Virginia Film Festivals & Screenings

48-Hour Film Project

Teams of filmmakers create original short films in two days which are shown at a screening. Best films are selected for a national competition.

Afrikana Independent Film Festival

Afrikana is a film festival dedicated to showcasing the cinematic works of people of color from around the world, with a special focus on the global Black narrative. As Richmond city's first and only Black film festival, the festival's mission is to create a platform that presents high-quality, well-crafted stories that celebrate the diaspora and encourage people to connect.

Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival

The festival, which takes place at the neighboring Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Virginia Museum of History and Culture, features leading names and films in native cinema, and is curated by representatives from Virginia Indian tribes, Native American filmmakers, and leaders from the arts community in Virginia.

ChinaFest

Films and cultural activities to explore themes of diversity, humanity, and cross-cultural human understanding.

Inthrive Film Festival

The Inthrive Film Festival is the first film festival to celebrate the voices and talents of folks who survived incarceration and is changing the narrative on what it means to have survived incarceration. In addition to film screenings you can meet with community organizations, hear from panelists, and see the work of previously incarcerated entrepreneurs and artists.

Israeli Film Festival

The Annual Israeli Film Festival produced by the Weinstein JCC Patrons of the Arts is dedicated to bringing exposure and understanding of Israeli art and culture through film. Each year more Israeli films are winning international acclaim and being recognized by film audiences here in the U.S. This Festival provides Richmond audiences with the opportunity to experience great Israeli filmmaking. Films are accompanied by discussions whenever possible.

James River Film Festival

Richmond, VA. This festival features ground-breaking work by independent media artists, workshops, screenings, seminars, and a juried competition each year.

James River Shorts

Richmond, VA. mini-Festival devoted to the short. Juried competition from around the globe. Produced by the James River Film Festival group.

Reel Paddling Film Festival

Sponsored by the American Canoe Association, this festival showcases paddling films and encourages people to get outside and enjoy the natural beauty of our lakes, rivers, and oceans. Ticket sales go to the Stream to Sea Initiative, an effort by the ACA to clean waterways and promote environmental stewardship.

Reelabilities Richmond Disabilities Film Festival

Held each spring in Richmond and produced by the Weinstein JCC Patrons of the Arts; and supporting special needs programming at the WJCC. The Reelabilities Film Festival is dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories, and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities. The festival presents award-winning films, accompanied by discussions and other engaging programs which bring together the community to explore, discuss and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience. Screenings are held throughout Richmond at different locations each year.

Richmond Dance Festival

The Richmond Dance Festival will consist of performances and film screenings presented by dance artists located in the Richmond, VA area. We are looking for all kinds of styles of dance films to show the diversity of artists that call Richmond their home.

Richmond Diversity Film Festival

A subfest of the non-profit organization Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival, the Richmond Diversity Film Festival strives to provide actors & filmmakers of diverse backgrounds a venue in which to showcase their voices without judgement or insincere reflection, free of stereotypes and degradation.

Richmond International Film Festival

Richmond International Film Festival (RIFF) brings a thrilling array of film screenings, industry panels, filmmaker Q&As, live musical performances, and entertainment mixers that usher the spirit of Hollywood into Virginia's historic Byrd Theater. It's a one-of-a-kind festival honoring some of the most singularly entertaining projects on the international film scene. RIFF welcomes produced films, music videos, and screenplays of all genres -- including short-form and feature-length works -- all while providing a networking platform for local filmmakers and talent from around the globe.

RVA Environmental Film Festival

This festival is held at several venues around the city, and showcases a national and local selection of films meant to inform the audience about current environmental issues.

VHSL Film Festival

A festival showcasing the most talented high school filmmakers across the Commonwealth. The VHSL is an alliance of Virginia’s public high schools that promotes education, leadership, sportsmanship, character and citizenship.

Poe Film Festival

Poe Film Festival, held in Richmond in late autumn, is a two-day celebration of talented college and independent filmmakers who are inspired by the intensity and suspense of the master storyteller, Edgar Allan Poe. More than thirty mid-Atlantic universities are invited to compete for awards in technical merit, artistic merit, best documentary and best screenplay. The Festival features networking receptions and educational discussions led by industry professionals.

Coastal Virginia/Hampton Roads

48-Hour Film Project

Teams of filmmakers create original short films in two days which are shown at a screening. Best films are selected for a national competition.

Virginia Diasporic Communities Film Festival (VADCFF)

The Virginia Diasporic Communities Film Festival (VADCFF) is an annual celebration of filmmaking, visual storytelling and artistry from communities of color that represent Virginia’s diaspora. Our traditions celebrate the blended mix of residents from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds that make up the state’s growing population. VADCFF is dedicated to presenting vibrant and unique stories from diasporic communities that live outside of their homelands but have made new roots in the Commonwealth. We believe that film is not only meant to entertain, but to create dialogue and opportunities in the film industry, challenge differing viewpoints and ideologies, affirm the importance of inclusion and representation, and generate insight, understanding, and appreciation of cultural experiences and expressions.

