Virginia Film Festival Starts Today

My favorite weekend in Charlottesville's calendar starts later today, when the 23rd annual Virginia Film Festival takes the stage at venues across the area -- including the Paramount, Regal, and Vinegar Hill cinemas downtown and the Culbreth and Newcomb Hall theatres on the Grounds of the University of Virginia.

The biggest "get" at this year's festival has to be director, screenwriter, and film historian Peter Bogdanovich, who will be presenting at least two of his best-known movies, The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon, during the course of the weekend.  (Two other Bogdanovich films, What's Up Doc? and Cat's Meow, will also be screened.)

About a month ago, Virginia Film Festival director Jody Kielbasa announced most of this year's program at a news conference at the X Lounge in Charlottesville.  Let's go to the video!

Part I:

Part II:

My coverage of the 2009 Virginia Film Festival can be seen here, here, and here, with a later post about Matthew Broderick here.

Posts from the 2008 Virginia Film Festival include this one on director/screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, and additional videos here and here.

Video from the 2007 Virginia Film Festival can be found here and here, with photos from that year's festival here.

Reports on the 2006 Virginia Film Festival include this one, this one (with popular silent video of William Moseley), this one (with Robert Duvall), and this one.

A report on the 2005 Virginia Film Festival is here, and this episode, featuring my confrontation with Vanessa Redgrave, was mentioned by former festival director Richard Herskowitz in his farewell remarks three years later.

Watch this space for future reports on the 2010 Virginia Film Festival.

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