Photo courtesy of Washington West Film Festival
Reston will roll out the red carpet this October for Hollywood celebrities, Sundance Film Festival-winners and local Virginia filmmakers at the fourth annual Washington Film Festival.
The local film fest has announced its full slate of 38 films, from more than a dozen countries, that will be featured during the five-day festival, as well as a number of other special events.
Highlighting this year’s crop of films is the opening night selection, the Sundance-winning documentary, “Alive Inside.” The story centers on a social worker who hopes to use music to connect with patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Director Michael Rosatto-Bennett’s work won the Audience Award for best U.S. Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Some big Hollywood names are also set to have films screen at this year’s fest. Frank Whaley (“Pulp Fiction”) has his new film, “Like Sunday, Like Rain” starring Debra Messing, Leighton Meester and Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong. There is also the New York crime drama “Revenge of the Green Dragons,” which was executive produced by Martin Scorsese and recently had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and husband Brad Hall return to the festival with Hall’s new documentary, “Generosity of Eye,” which focuses on Louis-Dreyfus’ father and his mission to share artwork with the Harlem Children’s Zone. Louis-Dreyfus and Hall previously had a film screen at the festival back in 2012.
Local filmmakers showcasing movies at the festival include, Cutter Hodierne, whose “Fishing Without Nets,” uses non-actors to tell the story of a young Somali forced to take up piracy to support his family.
Film and TV composer W.G. Snuffy Walden; who has written music for shows like “The West Wing,” “Friday Night Lights” and “Nashville”; will have a kickoff concert with Sara Niemietz on Oct. 22 at The Hamilton in D.C. Walden will also hold an art and scoring workshop, where he demonstrates the process of how he scores a TV show. Washington West will also be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the classic “Mary Poppins” with a special family screening.
Brad Russell, executive director of the Washington West Film Festival, says he is excited about this year’s festival and the amount of growth it has seen in their first four years.
The fest has a new partnership with Metro this year and will be hosting screenings at seven locations throughout Northern Virginia. All proceeds from the fest’s box-office are donated to charities, hitting home its motto that “story can change the world.”
Here is the full list of films:
Feature Documentaries:
- “Alive Inside” directed by Michael Rosatto-Bennett (Opening Night Film)
- “Generosity of Eye” directed by Brad Hall (Closing Night Film)
- “Stage 4: A Love Story” directed by Benjamin Steger (World Premiere)
- “Starfish Throwers” directed by Jesse Roesler
- “Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard” directed by Bryan Reichhardt
- “The Honor Diaries” directed by Micah Smith
- “Transcend” directed by Michael Del Monte and Tad Munnings
- “The Cave” Connection directed by Miko Jager
Feature Narratives:
- “Revenge of the Green Dragons” directed by Wai-Keung Lau and Andrew Loo
- “Fishing Without Nets” directed by Cutter Hodierne
- “Like Sunday, Like Rain” directed by Frank Whaley
- “BFFS” directed by Andrew Putschogel
- “Blackbird” directed by Jamie Chambers
- “JHOLA” directed by Kumar Bhattarai
- “Mary Poppins” directed by Robert Stevenson (Family Screening)
Short Films:
- “As it Used to Be” directed by Clement Gonzalez (France)
- “The Brunchers” directed by Matt Winn (U.K.)
- Featuring Rufus Sewell and “Game of Thrones’” Natalie Dormer
- “Martha and Karl” directed by Julia Walter (Germany)
- “Waking Marshall Walker” directed by Bjorn Thorstad and Gabriel Baron
- Featuring “Grey’s Anatomy’s” Sarah Drew
- “Rabbit and Deer” directed by Peter Vacz (Hungary)
- “The Next Part” directed by Erin Sanger
- “The Telegraph Man” directed by James Francis Khehtie (Australia)
- “I M Possible” directed by Prasad Narse
- “A Man on Edge” directed by Edward Lyons (Australia)
- “Ballkoni” directed by Lendita Zeqiraj (Kosovo)
- “Speed Dating” directed by Meghann Artes
- “Snow Boat” directed by Mirror Su
- “The Gun Fighter” directed by Eric Kissack
- Narrated by Nick Offerman
The Washington West Film Festival will take place from Oct. 22 to Oct. 26. Visit their website to buy tickets and get screening information.
To get an insight into the history of the festival, read our interview with Russell.
“Alive Inside”
“Revenge of the Green Dragons”
“Fishing Without Nets’