Virginia Film Festival

VFF at Violet Crown Film Series to Continue in June & July

by Sarah Cain on May 26, 2016

VFF at Violet Crown Film Series to Present Dutch Black Comedy Schneider Vs. Bax on June 21 and Animated Documentary Nuts! on July 19

Festival To Partner with Charlottesville Tom Sox for Special Screening of Beloved Baseball Film The Sandlot on July 1 at Tom Sox Stadium

Charlottesville, VA – May 26, 2016 – Local film lovers will have the chance to check out two of the most talked-about titles on this year’s festival circuit when the VFF at the Violet Crown series presents the Dutch black comedy Schneider vs. Bax on June 21 and Penny Lane’s highly acclaimed documentary Nuts! on July 19.

The Virginia Film Festival is presented by the University of Virginia and the Office of the Provost and Vice Provost for the Arts.

All screenings in the VFF at Violet Crown series begin at 7:30 PM, and tickets will be available prior to the screening date at www.violetcrown.com.

Continuing its successful festival run, which has included the Locarno Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, Schneider vs. Bax tells the story of Schneider, a contract killer who gets a call for an assignment on his birthday. The target is writer Ramon Bax, played by writer-director Alex van Warmerdam. Citing a previous commitment to help his wife prepare for a birthday party, Schneider tries to pass on the job, but is told Bax lives alone in a secluded place and that this assignment is so simple Schneider could be home by noon. The hitman soon learns the job is anything but easy as a seemingly straightforward crime thriller plot transforms into a sinister game of life and death in this wicked and absurdist Coen Brothers-style comedy.

Nuts!, from filmmaker Penny Lane (Our Nixon) is the mostly true and completely weird tale of Dr. John Romulus Brinkley, who in 1917 discovers that he can cure impotence by transplanting goat testicles into men. Using hand-drawn animated reenactments, interviews, archival footage, and a seriously unreliable narrator, Nuts! traces Brinkley’s rise from poverty and obscurity to the heights of celebrity, wealth, and influence. Along the way, he transplants thousands of goat testicles; amasses an enormous fortune; is (sort of) elected Governor of Kansas; builds the world’s most powerful radio station; and generally annoys the heck out of the establishment. Doc Brinkley led an audacious life in which he conned everybody and made a disgraceful amount of money. How he does it, and what happens when it all comes crashing down, is the story of Nuts!

 Just in time for the Independence Day, the VFF is partnering with the Charlottesville Tom Sox on July 1 to celebrate our national pastime with a special screening of the beloved baseball comedy The Sandlot. The film follows young Scotty Smalls after he moves to a new neighborhood and makes friends with a group of children that play baseball at the local sandlot. The screening will be presented immediately following that evening’s game against the Covington Lumberjacks, which begins at 6 PM at C-VILLE Weekly Ballpark at CHS. To attend the baseball game, visit http://tomsox.org/ to learn more about tickets. The film screening will be free and open to the public.

The 29th Annual Virginia Film Festival will be held November 3-6 and will announce its complete 2016 program on Tuesday, September 27, with tickets going on sale on Friday, September 30. For more information on future VFF at Violet Crown screenings and about the upcoming Virginia Film Festival, visit virginiafilmfestival.org.