10 Must-See Movies at This Year’s Virginia Film Festival

Tickets for the 37th annual Virginia Film Festival will finally go on sale to the general public today, Friday, October 11! A program of the University of Virginia, this year’s edition of the festival will feature over 80 screenings and events, ranging from auteur-driven international pictures to buzzy awards season candidates. Admiringly accessible to the public, thanks to a laid-back atmosphere and an affordable ticketing system, VAFF brings the most compelling new movies of the year to Charlottesville, standing out as one of the college town’s greatest cultural events. For the fifth year in a row, Foremost Film will be in attendance at the festival; continue reading to check out some of the must-see titles at this year’s VAFF!

‘All We Imagine as Light,’ dir. Payal Kapadia

Middle Eastern & South Asian Cinema

Sat, Nov 2, 5:30 pm

With her Grand Prix-winning title from this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Kapadia presents a captivating and tender portrait of three women navigating life in contemporary Mumbai. The director’s background in documentary filmmaking aids in creating a palpable atmosphere, capturing the weather, sounds, and bustle that interweave to make the city's fabric. When the three central characters escape their busy lives for a seaside retreat, they are finally able to exercise the autonomy they desire, which plays out with a delicate lyricism that could lull audiences into a gentle trance. Kapadia’s screenplay showcases the longings of her female protagonists while never ignoring the social, cultural, and economic forces that battle to break them.

‘Anora,’ dir. Sean Baker

Opening Night Film, Gala Screening

Wed, Oct 30, 7:00 pm

Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and second runner-up for the People’s Choice Award at TIFF, Anora has proven to be one of 2024’s most acclaimed films by critics and public audiences. Mikey Madison stars as the titular character, serving up a street-smart exotic dancer from Brooklyn whose hustle becomes deluded when the f*ckboy son of a Russian oligarch (Mark Eidelstein) comes along and seems like a chance to go straight to the top. Creating narrative and emotional arcs in unpredictable ways, Anora feels like a culmination of everything Baker has explored in his work up to this point, solidifying his status as one of America’s most ambitious and authentic filmmakers. In conjunction with the festival’s 2024 tribute to NEON, the company’s founder and CEO, Tom Quinn, will attend to accept the VAFF Impressario Award.

‘A Traveler’s Needs,’ dir. Hong Sangsoo

Korean Cinema Series

Fri, Nov 1, 2:15pm

Directed, written, produced by, shot by, scored by, and edited by prolific Korean filmmaker Hong, A Traveler’s Needs offers up everything there is to love about the director and his singular filmmaking style. Isabelle Huppert stars in the movie –– her third collaboration with Hong –– as Iris, a highly enigmatic woman making her way by teaching French and drinking rice wine all day in Seoul. Seemingly playing out over a single afternoon, the film utilizes repetition and humor emblematic of its filmmaker, delivering an easy, breezy movie that is less interested in narrative than it is in feeling and experience. Huppert’s Iris is hilarious; even without a concrete understanding of her background, her capacity to live in the moment feels liberating. With her unconventional French lessons –– in which she is liable to step out once or twice for a cigarette break –– she appeals to her students to connect with the emotion behind what they say and feel, creating a stimulating push and pull between the stereotypes of the French as passionate creatures and Koreans as a stringent, analytical type.

‘Dahomey,’ dir. Mati Diop

International Oscar Contenders, Black Excellence

Sat, Nov 2, 2:30pm

The epitome of “all killer, no filler,” Diop makes the most of Dahomey’s 67-minute runtime, making each image and line of dialogue count in her latest documentary, which chronicles the 2021 return of 27 Dahomean artifacts from French historical archives to their rightful home in modern-day Benin. Ethereal harps accompany stoic scenes that show the artifacts making their way back to their rightful homeland, exiting the dark bowels of French museums where they have been relegated as treasures emblematic of the high times of the Colonial era. Diop anthropomorphizes some of the treasures, including a statue of Ghezo, a King of Dahomey, with a seemingly primordial voiceover that harkens back to a bygone era of African prosperity with tremendous intrigue and effect. Once Ghezo and his compatriot relics have returned to Benin, a staged open forum at a university opens a fantastic section of Dahomey, in which the younger generations candidly examine many angles of what makes up their rich cultural heritage (including the returned material objects) and how they will uphold and protect it in the future. As with Diop’s 2019 feature Atlantiques, her latest work bears a beautiful sensitivity and fluidity that showcases her decisive vision as a filmmaker with a priority on exploring her African roots and their relationship with the contemporary world.

