Virginia Film Festival

The craft of acting is front and center in this collection of short narrative work. Ranging in tone from stilly to wry, heartbreaking to heartwarming, these films are in turns deeply personal and highly playful. This collection features performances by Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Veep), Sarah Drew (Grey’s Anatomy, Everwood), and U.Va’s Richard Warner, among other talents.

Farewell Old Stringy

2014. USA. 33 min. Director: Alex Rafala

Colin and Bradach are old childhood friends who have grown to lead drastically different lives, now finding it difficult to connect. Their friendship undergoes more pressure when they encounter Davey, an old homeless man whose imaginary friend, Stringy, has decided to commit suicide. Together, they throw a goodbye party for Davey’s invisible sidekick. Colin and Bradach, however, do not understand the reason for Stringy’s departure. What does it signify for Davey?  

It Can Only Be Used Once

2014. USA. 18 min. Director: Michael DeLorenzo

A mystery man with a very specific skill set comes to the aid of a couple with a problem. Along the way, he tells them a fable from eons past about a princess and a warrior with a warning. We are instantly transported back in time… but isn’t there always a catch.

Stern

2014. USA. 15 min. Director: Ted Houser

An Afghanistan War veteran searches for his troubled friend who’s gone missing in Detroit.

Trouble and the Shadowy Deathblow

2014. USA. 22 min. Director: Stephanie Laing

No man is an island, but there are always exceptions. Meet Jim Funkle (played by Tony Hale). A once promising food scientist, his career came to an end with a catastrophic failed experiment involving spray-on cheese. Ostracized, unemployed, and middle aged, Jim Funkle was American mediocrity at its best until he one night he was given the chance to become omnipotent. Trouble & the Shadowy Deathblow follows one mans fight against being a mediocre man.

Waking Marshall Walker

2013. USA. 15 min. Directors: Bjorn Thorstad and Gabriel Baron

An encounter with a mysterious stranger brings unsettling premonitions, sending Marshall Walker on a desperate race through memory and time to reunite with his estranged daughter Charlotte and undo a fateful mistake, or risk being trapped between worlds forever.