23rd Annual Youth Film Festival

Take a seat in front of the silver screen for Light House Studio’s 23rd Annual Youth Film Festival. Student films created over the last year through Light House’s workshops, community partnerships, and Summer Film Academy are highlighted at the YFF, giving attendees a chance to see the public debuts of projects before they screen in […]

Pick: Amanda

Movie night: Ty Cooper’s latest film is deeply personal. The Charlottesville-based award-winning director drew on his and his family’s own experiences with cancer when writing Amanda, a story about love, trauma, relationships, and more. As she prepares to submit her art for curation, Amanda confronts losses that she has avoided since childhood, when the disease […]

PICK: Outdoor Film Series

Fresh air perspectives: As cooler temps make our time outside more tolerable, the Outdoor Film Series will enrich our minds with shorts, films, and documentaries by filmmakers of color in collaboration with Light House Studio, Vinegar Hill Theatre, and McGuffey Art Center. The theme of the second installment is Waiting for Answers: Meditations on Existence, […]

Changing the narrative: VAFF’s Light House Shorts to feature original film on black male achievement

By Adriana Wells arts@c-ville.com The Virginia Film Festival will screen an original documentary by four local young black men during its Light House Studio Shorts event. This past summer, Daniel Fairley II, the City of Charlottesville’s youth opportunity coordinator, sought to bring attention to the achievements of a number of black men in the Charlottesville […]

Lost and found: Victory Hall Opera explores boundaries in The Forgotten

The story of “Hansel and Gretel” is a familiar one: the hungry children of a poor woodcutter are lost in the woods when they stumble upon a house made of gingerbread and sweets, enticing to their eyes and empty bellies. The house belongs to a witch who lures the children inside and captures them, intending […]

ARTS Pick: Light House Studio Youth Film Festival

Over the course of the past year, Light House Studio has engaged more than 1,700 students to produce 400 films ranging from animation and visual effects to documentary, narrative storytelling, and music video. The 17th Annual Youth Film Festival gives viewers a peek at the latest productions before they are proffered to the festival circuit. […]

Budding artists learn in the spotlight

When I was a tween writing “X-Files” fan fiction, I never suspected my interest in storytelling would lead to an actual career as a writer. But then I enrolled in the creative writing program at a performing arts high school—and discovered my creative power. Dozens of local arts organizations offer Charlottesville children and teens opportunities […]

VFF films with Virginia ties

VFF films with Virginia ties The Ruination of Lovell Coleman Director Ross McDermott met Lovell Coleman in Charlottesville 10 years ago when he saw the then octogenarian putting a new roof on his house by himself. Coleman, now on the cusp of 94, has been playing the fiddle since at least age 14, when he […]

LIVING Picks: Week of November 8-14

NONPROFIT Veterans Day ceremony Friday, November 10 The UVA Army ROTC cadets, the Buford Middle School band and Retired Colonel James O’Kelley will participate in a ceremony to salute our veterans, followed by a living timeline of veterans. Active duty military and veterans get in free; $8-$14 admission includes historic house tour, 1pm. James Monroe’s […]