CHARLOTTESVILLE (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — The Virginia Film Festival wrapped up its second day on Thursday, and among the films shown was a new documentary titled “Andy Kaufman is Me,” directed by Charlottesville native Clay Tweel, who recently joined the festival’s Advisory Board.

Tweel’s newest film centers on the life and legacy of comedian Andy Kaufman, who’s innovative comedy style helped usher in a new wave of “alternative comedians.” The film highlights the many stages of his life and career, including his famous appearances on shows “Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night With David Letterman,” his role on the sitcom “Taxi,” and his controversial stint as a wrestler who almost exclusively competed against women. The film tells its story using interviews from Kaufman’s family, friends and other comedians who were inspired by his work, while also featuring snippets from over 84 hours of audio taken from recordings of performances, conversations and even personal notes made by Kaufman himself and shared to the public for the first time.

In a discussion with the audience following the screening. Tweel said he first heard of Kaufman from watching reruns of “Taxi,” but fully discovered his work thanks to the advent of “YouTube” in 2005.

“That’s when I fell in love with, just the crazy range of emotions that he would make you feel as an audience member,” he said.

Tweel said while he loved Kaufman and enjoyed making “artist process documentaries,” the opportunity to make this film had “a very interesting start.” He said he was initially approached by another famous wrestler, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, as well as a couple other producers to see if they could make a documentary focused on his wrestling career. The group had approached Kaufman’s family around the same time, but they were apprehensive about a project focused solely on his wrestling career.

“The family was like ‘I don’t know,'” Tweel recalled, “‘we really haven’t seen something that has been like genuinely portrayed of like a well-rounded portrayal of our brother as we knew him.'”

As a result, the film’s focus broadened, resulting in the final product that was shown at the Violet Crown on Thursday, Speaking to Cville Right Now after the event, Tweel said it meant a lot to him to come back, show his work to the community and “give back in any way that I can.”

“This is the community that raised me as an artist and influenced me a lot,” he said.

Tweel added how when he first moved to Los Angeles in 2004, he already knew eight people living out there who were also from Charlottesville. He said having people who came from the small community he grew up in out in the big city helped him make the transition.

“I credit that a lot with being able to be out there as long as I have is that I had a support system that was like my family out there,” he said.

Reflecting upon the Virginia Film Festival, he said the event was “super important,” for both him as a filmmaker and for the broader community. He said festivals “are what feed my creative soul,” and he love to go to festivals just to be inspired.

“I think a film festival is important for almost any community to have access to,” he said, “and this one, in particular, is great because it gets some of the best films of the year, both fiction and nonfiction, to come into this region and show to the community.”