Virginia Film Festival

2023 VAFF SET FOR OCT. 25-29

by JennyM on February 20, 2023

2023 Virginia Film Festival set for October 25-29.

VAFF Also Announces Launch of 2023 Call for Entries

Charlottesville, VA – February 21, 2023 – The Virginia Film Festival announced today that the 36th annual VAFF will take place from October 25-29, 2023.

The Virginia Film Festival is a program of the University of Virginia and the Office of the Provost and Vice Provost for the Arts.

“We are excited to announce that this year’s Virginia Film Festival will be returning to Charlottesville for its 36th year from October 25-29,” said Virginia Film Festival Director and UVA Vice Provost for the Arts Jody Kielbasa. “We continue to receive such positive feedback from our patrons about last year’s festival, which saw us presenting a stellar lineup of films, and an impressive guest list headlined by Jonathan Majors, who is fast becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest stars thanks to his role as Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel Universe and his starring role opposite Michael B. Jordan in the highly anticipated Creed III. We look forward to sharing another outstanding lineup and guest roster in 2023.”

“A major key to our success last year was the work of Ilya Tovbis in his first year in the role of Senior Programmer at the VAFF,” Kielbasa said. “Ilya put together a diverse and fascinating program of films, including ten that would go on to earn Academy Award nominations, in addition to highly successful panel discussions that brought our audiences deeper into the filmmaking process.”

The Academy Award-nominated films from the 2022 VAFF program included Women Talking, nominated for Best Picture and for Best Adapted Screenplay. Other nominees include Living (Bill Nighy – Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay); EO and Close (Best International Feature Film); All That Breathes and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Best Documentary); Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Adapted Screenplay); Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths and Empire of Light (Best Cinematography); and Stranger at the Gate (Best Documentary Short).

VAFF Senior Programmer Ilya Tovbis is excited to build on the success of 2022. “I am really excited to continue to work with filmmakers, studios, and distributors throughout the U.S. and around the world to build the kind of deep, entertaining, and inclusive program for which the Virginia Film Festival is known,” he said, “and to continue to build the VAFF’s reputation throughout the industry as one of America’s premier regional festivals.”

The VAFF also announced that it has launched its annual Call for Entries inviting filmmakers to submit their work for consideration for the 2023 Festival. Once again this year, all Virginia residents and students at Virginia schools are eligible to have their entry fees waived. The fees for non-Virginia filmmakers submitting by the Early Bird deadline of May 22 will be $30 for features and $10 for short submissions. Those submitting by the regular deadline of July 5 may do so for $50 for features and $25 for shorts. The fee for students outside of Virginia to submit a film in any category is $10.

Filmmakers will be notified of their entry status by September 12. For complete submission information and waiver codes, visit virginiafilmfestival.org/submit-a-film. All questions should be submitted to vaffsubmissions@virginia.edu.

VAFF audiences are not limited to the Festival itself when looking to engage with VAFF programming. The recently-announced year-round film series kicks off this coming Thursday, February 23 with a screening of Ukraine: The Price of Human War, presented in partnership with The Miller Center and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The annual VAFF at Violet Crown series kicks off on Tuesday, February 28 with To Leslie, and will also include Little Richard: I Am Everything (March 21); and Joyland (April 11). For complete information visit virginiafilmfestival.org.

The 2023 Virginia Film Festival is presented by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation. The VAFF has also been approved for an Arts Project Grant Award from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the 2023 Festival.

For more information on the VAFF, visit virginiafilmfestival.org.