The 37th edition of the Virginia Film Festival running from October 30 to November 3, 2024 in Charlottesville, Virginia, announced this year’s lineup of films including Oscar buzzed films Anora, Bird, Blitz, Emilia Pérez, The Fire Inside, The Last Showgirl, Memoir of a Snail, Nightbitch, Pavements, The Piano Lesson, A Real Pain, and The Room Next Door

The festival will open with Sean Baker’s Anora, centering on a transcendent Mikey Madison as a sex worker from Brooklyn, who gets her shot at a Cinderella story upon meeting and impulsively marrying the son of a Russian oligarch. The film won this year’s coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making it the first U.S. production to do so since 2011. Special guests from the cast will be on hand, and the film’s distributor NEON will receive the inaugural Impresario Award, with Founder and CEO Tom Quinn accepting the honor. 

The Centerpiece Film is Emilia Pérez from Academy Award-nominee Jacques Audiard (The Prophet) that tells the story of a Mexican drug kingpin who hires a defense attorney (Zoe Saldaña) to help fake her death and receive gender affirmation surgery. The crime drama-meets intricate family tale-meets exuberant musical won the Jury Prize for director at the Cannes Film Festival and its quartet of leads, including Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Karla Sofía Gascón shared Best Actress honors, making Gascón the first openly trans actor to be honored at the festival.

Other highlights include All We Imagine as Light, the feature debut from Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia and winner of the Grand Prix at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival; Daniel Robbins’ comedy Bad Shabbos, starring Kyra Sedgwick and Method Man; The Bitter Pill from Award-winning filmmaker and Charlottesville native Clay Tweel (Gleason); Raoul Peck’s new documentary Ernest Cole: Lost and Found on the legendary South African photographer; Mati Diop’s Dahomey, winner of the 2024 Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival; and Zurawski v Texas chronicling the efforts of an attorney fighting on behalf of a group of Texas women amid the restrictive abortion laws there.

The VAFF program also includes ten official International Oscar Selections: Dahomey (Senegal); Emilia Pérez (France); Flow (Latvia); The Girl with the Needle (Denmark); The Glassworker (Pakistan); I’m Still Here (Brazil); The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany); Under the Volcano (Poland); Universal Language (Canada); and Vermiglio (Italy).  

“Over the past several years, the Virginia Film Festival has cemented its reputation for offering deep and rich programming that matches up with any regional festival in the country,” said VAFF Executive Director and UVA Vice Provost for the Arts Jody Kielbasa. “This year we are building on that reputation with an extraordinary program that highlights the best that cinema has to offer across the world and throughout all genres as we continue to be a driving cultural force not only here in Charlottesville but throughout the Commonwealth and beyond.”

2024 Gala Screenings

Bird, the latest from heralded UK filmmaker Andrea Arnold (Fishtank, American Honey), weaves fantasy with reality to tell the story of a 12-year-old street smart girl escaping her life with her sister and eccentric father (Barry Keoghan) through a relationship with the troubled and enigmatic Bird (Franz Rogowski).

Blitz, from Academy Award-winning director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) tells the story of a young boy who undertakes a perilous journey to reunite with his mother (Saoirse Ronan) during the WWII bombing of London.

The Fire Inside, written by Barry Jenkins and directed by Rachel Morrison, is the inspirational story of boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, a Flint, Michigan boxer who is battling to make the 2012 U.S. Olympic Women’s Boxing team and become the first American to win a gold medal in the sport.

The Last Showgirl, directed by Gia Coppola and starring Pamela Anderson as a seasoned performer who must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run. Cast includes Jamie Lee Curtis, David Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka, and Billie Lourd.

Memoir of a Snail, a bittersweet memoir of a melancholic woman named Grace Pudel, a hoarder of snails, romance novels, and guinea pigs; directed by the Academy Award-winning Adam Elliot (Mary and Max), who will accept the inaugural Achievement in Animation Award.

Nightbitch, six-time Academy Award-nominee Amy Adams is a tour de force as a woman who pauses her career to be a full-time mom and experiences a surreal transformation in the process. Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) directs this adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s widely acclaimed debut novel. Followed by discussion with producer Anne Carey.

Pavements, a hybridized documentary that melds fact, narrative, scripted reenactment, staged musical, and metatextual elements to bottle the spirit of iconic 90s indie band Pavement (which has deep roots at the University of Virginia and Charlottesville). Director Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell) will accept the Directorial Achievement Award.

The Piano Lesson, a strikingly cinematic adaptation of August Wilson’s titular play from Executive Producer Denzel Washington, directed by Malcolm Washington, and starring John David Washington (BlackKkKlansman) and Danielle Deadwyler. The film hinges on a fraught decision of what to do with a family piano that stirs up generations of trauma and memory.

A Real Pain, written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, pairs Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin as mismatched cousins who come together after their beloved Holocaust-surviving grandmother’s death for a pilgrimage to her homeland that resurfaces old tensions between the two.

