Full schedule + a look at the county’s youngest filmmakers
Friday April 8 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION
This year's Opening Night Reception is at Tula’s Restaurant and Bar on Friday, April 8 and features a Virginia-themed menu and complimentary DuCard wines and Port City beer. The party is the perfect place to connect with friends and meet celebrity guests and filmmakers before the opening-night feature films. The reception is free to sponsors and filmmakers. It is open to the public and tickets are available at $25. Go to www.TheFilmFestivalAtLittleWashington.com. Tula’s is located at 311 Gay Street in Washington.
OPENING NIGHT FILMS 7 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Heritage Hollow: Beneath the Blue Ridge (Documentary Short; 9 minutes) Ryan Speers, Director — Beneath the Blue Ridge Mountains, Rappahannock County residents Mike and Molly Peterson pursue their dream to grow their farm and nourish a community.
Nerd Prom: Inside Washington's Wildest Week (Documentary Feature; 90 minutes) Patrick Gavin, Director — A former Politico reporter covers the White House Correspondents’ Association's annual week-long convergence of press, politics, and parties to expose what really happens
during the capital city’s most outrageous and momentous event.
9:15 p.m.: Q&A with filmmaker
Saturday, April 9
• 10 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. SATURDAY MORNING AT THE MOVIES
Through (Documentary Short; 5 minutes)
Stace Carter, Director — Observations and reflections by Appalachian Trail hikers as they approach the trail’s halfway point in the Shenandoah National Park.
Capsized (Short; 13 minutes)
Brandon Freer, Director — Using only a cell phone, a young bride-to-be tries to save her fiancé from drowning in a cargo hold of a capsized cruise ship.
Annabel Lee (Short; 13 minutes)
Carl T. Rogers, Director — The story of a husband and wife who are torn apart when angels plot against them. Based on the poem penned by Edgar Allen Poe.
Equus Caballus (Short; 3 minutes)
H. Paul Moon, Director — A reading by Joel Nelson of his poem "Equus Caballus" during the 29th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada.
Intermission (15 minutes)
Julian Bond
(Documentary; 34 minutes)
Eduardo Montes-Bradley, Director — As Julian Bond traces his roots back to slavery,(1) the audience is confronted with a unique opportunity to observe the 20th century through the eyes of one of its key witnesses.
Q&A with filmmaker
• 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
FILMMAKER ROUNDTABLE AT THE FORGE STUDIOS
Moderated roundtable discussion with industry leaders on the topic of funding, marketing, and distribution of indie films. This event is open to the public. Brown bag lunch and drink included in ticket price. Event location: The Forge Studios, 567 Mt. Salem Ave, Washington. • 12 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. SATURDAY MATINEE #1
Trolls and Antechambers (Short; 17 minutes)
Tom Sanchez Prunier, Director — A fantasy card game tournament comes down to a David vs. Goliath matchup.
Hill of the Hapersnoks (Short Animation; 11 minutes)
Rinny Wilson, Director — As an author tries to write her masterpiece, the muses within her novel manifest as pesky and destructive creatures.
The Matchmaker (Short;
10 minutes)
Lonnie Martin, Director — A story about two morticians in love and the corpse that tries to bring them together.
Intermission (15 minutes)
Father Unknown (Documentary Feature; 68 minutes)
David Quint, Director — Captured on a camera phone as it happened, is the story of a man’s struggle to face the emptiness he carries inside. Disconnected from the people closest to him and haunted by the secrecy in his family, he records his desperate search for connection on a journey with the father he's never truly known.
Q&A with filmmaker
• 2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m.
SATURDAY MATINEE #2
Chinatown
(Documentary; 27 minutes)
Yi Chen, Director — Washington, D.C.’s historic Chinatown has seen many changes over the last decades, challenging the last remaining immigrant residents. The first film to document the impact of urban development from the perspective of the underrepresented local community.
Q&A with filmmaker
Intermission (15 minutes)
Better than Baghdad (Documentary Short; 3 minutes)
Reid Hildebrand, Director — A Palestinian teenage refugee named Majed recalls the terrible yet inspiring event that occurred in the refugee camp in the Iraqi desert where he lived with his family for five years.
