CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – With the event just under two months away, the Virginia Film Festival has announced it will be recognizing producer Todd Black with the new Virginia Film Festival Career Producer Honor as part of its program.

Black will be presented the award at this year’s festival, which will be from Oct. 21-25, and will participate in a number of screenings and programs, highlighting his career and upcoming releases. This will include a special screening of his upcoming film “The Social Reckoning,” followed by a conversation with Black and the film’s writer and director, Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin.

The award is supported by a new endowment created by VFF Advisory Board Member and fellow producer Julie Lynn and her sister Amy Quinn.

“She is just a force for good for producers in the industry,” VFF Artisitc Director Ilya Tovbis told Cville Right Now of Lynn. “Both up-and-coming, and also one that are working producers that have been in the industry for quite some time.”

Lynn has not only put together an impressive career of her own as a producer but has also helped other along the way. She is currently a story consultant at Pixar and is active in Producers United and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, among other organizations.

Lynn’s idea for the producer honor came out of a desire to highlight the long-time producers whose work is often overlooked.

“You’ll notice, not just at our festival but in many others, that focus is often on an actor or a screenwriter or many of the leading creative voices behind a feature, but often not a producer,” Tovbis said. “And [Lynn] wanted to make sure that’s not an oversight.”

With a focus on highlighting career producers in the industry, Black was selected as the award’s inaugural recipient. Black is best known for his long-time collaboration with Academy Award-winning filmmaker and director Denzel Washington, Black has produced numerous films that Washington has directed, produced and starred in, including “Fences,” which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which earned five Academy Award nominations.

“Todd very quickly rose to the top as someone [for the award], and we were just sort of crossing our finger that he might be available and would give us the time,” Tovbis said.

Despite his busy schedule, Black will be at this year’s festival, and Tovbis said they are planning a number of programs with him, including the screening of “The Social Reckoning,” which will be released a few weeks before the festival on Oct. 9.

“The Social Reckoning” is a companion piece to the 2010 film “The Social Network,” also written by Sorkin, who won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film.

This new film is based on the real-life events that led to the Wall Street Journal’s investigation into Facebook, now known as Meta, resulting in the 2021 article “The Facebook Files,” written by Jeff Horwitz, who is portrayed by Jeremy Allen White in the movie.

“The Social Reckoning” is the first film to be announced for this year’s festival. Tovbis said the whole lineup will feature about 120 productions and 100 guests, and said this announcement is “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“I will just say, without any exaggeration, we expect this to be a higher-profile year than we’ve had in quite a number of years and that across the board,” Tovbis said. “From independent productions, to documentaries, to international cinema to sort of films that I’m very confident are going to be the Oscars stages and everywhere in between, it is shaping up to be a bonanza and a banner year.”