Virginia Film Festival

VFF at Violet Crown Series Returns

by JennyM on January 23, 2018

VFF and Violet Crown Charlottesville Announce 2018 Year-Round Film Series

Series of One-Time-Only Screenings to Kick Off With
The 19th Annual Animation Show of Shows on February 20

Additional Screenings to Include Django and Geek Girls

Charlottesville, VA – January 23, 2018 – The Virginia Film Festival has announced the return of the VFF at Violet Crown Series, a collaboration with Violet Crown Charlottesville that features a year-round, co-curated selection of films. This year’s series will begin on February 20 with The 19th Annual Animation Show of Shows.

The Virginia Film Festival is a program of the University of Virginia, with support from the Office of the Provost and Vice Provost for the Arts.

Additional dates and titles announced for the series include Django on March 20 and Geek Girls, on April 17. Programming efforts are currently underway for additional screenings scheduled for May 15, June 19, and July 17. Titles for these dates will be announced as they are confirmed. All screenings will start at 7:30 PM, and tickets will be available one month prior to the screening date at www.violetcrown.com.

“We are extremely fortunate to do the work we do in a community of uniquely passionate film lovers,” said VFF Programmer Wesley Harris, “and through this partnership with our friends at Violet Crown, we are able to engage with this audience beyond the Festival proper and throughout the year as we work together to identify and present a range of cinematic experiences.”

“Our partnership with the Virginia Film Festival is something we value greatly,” said Violet Crown Marketing Director David Gil, “and this series gives us a great opportunity to serve our audiences with the kind of unique programming that truly sets us apart here in Charlottesville.”

The 19th Annual Animation Show of Shows features 16 exceptional and inspiring animated shorts from around the world. This year’s version of the highly popular touring presentation features a topical look at our place in society against the backdrop of an increasing social instability and global anxiety. “Because animation is such a natural medium for dealing with abstract ideas and existential concerns”, said Animation Show of Shows founder and curator Ron Diamond, “the Animation Show of Shows has always included a number of thoughtful engaging films. I believe that this year’s program really offers contemporary animation that expresses deeply felt issue in our own country and around the world.” Highlights of the 19th Annual Animation Show of Shows include Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s Annecy Grand Prix-winning The Burden, which explores the tribulations, hopes, and dreams of a group of night-shift employees while capturing the zeitgeist of our time; and David O’Reilly’s playful and profound Everything, based on the work of the late philosopher Alan Watts, known for exploring the interconnectedness of the universe and the multiplicity of perspectives that underlie reality.

Django, directed by Etienne Comar, is the story of groundbreaking guitarist Django Reinhardt, who electrified audiences in the 1940’s with distinctive style of “hot jazz”. The critically-acclaimed film recounts a tumultuous chapter in Reinhardt’s life, when in 1943, at the pinnacle of his art, Reinhardt is forced to flee German-occupied Paris and his music becomes a powerful form of protest and resistance against the Third Reich. Presented first during the 2017 Virginia Film Festival in November, this reprise screening of Django is supported by WTJU.

Nerdy women – the “hidden half” of fan culture – open up about their lives in the world of conventions, video games, and other rife-with-misogyny pop culture touchstones in filmmaker Gina Hara’s acclaimed new release Geek Girls. While geek communities have recently risen to prominence, very little attention is paid to geek women. Hara, struggling with her own geek identity, explores the issue with a cast of women who live geek life up to the hilt: A feminist geek blogger, a convention-trotting cosplayer, a professional gamer, a video-game designer, and a NASA engineer. Through their personal experiences in the rich cultural explosion of nerdom, Geek Girls shows both the exhilaration of newfound community and the ennui of being ostracized. These women, striving in their respective professions and passions, face the cyberbullying, harassment, and sexism that permeate the culture and the industry at large.

The Virginia Film Festival will celebrate its 31st year in November…dates and details coming soon! For more information on the VFF visit www.virginiafilmfestival.org.