Charlottesville boasts renowned venues for all kinds of art -- live, contemporary and classic -- and hosts the legendary Virginia Film Festival. We have dozens of programs to inspire the community's creativity.
Enter The Bridge, an up-and-coming progressive arts initiative and venue fills a niche Charlottesville lacks; it's a home for experimental, obscure, yet influential films and art.
Starting in October, in conjunction with the Virginia Film Society, The Bridge will introduce its "Fall Film Series."
"The films in this particular series are from a pretty diverse selection," The Bridge's program director Greg Kelly said. "Our intent is to provide a forum for these types of films, films that are more underground, experimental and that don't have a consistent home in the community."
After the success of their summer film series, The Bridge wanted to provide a way for local artists to present their works to a larger, more diverse audience.
"The summer was a very successful season," Kelly said. "Overall, the [fall series] allows a wider audience to see the work. The framework of the project is oriented around collaboration with the community."
The inspiration for a film series came after a screening of the film Free Style at The Jefferson Theater in February 2005. After a great turnout (including Richard Herskowitz, the director of the Virginia Film Festival and the Virginia Film Society), The Bridge had a lot of enthusiasm for bringing high-caliber films to the Charlottesville community.
"We wanted to make the film series more dynamic and have individuals introduce each film," Kelly said. "We hope to bring in the actual directors eventually. It gives the audience a dynamic education. The people get a richer experiences and the series has more depth."
The "Fall Film Series" will screen several unique films, starting with the classic Tony Silver's documentary, Style Wars. Each showing will consist of two films which will create and balance a theme for the night. The series will feature subjects such as "Experimental Abstraction," "Narrative Deconstruction" and a night of "Food in Films."
"The film series will feature some established work, with filmmakers people know and work that may be in a wider range of cinema," Kelly said. "This gives space for young, up-and-coming filmmakers."
The "Fall Film Series" hopes to help younger filmmakers make an impact; before the screenings, The Bridge will show shorts from film-school students before beginning the night's feature, blending the presence of the "new in [the] company of established filmmakers."
The showing of Style Wars is also a precursor for upcoming project, "We People," a collaboration between The Bridge and artist Joey Garfield, who contributed to Style Wars. In this way, the series highlights "links between programs and projects" that dig deep into the "community's roots," according to Kelly.
The Bridge has already had significant impact on the Charlottesville community, especially the youth.
"There is a strong response from the community to support what we're doing," Kelly said. "We have a wide breadth of audience, ranging from young filmmakers to people more established in the arts community. There is an enormous amount of enthusiasm and energy for what we are doing. The community seems to love it and are giving us a lot of support -- that reassures us."
With a full plate in front of them, The Bridge has prepared a series that will provide Charlottesville another angle from which to view the world. In a community that embraces art in all mediums, the "Fall Film Series" promises to bring what Charlottesville has been missing: a forum for the avant-garde, the experimental and the unique.
"Our mission is to try to build a community and social capital with collaboration of the arts," Kelly said. The Bridge "has young, fresh energy and we are able to shift gears without restriction. We're gifted with versatility."
The "Fall Film Series" opens Thursday, Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. and runs every Thursday through Nov. 30.
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