Naro Cinema

All-year in Norfolk. Numerous screenings of unusual films, including the “First Look Film Series,” a Sunday morning series featuring an advance screening of the latest offering from a roster of prominent independent, foreign, and up-and-coming filmmakers.

Reel it OUT Queer Film Festival

This community-focused festival's purpose is to expose, educate, and introduce the lifestyle, struggles, joys, and hardships of the Queer community through the world of film and media.

Ampersand International Arts Festival

Formerly the William & Mary Global Film Festival, this festival was launched in 2008 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Williamsburg Theater. The festival is held in later winter/spring and features films and artists from around the world.

Williamsburg Film Festival

A festival honoring the Golden Age of Hollywood

New World Film Festival

Premiering in August at The American Theatre, in Hampton. This film festival features African American centered documentaries. The festival hopes to promote change and invoke a sense of social responsibility.

Virginia Festival of Jewish Film

Film lovers from all over are invited to see national and international movies from fascinating documentaries to full feature dramas created by award-winning Jewish writers and filmmakers. Guest speakers accompany several films, with opening and closing night venues boasting delicious cuisine.

Save the Waves Film Festival

Save The Waves Film Festival is an international film tour and fundraiser for Save The Waves’ environmental programs and campaigns. Save The Waves documentary films and the Film Festival educate and inspire audiences to protect the coastline.

Eastern Shore

Experimental Film Virginia

Experimental Film Virginia is the core program for the Harbor for the Arts Festival in Cape Charles, Virginia, a town that still echoes of vintage Americana. The program develops experimental filmmaker's skills for two weeks under the mentorship of world-class faculty. The program concludes with a premiere of the various projects developed. Please contact us for an official letter of invitation to support funding from academic enrichment or other grant agencies at your academic institution or arts commission.

Roanoke Valley

Bedford Film Festival

The Bedford Film Festival takes place annually in Bedford, Virginia, showcasing a wide variety of film projects, including shorts, episodic, features, docus, and more. This year's festival will be at the Bower Center for the Arts. VA residents submitting qualify for a discount. Visit their website for more information.

The Grandin Theater

The historic Grandin Theatre is operated by the Grandin Theatre Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization. This historic theatre is one of the jewels in the arts and cultural crown of Roanoke Valley and the greater Southwest region. Features current films along with film festivals and special screenings.

Progeny Film Festival

Hosted annually by Virginia Tech's School of Performing Arts in Blacksburg, this festival showcases short (15 minutes or less) artistic films made by filmmakers in southwestern Virginia.

Shenandoah Valley

Maupintown Film Festival

The Maupintown Film Festival is a FREE annual event given at the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center in Charlottesville, Virginia each July, and focuses on celebrating and sharing films of African-American history and culture with the local community. The festival features over a dozen films, as well as presentations and discussions from filmmakers, local historians and community leaders.

Skyline Indie Film Fest

Skyline Indie Film Fest brings the best in new, undistributed independent film to the mid-Atlantic region for a competitive festival. With many filmmakers in attendance and casual accessibility, panels, mixers, seminars, Skyline is an unbeatable place to immerse yourself in the indie film world.

Super Gr8 Film Festival

Harrisonburg. This festival is unique in that each contester, receives a film camera and a roll of film. They must then shoot their film in order of scenes, with no mistakes or edits, and then return it to the event organizers. The first time anyone can view the films is at the festival.

Virginia Film Festival

The Virginia Film Festival has been bringing leaders in film and academia together for over 30 years, taking place in beautiful Charlottesville in the autumn.

Wild & Scenic Film Festival

This is a national traveling film festival that has been hosted by venues in Charlottesville and Harrisonburg. Bringing together stories about the wildlife and the planet, this festival travels the country sharing and promoting wildlife defense and activism. For more information about where the festival will be held next year, visit their website.

Strasburg Film Festival

The Strasburg Film Festival provides attendees with an excellent selection of films from all over the world. Unlike most other film festivals, they wave the filmmaker submission fee to find those storytellers who have the talent to make movies but not the monetary backing to produce them. They aim to provide an open door for anyone who is considering filmmaking/storytelling as a profession. All proceeds from the festival will go back to the Shenandoah County Public School District’s Theatre Program.

South Central Virginia

Longwood Animation Film Festival

The festival is an annual event located in Farmville, Virginia showcasing animated short films submitted by filmmakers from all over the world.

Southwest Virginia

Washington D.C. & Northern Virginia

Clifton Film Celebration

Clifton Film Celebration brings independent film to Clifton, Virginia. The three day event features networking events, screenings, and awards.

Fredericksburg Film Festival

The Fredericksburg Film Festival, in historic Fredericksburg, Virginia, celebrates the art of storytelling, welcoming local and international filmmakers and film enthusiasts. FFF is a hub of engagement and learning, providing panels, and social events all designed to create intimate opportunities for attendees to be part of a filmmaking community.

