VIRGINIA FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2026 LINEUP

39th Virginia Film Festival Opens with THE DEBUT
Centerpiece Film is THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF WILSON SHEDD 
Closing Night Film is 1 15 41 TRAGEDY TO TRIUMPH

2026 Virginia Film Festival Keynote Guests include:

TODD BLACK, RUTH DE JONG, CHUKO ESIRI, JAMES GRAY, JESSICA LANGE, 
NATHAN LANE, PENNY LANE, TIM BLAKE NELSON, 
DAPHNE MAXWELL REID, DAVID O. RUSSELL, AARON SORKIN, 
and CRISTÓBAL TAPIA DE VEER 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – September 22, 2026 – T​he Virginia Film Festival has announced the lineup for its upcoming 39th year, set for October 21-25, 2026 in Charlottesville, VA.

The Festival’s Opening Night Film is Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut. Julianne Moore stars as a shy woman who is unexpectedly cast in a local musical and, under the spell of its enigmatic director (Paul Giamatti), loses herself in the role. 

The Centerpiece Film is The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd with writer-director-producer-actor Tim Blake Nelson appearing in person and receiving the Virtuoso Award. A teacher (Amanda Seyfried) in a maximum-security prison forms a connection with a charismatic death-row inmate (Scoot McNairy), risking everything. 

The Closing Night Film is 1 15 41 Tragedy to Triumph. A documentary following the UVA football program from the tragic shootings of three of its players in 2022 through the aftermath of the tragedy, culminating in the team’s triumphant 2025 season. 

Visionary Awards will be presented to Nathan Lane and Jessica Lange, both of whom will be in conversation with Turner Classic Movies primetime host Ben Mankiewicz. Nathan Lane will appear with a 30th anniversary screening ofThe Birdcage.

Jessica Lange will appear alongside a screening of director Jonathan Kent’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2025). She will also join The Hollywood Reporter’s Executive Editor of Awards Scott Feinberg for a live recording of the Awards Chatter podcast, and introduce a screening of her 1994 film, Blue Sky.

James Gray will be presented the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award at a screening of Paper Tiger. After the film, he will be joined in conversation by his longtime composer Christopher Spelman. Gray will also be a guest on a live recording of IndieWire’s Screen Talk podcast hosted by IndieWire Editor-at-Large Anne Thompson and Executive Editor Ryan Lattanzio.

Producer Todd Black (The Pursuit of Happyness, Fences, The Equalizer franchise) will receive the inaugural Career Producer Honor at a special screening of The Social Reckoning, after which he will be in conversation with Aaron Sorkin. Black will also present a clip talk program centered around the upcoming film Madden, alongside director David O. Russell.

Writer-director Chuko Esiri will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting Award at the screening of Clarissa. Director Penny Lane will receive VAFF’s documentary recognition, The Chronicler Award, at a screening of The Wild Inside. Musician and composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Film Composition at Club Kid and will also present Nuisance Bear later in the festival. 

Ruth De Jong, production designer of The Odyssey, will receive the Craft Award for Production Design and join a robust lineup of industry panels and educational offerings, to present the Building Worlds: The Art of Production Design Panel.

“I believe this is the strongest lineup of guest artists and films that we have had in my 18 years as director of the Virginia Film Festival,” said Jody Kielbasa, Executive Director of the Virginia Film Festival and Vice Provost for the Arts at the University of Virginia. “In what is clearly a tremendous year for film across the world, we are proud to showcase some of the most celebrated films on this year’s festival circuit.”

“Our guests this year range from storied industry icons whose body of work has informed a generation of cinema to some of the most prominent auteurs working today, alongside treasured film artisans and a bevy of new talent who auger an exciting future for the state of film for years to come” said Ilya Tovbis, Artistic Director of the Virginia Film Festival.

Gala Screenings
*With Award Presentation

Spotlight Screenings
*With Award Presentation

World Premieres

The VAFF program includes 11 official entries for Best International Feature for the Academy Awards: All of a Sudden (Japan), La Bola Negra (Spain), Coward (Belgium), The Dreamed Adventure (Bulgaria), Everytime (Germany),Fatherland (Poland), Flood (Slovakia), Nina Roza (Canada), Minotaur (France), Possible Love (South Korea), and Rose (Austria).

The full 2026 VAFF program will be available online on Thursday, September 24. Tickets will go on sale at noon on Friday, October 2 at virginiafilmfestival.org.

