Author: Sean Tubbs

Filmmaker Gordon Quinn talks with Sean McCord about the history of Kartemquin Films, the Chicago-based documentary company that has made films such as Hoop Dreams. Several pieces from Kartemquin’s history are being shown at the Virginia Film Festival, including The Interrupters.

Actor and writer Broocks Willich is covering the Virginia Film Festival for Virginia Living, but she is also participating this year as a member of the film industry. She wrote and appeared in the film D.I.G.I.T.A.L. High, which screened on Friday as part of the narrative shorts program. Willich speaks with Sean McCord about why she chose to base her career in Charlottesville and what she hopes to bring to next year’s festival.

Filmmaker Derek Young talks with Sean McCord about Midnight Matinee Psycho, which screens tonight at 11:45 pm at the Regal Downtown. Here’s the write-up from the Film Festival site.

There’s a psycho on the loose. People are dying at midnight movie screenings, apparent victims of a serial killer. Detective Holt and Metro Police have no leads – chaos and paranoia ensue. Clyde Stevens, an aspiring filmmaker, marries the beautiful Sara Young. Clyde’s son senses something is not right with his new stepmother and turns to his friend Charlie for help ridding his dad of her. Featuring cameos from Lloyd Kaufman of Troma Entertainment, Paul (Madman Marz) Ehlers, Victor Miller, Ari Lehman, Eric Morse, Michelle Shields, P.J. Soles, Sal Lizard, Mike Holman, and other horror cult favorites.

Director Nathan Clarke talks with Sean McCord about Wrestling For Jesus, a documentary that screens at 1:45 pm on Saturday at the Virginia Film Festival. Here’s the write-up from the festival.

“In rural South Carolina, Timothy Blackmon felt a calling to fill a spiritual void in himself and share it with his fellow man. His chosen method was an amateur Christian wrestling league. In the ring, Blackmon transforms into the villainous “T-Money” as he dukes it out with Christians who choose to worship through sport. While a boisterous spectacle on stage, behind closed doors, Blackmon grapples with a crumbling marriage and the suicide of his father – the man who told him to never stop wrestling. Without ever judging its subject, the film explores one man’s dichotomous spiritual struggle.”

 

Director Nancy Buirski joins Sean McCord to talk about her documentary The Loving Story which screens tonight at Nau Auditorum at the University of Virginia. Here’s the write-up from the Film Festival:

“Using found footage from the 1960s and contemporary interviews, this film tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving: an interracial couple who were married at a time when interracial marriage was illegal in 16 states. Arrested and forced to leave Virginia in 1958 for the felony of being married, the Lovings decided to fight back. This film follows the couple and their young lawyers as they prepare for the landmark 1967 Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court case that would lead to the legalization of interracial marriage in all states.”

Director Peter Monro and actor Erin Anderson sit with Sean McCord to discuss Days Together, a feature film that screens Saturday night at 9:00 pm at Vinegar Hill Theater.

Here’s the write-up from the Film Festival:

“Director and writer Peter Monro ditches heavy handedness and morals in this realistic and modern love tale about a beautiful, unsatisfied woman. Surrounded by friends who are settling down into adulthood, Alex (Erin Anderson) is at the end of a string of empty hook-ups when she meets Paul (Brian Soika), an equally despondent musician. When Alex decides to travel to Seattle to escape Los Angeles for a few short days, Paul convinces her to take him along for the ride. The new friends set out on the road, enjoying each other’s company and comfort until their incompatibility becomes clear. Beautifully shot and smartly paced, the film forgoes grand clichi in favor of the small, knowing moments that inform relationships.”

Filmmakers Ben Saunders and Joey Schihl talk with Sean McCord about Blank Street, their documentary which connects real people to honest examples of poverty that can seem distant to many of us, although very present in our own backyard in Virginia. The film, which screens at Vinegar Hill at 10:45 am on Saturday, suggests that anyone can fall victim to poverty but also that anyone can and should feel compelled to help.

The Virginia Film Festival gives young filmmakers the chance to screen their short work. A series of short films will be screened at the Regal Downtown at 12:00 pm on Friday. One of the shorts is the Box Man. Producer Gerardo Suanez talks about the film, which will be shown for the first time in the United States.