The leaves have begun to change color, the air is crisp and it's not uncommon to see a sweater or two around. It's autumn in central Virginia. Yearly, during this scenic season, the University welcomes some of Hollywood's brightest stars and most engaging minds.
The 19th annual Virginia Film Festival opens this evening with screenings in theaters all over town. This year the Festival welcomes a number of high-profile guests including Robert Duvall, Morgan Freeman and Liev Schreiber.
While Festival director Richard Herskowitz has called this year's lineup the most "star-studded" yet, he was quick to note that the Festival is much more than its stars. Alongside cinematic presentations from these big-name guests, the Festival will screen a wide range of films from actors and directors both known and unknown.
"In some ways this film festival is burdened by its phenomenal track record," Herskowitz said.
In its early years the Festival welcomed film legends Jimmy Stewart, Robert Mitchum and Sidney Poitier. A similar tradition has continued in its later years with visits from Anthony Hopkins, Nicolas Cage and Sandra Bullock.
Despite the Festival's ability to attract guests of such notoriety, Herskowitz calls them the "icing on the cake."
An anomaly in the film world, the Virginia Film Festival is "more of a retreat than a market," Herskowitz said.
Instead of asking guests to show their most popular films, the Festival asks them to show the film with the most sentimental value. For Robert Duvall, this year's recipient of the Virginia Film Award, that means a special screening of The Apostle, a 1998 film he wrote and directed. This kind of freedom also allows well-known actor Morgan Freeman to present 10 Items or Less, a new low-budget independent film in which he stars.
According to Herskowitz, the unique nature of the Festival and Charlottesville's rural setting offer people in the industry a place to "recharge their batteries and to really talk about what motivates them to make art."
Charlottesville's small-town appeal has impressed some of the stars themselves. Last year, Herskowitz related that writer-director Harold Ramis said, "They don't have a theater as beautiful as [The Paramount] in Chicago."
While the Festival helps the state promote film production in Virginia and the community to attract tourists, it also greatly benefits the University -- Drama Department students will meet with Duvall, Freeman and Schreiber for a private forum on acting.
Students will also be participating in the Volvo Adrenaline Film Project, a unique competition where teams have three days to write, cast, shoot, edit and screen a film. For the first time, a visiting director, either Tom Shadyac or Brad Silberling, will have the opportunity to see the teams' rough cuts and comment on them prior to the final awards ceremony.
Herskowitz described these student opportunities as "exciting for a school with less film production offerings."
In addition, Herskowitz has also worked in conjunction with many professors who have incorporated selections from the Festival into their classes. Two such instructors, English Professors Jahan Ramazani and Mark Edmundson, will speak after Iraq In Fragments and Jesus Camp, respectively. They are among 20 other University professors who will present during the Festival.
To those who are unsure whether they should see any of the featured films this weekend, Herskowitz offers the selection of movies screening at Newcomb Theater as an incentive.
"A lot of what we show in the film festival are films that people are going to be talking about in a few weeks to a few months before they come out theatrically, and people are going to be kicking themselves that they didn't see them now," Herskowitz said.
The Virginia Film Festival has become one of the most successful and well-respected regional festivals in the United States. Attracting stars from Hollywood and around the world, it offers film buffs a forum for stimulating and rewarding conversation. It's a rare opportunity for townspeople and University students alike to gather for one of Charlottesville's autumn traditions.
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