Virginia Film Festival is back in-person in its 34th year with a vibrant and diverse program of more than 85 films, including 60 features, and an outstanding lineup of special guests and discussions. The 2021 VAFF will feature theatrical presentations as well as reprise last year’s popular drive-in series at the picturesque Morven Farm in eastern Albemarle County.
Belfast, directed by Kenneth Branagh won the People’s Choice Award, the top prize at the 46th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. The TIFF 2021 People’s Choice Documentary Award went to The Rescue, directed by E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin; and the TIFF 2021 People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award winner is Titane, directed by Julia Ducournau.
Mill Valley Film Festival announced the lineup of 118 films – 65 features and 53 shorts, for the 44th edition of the festival headlined by Joe Wright’s Cyrano as opening night film, Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Centerpiece film and Wes Anderson’s star-studded The French Dispatch as closing night film.
Check out the official trailer for Belfast, Kenneth Branagh’s Irish coming-of-age drama making its world premiere this weekend at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival. Belfast is described as “the humorous, tender and intensely personal story of one boy’s childhood during the tumult of the late 1960s.”
The feature-film adaptation of the Tony Award–winning musical Dear Evan Hansen is the Opening Night Gala Presentation at the 46th Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Stephen Chbosky, Dear Evan Hansen is the story of a high-school senior with a debilitating anxiety disorder whose private letter to himself as part of a therapy exercise lands in the hands of a fellow classmate, with tragic consequences. The incident propels Evan on a journey of self-discovery that leads him toward belonging and acceptance, not only among the people who love him, but also by Evan himself. Starring Tony winner Ben Platt as Evan, along with Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, and Nik Dodani, Dear Evan Hansen features songs from the original Broadway sensation.
