The Virginia Film Festival showcases a wide array of international cinema with films from 35 countries. The 2022 slate is toplined by 11 Official Submissions for Best International Feature Film Oscar selections:

• Austria: Corsage
• Belgium: Close
• Bolivia: Utama
• Canada: Eternal Spring
• France: Saint Omer
• Iceland: Beautiful Beings
• Poland: EO
• Spain: Alcarràs
• Tanzania: Tug of War
• Tunisia: Under the Fig Trees
• Ukraine: Klondike

Film still: Saint Omer

Many of our programs are accompanied by Q&As and discussions that range from conversations about the art of cinema to critical dialogues about the most pressing social issues of our time.

• Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths w/production designer Eugenio Caballero
• Black Fiddlers w/director Eduardo Montes-Bradley and film subject Earl White
• Clarissa’s Battle w/film subject Clarissa Doutherd, director Tamara Perkins, and editor Sara Maamouri
• Dani’s Twins w/producer Angie Gentile and film subjects Dani Izzie, Rudy Izzie, and Dr. Robert Fuller
• Devotion w/actor Jonathan Majors
• Hazing w/director Byron Hurt
• Headwaters Down w/directors and subjects Will Gemma, Dietrich Teschner, and Justin Black
• Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting w/director Aviva Kempner and film subject Rhonda LeValdo
• The Inspection w/actor Raúl Castillo
• Karaoke w/director Moshe Rosenthal and Actor Sasson Gabay
• The Levys of Monticello w/director Steven Pressman, and film subjects Niya Bates, Marc Leepson, Phyllis Leffler, and Susan Stein
• The Lives Between The Lines w/film subjects DeTeasa Gathers and Mike Spence
• Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power w/director Sam Pollard
• Mama’s Boy w/film subject Dustin Lance Black
• My Father’s Dragon w/director Nora Twomey, Screenwriter Meg LeFauve, and Producer Julie Lynn
• Powerlands w/director Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso
• Runaway (short film) w/director Eric Hurt, producer Jack Steinberg and producer Ty Cooper
• Refuge w/directors Erin Bernhardt and Din Blankenship
• Smooth Talk w/director Joyce Chopra
• Stay Awake w/director Jamie Sisley, actors Chrissy Metz and actor Wyatt Oleff
• From Sudan to Argentina w/director Ricardo Preve
• A Suite of Short Films by Kevin Jerome Everson w/directors Kevin Everson and Claudrena Harold

Film still: Imaging the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting 

Stories centered on the African-American experience—celebrating Black culture, history, and achievement, while moving, entertaining, and challenging us.

Films include:

• A Suite of Films by Kevin Jerome Everson
• After Sherman
• Black Fiddlers
• Clarissa’s Battle
• Descendant
• Devotion
• Hazing
• The Inspection
• The Lives Between the Lines
• Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
• The Smell of Money
• To the End
• Mary (short)
• Runaway (short)
• Tuning Rene Marie (short)

Film still: Clarissa’s Battle

Documentary and narrative explorations of our relationship to the natural world. Topics include animal rights, climate change, drought and water issues, land preservation, pollution, resource extraction, waste, and environmental activism.

Films include:

• All that Breathes
• The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future
• Descendant
• Devil Put The Coal in the Ground
• Fashion Reimagined
• Headwaters Down
• Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest
• Powerlands
• The Smell of Money
• To The End
• Utama

Film still: All That Breathes

The Environmental Film Series is presented by Southern Environmental Law Center.

Showcasing the work of Indigenous filmmakers and providing a platform for discussion around the complex issues facing Indigenous communities. Curated by Guest Programmers Adriana Greci Green and Federico Cuatlacuatl.

Films include:

• Imagining The Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting
• Mom
• Portraits From a Fire
• Powerlands
• Vaychiletik
• The Sky is Very Pretty (short)

Film still: Portraits From a Fire

The Indigenous Cinema of the Americas Series is presented by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts and supported by UVA Arts Council: Enriching the Arts on Grounds.

• Concerned Citizen
• Karaoke
• The Levys of Monticello
• From Sudan to Argentina

Film still: Karaoke

The Jewish and Israeli Film Series is presented by Congregation Beth Israel.

