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'Animal' Film Fest kicks off at Bayly

One might have thought they took a wrong turn and landed in Hollywood last night as the 13th Annual Virginia Film Festival kicked off with a gala opening at the Bayly Art Museum.

But just because it has entered its teen years does not mean the Festival has shifted its gears into more refined territory. In fact, this year's theme is "Animal Attractions."

One of the highlights of the Festival is the return of film critic Roger Ebert, who comes every other year to deliver a shot-by-shot analysis of a movie. This year, he devoted his seminar to Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds."

"I love doing Hitchcock," Ebert said. "I've [analyzed] probably a dozen Hitchcock films in over the years, and if you're thinking of animals, why not 'The Birds'?"

 
Related Links
  • href="http://www.vafilm.com/">Virginia Film Festival Web site

  • href="http://www.vafilm.com/cgi-bin/schedule.cgi">Festival Schedule

  • He said he intended to make the most of the Festival and was looking forward to the preview of "Shadow of the Vampire," a new film about the making of the classic vampire film "Nosferatu," which also played last night.

    "Shadow," which has received impressive Oscar buzz while touring the festival circuit, stars John Malkovich as German director F. W. Murnau and Willem Dafoe as actor Max Schreck.

    If that last name sounds familiar, it may be because it was also the name of Christopher Walken's sinister character in the 1992 film "Batman Returns," written by 1976 University graduate and Charlottesville native Sam Hamm. Hamm also penned the original "Batman" and "Never Cry Wolf," which also is playing at the Festival. Though credited with the story for the "Batman" sequel, Hamm said the final product was somebody else's work.

    "I did a script for it, which they were set to go with," he said, "and then kind of junked it to bring Tim [Burton, the director of the original] onto it."

    Hamm revealed that his version of the script had the same roster of villains, but "the core of the story was about Batman finding out where the family money came from.

    "It was kind of an ugly revelation for Bruce [Wayne], and in the course of finding out where the family money came from, he also found out why his dad got killed, and it wasn't an accident."

    Hamm did go on to say that he is optimistic about a pending fifth installment of the "Batman" series, helmed by director Darren Aronofsky, best known for the 1998 sleeper "Pi."

    Hamm's next script, "Monkeybone," is about a cartoon monkey brought to life. Directed by Henry Selick, the movie stars Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg and Chris Kattan, who Hamm described as "a joy to work with." It is slated for a spring release date.

    Additionally, Hamm and fellow screenwriter Dorothy Tristan (whose "A Piece of Eden" plays this weekend) co-host a panel today to give advice for aspiring film scribes.

    Though not present at last night's gala opening, four-time Oscar-nominee Anthony Hopkins will be on hand tomorrow to accept the 2000 Virginia Film Award. Two of his movies also will be shown: "Titus," last year's update of Shakepeare's first work, and "The Silence of the Lambs," for which he won 1991's Best Actor Academy Award.

    Ebert complimented the people who put the Festival together.

    "They are so expert and so knowledgeable in film," he said. "They are very cinematically literate"

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