The Virginia Film Festival

Season to kick off with exclusive preview screening of ‘The Jane Austen Book Club’ Wednesday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m., at Vinegar Hill Theatre.The Virginia Film Society, the year-round membership program of the Virginia Film Festival, kicks off its 2007 fall season with a special preview screening of “The Jane Austen Book Club,” a film adaptation of the novel by Karen Joy Fowler.

Other highlights of the season include the return of “The Manhattan Short Film Festival,” a nationwide event that casts local cinema goers in the role of judges to determine the best short films in the world; “Killer of Sheep,” American filmmaker Charles Burnett’s first feature, a semidocumentary impressionistic account of a family in the Watts community of Los Angeles: “The Fall,” considered to be the most important film of the avant-garde British filmmaker Peter Whitehead, who chronicled the ’60s counterculture; and “Smiles of a Summer Night,” the 1956 prize-winning comedy of recently deceased Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman that put him on the international scene.

According to Virginia Film Festival Artistic Director Richard Herskowitz, “We’re proud of the Film Society’s rich mix of feature and short film premieres and international classics. However, we’re especially excited about our two-evening tribute to the Maysles Brothers, featuring the legendary cinema verite director Albert Maysles.� 

Maysles’ first show will be a retrospective with rare clips from the Maysles Brothers’ entire career, including outtakes from “Gimme Shelter” and “Grey Gardens.” The second program will bring Maysles and photographer William Christenberry together for a screening and discussion of Maysles’ award-winning “Lalee’s Kin.”

The special preview of “The Jane Austen Book Club” will be screened on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m. at Vinegar Hill Theatre, two days before its release by Sony Pictures Classics in New York and Los Angeles. The plot involves five women and one man who meet to discuss the works of Jane Austen and discover that their 21st century love lives are uncannily parallel to those Austen wrote about in her 19th century novels. The film was produced by Virginia Film Festival board member Julie Lynn and directed by Robyn Swicord, who also adapted the script. The striking cast includes Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, Hugh Dancy, Amy Brenneman, Kathy Baker and Jimmy Smits. The film is an official selection of the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. University of Virginia English professors Alison Booth and Susan Fraiman will conduct a live phone Q&A with screenwriter-director Swicord after the screening, moderated by Media Studies department chairman Andrea Press.

All Virginia Film Society events are co-sponsored by the Virginia Film Festival and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Most screenings feature special guest speakers. Screenings are held at Vinegar Hill Theatre at 7 p.m. with the exception of “Killer of Sheep,” which will be shown at Regal Downtown on Nov. 1 and 2. Admission to individual screenings is $9 and free to Film Society members.

A full year membership in the Virginia Film Society is $60 ($50 for students and seniors). Membership benefits include admission to Film Society screenings throughout the year, one free pass to Regal Cinemas, $2 off Mondays at Sneak Reviews and $6 Tuesday movies at Vinegar Hill Theatre. In addition, the first 20 membership applications received will be given a vintage Film Festival T-shirt.

Individual admission tickets cost $9 and may be purchased 30 minutes before the screening at the venue box office, when seats are available.

More program information

Press contact: Jane Ford
(434) 924-4298
jford@virginia.edu