Alexandria Film Festival Kicks Off Thursday at Old Town Theater

The seventh annual Alexandria Film Festival kicks off a four-night stand on Thursday, Nov. 7 in venues across the city.

This year’s festival features films more than 60 independent filmmakers, including offerings from locals as well as films from France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany and Brazil, among others.

The festival includes a wide array of genres, short films, documentaries and feature-length productions. Directors and others involved in the films will host Q&A sessions after most screenings.

Highlights include:

• A Q&A with Ben Zeitlin, director of the Academy Award-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild. Zeitlin will appear via Skype on Saturday, Nov. 9 following a screening of two of his short films—Glory At Sea and I Get Wet—at the United Way building in Old Town.
• A Saturday, Nov. 9 screening of Ass Backwards, a light comedy co-written and starring by Casey Wilson. Wilson is a former Saturday Night Live cast member and graduate of T.C. Williams High School. Wilson’s father, Paul, will speak following the screening at The Lyceum, which will be its D.C.-area premiere ahead of a nationwide release.
• A screening of Grape, a short film about a grieving winemaker pondering the sale of his family’s Virginia vineyard. It is directed by Fairfax native Daniel Stine and will appear during opening night festivities on Thursday, Nov. 7 at the Old Town Theater.
• The documentary Capitol Food Fight, created by Fairfax Academy Professional Television Production teacher Matt Pastic, deals with the booming food truck industry in D.C. and its impact on brick-and-mortar restaurants. It will also be shown during opening night at the Old Town Theater.

The festival also includes a “Dark Night,” a late-night run of macabre and mysterious films; a run of “foodie films” on opening night and family-friendly movies at Beatley Library.

A new feature this year—Sunday’s “Best of Fest”—will showcase the festival’s award winners on Sunday, Nov. 9 at The Lyceum.  

Past Alexandria Film Festival participants include 2013 Academy Award winners Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine.

You can find information on all the participating films and show times and tickets at the festival’s website.

Tickets cost $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Sunday’s awards showcase includes a reception and tickets cost $20/$25. All programming at Beatley Library is free.