Opening Night Film Just Mercy, with Michael B. Jordan as social justice warrior Brian Stevenson and Jamie Foxx as one of the first wrongly-convicted death row inmates he fought for, won the Virginia Film Festival Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. Earning the audience award for Best Documentary Feature was Sing You a Brand New Song, a story about how the power of love and music can transcend even tragedy.

VAFF Director and UVA Vice Provost for the Arts Jody Kielbasa called this year’s Festival particularly memorable for the range of experiences it provided and the topics it tackled. “We are really proud to have had the chance not only to bring our community an extraordinary collection of films, but to play an important role in facilitating conversations that are critically important here in Charlottesville and around our world.” Kielbasa pointed to the VAFF’s Race in America series as a prime example. “From our Opening Night screening of Just Mercy, the story of social justice hero Bryan Stevenson and his incredible work freeing wrongly-convicted, condemned prisoners on death row; to our Saturday night Centerpiece screening of Harriet, which of course tells the story of American hero Harriet Tubman and was filmed right here in the Commonwealth; to powerful films like Burning Cane and Pahokee, we are so proud to have provided a forum for this community and for our visitors that allows us to continue this dialogue.”

2019 VAFF Audience Awards

Narrative Feature: Just Mercy

Documentary Feature: Sing You a Brand New Song

Narrative Short: Esta Es Tu Cuba

Documentary Short: Lost & Found

2019 Programmers’ Awards

Narrative Feature: Postal

Documentary Feature: Always in Season

Narrative Short: The Elephant’s Song

Documentary Short: Take Me to Prom