Opening night – October 22nd – will feature a film about one of America’s modern-day heroes, Bruce Springsteen. The festival’s executive director, Jody Kielbasa, describes the biopic starring Jeremy Allen White. It’s called Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.
“He’s burst upon the scene as this rock star and grappling with that kind of quick fame and wanting to make a mark as an artist rather than just as a rock n roll star, and also he struggled at this time with depression.”
He also touts a documentary called Pep Banned.
“That’s B-A-N-N-E-D.”
Produced by locals Bill Reifenberger and Chris Farina, it tells the story of a quirky student group that performed at UVA football games – making fun of the university, the visiting team and the state from which it hailed.
“They ran into trouble fairly often – sometimes embarrassing the administration and the athletic department, and yet they were so beloved by the community that they managed to have a long life until one year, perhaps, they exceeded the boundaries of good taste and made a little bit too much fun of West Virginia," Kielbasa says.
Another featured film stars Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon and William H. Macy. The festival’s artistic director, Ilya Tovbis, offers this preview of Train Dreams.
“It’s a beautiful tale. It takes place in turn-of-the-century America, and it centers on a laborer and a railroad worker who sees his life and the country around him shifting, and he’s trying to figure out his place in it, and it’s all about – as America goes west and as a man ages – what he leaves behind, and what he’s not able to take with him.”
Discussions after films will feature actors Ben Foster and Jay Duplass, and Turner Classic Movies Host Ben Mankiewicz will present a special screening of The Sting in honor of the late Robert Redford.
