The shows continue through September 5.

Friday

Monsterama Con

Atlanta’s annual retro horror and sci-fi convention focuses on the fantastic in cinema, art, comics, literature and media. This year, they’re marking a pair of anniversaries. The Mathesontennial celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of author and screenwriter Richard Matheson, who is responsible for many memorable episodes of The Twilight Zone (including Nightmare at 20,000 Feet) and many beloved books and films. They’ll also celebrate the 60th anniversary of the debut of Dark Shadows. The event takes place August 7 through August 9 at the Atlanta Marriott Northeast/Emory.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 

Stephen Sondheim’s darkly comic revenge musical is up next at Onstage Atlanta. The show opens on August 7 and continues through August 30.

Carlos Mencia

The star of Mind of Mencia and The Proud Family has gone back to his comedic roots on his Liberated comedy tour, sharing his newest material with smaller, more intimate audiences. He has a residency twice-weekly at Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club in Las Vegas as part of the Stars of Comedy series. See him at The Punchline at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. August 7; 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. August 8; and 7 p.m. August 9.

Saturday

CatVideoFest 2026

Oscilloscope Laboratories presents a compilation of the latest and best cat videos culled from countless hours of unique submissions and sourced animations, music videos and classic internet powerhouses. A portion of ticket proceeds from every show goes directly to local cats in need. Catch it at noon on August 8 and August 9 at the Plaza.

Hey Mom, I’m Not a Loser

This solo exhibition by Atlanta-based artist Brill Adium will open with a reception from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on August 8 at Gallery Anderson Smith. The show explores themes of identity, family, ambition and Black American experience through a new body of work. The show will be on view through August 22.

Chuck Stewart: Framing the Sound

The Sun ATL presents an exhibition of photographs by the late Chuck Stewart (1927–2017), widely regarded among the most prolific and consequential music photographers of the 20th century. Stewart’s photographs appeared on more than 2,000 album covers over a career spanning seven decades, and his portraits of the era’s greatest musicians remain among the most recognized images in American cultural history. The exhibition opens to the public on August 8 and runs through September 26.

More things to do this weekend and beyond

Three decades after Whip Hubley starred in the acclaimed indie film Driven, the actor reunites with writer-director and former Atlantan Michael Shoob, along with Grammy-winning Taos Pueblo artist Robert Mirabal (Yellowstone), for Road to Everywhere. In the film, Los Angeles cab driver Jason Schuyler is offered the fare of a lifetime by Jake, a local casino dealer and gambler. Jake asks Schuyler to drive him to the Navajo Nation in Arizona, the home he abandoned 30 years ago. It screens at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, August 12, and will include a Q&A with Shoob … Yes, nostalgia has crept into the current century with the Pop 2000 Tour, a boy-band bonanza coming to Northside Hospital-Cherokee Amphitheater at 7:30 p.m. on August 8. The lineup for this tour stop features NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick, O-Town and LFO … Studio Ghibli Fest 2026 continues at the Tara with 20th anniversary screenings of Goro Miyazaki’s Tales From Earthsea on August 8 and August 10 and 35th Anniversary screenings of Isao Takahata’s Only Yesterday on August 9 and August 11 … Using his experiences growing up in Newark, New Jersey, Bill Bellamy started doing stand-up while he was a student at Rutgers University. Less than two years after launching his stand-up career, Bellamy earned a spot on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam. He’ll be at Helium Comedy Club at 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. August 7; 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. August 8; and 7 p.m. August 9.