“Brooklyn is in the house,” laughs Spike Lee from the stage of the Paramount during his conversation with Maurice Wallace, a high point of last weekend’s Virginia Film Festival. The security at the historic theater is something akin to that in airports, producing long lines for avid film lovers. Spike Lee, in an astute bit of festival programming, was invited to show his documentary, I Can’t Breathe, an interview with Ramsey Orta who took the cellphone footage of Eric Garner dying at the hands of Staten Island police, screened in a double bill with his 4 Little Girls (1997). Before making a quick turnaround, flying back to Brooklyn for the premiere of his Netflix series, “She’s Gotta Have It,” based on his movie, Lee announced his next project teaming up with Get Out director Jordan Peele to make Black Clansman, starring John David Washington, Denzel’s son in the title role, and Adam Driver as the white man who portrays him in the clan.
Other highlights of the VFF: director Trudie Styler attended to introduce her movie Freak Show, director William H. Macy showed his movie Krystal. Another movie Starfish shines a light on sepsis/meningitis and the way this insidious infection ravages the human body. For the centerpiece film, Hostiles, director Scott Cooper sent a video. He wanted to be in Charlottesville, where he’d lived, to present his film, and prepare the packed Paramount audience who had recently experienced the hate from the summer’s horrific event, for his movie’s violence. The film felt tailor-made for this festival, with its compelling performances by Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike, and its central theme of compassion.
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