Virginia Film Festival

Mudbound

The McAllans and the Jackson family both face struggles as they try to build small dreams…

1945 (Reprise Screening)

In August 1945, a rural town in Hungary is preparing for the wedding of the town…

Woody’s Order

Screens before the feature film Scenes with Ivan For the first time, actress Ann Talman performs…

Still.

Screens before the feature film Magnum Opus Time stands still when a policeman makes an irreversible…

The Light That Bends

Screens before the feature film November An exploration of voyeurism and the act of watching through…

Legacies of Slavery

Screens before the feature film Birth of a Movement This film was created for James Madison’s…

Left Undone

Screens before the feature film Loveless There is much that is no longer said between Mark…

I Can’t Breathe

Screens before the feature film 4 Little Girls This short video piece combines footage of the…

How Can I Ever Be Late

Screens before the feature film Tonsler Park African American students of the University of Virginia greet…

Girl Becomes Snow

Screens before feature film November A VHS rendition of what happens when we die - an investigation…

Black Girlhood: Access & Assets

Screens before the feature film Tell Them We Are Rising Light House Studio students explore themes…

An Act of Terror

Screens before the feature film An Outrage The true story of Virginia Christian, a 16-year-old African American girl accused of murder in the Jim Crow South.

Bonnie and Clyde

The infamous depression-era true crime romance between Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow begins when Clyde attempts…

The Breaks: Centuries of Struggle

Six men – separated by two centuries – live lives marked with intrigue, hardship, and tragedy.…

Stalker

Based on the novel Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, this 1979 science fiction film…

Thelma

Thelma, a shy young student, has just left her religious family in a small town on…

Roll With Me

When a paraplegic former drug-addict sets his mind to becoming the first person to push an…

Tonsler Park

Preceded by the short film How Can I Ever Be Late (5 min.) Internationally renowned artist and…

Short Films: Block B

Featuring both serious and lighthearted narrative shorts, these films tell the stories of misfits. From a…

Short Films: Block E

A mix of documentary and narrative films that explore the theme of interracial relationships and the…

Short Films: Block C

This set of fantasy narrative shorts featuring all things spooky and creepy. Ghosts, demons, and other…

Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me

Sammy Davis, Jr.’s career was so vast and multi-faceted that it was dizzying in its scope…

Short Films: Block A

These eight narrative shorts explore themes of romance between couples. From newly forming relationships to those…

Short Films: Block D

Families can be complicated. This series of short films gives snapshots into the messiness and the…

The Last Stop

The Élan School was a for-profit, residential behavior modification program and therapeutic boarding school located deep…

The Long Road Home

From Academy Award-nominated executive producer Mike Medavoy and based on The New York Times best-selling book…

The Science of Pixar

Dr. Tony DeRose, Senior Scientist and Lead of the Research Group at Pixar Animation Studios will…

Freak Show

Billy Bloom is a gay and eccentric teenage boy whose self-expression knows no bounds when it…

Composer Symposium

This panel discussion will focus on the art of composing music for film, featuring composers Charlie…

Best of the VCUarts Cinema Program

The Best of the VCUarts Cinema Program presents a selection of the best works by students…

The Aristocats

A family of aristocratic cats in Paris lives a beautifully cultured life with their owner, retired…

The Ruination of Lovell Coleman

This short documentary from Ross McDermott tells the story of a Charlottesville-based 93-year-old fiddle player. Combining…

Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies

With 150 Academy Award nominations, Alan Ladd Jr. is one of the most successful movie moguls…

Harold and Maude: Shot-by-Shot Workshop Part 2

For this 30th anniversary year, the Festival is reviving its Shot-by-Shot Workshop, one of its most…

Harold and Maude: Shot-by-Shot Workshop Part 1

For this 30th anniversary year, the Festival is reviving its Shot-by-Shot Workshop, one of its most…

Surviving Skokie

For decades, Jack Adler kept his horrific memories of the Holocaust secret. His silence ended when…

White Sun

After a decade away, anti-regime rebel Chandra returns to his native mountain village in the wake…

Woodpeckers

In the Najayo Prison in the Dominican Republic, inmates communicate with the female prison next door…

Late Night Wrap Party

Before the credits roll on the 2017 Festival, meet us at the Late Night Wrap Party…

Opening Night Gala

Join us for the start of the 30th annual Virginia Film Festival at the Opening Night…

The Ballad of Lefty Brown

Taking place a few years after the Civil War, Bill Pullman (Independence Day, The Equalizer) stars…

