The 2015 Virginia Film Festival concluded this week, bringing in a record-breaking number of tickets sold and films shown in its 28th year.
Jody Kielbasa, the festival director and University vice provost for the arts, directed the festival for the seventh consecutive year.
“The festival continues to grow, seven straight years of growth,” said Jody Kielbasa, the festival’s director and University vice provost for the arts.
This is his seventh consecutive year directing the festival.
The year before Kielbasa joined, the festival screened around 60 films. This year it screened roughly 130 of the 900 films submitted.
Approximately 32,000 tickets were sold for the films, compared to the usual 11,000, Kielbasa said.
The festival also worked with the University in order to extend opportunities to students.
“[We] worked with University Career Services and had around 20 film professionals available for a time where interested students could speak to them about pursuing careers in film and TV,” he said.
The festival acts as a bridge between Charlottesville and the rest of the state, Kielbasa said, creating a communal environment with “fertile ground for discussion and engagement.”
“[While] growing each year, we look at [the festival] as an opportunity to present the latest and best films to the community, where we can dig down deeply into what films are about, and create a dialogue within the community,” Kielbasa said.
Third-year College student Kerry Reichhardt worked for the festival as a community outreach intern this year. She said she has loved the festival as a patron for years, and wanted to experience the preparation process.
Reichhardt also helped determine the winners of ACTION!, the festival’s high school director competition. Any high school student in Virginia could submit a film for review, and the winner and two runner-ups would have their films screen before some of the festival’s movies.
“I wanted this job because I wanted to be involved with the youth,” Reichhardt said. “There aren’t many opportunities to get started at an early age with filmmaking and film-watching.”
Reichhardt said it was tricky to attend the festival as a patron while being on-call as an intern, but she saw movies whenever she had a free moment.
“The Maltese Falcon was shown on 35 millimeter film,” Reichhardt said. “Since the festival partners with U.Va. and the Culbreth Theater has the technology to show movies like this, [it’s a] unique opportunity to see movies the way they are supposed to be screened.”
Planning for next year’s festival will begin in January, Kielbasa said. Film submissions will begin to be received in March.
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