Alexandria, VA – The 18th annual Alexandria Film Festival was held last month from November 7-10 at screening venues from Old Town to the West End. This homegrown film fest attracts independent documentary, animated, and narrative submissions by emerging as well as veteran filmmakers from around the globe.
The AFF’s proximity to Washington, D.C., coupled with Alexandria’s reputation as an ever-expanding arts mecca, have propelled its growth from the beginning days of folding chairs and standing-room-only screenings at the Athenaeum. Founder Patti North is herself an exhibiting artist and artisan. Patti creates the exquisite glass plates AFF presents to its awardees each year.
At the AFF kickoff reception on November 7, which was held at the Athenaeum art space for filmmakers and sponsors including the Zebra Press, Mayor Justin Wilson declared November 2024 Movie Magic Month in Alexandria. Nearly 60 films were juried into this year’s AFF, showcasing diversity while exploring themes of belonging, love, resiliency, hope, and empowerment.
Hindsight, a film by Max Rykov, documents the journey of a Ukrainian couple’s VHS tapes taken in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union and forgotten in a Kyiv closet for nearly two decades. The essay-style short juxtaposes their discovering post-Soviet freedoms, contrasted by travels to Vietnam, Cambodia. India, Thailand, and post-revolutionary Cuba, with an independent Ukraine at war with Russia today. Hindsight won the Special Jury Award for Short Film. This film also won the Grand Jury Prize at the prestigious Ouray International Film Festival.
Mr. Rykov, a DMV local, tells At Z MovieZ, “I really appreciate the festival for creating a space to discuss my film and the big-picture questions about identity and culture during times of war. Alexandria’s Film Festival creates a great experience for filmmakers and facilitates meaningful connections with audiences.”
A first-time panel screening this year was an unfinished documentary film, The Godfather of Sarin which exposes the origins of the deadly nerve gas developed by Nazis in WWII but not deployed as a weapon of war until Iraq in the 80s and Syria in 2010. Filmmaker Jonathan Gruber showed edited and post-production clips of the work in progress and explained the development process.
This unusual and free-of-charge film showcase allowed the audience to be even more engaged than during a traditional post-screening Q&A. The audience interacted mid-screening not only with the filmmaker but also with one subject of the film also in attendance, famed Nazi reparations advocate, Department of Justice attorney Eli Rosenbaum. He spearheaded the lawsuits against the company that manufactured Sarin using enslaved labor from Auschwitz. Rosenbaum discussed the daunting subject matter and his role in winning reparations for the exploited Holocaust victims who toiled and perished during WWII, who ultimately benefited the egregious profiteering pharmaceutical company.
Another unexpected and diverting screening was the comedy short War Games: A Christmas Truce. The dynamic Canadian husband and wife team of director Adam Benish and producer Maya Bodzinski, with a wink and nod, recreated a clever twist on the true story of the epic Christmas Day truce and soccer game between a group of German and British soldiers during WWI. The Toronto-based filmmaking team has been working on the final season of the riotously funny comedy series What We Do in the Shadows. Check out this film if you can at banishfilms.com! After all, Christmas IS coming!
Meantime catch Conclave on the big screen while you can. Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow give diverting performances sure to earn nods come awards season. And who doesn’t want to see more of Isabella Rossellini?
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