Alexandria Film Festival To Screen 60+ Films In 2025

ALEXANDRIA, VA — More than 60 films will be screened at the next Alexandria Film Festival, organizers announced Monday. The Alexandria Film Festival is scheduled to kick off on Nov. 2 andf run from Nov. 7 to 9.

The festival will happen at various locations, including the Virginia Tech Alexandria campus, Alexandria History Museum at the Lyceum, Patagonia Old Town and Charles E. Beatley Library. Tickets are now on sale for $15 per film or $80 for an all-festival pass.

"We are incredibly proud and excited to uplift and give a platform to the compelling stories that filmmakers across our region are producing," said Chris Colligan, lead programmer and vice chair of the festival. "So spread the word that the Alexandria Film Festival is celebrating independents, especially those working and creating across the DMV!"

The annual film festival showcases short and feature-length films from local, national and international independent filmmakers. The 62 films in this year’s program cover a variety of genres and topics ranging from serious social issues to crowd-pleasers. Half of the films come from local filmmakers who will attend and participate in Q&A discussions following their film screenings.

According to the festival, some local film highlights are:

• Nov. 2 at Patagonia Old Town – Kicking off the festival, the documentary “Upstream, Downriver: Uniting for Water Justice” by Maggie Burnette Stogner, executive director of the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at American University in Washington, D.C., focuses on communities seeking water justice.
• Nov. 7 at Virginia Tech – “The Other You” is local filmmaker Shoshana Rosenbaum’s directorial debut. following writer, wife, and mom Annie as she discovers a tiny door in her closet that leads to what appears to be a better version of her life.
• Nov. 8 at The Alexandria History Museum at the Lyceum – “500 Fireflies” is a dramatic comedy set in the mid-1990s about a newly single dad who brings his teenage daughter back to his rural hometown for a fresh start. Directed by Lysandra Petersson, it was filmed primarily in the Shenandoah Valley with local actors.
• Nov. 9 at Virginia Tech – The narrative “Kemba” by Howard University alum Kelley Kali is based on Kemba Smith, a Virginia woman who was sentenced in the 1980s to nearly 25 years in prison for a drug case after being misled by prosecutors and having her case mishandled by her attorneys. Her case became a national example of the unequal application of mandatory minimum sentencing that led to changes to the guidelines.

Each film requires admission tickets. The Salute to Service Members showcase/film block at The Alexandria History Museum at the Lyceum on Nov. 9 is free for active duty and retired service members and their guests. See a full schedule and get tickets online.

The festival is supported by the Alexandria Commission for the Arts, the City of Alexandria and sponsors and donors: Adobe; Alexandria Gazette Packet and Connection Newspapers; Alexandria Hyundai; Alexandria Living Magazine; Alexandria Times; Bad Ass Coffee; Briar Tek; Burke & Herbert Bank; Conte’s Bike Shop; Continues Arcade; Charter Up; Cheesetique; Franconia Family Medicine; Hadeed Rug Cleaning; Hotel Heron; Jet’s Pizza; Jim Connolly/Long & Foster Real Estate; Law Office of Deborah Matthews; Matt & Tony’s; Old Town Crier; St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub; Ted’s Montana Grill; Total Wine; Union Sandwich Co.; Virginia Tech; Wegmans; and The Zebra.