Virginia Film Festival set to kick off

From a sold-out opening night showing and gala celebration to the gritty truth of the civil rights movement and murderous zombies, there’s both hair and flair in the offerings of this year’s Virginia Film Festival.

The fest kicks off tonight with the sold-out showing of the critically acclaimed film “The Black Swan” at the Culbreth Theatre, followed by the 9:30 p.m. grand opening gala at Alumni Hall. The festival continues through Sunday; the last day features a showing of “happythankyoumoreplease,” a film by Josh Radnor, star of the hit CBS comedy “How I Met Your Mother.”

In between, festivalgoers will get a chance to meet and listen to Peter Bogdanovich, who will present his award winning “Paper Moon” and “The Last Picture Show” films and participate in a question-and-answer session with film critic David Edelstein.

Guillermo del Toro, writer and director of “Pan’s Labyrinth,” was originally scheduled to preview a film and talk with festival patrons but has had to cancel.

More than 130 films are being screened during the festival, director Jody Kielbasa said.

“It’s great to have 134 films in four days, films that provide a wide variety of topics and themes and styles,” he said. “We’ve got independent films, small studio films, classic films and films from new filmmakers. We asked for film submissions this year, and we had 330 to choose from.”

Another highlight of this year’s festival, Kielbasa said, will be “Freedom Riders,” a new documentary marking the 50th anniversary of the 400 Americans who endured beatings and imprisonment for violating Jim Crow laws by taking buses and trains into the South in 1961.

The documentary will be screened along with a panel discussion moderated by Larry J. Sabato, director of UVa’s Center for Politics, that includes several of the freedom riders themselves.

“We’ve had a remarkable response from the community with this year’s festival and that’s a very rewarding feeling,” Kielbasa said.

That’s especially nice since this is the first year the festival has gone without an over-arching theme. In years past, the films have been chosen by genre, from film noir to funny business, but this year the festival dropped the idea.

Instead, Kielbasa and festival officials have scoured other festivals for fine films, contacted foreign filmmakers and focused on variety and excellence.

“In moving away from a theme, we’ve opened up the floodgates and are able to present a dynamic, contemporary program,” he said. “I spoke to a lot of people about the idea of a theme to get their responses and everyone agreed that the theme-time had run its course.”

Kielbasa said the festival will allow local movie fans to see films that they may otherwise miss.

“There are some great foreign films that may not otherwise make it to Charlottesville and a lot of small, independent films that may not be shown here, and this gives moviegoers a chance to discover movies, great stories and ideas that they may otherwise miss,” he said.

“There are still some classic movies being shown, but when it comes to a lot of classics, there is a cable television network that does a great job of allowing classics to be seen — Turner Classic Movies — but there’s no real place to see alternative movies,” he said. “There’s a great variety in the programming for the festival that will give everyone something to enjoy.”