It’s that time of year again! The Middleburg Film Festival, now in its 12th year, is right around the corner. The first batch of films and special honorees has been announced for the event, which continues to be a key stop on the road to the Academy Awards. Punch Drunk Critics has been there every year since the inaugural 2013 launch, and has seen the festival present 61 eventual Oscar winners with more likely to come.
The Opening Night selection will be Steve McQueen’s WWII drama Blitz, starring Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan and newcomer Elliott Heffernan. Set during World War II, Blitz follows the journey of George (Elliott Heffernan), a 9-year-old boy whose mother Rita (Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside. George, defiant and determined to return home to Rita and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in peril, as a distraught Rita searches for her missing son.
Director Sir Steve McQueen will be in attendance to be honored with the festival’s Visionary Director award. McQueen’s career has seen him direct such accomplished films as Hunger, Shame, Widows, the Small Axe anthology, and 12 Years a Slave which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Also in attendance will be British Ambassador to the United States Karen Pierce, who will receive the festival’s inaugural Film Diplomacy Award in recognition of her longstanding commitment to the film industry and the power of film to both “increase our understanding of the world and one another and foster the global creative economy” says a festival press release.
Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Jury Prize winner Emilia Pérez will be the Friday Spotlight film. Starring Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Mark Ivanir, and Edgar Ramírez, the musical film centers on a fearsome drug lord who recruits an overqualified and unappreciated lawyer to fake her death and finally live authentically as her true self. At Cannes, the film won the Jury Prize as well as Best Actress for the female ensemble. Following the screening, Zoe Saldaña will be recognized with the Spotlight Actor Award for her transformative role as Rita.
The Saturday Centerpiece film is Conclave, Focus Features’ drama about the secretive conclave process of selecting a new Pope. Directed by Edward Berger, his follow-up to All Quiet On the Western Front, the film stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati, and Isabella Rossellini. Rossellini will be in attendance along with Berger as she receives the Agnès Varda Trailblazing Film Artist Award for her incredible career.
More announcements to come.
The 2024 Middleburg Film Festival takes place October 17-20. Tickets go on sale in early October when the full slate is released, but you can access more information here.
