125 films in four days, Celebrities, and Virginia-grown films – the Virginia Film Festival starts in Charlottesville this Thursday

by | Nov 4, 2014

For years, the Virginia Film Festival has been a celebration of the film industry, with a special focus on films made right here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This year promises to be one of the biggest yet, in every way imaginable, and it all starts this Thursday, November 6th in Charlottesville, VA, continuing until Sunday the 9th.


For years, the Virginia Film Festival has been a celebration of the film industry, with a special focus on films made right here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This year promises to be one of the biggest yet, in every way imaginable, and it all starts this Thursday, November 6th in Charlottesville, VA, continuing until Sunday the 9th.

Jody Kielbasa, director of the Virginia Film Festival and Vice-Provost of the Arts at University of Virginia, expressed his excitement for this year’s lineup and also offered some speculation on Virginia’s future as a film destination.

Kielbasa has been the Festival’s director for six years, during which many dynamic and exciting changes have taken place. “We’ve had an extraordinary time the last five Film Festivals,” Kielbasa said. “We’re coming off five straight years of setting box office and attendance records. The festival nearly doubled in size during that time, not only in attendance, but also in the number of films that we screened.”

One possible reason for this astounding success could be Kielbasa’s decision to move away from themed festivals. Kielbasa believes this decision “has really allowed the Festival to explore cinema across the board, to bring in even more interesting and dynamic speakers and artists, and to appeal to a larger swath of people.”

So just how big is this year’s Virginia Film Festival? According to Kielbasa, “We will screen over 125 films in four days, the very best in current cinema that is on the film festival circuit.” The Festival will open with the world premiere of Big Stone Gap, starring Ashley Judd, Patrick Wilson, and Whoopi Goldberg. Written and directed by Adriana Trigani, the film takes place in rural Virginia and is based on Trigani’s bestselling novel of the same name.

“We also have a theatrical performance this year, bringing the legendary stage and screen icon Mr. Hal Holbrook for a stage performance of Mark Twain Tonight!,” Kielbasa continues, enumerating the many highlights of this year’s festival. “We have Katie Couric coming back to her alma mater for a screening of Fed Up. We have the legendary screen and stage actor Frank Langella coming in for a new film, 5 To 7, and then earlier in the afternoon we will screen Frost/Nixon. It’s just an extraordinary lineup of films that we have during the festival.”

Sunday evening will even feature “a tribute to Robin Williams for the closing night, a 25th anniversary screening of Dead Poets Society,” Kielbasa said.

While the Virginia Film Festival is committed to bringing the best in cinema to the Commonwealth, it’s also committed to giving attention to Virginia’s robust film industry. “There are a lot of talented filmmakers coming out of Virginia, specifically Richmond,” Kielbasa said. “Richmond has been a hotbed of filmmaking in the last several years. With Speilberg’s Lincoln, it’s brought extraordinary focus on Richmond and Petersburg as locations.”

Kielbasa considers the Virginia Film Festival “a great spotlight for filmmakers in this region,” and said, “We love to support them. It’s ultimately why we’re here–to support the art of filmmaking.”

Kielbasa gave many compelling reasons for Richmond film aficionados to make the trip to Charlottesville this weekend.

“This is an extraordinary year for talent,” Kielbasa said. “You take a look at the talent that we have coming in to this year’s Virginia Film Festival, and it is one of the strongest lineups of any regional film festival in the United States.”

Kielbasa also said this year’s Film Festival has “so much to offer to our audience that I would [call] this year, just on the basis of the amount and level of guest artists we have coming in, a banner year for the Virginia Film Festival.”

The Virginia Film Festival starts this Thursday, Nov. 6 at a variety of locations on and near Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. The first screening starting at 5:30PM on Thursday. The festival continues until Sunday Nov. 9th. You can look at the weekend’s schedule and screening locations here.

Tickets can be purchased at venue box offices, or online.

Other information can be found at the Film Festival’s website, or through the Virginia Film Festival’s Facebook page.

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner




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