Virginia Film Festival

41on41

41 storytellers weave a multidimensional profile of President George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of…

All Fall Down

In Baltimore 1972, a senseless murder rocked the Selhorst family, leaving thirteen children without a father.…

Another Way of Living: The Story of Reston, VA

Visionary American urban planner Robert Simon believed that building community is more important than creating buildings.…

The Birth of a Nation

A century after its debut, Griffith’s groundbreaking film remains one of the most important works in…

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is the first feature-length documentary to explore the Black…

Bombs Away: LBJ, Goldwater and the 1964 Campaign that Changed it All

Looking back a half-century to the 1964 White House contest between President Lyndon Johnson and Senator…

Boom and Bust: America’s Journey on the Erie Canal

A meditation on economic cycles and the American Dream, this remarkable film tells the tale of…

Born on the Fourth of July

Ron Kovic enlists in the Marines and, by 1968, is a sergeant fighting in the Vietnam…

Bound: African vs African Americans

The divide between Africans and African Americans is complex and seldom explored. Opening with personal testimonials…

Court

An independent and multilingual film, Court examines the Indian legal system through the trial of an…

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Political satire abounds in this Cold War era, Oscar-nominated black comedy. Chaos ensues in the War…

Fed Up

Upending the conventional wisdom of why we gain weight and how to lose it, Fed Up…

Fishing Without Nets

preceded by the short film The Exhibitor (8 min.) Abdi, a principled but struggling young Somali fisherman,…

Freedom Summer

In the hot and deadly summer of 1964, the nation’s eyes were riveted on Mississippi. Despite…

Frost/Nixon

Based on a series of 1977 interviews between television personality David Frost (Sheen) and former President…

Future Dreaming

Future Dreaming is the result of a chance meeting between two people on a boat in…

Generation A: Portraits of Autism in the Arts

Through eight compelling portraits, Generation A celebrates the talents of youths with autism, and provides them…

How I Got Over

Before taking the stage for a groundbreaking one-night-only performance at The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts,…

Larry Kramer in Love and Anger

This powerful documentary candidly peers into the life of visionary author and playwright Larry Kramer, the…

Las maestras de la República

Education was one of the greatest social tenets of Spain's Second Republic, with the objective of…

A Light Beneath Their Feet

A Light Beneath Their Feet follows a family coping with the mother’s bipolar disorder. Gloria (Manning,…

Mekko

Mekko, a Muscogee man, has just been released from prison after serving 19 years for murder…

Most Likely to Succeed

Director Greg Whiteley examines the history of education in the United States, revealing the growing shortcomings…

Mully

What happens when a six-year-old boy in Kenya is abandoned by his family and left to…

Out in the Night

In 2006, four young African-American lesbians in a gay-friendly neighborhood of New York City are violently…

Private Violence

It is a simple, and deeply disturbing fact of American life: the most dangerous place for…

Projections of America

Narrated by John Lithgow, the film uncovers the lost “Projections of America”—a series of 26 short…

Radical Grace

In 2011 the Vatican was reprimanding American nuns for “radical feminism”—for focusing on social justice work…

Rappahannock

This documentary was commissioned by Friends of the Rappahannock, a Fredericksburg, Virginia–based nonprofit that has been…

Red Army

Fueled by the height of Cold War passions, hockey served as a form of propaganda in…

The Redfern Story

The Redfern Story documents the efforts of a small group of untrained, but passionate, activists in…

Reel In The Closet

Discover the lost news stories, community productions, and home movies that generations of LGBTQ people have…

Rosenwald

Director Aviva Kempner examines the often-overlooked philanthropy and civil rights activism of Julius Rosenwald, the former…

Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot

This is a free, unticketed event. Please arrive 15 to 30 minutes before the listed start…

Sembene!

Sembene! documents the life of Ousmane Sembene, a self-taught novelist and filmmaker who fought a 50-year…

She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry

Artfully combining dramatizations, interviews, and archival imagery, the film recounts the stories of women fighting on…

SlingShot

SlingShot focuses on the extensive efforts by noted inventor Dean Kamen, renowned for the development of…

Southeast 67

Preceded by the short film Amazing Journey (13 min.) This documentary combines raw, never-before-seen footage and…

Spent: Looking for Change

A film that follows the stories of everyday Americans who earn, save, and spend money, but…

Taxi

Internationally acclaimed director Jafar Panahi drives a yellow cab through the vibrant streets of Tehran in…

Teen Press

Seven years ago, two optimistic Santa Barbara Middle School teachers, David Teton-Landis and John Seigel Boettner,…

This Time Next Year

In October 2012, Superstorm Sandy swept along the East Coast. Eighteen miles long and only a…

Walesa: Man of Hope

Famous journalist Oriana Fallaci conducts a daringly brazen interview, with former Polish “Solidarity” movement leader Lech…