Cinema exploring the best in contemporary Korean Cinema. Curated by Guest Programmer Hyeyon Moon.

Korean Films:

• Broker
• Heaven: To The Land of Happiness
• Ten Months

Films by and about Korean Americans:

• Liquor Store Dreams
• Good Boy (short)

Film still: Broker

The Korean Cinema Series is supported by Korean Cultural Center – Washington, D.C., UVA Korea Society, and UVA Arts Council: Enriching the Arts on Grounds.

Curated by Guest Programmer Samhita Sunya.

Films include:

• All That Breathes
  
• Tug of War
• Under the Fig Trees

Film still: Under the Fig Trees

The Middle Eastern and South Asian Series is supported by the UVA Department of Middle Eastern & South Asian Languages & Cultures, Institute for Humanities & Global Cultures, and UVA Arts Council: Enriching the Arts on Grounds.

Themed Shorts Programs, curated by Guest Programmer Joe Fab:

• All You Need is Love
• It Only Takes Two
• Oh, the People You’ll Meet!

Additional Shorts Programs:

• A Suite of Short Films by Kevin Jerome Everson
• Light House Studio Shorts

Shorts Before Features:

• Good Boy

Film still: A Haircut for the Hina Doll

The Shorts Programs are supported by UVA Arts Council. 

Celebrating the vision and dynamism of contemporary Mexican cinema through a special focus on the country’s new productions. Curated by VAFF Critic-in Residence Carlos Aguilar, VAFF Guest Programmer Federico Cuatlacuatl, and VAFF Senior Programmer Ilya Tovbis.

Films include:

• Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
• The Hole in the Fence
• Huesera
  
• Mom
• Vaychiletik
• The Sky is Very Pretty (short)

Film still: Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

The Highlighting Cinema of Mexico Focus is supported by Mexican Cultural Institute in D.C.

Films include:

• Close
• Concerned Citizen
• The Five Devils
• Huesera
• The Inspection
• Mama’s Boy
• Orlando
• Blind Angels: Richmond, Virginia (short)
• Tug (short)

Film still: Mama’s Boy

Developed by VAFF Guest Programmer Federico Cuatlacuatl, The Rasquache Mobile Cinema is a traveling micro cinema in the form of an adult-sized tricycle retrofitted with outdoor screening and projection equipment. RMC provides cinematic community engagements, with the goal of exploring race, migration, and politics across the U.S. and Mexico border by amplifying works of emerging Black and Indigenous filmmakers on both sides of the border.

Films include:

• Mom
• Vaychiletik
  
• The Sky is Very Pretty (Short)

Film still: Vaychiletik

The Mobile Cinema program is presented by UVA Arts: supported by the Office of the Provost & the Vice Provost for the Arts.

The Festival will once again shine a spotlight on an impressive collection of films that were made in Virginia or have roots in the Commonwealth.

Films includes:

• Black Fiddlers
• Dani’s Twins
• From Sudan to Argentina
• Headwaters Down
• The Lives Between the Lines
• Stay Awake
• A Suite of Short Films by Kevin Everson
• Blind Angels: Richmond, Virginia (short)
• Home of the Brave (short)
• Runaway (short)
• Tug (short)
• Tuning Rene Marie (short)

Film still: Dani’s Twins

Virginia Filmmaking Focus is presented by Virginia Film Office.

Films include:

• Alcarrás
• All The Beauty and the Bloodshed
• Clarissa’s Battle
• The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future
• Dani’s Twins
• Descendant
• Fashion Reimagined
• The Five Devils
• Hard Shell, Soft Shell
• Huesera
• Imagining The Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting
• Klondike
• Lady Chatterly‘s Lover
• Liquor Store Dreams
• Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
• My Father’s Dragon
• Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest
• Powerlands
• Refuge
• She Said
• Smooth Talk
• Straighten Up and Fly Right
• Ten Months
• Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb
• Women Talking
• Under the Fig Trees
• Blind Angels: Richmond, Virginia (short)
• Freedom Swimmer (short)
• Little Berlin (short)
• Mary (short)
• The Originals (short)
• Tug (short)
• Tuning Rene Marie (short)

Film still: Women Talking