Virginia Film Festival

This collection is a celebration of childhood packed with fantastic stories, breathtaking animation, and captivating characters. The live-action works of this collection deliver charming narratives, from a Southern fairytale set in Alabama to the struggle of five-year-old Beth to tend to all of the weak animals on her family’s Pennsylvania farm. A funny and bittersweet coming-of-age story traces the drama of two girls having the same idea for their elementary school Halloween costume contest: Medusa. Enchanting animation and music tell the story of Lotte Reiniger, an often unrecognized pioneer in the field of animation.

This is a free, unticketed event. Please arrive fifteen to thirty minutes before the listed start time to find a seat.

LOTTE THAT SILHOUETTE GIRL

2018. USA. 10 min. Director: Carla Patullo.

One of animation’s biggest influencers, Lotte Reiniger, had a unique manner of storytelling and visual contrast that inspired many. This stunning documentary uses Lotte’s unique silhouette style as it rewrites history from a new point of view to tell the magical and charming fairy tale that was her life.

THE RUBY GLASSES

2018. USA. 12 min. Director: Stephen Savage.

What would you do for a new life every day? A Southern fairytale set in Fairhope, Alabama. Be careful what you wish for.

SHOEBOX

2018. USA. 13 min. Director: Michael Killen.

On a Pennsylvania farm in the 1980’s, if an animal didn’t serve their purpose they did not survive. Five-year-old Beth, the youngest in a large family, struggles with the parallels to her own position, so she makes it her mission to care for the weak.

TOMNODDY

2017. USA. 13 min. Director: Charles Poekel.

A look into soap bubble pioneer Tom Noddy and his famous Bubble Magic act.

TWO MEDUSAS

2018. USA. 12 min. Director: Scott Hamilton Kennedy.

A funny and bittersweet coming-of-age story set around the drama that happens when two girls have the same costume for their elementary school Halloween contest: they both are going to be Medusa.