The first batch of selected films for this year’s Middleburg Film Festival have been announced for the program’s 12th edition that is taking place October 17-20. Several of the people involved with those films will also receive special honors at the festival. The event takes place in a small Northern Virginia town east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley, an hour outside of Washington, DC
The opening night film will be the Apple Original Film “Blitz,” the latest from Oscar winner Sir Steve McQueen. Starring Saoirse Ronan, the film chronicles a young boy who is sent to the English countryside by his mother for his own safety during World War II, only for him to embark on a perilous journey to reunite with her. McQueen will receive this year’s Visionary Director Award. Also being honored for the film will be Dame Karen Pierce, the British Ambassador to the United States who will receive the inaugural Film Diplomacy Award for her longstanding connection to the film industry. That will be presented by Lee Satterfield, the Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.
The Friday Spotlight film is going to be Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” from Netflix. The bold musical tells the story of a notorious cartel leader (Karla Sofía Gascón) who enlists the help of an underappreciated lawyer (Zoe Saldaña) to fake her death so she can live as her true self. At the Cannes Film Festival back in May the film received both the Jury Prize and Best Actress for the four main performers (Gascón, Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz). Saldaña will be on hand to receive this year’s Spotlight Actor Award.
The Saturday night Centerpiece selection is Focus Features’ “Conclave,” which is Edward Berger’s follow up to the Oscar-winning “All Quiet on the Western Front.” Starring Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini, John Lithgow and Stanley Tucci, it follows a cardinal who is tasked with running the secretive Papal election following the death of the Pope but ends up uncovering many secrets that could devastate the Church. Berger will be in attendance as well as Rossellini who will be receiving the Agnès Varda Trailblazing Film Artist Award for her incredible body of work.
The festival will also be continuing its ongoing collaboration with the U.S. State Department through American Film Showcase, the country’s main film diplomacy program which is run by the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. After hosting a delegation of Ukrainian filmmakers last year, the program will be welcoming several filmmakers from Kenya and Nigeria to share their work and discuss connecting with a global audience and the importance of film in the creative economy.
Since it launched in 2013, the Middleburg Film Festival has become one of the biggest stops during festival season. 104 films that have screened at the festival have gone on to amass a whopping 346 Oscar nominations (including 38 for Best Picture) and have won a total of 61 trophies. The festival was first started by Sheila Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, and filmmaker Susan Koch. The combination of the region’s beautiful country backdrop along with being only an hour away from the power center of the country have helped the festival establish its identity in such a quick period of time.
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