Virginia Film Festival

Saul’s 108th Story

*This short film screens before NEVER TOO LATE: THE DOC SERVINSON STORY* As a teenager in…

GraceLand

*This short film screens before ELECTRIC JESUS* Anna Camp stars as a southern mom whose life…

The Beekeeper

*This short film screens before FREELAND* A beekeeper on the island of Anglesey faces losing her…

Call Center Blues

*This short film screens before HAMTRAMCK, USA* A character-driven, cinematic tale of deportation, migration, displacement and…

HBCU Storytellers: Confederate Monuments – Heritage or Hatred?

*This short film screens before THE REUNITED STATES* HBCU students explore the question of Confederate monuments…

UNLADYLIKE2020: Maggie Lena Walker

*This short film screens before WOMEN IN BLUE* A full 50 years before the Montgomery bus…

Maradona’s Legs

*This short film screens before THE LAST OUT* During the 1990 World Cup, two young Palestinian…

Moneybag Head

*This short film screens before JUMBO* Dennis, a lonely sad sack with an unfortunate cranial deformity,…

The First and Last King of Haiti

*This short film screens before THERE IS NO EVIL* In 1807, the country of Haiti was split into…

Shiva Baby

Hauled off to a funeral service by her parents, Danielle, a twenty-something bisexual Jewish woman, watches…

Shithouse

Amidst a sea of thousands of students trying to college work, Alex feels isolated, depressed, and…

One Night in Miami

On one incredible night in 1964, four sports, music, and activism icons gathered to celebrate one…

Nomadland

After losing her husband and the economic collapse of her small mining town in rural Nevada,…

MLK/FBI

Director Sam Pollard’s resonant documentary utilizes newly declassified files to examine the relentless campaign of surveillance…

Gunda

Director Victor Kossakovsky documents the lives of farm animals, offering encounters with a mother sow, two…

Ammonite

Past her prime of famed discoveries, fossil hunter Mary Anning spends her days working alone on…

You Will Die at 20

Soon after the birth of Sakina's son Muzamil, a traveling sheik prophecies that he will die…

Women in Blue

Minneapolis’ first female police chief, Janeé Harteau, works to reform the Minneapolis Police Department by getting…

The Woman Who Ran

Hong Sangsoo’s The Woman Who Ran, which earned him the Silver Bear for Best Director at…

When My Time Comes

After the death of her beloved husband John Rehm, Peabody-award winner Diane Rehm began to examine…

Twilight’s Kiss (Suk Suk)

TWILIGHT’S KISS (SUK SUK) presents the story of two closeted married men in their twilight years.…

Tote Grandfather

María Sojob, a Tsotsil filmmaker from Chiapas, in southern Mexico, spent her childhood growing up in…

They Ain’t Ready for Me

Tamar Manasseh has become a well- known figure in Chicago, poised to become a national figure…

There is No Evil

Banned from filmmaking in Iran, director Mohammad Rasoulof returns to cinema with another moving critique of…

Test Pattern

After being sexually assaulted by a stranger, Renesha and her boyfriend Evan spend the day driving…

Statecraft: The Bush 41 Team

The transition from the Cold War to the post-Cold War world in America is marked as…

The Reunited States

As the 2020 election approaches, political divisions in the United States are at a near all-time…

PVT Chat

While living in New York City, lonely internet gambler Jack becomes slowly fixated on Scarlet -…

Pier Kids

Pier Kids documents three homeless queer black youth over five years as they navigate the streets,…

The Passing On

Three professions ushered Black former slaves from poverty to the American dream: preacher, teacher, and undertaker.…

The Passengers

As Ethiopian Jews, Demoz and Gezi are members of a community of 9,000 individuals who speak…

Overland

How can we connect to our natural, primal spirit when modern society threatens to erase it?…

The Outside Story

Perceiving a betrayal of trust as a sign his girlfriend Isha is leaving him, Charles Young,…

One of These Days

In a small southern town, twenty people compete to win a brand new pickup truck, a…

The Offensive

Why are so many civilians angry?The Offensive looks for answers in the stories of the people…

Night of the Kings

Following a pickpocketing charge, authorities send a young man to the Maca correctional facility in the…

New Order

A lavish wedding between the indecently wealthy is thrust into turmoil when an uprising of class…

Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story

After three decades as the colorful bandleader of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, legendary trumpet…

Negra

At the age of seven, Filmmaker Medhin Tewolde Serrano recounts her first experience of being called…

Nasir

In the town Tamil Nadu exists Coimbatore, a small Muslim community lives alongside the Hindu population.…

