This was a year of major innovations for the Film Festival, as we branched out with exciting new programs and partnerships. In the spring, we co-organized a conference on Women and Iranian Cinema with U.Va.'s Studies in Women and Gender and the Persian Program. This pioneering conference included scholarly papers by critics and scholars (including Hamid Naficy and Jonathan Rosenbaum), a slide lecture by the renowned installation artist Shirin Neshat, and premieres of important new Iranian films.

The fall Film Festival included two sidebar programs that stretched the boundaries of the Festival considerably. The first was a Fringe Festival, a massive art exhibition and performance series that filled three buildings in the Frank Ix complex and ran for three weeks in October and November. Faculty and student artists from U.Va.'s departments of Art, Music, Drama, Architecture, and Creative Writing created works tying into the Festival theme of Masquerades, making the Film Festival more of a multi-arts event than ever before. The other innovation was the first Darden Producers Forum, which was addressed by U.Va. alumnus Marc Abraham. Abraham offered a revelatory look behind the scenes at the financing and marketing of Spy Game, the new blockbuster that he produced. The excitement the program generated among Darden students and faculty guaranteed that this will be the first of many collaborative programs with the Darden School exploring the business of filmmaking.

Abraham also brought along a sneak preview of The Palace Thief, his new production starring Kevin Kline. Along with producer Mark Johnson, who brought a sneak preview of the Dustin Hoffman - Susan Sarandon film Goodbye Hello with its director, Brad Silberling, Abraham benefited from the feedback on editing choices he received from the Festival's intelligent audience.

The Film Festival itself was one of the best-received programs ever, thanks to the participation of several extraordinary guests. Particularly well-received were the series of panels in the "Storming the Media" series, including a screenwriters forum on the impact of September 11 on filmmaking, featuring Frank Pierson, Gregory Allen Howard, and Steven Peros, and workshops with Sydney Pollack and Stan Winston. Pollack, as many commentators in the press noted, was a captivating speaker and was adored by Festival audiences. His conversations with film scholars Walter Korte and Peter Brunette were, for many, among the best film classes ever offered at the University. Winston, in his third annual visit, was equally generous with his time and appearances-he lectured on makeup and special effects, premiered his new production She-Creature, and introduced a tribute to his idol, Lon Chaney.

Actress Gena Rowlands made a strong impression on audiences, especially acting students and faculty; it was particularly moving both for her and for me to see the emotional, grateful responses from viewers who had never before been exposed to A Woman Under the Influence and Love Streams. Among these viewers was the actress and producer Lisa Blount, whose short film The Accountant blew away audiences at its two screenings (short films were particularly strong this year, particularly the films in the Women's Masks program, including Nicole Kassell's The Green Hour).

Although Henry Jaglom, Victoria Foyt, and Mark Rappaport had to cancel their trips, they each appeared through live, and lively, audio hookups (on opening night, an actor stood in for Jaglom while his voice was piped in from Los Angeles). These cancellations were balanced by a couple of surprise appearances. Following the premiere of DeeDee Halleck's new documentary on Bread and Puppet Theater, fans in the theater were electrified when a voice asking questions from the house turned out to be Peter Schumann, the group's legendary founder. Schumann then joined his company, and many local residents, for an unforgettable live performance outside the Festival gala at the University Art Museum. Critic Godfrey Cheshire capped off his brilliant comments on Abbas Kiarostami's Close Up by introducing the director's son, Bahman Kiarostami, who gave an insider's account of the film's production.

The Festival's growing reputation as a celebration of all the arts was enhanced not only by the Fringe Festival, but the nightly live musical performances with silent films. Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton accompanied the magnificent and unduly neglected 1929 classic The Shakedown. Her performance of songs from the period, both before and during the film, was wonderful. Phillip Johnston and the Transparent Quartet, in their second Festival appearance, thrilled the audience with their exciting score for Lon Chaney's The Unknown. The arts were also on display at the University Art Museum, where Lynn Hershman's amazing Hero Sandwiches print series was exhibited. Her Rowlands/Bogart print became the Festival's poster image, possibly our best-received one ever.

Finally, this was a year of tremendous growth for the Festival organization, thanks to the generosity of Festival supporters. The Festival was able to hire a development director, Marisa Vrooman, who has proved to be a vital new addition to the staff. Marisa organized a phenomenal kickoff party for the Festival's growing Friends group at Gregory Graham's Edgehill estate, and worked closely with Primary sponsors Sprint, Regal Cinemas, Independent Film Channel, Adelphia Cable, the Virginia Film Office and TNT. These loyal supporters were joined for the first time this year by Category 4, which created a dazzling website and online ticketing system for the Festival. Marisa's great work for the Festival was matched by the Festival's Operations Director Tori Talbot, publicists Christina Ball and Cara White, and an amazing team of volunteer managers led by Charlotte Drummond.

Director's Report | Films | Guest Speakers & Participants | Fringe Festival | Friends of the Festival | Women & Iranian Cinema | Film Society | 2001 Attendance | 2001 Publicity | Volunteers