Charlottesville, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW): Of the many attributes Charlottesville is known for, being a movie town is not typically one that comes to mind.  However, the University of Virginia, and its creative arts department’s signature community program, the Virginia Film Festival, have contributed a great deal to Charlottesville’s status as not only a rich location for making movies, but also a breeding ground for nurturing eminent talent in the moviemaking industry.  The festival itself, throughout its operation, is now well known as a premier celebration of cinema as an art form, showcasing stellar films annually in some of the most beautiful movie theaters in the country, including the legendary restored palace, the Paramount Theater.  Last night, as it has since 1988, the Downtown Mall came alive yesterday evening with all the light and energy of Hollywood boulevard in its heyday.  On offer was a much-publicized film that many both in and out of the industry were talking about before large audiences laid eyes on it.  Lines for concessions and the precious few tickets remaining to that evening’s show stretched out of the Paramount’s venerable doors.  Everyone from the affluent and generous donors that made the festival possible, to its devoted and passionate fans, the hard-working students of UVA film school, all in different arrays of fashion, filed into the theater with anticipation on their lips, and excitement in the air.   

Jody Kielbasa, vice-provost for the arts at UVA, delivered opening remarks once 7:00 finally struck and the remaining patrons trickled into their seats.  Though his words only included the customary thank you’s and acknowledgements of the many who made this festival what it is and will be for 2024, each name that was read out elicited a cheer and round of applause that equaled many of the Hollywood elites in the audience.  The Charlottesville crowd loves movies, and Charlottesville is a good, old-fashioned, movie town.  Neon Pictures CEO Tom Quinn (a North Carolina native and UNC grad), acknowledged as much in his brief acceptance speech of the festival’s impresario award.  The accolade was given to the studio who best instituted the artistic integrity, values, and advocacy for cinema as a whole through their output, and Neon certainly fit that description.    Quinn then described his studio’s success story, arising from four people in a shared workspace conference room in New York to a team of 54 creating some of the biggest and well-decorated and appreciated films in the world, including America’s first Palme D’Or winner at the Cannes Festival since 2011, that evening’s film Anora.   

The film’s lead, charismatic actress Mikey Madison, who is already getting Oscar buzz for her performance in the film preceding its wide release next week, took to the stage to a roaring ovation. Those familiar with her previous work in the Quentin Taratino masterpiece Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and her rapturing turn in Radio Silence’s Scream reboot, witnessed a humble, gentle, yet commanding future Hollywood star say only about three sentences before the film began, but that was enough to send the crowd’s anticipation to a fever pitch.  She would, after the show, answer a few questions from Marcus Jones, awards editor at Indiewire, outlining her extensive training and research to nail the role of the exotic dancer turned Cinderella who goes through two and a half hours of relentless hijinks trying to wrap her around her new life with and marriage to the son of a Russian oligarch, that is equal parts uproariously funny and deeply moving and devastating, especially as the portrait of this tough, determined, young woman, who is emotionally closed-off out of necessity, begins to be painted in full. 

However, once the show began, all the buzz, chatter, buildup, and excitement, at once, went deafeningly silent.  If you as a moviegoer are used to hearing some muted chatter or seeing a phone light or two in a movie theater despite the pre-show warnings, a cinema experience like this one will be jarring in the best way possible.  Nearly every member of the Paramount’s audience that evening hung on every frame of the movie’s 139 minutes, laughing uproariously in its funny moments, and falling deathly silent and staring mouth agape at its staggering realistic moments of sobering reality.  I would count it amongst the most treasured moviegoing experiences of my life, as I am sure many would.  

With Anora in the books, there are still over 100 more film on offer throughout Charlottesville’s many theaters.  If this kind of experience watching a movie is of any interest in you, find all the links you need to get tickets on our website or the festival’s website— https://virginiafilmfestival.org/ 

Head out to any film that piques your interest and discover just how much it’s possible to love movies.