1997 Virginia Film Festival

Press Release
For further information: Victoria Joyce (804) 361-1259


10th Annual Virginia Film Festival Continues Tradition Of Highlighting Independent Filmmakers

Charlottesville, Virginia: - The 10th annual Virginia Film Festival (October 30 through November 2, 1997, in Charlottesville, Virginia) is proud to once again present a strong slate of independent films at this year's event. In previous years the festival has been among the first to screen such productions at "Once Upon a Time, When We Were Colored," "Shine," and "The Daytrippers." The following independent filmmakers add to the previously announced visits of indies -- Michael Moore with The Big One, Paul Wagner with Windhorse, and Susan Winter presenting Pousse Cafˇ.

Frederick Wiseman, a guest of the inaugural Virginia Film Festival, returns with his new documentary "Public Housing."

Co-sponsored by the University of Virginia School of Architecture, Wiseman's new documentary will launch the series and forum entitled Ghettos and Gated Communities running on November 1 and 2, 1997. The film will screen at Regal Downtown Mall at 4 p.m. This moving documentary takes a searing look at life within the Ida B. Wells project on the South Side of Chicago. Through Wiseman's unflinching lens we experience life in this modern age ghetto where the problems of addiction, illiteracy, unemployment discrimination, and unplanned pregnancies tumble over one another in a Gordian knot of desperation. On Saturday, November 2, from 9am to 2pm in Campbell Hall 160, the Festival will present a series of seven short films and videos on the topic Ghettos and Gated Communities. Included in this program will be Abigail Child's new experimental documentary, B/Side, with the director present. At 2:30pm, Child will join filmmakers Wiseman and DeeDee Halleck, film scholar Scott MacDonald, and a group of architecture faculty in discussing the different and complementary ways architects and filmmakers confront contemporary urban challenges.

Director Joe Brewster draws on his own life in "The Keeper"

In a stunning debut, filmmaker Joe Brewster dramatizes his own experiences as a psychiatrist at the Brooklyn House of Detention. The resulting film, "The Keeper" follows the increasingly complicated relationship between a Haitian immigrant prisoner, his Haitian-American jailer who believes in his innocence, and the neglected wife of the guard. It screens on Friday, October 31, at 7pm in Vinegar Hill Theatre.

Su Friedrich to introduce her much-honored film "Hide and Seek"

An award-winner from Athens to New York, Su Friedrich's latest film "Hide and Seek" is a coming-of-age saga with a twist (to be expected from Friedrich.) Like many of her works, this has a strong autobiographical flavor as it charts the progress of 12 year-old Lou during her discovery that there are differences between having girlfriends and having friends who are girls. Friedrich has interwoven Lou's story with archival scientific footage and sex-education films as well as documentary interviews about the transition from child to young adult lesbian. "Hide and Seek" will highlight the festival's tribute to Women Make Movies whose director, Debra Zimmerman, will join Friedrich in discussing this film. The program screens on Saturday, November 1, at 7pm in Vinegar Hill Theatre.

Multi-media artist Beth B to present "Two Small Bodies" and "Black Box"

Beth B, whose "A Holy Experiment" installation is on display at the Bayly Museum through November 2, 1997, will present her remarkable feature "Two Small Bodies" on Thursday, October 30, at 10 p.m. at Vinegar Hill Theatre. The film will screen with her legendary punk film "Black Box" which was made with Scott B. Beth B will also lecture on her installation works and screen several video art pieces on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 4pm in Campbell 153.The adaptation of Neal Bell's play "Two Small Bodies" portrays the intense relationship that develops between a police detective and his prime suspect in the disappearance of two young children, their mother.

Emerging indies flock to Charlottesville for this year's Virginia Film Festival Three programs of short independent films will be presented: Prisoner Art (Oct. 30, 7pm, Vinegar Hill), Prisoners of the Media (Oct. 31, 1pm) and Ways of Being Caged (Nov. 1, 7pm). Emerging filmmakers attending these screenings include Vangie Griego, Noel Honig, James Napoli, and Pat Verducci.