I Play Rocky won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, and Admission Possible won the Best Documentary Feature award at the 39th Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville.
The Festival, which ran from October 21-25, showcased 134 films and welcomed 122 industry guests, speakers, and discussants from around the world, and saw a record-breaking 26,613 total attendances and 64 sold-out events.
“I have been saying since we announced our program in late September that this was the most impressive program I’ve seen in my 18 years here,” said Jody Kielbasa, Executive Director of the Virginia Film Festival and Vice Provost for the Arts at the University of Virginia. “But the reality on the ground was better than anything I could have imagined. I can’t remember ever feeling this kind of excitement in the air thanks to the remarkable curation of the program by our Artistic Director Ilya Tovbis and the incredible discussions with our guests. I think Nathan Lane captured the spirit of the entire Festival perfectly when he took the stage to a rousing standing ovation and said, ‘They say that Virginia is for Lovers, and I can certainly feel the love here today.’ I can’t think of a better way to set the table for our upcoming 40th anniversary year.”
Ilya Tovbis, Virginia Film Festival Artistic Director, added, “I feel immense gratitude to our community for showing up—in every meaning of the phrase—over the last 5 days. They said it time and time again, and I can’t help but echo their sentiment: the state of cinema is strong. The urgency of the stories told on screen and the brilliant artistry with which they were realized, brought us together, made our hearts swell, and built empathy towards one another. From first-time filmmakers to legendary icons, the artists who flocked to the Virginia Film Festival gave testament to the unifying power of moving image at a moment when the arts have never mattered more.”
2026 Virginia Film Festival Audience Awards Winners
Narrative Feature: I Play Rocky
Documentary Feature: Admission Possible
Narrative Short: Getar Hero
Documentary Short: Sarah Ann Kelley: Becoming Visible
Additional 2026 Award Winners
Career Producer Honor: Todd Black (The Social Reckoning & Madden Clip Talk)
Chronicler Award: Penny Lane (Wild Inside)
Craft Award for Production Design: Ruth De Jong (Building Worlds Panel)
Governor Gerald L. Baliles Founders Award: Daphne Maxwell Reid (The Cashier)
Outstanding Achievement in Directing: James Gray (Paper Tiger)
Outstanding Achievement in Film Composition: Cristóbal Tapia de Veer (Club Kid)
Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting: Chuko Esiri (Clarissa)
Virtuoso Award: Tim Blake Nelson (The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd)
Visionary Award: Nathan Lane (The Birdcage – 30th Anniversary Screening)
Visionary Award: Jessica Lange (Long Day’s Journey Into Night)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.