Some film festivals are all about making deals. The Virginia Film Festival—not so much. And yet, Mr. Jefferson’s University’s annual fall movie-thon, now in its 26th year, has generated encounters that led to the critically acclaimed AMC hit TV series “Breaking Bad,” movies like Kick-Ass 2 and The Jane Austen Book Club, and a gang […]
Some film festivals are all about making deals. The Virginia Film Festival—not so much. And yet, Mr. Jefferson’s University’s annual fall movie-thon, now in its 26th year, has generated encounters that led to the critically acclaimed AMC hit TV series “Breaking Bad,” movies like Kick-Ass 2 and The Jane Austen Book Club, and a gang […]
The last word that most people would use to describe former “Saturday Night Live” regular Will Forte’s acting style is “restrained.” “Relentless assault” would be more accurate. As the inept special operative MacGruber, he wreaked mass destruction while trying to prevent it, one accidental explosion at a time. On “SNL,” he French-kissed actor James Franco […]
In recent years the Virginia Film Festival, under the leadership of Jody Kielbasa, has increased the number of new releases, concentrating on up-and-coming filmmakers, local productions, and sneak previews of high-profile independent features destined for wider release over the holiday season. It’s a wise choice for the festival, which has broken attendance records since 2009. […]
“There’s a point in Peter Pan when Peter and Wendy are pretending to be parents to the Lost Boys. Peter says, ‘Are we playing or is this real?’ Wendy says, ‘Oh it’s a game, but it’s real.’ Eventually Peter says, ‘I’m tired of playing this game, let’s play a different one.’ But that’s the reality […]
If Lem Oppenheimer is at all worried about perpetuating the stereotypes that come with being in the reggae business, he didn’t show it when he walked into a Belmont coffee shop for an interview on October 18. Tall and lanky with close-cropped hair, Oppenheimer clutched a handful of CDs produced by his record label, Easy Star […]
The red carpets are rolling out as the Virginia Film Festival returns for its twenty-sixth year. While the schedule once again offers the caliber of cinematic fare, guests, and events that have made it a local institution, this year’s line-up distinguishes itself by beefing up the local and independent offerings with more slots for undiscovered […]
A lot of married couples could learn a thing or two from Dr. Dog’s Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken. The singer-songwriters have been making music together since eighth grade more than 20 years ago. The secret to staying together as long as they have? It’s the rock ‘n’ roll equivalent of never going to bed […]
Last year’s HBO film The Girl depicted the relationship between Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, and his discovery of Tippi Hedren, who went under contract with Hitch in 1961 and starred in his films The Birds and Marnie. The movie revealed the director’s obsessive desire to control and seek favor from his “ice cool […]
Learn about life as a working playwright, lyricist, librettist, and screenwriter in an interactive Q&A session with Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire. Part of the UVA Drama Department’s Keenan Lecture Series, Lindsay-Abaire reflects on his 2011 Broadway play Good People, now in performance at Richmond’s Cadence Theatre Company, as well as his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2006 […]
Program and operations manager Wesley Harris has served on the staff of the Virginia Film Festival since 2005. He started as an intern (for this writer) and was promoted to program coordinator while increasingly taking on more of the programming responsibilities. Along the way he helped refine the creative direction as the festival’s goals shifted […]