Now in its 38th year, the Virginia Film Festival (VAFF) has announced its 2025 lineup.
The annual festival will kick off on October 22 with its opening night film, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, directed by Scott Cooper and starring Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen. The biopic covers the fraught recording of Springsteen’s classic “Nebraska” album. Jeremy Strong co-stars as Springsteen’s longtime manager Jon Landau.
The centerpiece film is Train Dreams. Based on the novella by Denis Johnson, the film, directed by Chris Bentley, features Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, and William H. Macy, and tells the story of a logger and railroad worker (Edgerton) during the early 20th century in America.
Closing out the festival will be Rental Family, starring Academy Award-winning actor Brendan Fraser as a struggling actor who lands a role as a stand-in for strangers in modern Tokyo. Rental Family Director Hikari will be present to accept the festival’s Breakthrough Director Award and to take part in a post-screening discussion of his film.
This year’s Gala Screenings include the following films:
Christy, directed by David Michod, and starring Sydney Sweeney as the real-life pioneering women’s boxer, Christy Martin. The film has strong buzz coming into the festival, particularly for the performances of Sweeney and Ben Foster as Martin’s husband and trainer, Jim Martin. Foster will be in attendance to accept the Achievement in Acting Award and participate in a post-screening discussion.
Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro’s lush retelling of the classic Mary Shelley tale. Starring Oscar Isaac as Doctor Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi as the monster, and with Mia Goth and Christoph Walz in supporting roles, Frankenstein is sure to be a hot ticket in Charlottesville.
Hamnet, the early Oscar favorite directed by Academy Award winner Chloe Zhao, and starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal as Elizabeth and Will Shakespeare. Hamnet tells the story that inspired Shakespeare’s classic play, Hamlet.
Hedda, directed by Nia DaCosta, is a dark, cinematic adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play, Hedda Gabler. Starring Tessa Thompson as the title character, Hedda could be a late-breaking Oscar contender.
Jay Kelly, Noah Baumbach’s follow-up to White Noise, showcases George Clooney in the lead as a famous actor confronting his past and present. Jay Kelly also features Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Riley Keough, and Patrick Wilson in supporting roles. The film’s composer, Nicholas Britell, will be present to receive the Achievement in Composition Award and participate in a post-film conversation with The Hollywood Reporter’s executive editor of awards coverage, Scott Feinberg.
Other Gala screenings include Nicholas Hytner’s The Choral, starring Ralph Fiennes; Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, which reimagines Jean-Luc Godard’s making of the French New Wave groundbreaker, Breathless; Rebecca Ziotkowski’s A Private Life, starring Jodie Foster; and Joachim Trier’s Oscar contender Sentimental Value, starring Stellan Skarsgard, Renate Reinsve, and Elle Fanning.
Other notable showings include The Secret Agent, starring Wagner Moura, Director of Photography Evgenia Alexandrova, who will receive the Craft Award for Cinematography;
La Grazia, directed by Academy Award winner Paolo Sorrentino; Left-Handed Girl, co-written by Anora writer/director Sean Baker; the documentary Come See Me in the Good Light, with producer Jessica Hargrave on hand to receive the Chronicler Award; The Plague starring Joel Edgerton in his second film at the festival; and finally the directorial debut of actor Harris Dickinson (Baby Girl, The Iron Claw), Urchin.
Additional programming at the festival includes a special screening of Sinners, with supporting actor Miles Caton in attendance for a post-screening performance and Q&A.
Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz will present a special screening of Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm, followed by a discussion with the film’s screenwriter James Schamus (who will be receiving the Impresario Award), as well as another special screening hosted by Mankiewicz, The Sting, honoring the late Robert Redford.
There will be a screenwriting panel featuring filmmakers Jay Duplass and Michael Strassner, who will discuss their collaboration on Baltimorons, for which the duo will receive the Achievement in Screenwriting Award.
Finally, the Vaff will present a casting panel with three-time Emmy-winning Casting Director Alexa L. Vogel (Black Rabbit, Ozark, Oz), on the importance of actor selection.
The complete 2025 Virginia Film Festival slate will be available on Thursday, September 25. Tickets go on sale at noon on Friday, October 3, on the VAFF website.
The 2025 VAFF will take place from October 22 to 26 in Charlottesville, VA. I will be reporting daily from Charlottesville for The Contending.
The Virginia Film Festival is a program of the University of Virginia.
