Written by Julieta Gozalo
The Virginia Film Festival, a program of the University of Virginia and the Office of the Provost and Vice Provost for the arts held a virtual festival this weekend from October 21st through the 25th. Due to COVID, this year’s festival was a mixture of drive-in movies and virtual programming, with the two Drive-In Movie locations situated at Dairy Market, and Morven Farm. Each venue hosted one drive-in screening each night.
“We are very proud to announce our 2020 program in what obviously is an unprecedented year for the industry and for our world,” said Jody Kielbasa earlier this year, director of the Virginia Film Festival and Vice Provost for the Arts at the University of Virginia. “We are mindful of and thankful for our unique position in the local and national arts communities that allows us to continue to do what we do in a virtual format and a limited in-person capacity, and have worked hard to create a program that represents our core values and lives up to our strong reputation as a festival that engages our community in ways that go beyond the films we screen. This year we are particularly proud of the guest lineup we have assembled, who represent so many aspects of the film world and the truly unique times in which we live.”
Check out part of their programming from the festival below:
Still shot from Regina King’s film One Night in Miami.
Opening Night Film: One Night in Miami…
Director: Regina King
1 hr 50 min, Drama
The 2020 Virginia Film Festival opened with the upcoming Amazon release One Night in Miami…, the powerful directorial debut of Academy Award-winning actor Regina King. Based on Kemp Powers’ stage play of the same name, One Night in Miami centers around a fictional meeting in February of 1964 between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown. Underdog Cassius Clay, soon to be known as Muhammad Ali, has just defeated heavyweight champion Sonny Liston at the Miami Convention Hall and rallies his close friends together to memorialize the win. Over the course of the night, the four share the struggles they’ve endured as high-profile and influential Black men, and the roles they think they can and should play in the Civil Rights Movement.
Centerpiece Film: Ammonite
Director: Francis Lee
2 hr 16 min, Biography, Drama
This highly-anticipated release from NEON features Kate Winslet as the noted 19th Century British paleontologist Mary Anning living in literal and emotional isolation on the rocky and forbidding English coast. When a visitor leaves his troubled wife (Saoirse Ronan) behind to work with Anning, the two form an awkward and uneasy alliance that blossoms into a powerful and unvarnished love story that changes both lives forever. Directed by Francis Lee (God’s Own Country), Ammonite has been generating significant awards season buzz, with Winslet’s performance hailed as among the best of her illustrious career.
Closing Night Film: Nomadland
Director: Chloé Zhao
1 hr 48 min, Drama
The Virginia Film Festival proudly presented Searchlight’s Nomadland as its Closing Night Film. Perhaps the most acclaimed and discussed film on the 2020 film festival circuit, Nomadland is director Chloé Zhao’s intimate and thoughtful portrayal of life as a modern-day nomad. Following the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada, Fern, played by two-time Academy Award winner Frances McDormand, takes off in a van and begins exploring life outside of conventional society in the vast landscape of the American West. Featuring first-time actors living the nomadic lifestyle who Zhao and McDormand encountered on the road, this film showcases individuals on the peripheries of our society who are redefining what the “American Dream” really looks like.
VIRTUAL SPECIAL PRESENTATION EVENTS
A Conversation with Leslie Odom, Jr. – The multi-talented actor Leslie Odom, Jr. joined the VAFF for a conversation about his role as the legendary Sam Cooke in the Opening Night Film One Night in Miami, about the remarkable career launched by his Tony Award-winning performance in Hamilton, and more.
A Tribute to Thomas Newman – 15-time Academy Award nominated film composer Thomas Newman discussed his outstanding career with Benjamin Rous, director of the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia. Newman’s credits include The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, American Beauty, Finding Nemo, the James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre, and last year’s Golden Globe-winning film for Best Picture, 1917.
Light House Studio Shorts – Once again this year, the VAFF proudly showcased the work of the students at Light House Studio in Charlottesville with a selection of short films.
Special Guest Conversations
A Conversation with Annette Bening – Four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening participated in a conversation with author and Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz about some of her many unforgettable performances.
Poster for The Good Lord Bird.
A Conversation on Showtime’s The Good Lord Bird – Actor, writer, director and four-time Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke joined award-winning author James McBride for a conversation around The Good Lord Bird, the new Showtime series based on McBride’s book, in which Hawke portrays abolitionist John Brown. The conversation also included Joshua Caleb Johnson, who co-stars in the series, executive producer and showrunner Mark Richard, and costume designer Amy Andrews Harrell.
A Conversation with Linda Hamilton – Groundbreaking actress Linda Hamilton gave us one of Hollywood’s most iconic action hero female characters as Sarah Connor in The Terminator Franchise. Following a long self-imposed hiatus from the big screen, Hamllton reprised the character last year at 62 years of age in Terminator: Dark Fate in all her badass glory. She talked about the films and her career in a special conversation with University of Virginia President Jim Ryan.
Special Guest Conversations also featured Nicole Kassell, Pete Souza and Chris Liu, Nicole Kassell, Mark Johnson and Vince Gilligan.
To read more about the festival, go to virginiafilmfestival.org/virtual-program-faq.