Ask the Sexpert

In a country where sex is taboo, a 93-year-old experienced sex advice columnist writes for a…

Charlottesville: Our Streets

A stark look at the devastating events that transpired in Charlottesville in August of this year,…

1945

In August 1945, a rural town in Hungary is preparing for the wedding of the town…

The Wound

Every year, young men of South Africa’s Xhosa culture venture into the mountains of the country’s…

Word is Bond

Director Sacha Jenkins (Fresh Dressed, Burn Motherf*cker, Burn!) and Mass Appeal explore the transformative power of…

Wild Honey

Gabby has a job as an unsuccessful phone-sex operator. She’s unhappy, aimless, and living at home…

Tom of Finland

After heroically serving his country in World War II, a decorated officer, Touko Laakonsen, returns home…

Tehran Taboo

In Tehran, prostitution, drugs, and corruption exist underneath the intense religious and social persecution. Pari, a…

Sollers Point

After a year of incarceration for dealing drugs, Keith is on probation, living under house arrest…

Shelter

Mona, a Lebanese woman (Golshifteh Farahani), and Naomi, an Israeli Mossad agent (Neta Riskin) are sent…

Shadowman

Preceded by the short film Walkalong (8 min.) A biographical documentary about the life of artist…

Scenes with Ivan

Preceded by the short film Woody's Order (16 min.) Local filmmakers Doug and Judy Bari chronicled…

Porto

Jake and Mati are two outsiders in the Portuguese city of Porto. He’s an American loner…

Oh Lucy!

Middle-aged office worker Setsuko is living a bleak life with few friends and even fewer opportunities. …

My Art

Ellie Shine lives a good life in New York City as a single artist with a…

Magnum Opus

Preceded by the short film Still. (7 min.) Actions produce consequences. Behind our decisions often lie complex…

The Lavender Scare

The longest witch-hunt in American History began in 1953 when President Eisenhower deemed homosexuals to be…

Jane

Hours of previously unseen National Geographic footage provide an intimate glimpse into the groundbreaking work of…

The Confession Tapes

The VFF will present an episode from Netflix’s true crime documentary series called “8th and H”…

Bobbi Jene

Preceded by the short film Educated Feet (16 min.) Bobbi Jene Smith makes the transformative decision…

Beuys

Joseph Beuys was a revolutionary German painter, famous for his felt hat and unique performance pieces,…

Beauty and the Dogs

During a night out with friends, young Tunisian student Mariam is brutally raped by policemen. Forced…

American Veteran

At 21 years old, Army Sergeant Nick Mendes was paralyzed from the neck down after getting…

Afrikana Film Festival Showcase

The Afrikana Independent Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing the cinematic works of people of color…

’63 Boycott + Lonnie Holley: The Truth of the Dirt

On October 22, 1963, more than 200,000 students boycotted Chicago Public Schools in a demonstration to…

What Lies Upstream

This investigative political thriller watches Cullen Hoback unearth the causes of the largest chemical contamination of…

Voices Beyond the Wall: Twelve Love Poems from the Murder Capital of the World

Rescued from the streets of Pedro Sula, Honduras, seventy orphaned girls have found refuge at Our…

The Vietnam War

Featuring a glimpse at the ten-part, 18-hour documentary film series, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick recount…

The Twinning Reaction

Exploring the long-term effects of a tragically failed human research experiment from the 1960s, the Twinning…

Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities

Preceded by the short film Black Girlhood: Access & Assets (10 min.) Co-directors Stanley Nelson and Marco Williams…

Summer 1993

Frida (Laia Artigas) has lost both of her parents to AIDS and is sent to live…

An Outrage

Preceded by the short film An Act of Terror (16 min.) A documentary film about lynching…

Starfish

Tom Ray has all of the parts of a fulfilling life—the house of his dreams, the…

O.J.: Made in America Part 5

After months of testimony, the jury for the O.J. Simpson trial returned with a verdict in…

Song of Granite

The resilient life story of one of the greatest traditional singers of all time, Joe Heaney,…

O.J.: Made in America Part 3 & 4

The trial of O.J Simpson captivated a nation, and called into question racial politics, legal system,…

O.J.: Made in America Part 1 & 2

The 1994 murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman not only put the spotlight on…

Serenade for Haiti

Capturing a rare look at a country scored by poverty and political strife, Serenade for Haiti…

November

Preceded by the short films Girl Becomes Snow (7 min.) and The Light That Bends (4 min.)…