2026 Film Series

After Hours 

• The Blood Countess
• The Journey to Gyeong-Ju
• The Leader
• Loves Company

Animation

• Cherry and Virgin
• In Waves
• Iron Boy
• Julián
• Tangles
• We Are Aliens

Black Excellence

• 1 15 41 Tragedy to Triumph
• 14th
• Admission Possible
• The Cashier
• Clarissa
• Giants Do Fall
• Jean-Michel Basquiat
• The Lorraine
• Once Upon a Time in Harlem
• Our Community. Our Canvas.
• Rock and Reel: A Film About Monticello’s Black Fiddlers
• A Suite of Short Films by Kevin Jerome Everson
• When a Witness Recants

Indigenous Cinema of the Americas

• Aanikoobijigan [ancestor / great-grandparent / great-grandchild]
• A Cree Approach
• Daughters of the Forest
• Nuisance Bear

Jewish 

• The Birdcage (30th Anniversary)
• Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls: Another Side of Woody Guthrie
• Just an Illusion
• Landscapes of Memory

Korean

• Bedford Park
• The Journey to Gyeong-Ju
• My Name
• Possible Love

Latinidades 

• Admission Possible
• Daughters of the Forest
• Everything Else is Noise
• A Price We Have to Pay
• TheyDream

LGBTQIA+  

• The Birdcage (30th Anniversary)
• La Bola Negra
• Clarissa
• Club Kid
• Coward
• Elsinore
• Fatherland
• Jean-Michel Basquiat
• A Long Winter
• Loves Company
• Safe for the Whole Family: How to Make a Christian Superstar
• TheyDream
• Time Warp

Middle Eastern and South Asian Cinema

• A Bit of Light
• Delupi
• Landscapes of Memory
• Rehearsals for a Revolution
• Rehmat

Music on Film 

• 9th & Gasoline
• Behemoth!
• The Debut
• Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls: Another Side of Woody Guthrie
• Everything Else is Noise
• No More Punk Time: The Last Days of Crayola House
• Once Upon a Time in Harlem
• Rock and Reel: A Film About Monticello’s Black Fiddlers
• Safe for the Whole Family: How to Make a Christian Superstar

Nature & Environment – Presented by Southern Environmental Law Center

• Carl Sagan: We are Made of Star Stuff
• Daughters of the Forest
• The Endless Frontier
• Flood
• Giants Do Fall
• Kikuyu Land
• Nuisance Bear
• Phenomena
• Wild Inside

Page to Screen 

• All of a Sudden 
• Being Heumann
• The Birdcage (30th Anniversary)
• Clarissa
• Fatherland
• I Play Rocky
• In Waves
• Ink
• A Long Winter
• The Social Reckoning
• Tangles

Virginia Filmmaking – Presented by Virginia Film Office

• 1 15 41 Tragedy to Triumph
• 9th & Gasoline
• Admission Possible
• The Cashier
• Death Becomes Us: And Hands are with Us 
• No More Punk Time: The Last Days of Crayola House
• One of a Kind
• Our Community. Our Canvas.
• A Price We Have to Pay
• Rock and Reel: A Film About Monticello’s Black Fiddlers
• Short Films: New Tide: Virginia Student Filmmakers
• Short Films: Our Wealth in Common
• A Suite of Short Films by Kevin Jerome Everson

Voices of the Formerly Incarcerated 

• 9th & Gasoline
• When a Witness Recants

VAFF Panels
VAFF will host a series of panel discussions during the Festival. Panels are free and open to the public. In addition to Building Worlds: The Art of Production Design (see above), additional panels include: 

• Saving Films, Telling Histories 
• Making It – Film Industry Career Panel
• Pitch Perfect: Get Your Project Made

Ticketing

Tickets go on sale to the public at Noon on Friday, October 2 and are available online at virginiafilmfestival.org; in-person at the UVA Arts Box Office; and by phone at 434-924-3376. Beginning Monday, October 19, tickets will also be available at VAFF’s Downtown Box Office in the lobby of Violet Crown. For complete information regarding the 2026 Festival, visit virginiafilmfestival.org.

Festival Sponsors
The Virginia Film Festival is a program of the University of Virginia.

The 2026 Virginia Film Festival is presented by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation. The 2026 Virginia Film Festival is also generously supported by the following Premiere Sponsors: AV Company, Bank of America, Harvest Moon Catering, The Hollywood Reporter, Southern Environmental Law Center, UVA Arts & the Office of the Provost and Vice Provost for the Arts, Violet Crown Cinema, and Virginia Film Office.   

Press materials and images are available at virginiafilmfestival.org/news-press.  

PRESS CONTACTS: 

National Publicity:

Virginia Film Festival Team at The Lede Company at virginiafilmfestival@ledecompany.com 

Charlottesville Publicity:

John Kelly at john@johnkellypr.com