The Virginia Film Office, the Virginia Production Alliance and RVA Magazine/RVA TV cooperatively presented the fourth annual Virginia Indie Film Festival February 26 and 27 at the Byrd Theatre in Richmond. The Festival featured independently produced documentaries, short films and feature films from Virginia filmmakers. Grand prize winners and audience choice award winners were announced in each category.
The winner in the documentary category was A Gift for the Village from Lucky Dog Productions in Roanoke. It is a film about a cultural bridge built between the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and the Himalayas of Western Nepal. This documentary also received the audience choice award.
In the feature film category, Tracks received both the main award and the audience choice award. It is the story of a self-destructive amputee who reflects on his troubled youth while drifting through the streets of Baltimore. The filmmakers are from Springfield.
Two films were honored in the short films category: Jon Nail from Virginia Beach won the main short film award for The Walk, and Goodbye to Muffy by Marc A. Hutchins of Alexandria Films in Blue Ridge received the audience choice award.
The Virginia Indie Film Festival was created to support and showcase Virginia independent filmmakers who produce a wide variety of short films, videos, documentaries, commercials, feature films, television shows and content for new media outlets. Films for the festival were selected by juries from the VCU French Film Festival, the James River Film Festival and the Virginia Film Festival.
The direct and indirect impact of Virginia’s motion picture and video production industry in 2009 was $346 million, representing 2,701 jobs for the state.