‘Flow,’ dir. Gints Zilbalodis

International Oscar Contenders, Family Centerpiece Film

Sun, Nov 3, 11:00 am

Flow is a knockout, awe-inspiring from the first shot to the last. Just the second feature from Zilbalodis, Flow took the Latvian filmmaker nearly six years to complete, and the intricate, ambitious final product shows us exactly why. Simple but effective in its storytelling, Flow follows a black cat, capybara, heron-like bird, dog, and lemur––an unlikely company–– who seek shelter together on a decrepit sailboat when waters begin to rise and flood their world. The film presents an ambiguous fable that can be explored from many angles: an eco-parable, a meditation on the connection between living creatures. Stunning imagery combines with the film’s peculiar animation and dynamic score to create a true stunner. Flow will represent Latvia in the upcoming Oscar race for Best International Film.

‘La Cocina,’ dir. Alonso Ruizpalacios

Latinidades

Wed, Oct 30, 8:30 pm

Starring Raúl Briones and Rooney Mara, La Cocina is loosely adapted from a 1957 play. The film takes place over a day in the hellscape of a Times Square tourist trap restaurant, focusing on the back-of-house dynamics of the kitchen staff, mainly made up of immigrants hustling to bring their “American dreams” to life. Ruizpalacios works overtime to flesh out the characterizations of his hefty cast, giving every part a solid purpose and point of view that contributes to the movie’s overall criticisms of the impossibility of benefiting from Capitalism if you are an outlier of those who conventionally profit from its designs. Shot in ravishing black and white by Juan Pablo Ramirez, La Cocina’s camera whips through the labyrinthic bowels of its restaurant setting with a masterful elegance, intercut with flashes of color that work with immense potency.

‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,’ dir. Rungano Nyoni

Thu, Oct 31, 5:30 pm

Oscillating between deep anguish and black humor, Nyoni’s long-awaited follow-up to 2017’s I Am Not a Witch certainly does not disappoint and shows the creative progression of the Welsh-Zambian filmmaker’s vision. Susan Chardy stars in the film as Shula, a thriving young woman who finds her uncle dead on the side of the road shortly after returning to her hometown in Zambia. As intensive traditions take over the funeral ceremony, Shula must reckon with her uncle’s wrongdoings and the unacknowledged effects they have had on her family. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl speaks powerfully to the push and pull between tradition and modernity, family trauma, and gender inequity, building upon Nyoni’s sensibilities from her early work and further laying her foundation as a captivating filmmaker.

‘Pavements,’ dir. Alex Ross Perry

Gala Screenings, Music on Film

Sat, Nov 2, 6:30 pm

Perry’s continued fascination with music bleeds into his latest work, Pavements, an experimental documentary about the iconic 90s band Pavement. Drawing inspiration from a myriad of genres and artistic mediums, Perry plays with the band’s image in creative ways as they prepare for their 2022 tour. Two of the band’s members have a special link with Charlottesville: they met as students at the University of Virginia. Perry will attend the screening and will also receive this year’s VAFF Directorial Award.

‘The Room Next Door,’ dir. Pedro Almodóvar

Gala Screenings, From Page to Film

Sun, Nov 3, 8:00pm

Winner of this year’s Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, The Room Next Door has all of the pieces of a standard Almodóvar film: fantastic lead performances, exquisite style, and emotional storytelling. Yet, in ways, this work feels the most removed from the Spanish auteur’s oeuvre, though not in a bad way. Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore star in what is essentially a two-hander about a pair of longtime friends who reignite their friendship when one of them becomes terminally ill. The movie focuses on the dialogue between the women and their discussions of memory, death, and the world’s future. Rather buttoned up in comparison to some of Almodóvar’s other films, there is something too elegant, too restrained in this first English language effort. Nevertheless, The Room Next Door is effectively moving in its contemplations of mortality.

‘Vermiglio,’ dir. Maura Delpero

International Oscar Contenders

Sat, Nov 2, 7:45 pm

Italy’s contender for the approaching Academy Awards race for Best International Film, Vermiglio impressed Venice Film Festival audiences after its premiere and ultimately won the Grand Jury Prize. Set during the sunset of the Second World War, the film centers around a remote Italian village where rigid conservatism permeates the life of a young woman who falls deeply in love with a soldier returning from battle. Hailed for its stunning cinematography and emotional strength, Vermiglio will likely gain fans on its pitstop in Charlottesville before its theatrical release later this year.