Annual Film Festival To Be Held By The University Of Virginia In Charlottesville

By Alexandra Brown on October 20, 2014

This article is brought to you by The Flats at West Village, a dynamic new development steps away from the UVA campus in beautiful Charlottesville. To learn more about The Flats, please visit us here.

Every year, since 1988, the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville holds the Virginia Film Festival.

The festival, usually held in late October or early November, is a four-day event featuring “some of the most highly anticipated titles in the film world while also showing off the talents of rising stars in the industry.”

http://augustafreepress.com

In addition to simply showing films, the festival offers an array of well-known cultural experts and lecturers who lead discussions, and provide their perspectives on our world, and how chosen films relate to our current world.

The festival, which was initially created to encourage film production in the state of Virginia to increase tourism, as well as to merge the creative ideas of the American film industry with those of the University’s, serves the unique purpose of gathering young students, community members, film-lovers and academics all into one place to enjoy old, as well as new, products of our society’s film industry.

The festival will show classics, documentaries, foreign films and more between November 6 and 9 with tickets available on the festival’s website.

The films chosen for this year’s festival have been put into categories, including but not limited to: Political and Social Issues, Virginia Filmmaking, Staff Picks and Documentary.

Some of the films under the Political and Social Issues category include “Freedom Summer” (2014), a film about the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi in 1964, and “Out in the Night” (2014), a film dealing with the treatment of four young African-American lesbians in a New York City neighborhood.

http://filmguide.sundance.org

Among films in the Virginia Filmmaking category are “Led Zeppelin Played Here” (2014), a film attempting to uncover the truth behind one of Zeppelin’s performances on January 20, 1969 in a Maryland Suburb, as well as the film “From Grain to Growler” (2014), depicting the traveling adventures of two filmmakers among beer festivals, breweries, bars and bottle shops to focus on the recent locally crafted beer phenomenon in Virginia.

Staff Picks include the 1939 classic “Wizard of Oz,” as well as “The Imitation Game” (2014), a film about a troubled mathematician, WWII code breaker and war hero.

http://www.fanpop.com

Documentaries being shown include but are not limited to: “A Year in Champagne” (2014), exploring the essence of Champagne and its importance, and “The Hip-Hop Fellow” (2013), where research is done regarding hip-hop’s history, culture and role in academia. The cast includes DJ Young Guru and rapper Kendrick Lamar.

More than 100 guests will be appearing at this year’s VFF, as well as important guests including Hal Holbrook, Jenna Elfman, Barry Levinson, Frank Langella, Richard Roundtree, Katie Couric, Patrick Wilson and Jasmine Guy.

In addition to the various categories to which the films that are being presented belong, this year’s festival encompasses many themes and topics among its films by incorporating them into various ‘series.’

Included within the series is The Presidency in Film Series, designed to analyze the different ways the film industry has chosen to portray American presidents.

The series will include showings of the films “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” (1964), “41 on 41″ (2014) and “Frost/Nixon” (2008), which will be followed by a discussion featuring Academy Award nominated Frank Langella, who played President Richard Nixon in the film.

http://jamesandrewcook.com/Frost-Nixon

Another series included in the festival is the Indigenous Film Series, where “the rich tradition of Aboriginal filmmaking” will be showcased. Included are three films: “Drunktown’s Finest” (2014), where three young Native Americans attempt to escape from their dead-end Indian reservation, “What We Do in the Shadows” (2014), about a group of vampires who live together in Wellington, New Zealand, and “Ringtone” (2014), a film about the lives of Yolngu Aboriginal families.

The VFF will kick off with its Opening Night Gala on Thursday, November 6 at 9:00 p.m. Held at the Jefferson Theatre, this 21+ event will celebrate the start of the festival, and show the Opening Night Film “Big Stone Gap” (2014), an American romantic comedy set in the town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia.

Following the Gala, on November 7, the opening of the Digital Media Gallery will be celebrated from 5:30-9:00 p.m. at the Second Street Gallery. The Gallery will be hosting First Fridays, Downtown Charlottesville’s monthly celebration of art.

At the event, you can expect to meet and speak with the festival’s guests, as well as students and artists whose work is being exhibited and presented at the festival.

Finally, on November 8 is the Late Night Wrap Party at Main Street Arena. At this 21+ event, you will have one last shot at talking with filmmakers and community members, as well as a fun-filled evening.

The festival offers an entertaining four days for anyone in the University of Virginia area who enjoys film!

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