During the course of its existence, the Virginia Film Festival has cultivated a reputation as one of the country’s most unique and exciting cinema events. Combining the screening of new and classic films with open discussions with directors and film scholars, it has gained a reputation both for its eclectic movie roster and emphasis on education and discussion. One of the biggest annual events in Charlottesville, this year’s festival features more than 80 films and 100 guest speakers.
This time around, the festival theme is aliens — a term that encompasses illegal immigration, extraterrestrials and outsiders. While each of these subjects is given extensive consideration, the festival especially focuses on contemporary immigration issues, with a special emphasis on films about Mexican and Central American immigrants. The films that explore these weighty subjects are often simultaneously light and serious. Richard Herskowitz, the festival’s artistic director, said the festival looks for themes that are “both intellectual stimulating and politically provocative ... and just plain fun.”
The choice of aliens was motivated by the provocative and somewhat dangerous tendency to label illegal immigrants as aliens, especially in our political discourse. Herskowitz found that a number of science fiction films have explored this connection between aliens and illegal immigration. He asked, “doesn’t that automatically make people think of immigrants as invaders?”
These kinds of preconceptions are exactly what Herskowitz said he hopes to challenge this weekend. As mentioned earlier, the Virginia Film Festival is unique for its emphasis on education and discussion — evidenced by the plethora of speakers. Indeed, one of the most important goals of the Virginia Film Festival is to increase audience participation in film.
“Theaters are a place where the public gathers,” Herskowitz said. “They shouldn’t just be ushered in and out of the theater. They should be given an opportunity for feedback and participation and open a dialogue with the director.”
Some prominent figures on the guest list include Mauritanian-French director Abderrahmane Sissako (Waiting for Happiness, Life on Earth), novelist-screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, Babel) and Sean Baker (Greg the Bunny, Take Out). Iranian-American film scholar Hamid Naficy will give the festival’s keynote speech and will teach the festival’s one-credit film class.
While other festivals tend to show new films and previews, the Virginia Film Festival shows both new and classic films. Notably, the list of new films includes August Evening — an acclaimed drama about an aging farm worker named Jaime and his young, widowed daughter — and My Life Inside — a documentary about an illegal immigrant nanny who was tried for murder. The Film Festival, however, will also be screening several classic films. For example, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the classic immigration film El Norte. To celebrate this event, director Gregory Nava will be available after the film for an open discussion Sunday.
The Film Festival is set to begin tonight at McCormick Observatory with a special 70th anniversary presentation of Orson Welles’ infamous “War of the Worlds” radio play. When originally broadcast in 1938, this adaptation caused an incredible panic when radio listeners tuned in halfway through the show and thought aliens actually were invading.
While we can hope that no such panic will be invoked by this year’s festival, it’s likely that these movies will challenge your preconceived notions and get you thinking about familiar issues in a new light. We may not worry about alien invasion, but we are still a nation on edge, and the Virginia Film Festival will raise several contemporary questions that need addressing.
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