Chris King and Academy Award-winner Robert Duvall. (Courtesy of the Washington West Film Festival)
Many documentaries seek to shed light on the plight of their subjects, but a local festival takes that helping hand one step further.
“The Washington West Film Festival is uniquely turning film screenings into story creation,” explained festival founder and programmer Brad Russell. “We do this by directing 100 percent of our box office net proceeds to communities that need help.”
Beginning this Wednesday, the festival will be screening 62 films, a mixture of narrative, documentary, and shorts. When the festival began in 2011, the idea of showing films and using all of the ticket revenue for charity seemed unsustainable. But with big sponsors like Boeing and Adobe, and such local benefactors as Colonial Parking and JBG, the seventh iteration of the festival is set to be its strongest yet, with a line-up culled from over 500 submissions from 40 countries.
This year, the festival’s many stories tackle a variety of important subjects. With the wave of controversy coming out of Hollywood surrounding Harvey Weinstein, the sexual assault crisis is finally coming out of the shadows. Along those lines, the festival will screen the documentary I Am Evidence, produced by Law & Order: SVU‘s Mariska Hargitay, as well as the narrative film The Light of The Moon, a highlight from this year’s South By Southwest Festival.
Modern Family star Ty Burrell will be in attendance for a Q&A following a sold out screening of one of the hit comedy’s episodes on Saturday, but there’s still tickets left the following day for a shorts program from Kids In The Spotlight. Burrell is on the board for KITS, an organization for foster kids to learn to tell their stories therapeutically through the medium of film. (There will be other shorts programs from students of GMU and Art Institute of Washington.)
Friday night, Oscar winner Robert Duvall will introduce a screening of Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives, about the legendary record producer. The screening will feature a post-show Q&A with Davis. Closing night program In Conversation with Bradford Young and Common will feature two short films from the Howard University alum cinematographer and the one-Tony-award-away-from-an-EGOT rapper/activist, as well as a talk with both men. Young’s work on the upcoming Han Solo film may make him a household name, and he and Common have new works discussing their perspectives on race relations in America, so the ensuing post film discussion is a must-see.
Screenings will take place at such Northern Virginia venues as Reston Town Center’s Bow Tie Cinemas and that old staple the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse. There’s a lot to take in, but above all else, there’s the knowledge that your hard-earned ticket money will go to a good cause.
The Washington West Film Festival runs from October 25th-30th. Tickets, schedules and programming information are all available here.
This post has been updated to reflect that was the producer of I Am Evidence, not the narrator.