LUNAFEST Fairfax

LUNAFEST is a traveling film festival of award-winning short films by, for and about women. This season, the program of nine films filled with stories of reflection, hope and humor will be screened in Northern Virginia at the Angelika Film Center. The event raises funds for Girls on the Run of NOVA and Breast Cancer Fund.

Greater Washington Immigration Film Festival

The festival showcases films about the immigrant experience, immigrant contributions to America, and their birth countries, while connecting newcomers with neighborhoods in their communities. The festival drew 2,000 supporters and viewers in its inaugural 2014 season.

Middleburg Film Festival

The Annual Middleburg Film Festival offers four days of fantastic films in a spectacular setting, only 30 minutes from Dulles International Airport and just one hour from Washington, D.C. A carefully curated selection of narrative and documentary films will screen in an intimate theatre environment, followed by fascinating Q and A’s with world-renowned filmmakers and actors. The films include festival favorites, premieres, and Academy Award contenders.

The Northern Virginia International Film Festival

A brand new festival located in Northern Virginia. This is a festival for filmmakers by filmmakers and whose aim is to bring a slice of Hollywood to the Virginia area. They pride themselves on working with filmmakers independent of budget, origin, style or genre.

The festival is now connected with the Capital Film Market event in Fairfax, VA, for distributors, sales agents, buyers, filmmakers.

Rosebud Film and Video Festival

Submissions are now open to entries. Founded to promote the rich and diverse independent film and video community in Virginia, DC, and Maryland. The festival features screenings of rare shorts and selected feature-length comedies.

Inthrive Film Festival

The Inthrive Film Festival is the first film festival to celebrate the voices and talents of folks who survived incarceration and is changing the narrative on what it means to have survived incarceration. In addition to film screenings you can meet with community organizations, hear from panelists, and see the work of previously incarcerated entrepreneurs and artists.

Washington West Film Festival

Built on the belief that story can change the world, Washington West Film Festival screens and premieres some of the finest independent films in 3 in-competition categories: dramatic features, documentary features, and short films. And the audience participates in the making of a new story-- 100% of box office net proceeds funds a project that works to solve a problem of hunger, education, disease, or displacement.

DC Independent Film Festival

Washington, DC. A wide array of independent films, including some by local filmmakers. Festival includes films, discussions with filmmakers, and seminars. Submissions are accepted.

SmartPhilm Fest

This festival in Washington, DC is the first film festival in the Mid-Atlantic region with films shot exclusively with smartphones. The festival is dedicated to providing a platform to the global artistic and film loving community to document and produce their own stories in the most accessible way.

Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival

Double Exposure returns to Washington DC celebrating the intersection of film and journalism through a compelling film program and concurrent symposium over the course of four days. The festival launches its third edition with DC premieres of new investigative films that go beyond the headlines to capture riveting stories, paired with powerful conversations with acclaimed filmmakers, subjects, journalists and experts.

D.C. International Film Festival

For over 30 years, Filmfest DC has sought to keep pace with global cultural and social activities. This festival has taken on a special focus on issues ripped from today's headlines in hopes of increasing clarity and civil discourse.

Lost Weekend VIII

Film Club’s LOST WEEKEND VIII will be a celebration of film at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Twenty-five feature films from around the world will be featured, including SIXTEEN advance screenings. None of these films have been screened theatrically in Winchester before.

Alexandria Film Festival

A yearly tribute to cinema, the Alexandria Film Festival presents independent feature-length films and shorts of all genres by both emerging and established filmmakers. Our mission is to promote cinema as an important cultural, educational and entertainment asset to our highly engaged audience. We proudly showcase Alexandria and Virginia as a dynamic venue for creating, exhibiting, and experiencing film.

The Global Impact Film Festival

The Global Impact Film Festival (GIDC), brought to you by DCBX, is a dynamic independent film festival in Washington, D.C. that celebrates the power of the film medium for social justice. We showcase documentary and narrative short films that provoke change.

Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival

NVJFF is one of the largest cultural events in Northern Virginia.

Come experience the unparalleled power of our films; to entertain, to inspire, to change minds, to connect hearts, and to bring the diverse Jewish experience to life!

Serving all of Northern Virginia including: Fairfax, Annandale, Vienna, McLean, Falls Church, Arlington, Springfield, Herndon, Gainesville, Alexandria, and more!

ReelAbilities Film Festival: Northern Virginia

ReelAbilities Film Festival: Northern Virginia is dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with disabilities.

Each year, this dynamic festival, powered by the Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia, presents both domestic and international award-winning films paired with interactive programming that gives us a new perspective and highlights the vibrant personalities, realities, and extraordinary abilities of people. Through film, art, and discussion, ReelAbilities Film Festival: Northern Virginia brings together the community to explore, embrace, and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience.

Awesome Con Short Film Festival

The Awesome Con Short Film Festival is one of the most fun and most fan-friendly film festivals that you'll attend or be part of, and it takes place inside one of the biggest pop culture conventions in the USA-- Awesome Con in Washington DC.

Also in this section: