The 37th annual Virginia Film Festival has tallied up the votes to determine its 2024 Audience Award winners. After 138 films and events over a five day period, the Narrative Feature that won over the most attendees was Tracie Laymon’s “Bob Trevino Likes It,” while Dawn Porter’s “Luther: Never Too Much” won for Documentary Feature, and “Makayla’s Voice” and “Irma” won the Narrative Short and Documentary Short categories, respectively.
Additionally, the festival put on by the University of Virginia welcomed a series of individuals winners to its Charlottesville setting, including “Anora” star Mikey Madison accepting the VAFF’s Achievement in Acting Award after a sold-out screening at the Paramount Theater, “Saturday Night” star Lamorne Morris receiving the Virtuoso Award as part of the festival’s Saturday night programming, and “Pavements” filmmaker Alex Ross Perry accepting the Directorial Achievement Award for the film, and participating in a Q&A alongside Pavement drummer Steve West.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the response to the 37th Annual Virginia Film Festival,” said VAFF Executive Director and UVA Vice Provost for the Arts Jody Kielbasa via statement. “As I traveled between venues throughout the five days, I consistently walked into theaters packed with enthusiastic and engaged audiences who so appreciated the films as well as the fascinating discussions with our guest artists and our wide array of UVA faculty experts. Throughout the course of the five days, I heard from so many people about the extraordinary depth and breadth of our program, and it was an honor to once again bring the community together to celebrate the art of film.”
“The 2024 Virginia Film Festival has been a magical and soul-nourishing experience,” added VAFF Artistic Director Ilya Tovbis. “Guests such as Mikey Madison, Matthew Modine, and Lamorne Morris (a small fraction of our overall guest list) engaged deeply with Charlottesville audiences, expanding their appreciation for some of the best films of the year. Local filmmakers, first-time directors, Hollywood heavy-hitters, and the global film community gathered in Charlottesville for a world-class event. They met with students, held panel discussions, and exchanged ideas with one another, in the process sparking our imaginations, and providing an outlet to meaningfully gather around great art.”
See the full list of Virginia Film Festival winners below.
The winners of the 2024 VAFF Audience Awards, supported by Ting, are:
Narrative Feature: “Bob Trevino Likes It”
Documentary Feature: “Luther: Never Too Much”
Narrative Short: “Makayla’s Voice”
Documentary Short: “Irma”
The winners of the 2024 VAFF Programmers Awards are:
Narrative Feature: “We Shall Not Be Moved”
Documentary Feature: “The Bitter Pill”
Narrative Short: “Evanescence”
Documentary Short: “Roommates”
Additional 2024 VAFF Award Winners included:
Achievement in Acting Award: Mikey Madison (“Anora”)
Achievement in Animation Award: Adam Elliot (“Memoir of a Snail”)
Achievement in Screenwriting: Jack Huston (“Day of the Fight”)
Chronicler Award: Dawn Porter (“Luther: Never Too Much”)
Craft Award: Kalina Ivanov (“The Penguin”)
Directorial Achievement Award: Alex Ross Perry (“Pavements”)
Governor Gerald L. Baliles Founder’s Award: Ellen Casey Wagner & Paul Wagner (“Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light”)
Impresario Award: NEON (presented to Co-Founder and CEO Tom Quinn)
Virtuoso Award: Lamorne Morris (“Saturday Night”)
