Start Spreading the NewZ!!! MetroStage, the esteemed Alexandria theater space whose relocation to 915 N. Fairfax Street in the growing Old Town North Arts District, is in the final stages of its fundraising campaign. MetroStage has announced a partnership with the
Alexandria Film Festival, making the new theatre its permanent screening home.
In years past, the AFF has presented quality short and feature-length independent filmmaking at various locations across the City: The Athenaeum, the George Washington Memorial Masonic Temple, Beatley Library, AMC Hoffman 22 Theaters, Schlesinger Hall at NOVA Alexandria Campus, and the Lyceum.
Patti North, the founder of the AFF and currently its Executive Director, finds this veritable make-a-wish-come-true the beginning of a beautiful partnership!“A permanent home for the festival is a dream come true – and almost 20 years in the making. Rentable space equipped for a superior viewing experience is becoming scarcer and scarcer and has been our biggest expense for years. In one fell swoop, our partnership with MetroStage exquisitely addresses those challenges.”
Carolyn Griffith, the Producing Artistic Director at MetroStage, is delighted to be announcing this partnership. “We very much look forward to complementing our live theater offerings with select
film presentations and the AFF is the perfect partner to curate, present, and connect films with the entire DMV audience. We are very excited to be the home of the annual Alexandria Film Festival and other film offerings throughout the year.”
Celebrating its 20th year in November 2026, one of the oldest film festivals in the DMV will be the first in-residence arts non-profit organization sharing the dynamic new space with MetroStage. Dara Sanders is the Executive Committee Chair of the AFF, which traditionally spotlights homegrown independent filmmakers hailing from here in Port City to across the country and around the world.
Sanders explains, “MetroStage in the Old Town Arts District is the ideal home for the Alexandria Film Festival. Its long-epitomized excellence in the arts and its new facilities will be state-of-the-art for both theater and film.”
Not only will independent films be screened at MetroStage throughout the 20th anniversary festival, scheduled for November 5-8, 2026, but there will be special screenings and events held year-round. One such AFF screening was recently held at The Lyceum, where MetroStage has been hosting Sunday salons and musical performances while awaiting the grand opening of their theater space, provided by CarrAmerica at the Venue condominium that’s built on the former Crowne Plaza Hotel site.
The Poppaw Queen is a documentary film by DC-native filmmaker Malachi E. Robinson that was screened by the AFF on February 21 in recognition of Black History Month. The story centers upon the chronicles of freeborn but kidnapped Mary Queen’s quest for freedom as one of 272 enslaved people sold by the Jesuits of Maryland to fund the establishment of Georgetown University by Father John Carroll.
The descendants of these nearly 300 human beings who were trafficked to Louisiana by Alexandria slave traders are depicted in the documentary. The University has been duly fielding the recriminations of such inauspicious roots, making reparations to the existing family
members, many still living in Louisiana.
Director Robinson participated in a post-film Q&A moderated by AFF Chair Dara Sanders along with Bernie Cook, Associate Dean of Georgetown College and founding director of Georgetown
University’s Film and Media Studies Program. Dean Cook is currently working on a documentary of his own, spotlighting the stories of the living descendants of these enslaved peoples while exploring their personal pursuit of justice. These films raise the question: How do you reconcile such profoundly injurious actions, putting a price on the inhumanity of freedoms violated under an umbrella of faith?
Both MetroStage and the Alexandria Film Festival will be participating in the Alexandria Day of Giving Spring2ACTion 2025 community fundraising event on April 9th. Consider supporting these noteworthy nonprofit arts organizations if you can. Early giving has begun and will continue until April 9. Every donation – a few dollars or greater-
is genuinely appreciated! Here are the links for both MetroStage and the AFF:
www.spring2action.org/organizations/metrostage
www.spring2action.org/organizations/alexandria-film-festival
