Overseeing the programming of more than 120 films and nearly 100 guests as artistic director of the Virginia Film Festival, Ilya Tovbis knows how to curate a celebration of cinema. He’s worked with the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and the Mill Valley Film Festival (organized by the California Film Institute), among other accomplishments. Tovbis spent 10 years as the artistic and managing director of JxJ: The Washington Jewish Film and Music Festivals in Washington, D.C., and served as a guest programmer for the VAFF beginning in 2019, curating selections of Jewish, Israeli, and other international films before joining the festival full time in 2022. Prior to the opening of the 37th annual VAFF, we put the film aficionado in the HotSeat.
Name: Ilya Tovbis
Age: I have to count the rings … will get back to you.
Pronouns: He/him/his
Hometown: Odessa, Ukraine (born) / New York, New York (raised) /
Charlottesville (current)
Job(s): Artistic director,
Virginia Film Festival
What’s something about your job that people would be surprised to learn? Taste and film knowledge are
important, but are only a small fraction of the actual job.
What is acting/performing to you? Acting is about
lending real human dimension to the role as written on
the page. Giving parts of yourself—warts and all—to the character.
Why is supporting the arts important? Especially in our ever-more polarized society,
I believe the arts are our best, most honest, and most
direct way of connecting to, and understanding, those different from ourselves.
Favorite city to work in:
I go to Toronto every year
for the film festival there. Incredible city.
Favorite venue to watch movies in: Walter Reade Theater (Lincoln Center,
New York City)
Favorite movie and/or show: His Girl Friday
Favorite musician/musical group: Leonard Cohen
Favorite book: The Defense by Vladimir Nabokov
What are you currently watching? TV-wise: “Veep,” “Shrinking,” “Disclaimer,” “The Penguin”
What are you currently
listening to? Karol G,
DakhaBrakha, Nina Simone
Go-to karaoke song:
“Total Eclipse of the Heart”
Best advice you ever got: Embrace your quirks.
Proudest accomplishment: Starting defender on my
unscored-upon seventh-grade soccer team. More recently, helping to bring Ava DuVernay to Charlottesville for the
U.S. premiere of her knockout film Origins.
Celebrity crush: Aubrey Plaza
Who’d play you in a movie? Neil Patrick Harris
Who is your hero? Victor Jara
Best part of living here: Nature, MarieBette, and UVA basketball
Worst part of living
here: Not enough stand-up comedy.
Favorite Charlottesville restaurant: Guajiros
Favorite Charlottesville venue: The Paramount
Favorite Charlottesville landmark/attraction: Blue Ridge Mountains
Bodo’s order: Everything egg bagel with horseradish and muenster cheese.
Describe a perfect day: Walk by the Rivanna River with my wife Jennie-Maire and our dog, Luna, bowling, and then a movie at Violet Crown.
If you could be reincarnated as a person or thing,
what would you be? A common swift (live months at a time in the air without landing) or Vince Carter (see: common swift).
If you had three wishes, what would you wish for? Six more wishes
Most embarrassing moment: Hand-making a teddy bear for a high-school valentine, who dumped me the next day.
Best Halloween costume you’ve worn: Paper shredder or toothbrush
Do you have any pets? Only the cutest puppy
in Charlottesville, Luna Rellanova Tovbis.
Subject that causes you
to rant: Capitalism
Best journey you ever went on: Traveling
around Taiwan, especially the Alishan forest.
Next journey: Austin, Texas
Most used app on your phone: Outlook
Favorite curse word? Or favorite word: Aestival
Hottest take/most
unpopular opinion: John Wick is high-end cinema.
What have you forgotten today? Hard to say.