Monsoon

At just eight years old, Kit and his family were forced to flee Saigon during the…

Lucky Chan-Sil

Chan-Sil, a film producer, finds herself abruptly unemployed after the film director's sudden death she's spent…

Lifeline

Mark Rothko acknowledged him as a “myth-maker.” Clement Greenberg called him “a highly influential maverick and…

The Last Out

Three young Cuban baseball players, Happy, Carlos, and Victor have spent the past year training long…

Lapsis

In a parallel present, delivery man Ray Tincelli struggles to support himself and his ailing younger…

Lago Gatún

Lago Gatún (2021) is a journey traveling south to north through the Panama Canal. Introduction by…

Jumbo

Jeanne is a shy young woman who works the graveyard shift as a janitor at an…

The Judge – Character, Cases, Courage

After presiding over several historically significant cases during his nearly 31 years of service on the…

The Killing of Two Lovers

After agreeing to separate from his wife Nikki, David frantically tries to keep his family of…

Jamaica y Tamarindo

The jamaica flower and tamarind are iconic ingredients in Mexico, but their history comes from a…

Heard

To many Americans, issues regarding public housing and urban poverty often remain out of sight and…

Hamtramck, USA

Hamtramck, Michigan is a city built by immigrants. Once a town that was 90% Polish, Hamtramck…

The Giverny Document (Single Channel)

Through audacious formal experimentation, filmmaker and artist Ja’Tovia Gary unleashes an arsenal of techniques and materials,…

Gather

An indigenous chef embarks on an ambitious project to reclaim ancient foodways on the Apache reservation.…

Freeland

Devi is a fiercely independent woman in her 60’s whose toughness, ingenuity, and boundless energy have…

Fish & Men

With over 90% of American seafood imported from other countries, most consumers are blissfully ignorant of…

Filmfarsi

“Filmfarsi”, a term jokingly coined by critics referring to the rowdy and melodramatic genre films made…

Feels Good Man

In November 2016, an unprecedented election cycle had exposed a seismic cultural rift, and to many,…

The Evening Hour

Cole Freeman maintains an uneasy equilibrium in his declining Appalachian mining town, working as a health…

Electric Jesus

In this wistful coming-of-age music-comedy Erik’s dreams come true when he's asked to run sound for…

Eeb Allay Ooo!

This first feature film from Indian director Prateek Vats follows the absurd, and at times outright…

Dinner in America

This off-the-wall, daring comedy follows an unconventional couple, Simon and Patty, as they embark on a…

Coded Bias

Director Shalini Kantayya explores two major questions at the forefront of modern society: What does it…

Boys State

Every summer, a thousand Texas high school senior boys gather for a week-long program for an…

Bori

Bori, an 11-year-old girl who lives in a sea village, is the only hearing family member.…

Army of Lovers in the Holy Land

Army of Lovers in the Holy Land begins thirty years after launching the queer disco-pop band Army…

All In: The Fight for Democracy

In 2018, Stacey Abrams became the first Black woman to run for governor in a major…

Alice

Charlottesville filmmaker Eduardo Montes-Bradley sits down with composer, conductor, and teacher of choral music, Alice Parker,…

Aleksi

After returning home from college to live with her parents, 28-year-old Aleksi struggles to fight off…

Age of Bryce

*Screens as part of the WE CAN RELATE TO THAT Short Film Package* Smothered by an…

Beyond the Screen: A Conversation on “GIVING VOICE”

Join the Virginia Film Festival for a virtual conversation on the new Netflix documentary Giving Voice,…

Aggie

Art collector and American Philanthropist Agnes “Aggie” Gund has received international recognition for her dedication to…

Canceled – National Premiere: Parkland Rising

Event Canceled - In solidarity with protesters nationwide, Parkland Rising has pressed pause on our special live screening and…

Beyond the Screen: A Virtual Conversation on ‘A SECRET LOVE’

Join the Virginia Film Festival for a virtual conversation on the new documentary A Secret Love; featuring…

Beyond the Screen: A Virtual Conversation on ‘BEASTIE BOYS STORY’

Join the VAFF for a conversation around the new documentary Beastie Boys Story with a conversation…

Beyond the Screen: A Virtual Conversation on THE BOOKSELLERS

Join us for a virtual conversation on the acclaimed documentary The Booksellers, featuring the director of…

Beyond the Screen: A Virtual Conversation on MIDNIGHT FAMILY

Join the Virginia Film Festival as they kick off their new Beyond the Screen: A Virtual…