Stories of survival, the trials and triumphs of friends and families, animated offerings, and films from around the world. The 37th Virginia Film Festival brings together an incredibly diverse program of features, shorts, and documentaries for your consideration.
The festival takes place from October 30–November 3 at various theaters throughout Charlottesville, opening with Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning work Anora, starring Mikey Madison as a sex worker from Brooklyn caught up in a Cinderella story after impulsively marrying the son of a Russian oligarch.
Beyond some of the highest-profile films of the festival season, this year’s slate boasts an expanded look at genre-defying movies that herald the future of cinema. “This year we are looking at more films exploring the liminal space between fiction and nonfiction as well as at different cross-genre modes of telling stories,” VAFF Artistic Director Ilya Tovbis says. “We have always focused on diversity in our programming but this year we are taking that even further with an increased focus on animation, a deeper dive into horror and genre films, and an overall eye toward looking ahead at what is to come in cinema.”
A series of panel discussions featuring industry experts, including actors, directors, producers, and writers, lends context to the films with notable guest artists including actor Lamorne Morris (Saturday Night, “New Girl”), director Tracie Laymon (Bob Trevino Likes It), and author Roxana Robinson (Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life).
Robinson’s book serves as the basis for Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light, an enlightening documentary from Charlottesville’s Academy Award-winning filmmakers Ellen and Paul Wagner, which chronicles the life, art, and legacy of the “Mother of American Modernism.”
This year’s centerpiece film, Emilia Pérez, from Academy Award-nominee Jacques Audiard (The Prophet), stars Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Karla Sofía Gascón in a compelling cross-genre crime drama/family story/movie musical. It won the Jury Prize for director at the Cannes Film Festival.
Tickets go on sale to the public at noon on Friday, October 11. Donors get early access. Visit virginiafilmfestival.org for more information.