Another day, another film festival. I have been on quite the fall festival tour, starting back in Telluride over Labor Day Weekend, back to Los Angeles for a bit, then the sprawling New York Film Festival, then Middleburg in Virginia, and finally, a festival in another part of this large state, the University of Virginia’s 39-year-old Virginia Film Festival (Oct. 21-25).
This year’s VAFF program offers 100 films and a smattering of starry attendees, including Visionary Award winners Nathan Lane (“The Birdcage”) and Jessica Lange (“Long Day’s Journey Into Night”), interviewed by TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz, as well as writer/director David O. Russell in conversation with Career Producer honoree Todd Black about their upcoming sports film “Madden,” Aaron Sorkin opining about “The Social Reckoning,” and a talk with “The Odyssey” production designer Ruth De Jong, a Charlottesville native.
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On the first go-round, it’s fun to navigate new towns (downtown Charlottesville is walkable and charming), tourist attractions (I have not yet checked out Monticello), and complex ticketing systems. The press corps at this festival is slightly less awards-focused than Middleburg (Vanity Fair, Filmmaker Magazine, Vulture, RogerEbert.com, THR, and The Daily Beast among them. The price of an airplane ticket, hotel room, and access to screenings and talent brings with it the job of introducing movies (in my case, French Oscar entry “Minotaur”) and moderating Q&As (I’m talking to “The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd” writer/director Tim Blake Nelson). And my “Screen Talk” co-host Ryan Lattanzio and I are welcoming a special guest to a live podcast, “Paper Tiger” director James Gray.
Opening night, the festival showcased Julianne Moore’s Oscar frontrunner performance in “The Debut,” which just won Middleburg’s audience award and played just as well for the enthusiastic crowds at the Paramount Theatre, followed by an opening night gala attended by Ilya Tovbis, the festival’s artistic director, and Jody Kielbasa, UVA Vice Provost for the Arts and VAFF Executive Director. “The Debut” also opened well at Woodstock in Upstate New York last week, where Ryan attended and hosted a talk with “The Liberation” star Carrie Coon and writer/director Guy Nattiv.
The VAFF lineup is chock full of the usual awards suspects, from “La Bola Negra” and “Behemoth!” and “Being Heumann” to “14th,” “Club Kid,” “Wild Horse Nine,” and “Elsinore.”