Raven (Documentary Short; 5 minutes)
Jakob Groner, Liam Hubbard, and Oliver Schwartz, Directors - A Charlottesville poet discusses his art.
Adrian’s Story (Documentary Short; 3 minutes)
Hannah Ayers and Lance Warren, Directors - Adrian is a barber-in-training. Today, after years of incarceration, he is bravely, slowly moving forward while giving back to the community.
The Rift (Short; 13 minutes)
Hernan S. Zuleta, Director — When one of them is diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, two parents with the ability to switch bodies must decide who lives and who dies.
Pointless Pencil (Short;
10 minutes)
Beecher Reuning, Director — A low-level worker turns the tables on a condescending superior at an executive seminar.
Goodbye to Muffy (Short; 12 minutes)
Marc A. Hutchins, Director — Following the death of the family cat, Mom and Dad learn that a pet's death is anything but a simple journey to the grave.
• 4:15 p.m. – 6 p.m.
SATURDAY MATINEE #3
The Vision Within
(Documentary; 38 minutes)
Michael O. Snyder, Director — A group of college students travel deep into the heart of the Amazon rainforest to meet an ancient ‘dream culture’ living today in much the same way that they have lived for thousands of years.
Q&A with filmmaker
Leroy’s Lobster Shack
(Short; 11 minutes)
Sean Mercado, Director — A 20-year-old recluse suffers delusions of working at a non-existent lobster shack.
The Greater Evil (Short; 6 minutes)
William R Coughlan, Director — Lilith Delaney has snagged a plum assignment with the campaign team of Victor Balch, a brash but popular candidate for the presidency. Lilith gradually falls under the candidate’s spell until she catches a glimpse of his horrific true nature.
Apostasy (Short; 12 minutes)
H. Paul Moon, Director — Projected into our world of epidemic gun violence, “Apostasy” is a film about shaking free from conflict, and destroying oneself – to embrace apostasy, and find peace.
Perpetual (Music Video; 4 minutes)
Tyler Ray Johnson, Director — Two artists’ journey to find the person of their dreams.
Sins of the Father
(Music Video; 3 minutes)
Carl T. Rogers, Director — Official music video for Emmy-nominated hip-hop artist T.O.N.E-z’s song “Sins of the Father.”
Terrance (Short; 19 minutes)
Justin Garcia, Director — A live-action film following the budding relationship of a shy woman who goes on a blind date dressed as “Terrance” the tiger.
• 7:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.
SATURDAY NIGHT FEATURE
Elemental (Short; 11 minutes)
Eric Hurt, Director — A 10-year-old whiz kid receives advice from a blind neighbor when it comes to matters of the heart.
**SNEAK PREVIEW**
Macbeth Unhinged
(Feature; 87 minutes)
Angus Macfadyen, Director — A modern interpretation of the Bard’s tragedy, set in the claustrophobic confines of a stretch limousine which prowls the streets of a contemporary landscape.
Q&A to follow
Sunday, April 10
• 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. SUNDAY MORNING AT THE MOVIES
Where Are You, Bobby Browning? (Feature; 101 minutes)
Marc A. Hutchins, Director — A romantic comedy about a young woman who realizes that she picked the wrong guy in high school and travels back to her small town to make things right.
Q&A with filmmaker
• 12:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
SUNDAY MATINEE
Singularity (Short; 9 minutes)
Eric Hurt, Director — A boy tries to make sense of life and death through fractured memories and conversations with his father.
House of Stronzo (Documentary Short; 6 minutes)
Matthew White, Director — “House of Stronzo” chronicles the quest of Rappahannock County resident, Pete Cecere, one of the preeminent collectors of folk and outsider art in North America, to find permanent homes for the more than 5,000 pieces of original art.
The Anthropologist (Documentary Feature; 60 minutes)
Seth Kramer and Daniel A. Miller, Directors — The parallel stories of two women are revealed from their daughters’ perspectives: Margaret Mead, who popularized cultural anthropology in America; and Susie Crate, an environmental anthropologist currently studying the impact of climate change.
Q&A with filmmaker and collector, Pete Cecere
• 3 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Young Filmmakers of Rappahannock County
(Student shorts; 60 minutes)
Stephanie Slewka, Producer — A selection of short films by Rappahannock County student filmmakers.