Virginia Film Festival

VAFF Announces Program Additions

by John Kelly on October 16, 2024

Virginia Film Festival Announces Program Additions, including 40th Anniversary Screening of Birdy with Special Guest Matthew Modine  

Mikey Madison to receive achievement in acting award for performance in Opening Night Film Anora

VAFF To Feature Discussions Including Oscar-Nominated Director Joshua Oppenheimer and Pavement Drummer Steve West 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – October 16, 2024 – The Virginia Film Festival has expanded its guest list for the upcoming 37th annual VAFF, October 30-November 3. 

Golden Globe-winning actor, director, and producer Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket, Stranger Things) will appear at the VAFF for a newly added special 40th anniversary screening of his 1984 film Birdy on Friday, November 1. In addition, Modine will join director Daniel Freed for a discussion following a screening of the documentary I Hope This Helps!, which Modine executive produced.  

Directed by Alan Parker, Birdy is a riveting anti-war drama about two boyhood friends whose lives are shattered by the Vietnam War. An unlikely pair of high school pals, the confident and popular Al (Nicolas Cage) and the awkward, gentle, bird-obsessed Birdy (Modine), return to the States with their lives irrevocably changed, and little more than their lifelong bond to help put the pieces back together.  

Newly announced guests also include Mikey Madison, the breakout star of VAFF Opening Night Film, Anora, who will be on hand to accept the Achievement in Acting Award. Madison has spellbound festival audiences around the world with her portrayal of an exotic dancer who meets and quickly marries the son of a Russian oligarch. Directed by Academy Award-nominee Sean Baker (The Florida Project), Anora was the first American film in thirteen years to earn the coveted Palme d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival.  

Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing), who makes his narrative feature debut with the unique, musical, end-of-days story The End, will join a discussion of the film via Zoom following its screening on Sunday, November 3. The film stars Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon as the heads of the last known living family on Earth. 

Longtime drummer for the iconic 90’s band Pavement, Steve West will participate in a panel discussion for the film Pavements on Saturday, November 2. Directed by preeminent indie director Alex Ross Perry (who will also be in attendance, as previously announced), the film is an anything-but-typical alternate reality look back at the iconoclastic band’s past and present.  

Tickets for the 2024 Virginia Film Festival are available online at virginiafilmfestival.org; in-person at the UVA Arts Box Office; and by phone at 434-924-3376. Beginning Monday, October 28, tickets will also be available at VAFF’s Downtown Box Office in the lobby of Violet Crown. For complete information regarding the 2024 Festival, visit virginiafilmfestival.org. 

The Virginia Film Festival is a program of the University of Virginia.  

The 2024 Virginia Film Festival is presented by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.  

The 2024 Virginia Film Festival is also generously supported by the following Premiere Sponsors: AV Company, Bank of America, The Doyle Hotel, Harvest Moon Catering, Southern Environmental Law Center, UVA Arts & the Office of the Provost and Vice Provost for the Arts, Violet Crown Cinema, and Virginia Film Office.  

Press materials and images are available at virginiafilmfestival.org/news-press