Tuesday, September 20:
Manhattan Short Film Festival
Vinegar Hill Theatre, 7pm

A shorts festival featuring the most creative short films in the world, judged by the cinema-going public of America. The Manhattan Short Film Festival is coming to Charlottesville as part of a 54 venue screening, covering 32 US States throughout nine days (September 16th - 24th.) Audience members will vote for the film they feel should win first prize. The festival features the most creative short films in the world and this year’s crop includes films from the U.S., Australia, Israel, England, Wales, Ireland, and Spain.


Wednesday, October 5:
Darwin's Nightmare
Vinegar Hill Theatre, 7pm

“An extraordinary work of visual journalism, a richly illustrated report on a distant catastrophe that is also one of the central stories of our time. Indispensable documentary. A Work of art.” (A.O. Scott, New York Times) Hubert Sauper’s documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania's Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out the native species, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers. This compelling, cautionary tale clearly shows how, in this age of globalization, things can easily evolve in the worst possible of unforeseen ways. Filming undercover gave Sauper access to an impressive array of people, from businessmen and pilots to prostitutes and EU politicians, some of them alarmingly frank in their admissions. Saturday, October 29:
The Kid Brother
Culbreth Theatre, 1pm
With live muscial accompaniment by Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton

Never seen The Kid Brother? Think High Noon, but hysterically funny. The film stars Harold Lloyd (of clock-hanging fame) as Harold Hickory, the puniest and meekest of all the Hickorys in Hickoryville. When Harold is made an unlikely deputy, he sets out to defend the town from a band of ne’er-do-wells and in the process tries to woo the woman of his dreams. Full of technical ingenuity and brilliant stuntwork, The Kid Brother shows why many rank Lloyd ahead of his silent contemporaries, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
Tuesday, November 8:
Unseen Cinema: Experimental Treasures from the World's Leading Archives
Vinegar Hill Theatre, 7pm
Introduced by Matthew Affron, Associate Professor, U.Va. Art History

Unseen Cinema has compiled the best 35mm film prints of avant- garde, professional, and amateur short films from filmmakers working before World War II. The result is a selection of rare and wonderful treasures, some of which have never been screened in public, and almost all of which have been unavailable in copies as good as these until now. See 24 films in 89 minutes, including films by W.K.L. Dickson of Edison Manufacturing, Lois Weber, Fernand Leger and Dudley Murphy, Ralph Steinger, Mary Ellen Bute, Norman McLaren, and Busby Berkeley! Tuesday, November 15:
The Talent Given Us
Vinegar Hill Theatre, 7pm
Featuring live teleconference Q and A with director Andrew Wagner

Although the “road” movie has long been a staple of the independent film scene, you have yet to experience one with as much humor, insight, and sheer originality as The Talent Given Us. Filmmaker Andrew Wagner has filled his film from the casting couch of his own life, the one in his very own living room. His dad plays Dad, mom plays Mom, and siblings and friends play themselves. Or do they? Wagner is playing with archetypes, pushing limits, and nudging his everyday folks into complex characters to better exploit human foibles and family dysfunction.
Tuesday, December 6:
I Am Cuba: The Siberian Mammoth
Vinegar Hill Theatre, 7pm
Introduced by Pablo David, South Atlantic Humanities Center/ VA Foundation for the Humanities

Ferraz's documentary is a fascinating trip through the making of "one of the most deliriously beautiful films ever made" (LA Weekly): Mikhail Kalatozov's 1964 masterpiece, I am Cuba. This first and only Cuban/Soviet co-production was intended as a celebration of Castro's revolution. Why then was the film rejected by Cubans and Soviets alike upon its release and shelved for more than 30 years? Through a combination of breathtaking shots from the original film and interviews with surviving Soviet and Cuban cast and crew members, Ferraz investigates the motives behind the banning of the film. Screened in conjunction with OFFScreen, which will present a restored print of I Am Cuba on December 4 at Newcomb Theater at 7 & 9:30pm.