Film Festival to steal the screen

The 17th annual Virginia Film Festival will take place Oct. 28-31

EMILY GILMORE

Date published: 10/21/2004

By EMILY GILMORE

THE FREE LANCE-STAR

It's time once again for the Virginia Film Festival at the University of Virginia. The 17th annual celebration of the motion picture will take place Oct. 28-31.

Movies in keeping with this year's theme of "Speed" will be screened at U.Va.'s Culbreth Theatre and the Regal Cinemas on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall. Special showings will take place at Vinegar Hill Theatre on Market Street.

The theme is broad enough to encompass different facets of the concept of speed, such as the importance of the chase scene and the movement of filmmakers who focus on shooting films with longer takes "in order to resist the dominant music-video style of filmmaking," said festival director and U.Va. faculty member Richard Herskowitz.

This year also happens to be the 10th anniversary of the movie "Speed," starring Sandra Bullock, who will attend the festival to receive the Virginia Film Award, meet with drama students and present a sneak preview of her upcoming "Miss Congeniality 2."

The festival will mix the familiar ("The Great Escape") with the obscure ("Two-Lane Blacktop"), the domestic ("National Velvet") with the foreign (the French "Pickpocket"), the contemporary ("Undertow") with the antique (1928's "Speedy"). A full schedule can be found at vafilm .com.

"I really try to reach as many interests as possible while also choosing the best films possible," Herskowitz said.

The selection criteria didn't change this year, but the festival will feature a "flood" of films by Virginians.

Charlottesville native Nicole Kassell's "The Woodsman" made waves at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and "Spicebush" was written, produced and shot by U.Va. art professor Kevin Everson. In addition, Bob Johnson of McLean will present his company's award-winning documentary "Paper Clips."

Other filmmakers from Virginia also will participate in the festival.

Special events will include shot-by-shot workshops by directors Paul Schrader and David Gordon Green, and a screening of "Run Lola Run" in U.Va.'s amphitheater on Wednesday, Oct. 27, will kick off the festival.

Beau Bauman, Seth Wiley and Jeff Wadlow, who grew up in Charlottesville, will lead the Adrenaline Film Project, in which 36 local filmmakers will have 72 hours to make and screen films.

The Virginia Film Festival is like the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, Herskowitz said, in that it caters to film buffs and does not revolve around the latest premières.

Herskowitz likened the festival to "a four-day course on a cultural theme in which the whole region is invited to enroll."

To reach EMILY GILMORE: 540/374-5426 egilmore@freelancestar.com

Follow us on

Date published: 10/21/2004