Festival Data:

• Established: 1988
• Genre: General
• Attendance: 19000

Festival Website:

Festival Description:

Each autumn, amid the fall colors of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Virginia Film Festival takes the stage at Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Since 1988, the Festival has attracted national recognition for its unique mix of entertainment and education.

A New Theme Each Year

The Festival designs its program to resemble a huge comprehensive course on a cultural theme, which illuminates the social and artistic impact of moviemaking. Festival themes have included Music and the Movies (1990), The Reel South (1992), Love and Other Obsessions (1994), U.S. and Them (1995), and Cool (1998). Over 60 films are shown in just four days, with nearly one hundred speakers. Directors, actors, scholars, and writers enrich the Festival experience and welcome the opportunity to reflect with audiences on the art and purposes of filmmaking. Critic Peter Brunette wrote: “The audiences at the Virginia Film Festival are the most intelligent I’ve seen at any festival, bar none, and the post-screening Q&A sessions often last longer than the films they’re about.”

From Classics to Premiers

Festival selections range from Hollywood premiers to classic, documentary, and experimental films and videos. Through the presentation of rare classics restores by archives and studios, the Festival calls attention to the importance of preserving America's film heritage, and of displaying early films with the proper screening equipment and musical accompaniment for which they were designed. Reflecting Charlottesville's lively literary climate, the Festival gives special attention to the perspectives of noted screenwriters, novelists, and critics.

Celebrations of classic films and their creators have included a study of film noir, opening with Out of the Past and its star Robert Mitchum; a 25th Anniversary tribute to In the Heat of the Night and Sidney Poitier; Distinguished Filmmaker presentations to Robert Altman, John Sayles, Emile de Antonio, and Arthur Penn; and Roger Ebert's "shot by shot" workshops on classics such as Vertigo, Sunset Boulevard, and The Third Man. Memorable premiere events have included an advance screening of The War Room with filmmakers D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus joined by George Stephanapolous; and The Fever presented by actress Vanessa Redgrave and director Carlo Nero. Other guests have included Jimmy Stewart, Anthony Hopkins, Sandra Bullock, Nicolas Cage, Gena Rowlands, Sigourney Weaver, William Styron, and Ross McElwee.

The Past and the Future of the Film Festival

Created in the late 1980s, the Virginia Festival of American Film (renamed The Virginia Film Festival) was endorsed by the state's Department of Economic Development and adopted by the University of Virginia. The intent was twofold: to stimulate economic development by encouraging film production in Virginia and increasing tourism, and to meld the creative interests and crafts of the American film industry with the intellectual resources of a nationally ranked university. The Festival has grown into an event of national significance, engaging a large number of University faculty and attracting substantial film industry and public attention.

In 1996, the University decided to make the Film Festival a more integral part of its academic program. The Festival was moved under the umbrella of the College of Arts and Sciences, where it would become the centerpiece of a year-round film studies and exhibition program. The focus on American film was retained, but expanded to encompass a broader range of international films which American cinema influences and reflects.

The Festival also expanded its year-round programs, including a very active Film Society that presents films and guest speakers at the downtown Vinegar Hill Theatre.

Film Submissions:

• Call for Entry: http:/ / www.virginiafilmfestival.org/ participate/ call-for-entries/