Starting today, the 10th annual Alexandria Film Festival will celebrate local films and filmmakers across genres over the course of the four-day event. More than 40 films are on deck for the festival, including free screenings, discussions and live music, plus the premiere of season two of the PBS series Mercy Street, about a Civil War-era Alexandria hospital.
The festival kicks off Nov. 10 with a free screening of Nighthawks on the Blue Highway at Market Square in Old Town. The documentary profiles local blues band The Nighthawks and their four-decade career. The band will perform following the screening. The film festival will also show other music-centric movies, including a West Side Story remake called West Side Swordy that’s heavy on swordfighting with a Deadmau5 soundtrack, plus the documentary Life of Folk Dancing about the folk-dancing community.
There will also be several showcases encompassing films of a designated theme, all of which will be screened at the AMC Hoffman Center 22. The Foodie Showcase, Nov. 12 at 11 a.m., will focus on farming, food and health, and the Sport Showcase, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m., will highlight athletes with unique stories. The Late Night Showcase, Nov. 12 at 9 p.m., will cover unexplained supernatural phenomena, including a new documentary about Travis Walton’s alleged UFO abduction titled Travis: The True Story of Travis Walton.
In all, there will be more than 40 films played during 16 separate screenings across the four days.
“Sometimes a projector or a camera can be described as an empathy machine,” Alexandria Film Festival chair and organizer Patti North says. “People see a slice of life or a reality, and they get to experience it in a really personal and intimate way that they wouldn’t otherwise have the ability to see.”
After the film festival kicks off, there will be Friday screenings starting at 10:30 a.m. at Beatley Central Library, Saturday screenings at 11 a.m. and Sunday screenings begin at 1 p.m. Both the Saturday and Sunday screenings will take place at AMC Hoffman.
Visit the event website to see the full schedule and buy tickets.
