Virginia Film Festival

Program followed by Q&A with filmmakers from Runaway (director Eric Hurt, producer Jack Steinberg, producer Ty Cooper) and Mary (director Michelle Renee Jackson).

Night Ride
2020. Norway. 16 min. Director: Eirik Tveiten. Featuring: Sigrid Husjord, Ola Hoemsnes Sandum.

A cold night in December. Ebba waits for the tram to go home after a party, but the ride takes an unexpected turn.

The Duel
2021. USA. 18 min. Director: Vlad Kozlov. Featuring: Chris Dennis, Franco Nero.

Christopher Dennis is a Hollywood Superman working on Hollywood Blvd for over 25 years.

Stranger at the Gate
2022. USA. 30 min. Director: Joshua Seftel. Featuring: Bibi Bahrami, Dr. Saber Bahrami, Dana McKinney, Emily McKinney, Richard “Mac” McKinney, Jomo Williams.

A United States Marine plots a terrorist attack on a small-town American mosque. His plan takes an unexpected turn when he comes face-to-face with the people he sets out to kill.

Mary
2022. USA. 15 min. Director: Michelle Renee Jackson. Featuring: Paige Annette, Antavius Ellison, Meghan Carrasquillo.

While speaking the actual words transcribed from Mary Armstrong’s 1930s U.S. Federal Writer’s Project interview about her experience with slavery as an African-American enslaved woman who loved to dance, a modern-day and taciturn Custodian trails a Ballet Mistress and her company dancers’ rehearsals until his true identity is revealed.

Runaway
2022. USA. 18 min. Director: Eric Hurt. Featuring: McKinley Belcher, Chris Bailey.

The year is 1859, Jacob, a young white man who’s out of his league as a slave catcher is taking Barbour, an educated escaped slave from Pennsylvania back to South Carolina. Barbour has no intention of going back.