Virginia Film Festival Slate Includes 'Wild', 'Foxcatcher', 'Dumb and Dumber To', and More

The festival season never really stops, but late in the year they begin to take on a new level of importance. Over the last few years the Charlottesville-based Virginia Film Festival has positioned itself as a venue to catch many of the expected awards hopefuls just as their marketing campaigns are beginning to roll. And now today we're getting a look at the highly impressive slate for 2014, and it features more potential Oscar contenders than the festival has ever had before.

The festival runs from Nov. 6th-9th, and kicking off the show is easily one I'm looking forward to most, and it's the world premiere of Virginia-based film, Big Stone Gap. Best-selling author Adriana Trigiani has adapted her novel for her directorial debut, which stars Patrick Wilson, Ashley Judd, Jasmine Guy, and Jenna Elfman. Trigiani will be on hand for a conversation after the film along with Wilson, Guy, and Elfman. Shot entirely in VA, the story has Judd as a middle-aged spinster who keeps all of the town's secrets until she discovers one of her own that will forever change her life.

The centerpiece film will be the "cinq-a-sept" romance, 5 to 7, starring Frank Langella (on hand as a special guest), Anton Yelchin, and Olivia Thirlby. And closing out the festival will be special screening of Dead Poets Society, in honor of its 25th anniversary.

So what about the Oscar films? Reese Witherspoon has been getting a ton of attention on the festival circuit for her performance in Wild, Jean Marc-Valle's (Dallas Buyers Club) film about the real-life Cheryl Strayed who hiked more than 1,000 of the Pacific Crest Trail alone.  Bennett Miller's Olympic wrestling drama/murder mystery Foxcatcher is also on the slate, and it stars Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum, and an unrecognizable Steve Carell. Also included are Barry Levinson's adaptation of The Humbling, starring Al Pacino and Greta Gerwig; Dumb and Dumber To reuniting Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels; Low Down starring John Hawkes as troubled jazz musician Joe Albany; Mike Leigh's Mr. Turner starring Timothy Spall; and The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing. Another film showing there is one I've been talking about since Sundance, and it's Cutter Hodierne's Somali pirate hijacking thriller, Fishing without Nets.

And that's just a small taste of a huge slate consisting of over 100 films, plus special panels, guests, and anniversary screenings. It's one of our favorites times of the year and we'll be on hand to experience everything the Virginia Film Festival has to offer. You can check out the full lineup below. Information on the schedule or purchasing tickets can be found here.