The Room Next Door, the first English language feature from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, follows writers Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton), who reconnect years after losing touch, at a pivotal moment in both their lives.

Saturday Night, Jason Reitman’s reimagining of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up of the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. Followed by a discussion with actor Lamorne Morris who will receive the Virtuoso Award.

Unstoppable, starring Jharrel Jerome (Moonlight, When They See Us) is the inspirational true story of wrestler Anthony Robles. Born without a right leg, Robles overcomes the odds in his quest to be a Division I champion wrestler with the support of his mother (Jennifer Lopez) and devoted coaches (Don Cheadle and Michael Peña).

2024 Spotlight Films

Bob Trevino Likes It, a semi-autobiographical tale starring Barbie Ferreira (Euphoria) and John Leguizamo (The Menu) about a young woman who seeks out her estranged father online. Writer and director Tracie Laymon will be on hand for a post-screening discussion.

Day of the Fight, On the day of his first fight since leaving prison, Mikey, a once celebrated boxer, takes a redemptive journey through his past and his present, putting his own life at risk due to a medical condition only he knows about. Writer/director Jack Huston will accept the Achievement in Screenwriting Award.

The End is a post-apocalyptic musical from filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing) starring Tilda Swinton as the matriarch of an extremely wealthy family who live in a luxurious bunker amidst the devastation of the world around them. The film is part of the series honoring NEON.

Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light is an insightful documentary from Charlottesville’s Academy Award-winning filmmakers Ellen and Paul Wagner that chronicles the fascinating life, extraordinary artistry, and enduring legacy of the “Mother of American Modernism.” Ellen and Paul Wagner will accept the Governor Gerald L. Baliles Founder’s Award.

Luther: Never Too Much, from award-winning filmmaker Dawn Porter, is a delicate and graceful look at the life, career, and legacy of one of the most celebrated musical artists of all time. Director Dawn Porter will accept the Chronicler Award.

The Penguin, this recently debuted HBO original TV series picks up right where The Batman (2022) film left off, following the story of Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell) as he climbs the ranks of Gotham’s crime hierarchy. Production designer Kalina Ivanov will accept the Craft Award.

Presence, a haunting psychological thriller from Steven Soderbergh that explores grief, connection, and puts a new spin on the horror genre by having much of the film take place from the point of view of a voyeuristic, housebound spirit. The film is part of the series honoring NEON.

The Summer Book, an adaptation of the book by Tove Jansson, is a bittersweet coming-of-age story about a young girl spending a summer with her father (Anders Danielsen Lie, Worst Person in the World) and grandmother (Glenn Close) as each try to come to terms with the loss of her mother.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig, from award-winning Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, is the story how the struggles of a newly appointed judge’s family reflect the clash of modern and traditional values in today’s Tehran. The film earned a Special Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film is part of the series honoring NEON.

2024 Film Series

After Hours 

Catch a Killer 
Chainsaws Were Singing 
Get Away 
Mayfair Witches
Nightbitch
Presence 

Black Excellence

The Black Sea 
Dahomey 
Ernest Cole: Lost and Found 
Luther: Never Too Much 
The Piano Lesson
Rooted
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat 

Indigenous Cinema of the Americas

Jazzy 
Tautuktavuk (What We See) 
Wilfred Buck

 Jewish 

Bad Shabbos  
A Real Pain
Sabbath Queen

Korean

FAQ 
Ms. Apocalypse 
Transplant
A Traveler’s Needs

Latinidades 

Emilia Pérez 
I’m Still Here
La Cocina 
Prodigal Daughter 
We Shall Not Be Moved 

LGBTQIA+  

Emilia Pérez
Luther: Never Too Much 
Prodigal Daughter 
Sabbath Queen 
The World According to Allee Willis  

Middle Eastern and South Asian Cinema

All We Imagine as Light 
The Glassworker 
Nocturnes 
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Universal Language

Music on Film 

Adrianne & the Castle 
Amadeus – 40th Anniversary Screening
The Black Sea
Emilia Pérez
Luther: Never Too Much
Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird
Pavements
The Piano Lesson 
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Unlikely Allies
The World According to Allee Willis   

Nature & Environment

Every Little Thing
Nocturnes
Plastic People 
Rooted 
The Shepherd and the Bear
Wilfred Buck 

Page to Screen 

Every Little Thing
I’m Still Here
La Cocina
Mayfair Witches
Nightbitch 
The Piano Lesson 
The Room Next Door
The Summer Book  

Virginia Filmmaking

The Bitter Pill 
Catch a Killer
Defenders of Democracy: The Thin Blue Line 
Dementia and Living Well 
Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light 

Voices of the Formerly Incarcerated 

InThrive: Incarceration of Survivors’ Voices 
Juvenile: Five Stories  
Unlikely Allies