The Middleburg Film Festival (MFF) is a
film festival held annually in
Middleburg, Virginia, in October.
History
First held in October 2013, the festival, hosted in the town of Middleburg, Virginia was founded by
Sheila Johnson and filmmaker Susan Koch. Board members and advisory committee chairs include
Albert Berger,
Ron Yerxa
Ron Yerxa (born May 18, 1947) is an American film producer. He is known for the films '' Little Miss Sunshine'', '' Mr. Russo'', ''Hamlet 2'' and '' Cold Mountain''.
Yerxa and fellow producer Albert Berger founded the production company, Bona F ...
,
Matt Carson
Matthew "Matt" Carson (born October 14, 1975) is an American author from Virginia. Carson's recent works include ''The Attic, A Christmas Story'' and most recently ''On A Hill They Call Capital''. In 2009 he ran as an independent candidate for V ...
,
Kris Bowers, &
Nicholas Britell.
As the small town of Middleburg (population 650) has no
movie theater
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
, audiences screen films at the Salamander Resort ballroom as well as a nearby school, community center, and the
National Sporting Library & Museum. The festival attracts approximately 5,000 attendees each year.
Program
The program consists of new films along with speakers including filmmakers, actors, screenwriters, and composers. The typical slate includes around forty films. Each year the festival produces a concert and awards its Distinguished Composer Award, with previous winners including
Terence Blanchard,
Carter Burwell
Carter Benedict Burwell (born November 18, 1954) is an American film composer. He has consistently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored most of their films. Burwell has also scored three of Todd Haynes's films, three of Spike Jonz ...
,
Mark Isham, &
Michael Abels
Michael Abels (born October 8, 1962) is an American composer best known for his genre-defying scores for the Jordan Peele films '' Get Out'' and '' Us'', for which Abels won a World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice n ...
.
Previous guests and speakers have included
Brendan Fraser,
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Margalit Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal (; born November 16, 1977) is an American actress and filmmaker. Part of the Gyllenhaal family, she is the daughter of filmmakers Stephen Gyllenhaal and Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal, Naomi Achs, and the older sister o ...
,
Aldis Hodge,
Emma Stone
Emily Jean Stone (born November 6, 1988), known professionally as Emma Stone, is an American actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Golden Globe Award. In 2017, she ...
,
Viggo Mortensen,
Lee Daniels,
Dakota Johnson,
Meg Ryan,
Kenneth Branagh,
Greta Gerwig, and
Ray Romano.
Reactions
Adam Rathe of
Town & Country Magazine wrote; "the Middleburg Film Festival, held in mid-October in a leafy corner of Virginia horse country, might not be as large a presence as some others, but increasingly the four-day festival has become one of the most interesting (and influential) on the road winding toward the Academy Awards."
"In just 10 years, the Middleburg Film Festival managed to cement itself as “a must” on the path to the Academy Awards. This year alone, Rian Johnson (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Noah Baumbach (White Noise), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King), and more were in attendance to support their films and receive tributes." - Clarence Moye,
Awards Daily
"For the last seven years, audiences have flocked to the Middleburg Film Festival. Running October 17th – 21st, and situated in the wine-country hills of historic Middleburg, Virg., the festival usually highlights some of the year’s buzziest titles." - Nick Clement,
Variety Magazine
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official site
Film festivals in Virginia