Middleburg Film Festival : Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Three Billboards in Festival Line Up.

The Middleburg Film Festival has announced its lineup for the 2017 film festival. Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill and current Best Actor Frontrunner is the opening night film. The Saturday Centerpiece film is Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird. Now in its fifth year, the film festival which runs from October 19 to October 22 will also present Mudbound director, Dee Rees with its 2017 Visionary Award. Call Me By Your Name screenwriter James Ivory will be honored with the Legacy Award, while Moonlight and Battle of the Sexes composer Nicholas Britell will perform with The Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra in a presentation of his work. He will also receive the Distinguished Film Composer Award.

Other Oscar contenders heading to the festival include Call Me By Your Name and I, Tonya. Anthony McCarten (screenwriter, Darkest Hour), Ben Mendelsohn (Darkest Hour), Greta Gerwig, Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (Battle of the Sexes) and Lisa Bruce (producer, Darkest Hour) will all be in attendance.

The Sunday Centerpiece film will be Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The dark comedy film, starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, John Hawkes, and Peter Dinklage, is about a bereaved mother who demands accountability from the town sheriff and won the audience award at the Toronto Film Festival.

“The Middleburg Film Festival marks our fifth year with an extraordinary slate of films and special guests,” said Middleburg Film Festival Executive Director Susan Koch. “We’re
especially delighted to welcome three incredibly talented female directors – Dee Rees, Greta Gerwig, and Valerie Faris. We’re also pleased to honor James Ivory, not only for his recent
achievement with Call Me By Your Name, but for sixty years of stunning filmmaking.”
Middleburg Film Festival founder Sheila C. Johnson added, “From the very beginning, it’s been important for us to present diverse voices in filmmaking. Especially in these
divisive times, films have a way of bringing people together, expanding our understanding of the world and encouraging dialogue. The festival also celebrates some of the film
industry’s unsung heroes. One of my favorite events is our Symphony Orchestra concert honoring a renowned film composer – and this year we are thrilled to recognize Nicholas
Britell.”

Opening Night

DARKEST HOUR
Director: Joe Wright

Centerpiece Films
LADY BIRD
Director and Writer: Greta Gerwig

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Director: Martin McDonagh

Spotlight Films

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
Director: Luca Guadagnino

MUDBOUND
Director: Dee Rees

I, TONYA
Director: Craig Gillespie

Main Slate

BREATHE
Director: Andy Serkis

THE DIVINE ORDER
Sweden’s submission to Best Foreign Language Film category at the 90th Academy Awards
Director: Petra Volpe

FACES PLACES (aka VILLAGES VISAGES)
Director: Agnès Varda and JR

A FANTASTIC WOMAN
Chile’s submission to Best Foreign Language Film category at the 90th Academy Awards
Director: Sebastián Lelio

FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL
Director: Paul McGuigan

HAPPY END
Austria’s submission to Best Foreign Language Film category at the 90th Academy Awards
Director: Michael Haneke

IN THE FADE
Germany’s submission to Best Foreign Language Film category at the 90th Academy Awards
Director: Fatih Akin

JANE
Director: Brett Morgen

JOAN DIDION: THE CENTER WILL NOT HOLD
Director: Griffin Dunne

LAST FLAG FLYING
Director: Richard Linklater

THE LEISURE SEEKER
Director: Paolo Virzì

LOVELESS
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev

MELTDOWN
Director: Fredric Golding

MUSIC GOT ME HERE
Director: Susan Koch

NOVITIATE
Director: Margaret Betts

THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE
Director: Aki Kaurismäki

THE SQUARE
Director: Ruben Östlund

UNDER THE TREE
Director: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson

WONDERSTRUCK
Director: Todd Haynes

The full festival information can be found at :www.middleburgfilm.org