Film Fest 919 released its slate of films this week that will be featured in its annual festival in Chapel Hill. In its second year, the festival will run from October 9 through October 13 at Silverspot Cinema in University Place and will feature many films hoping to win major awards in early 2020.
The festival will screen 38 titles and will be headlined by two films expected to be contenders for Oscars. Netflix’s and writer/director Noah Baumbach’s drama Marriage Story will open the festival, with writer/director Taika Waititi’s World War II satire Jojo Rabbit closing. Both films are coming off of screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Jojo Rabbit took home the People’s Choice award.
“Our inaugural festival last year embodied the slogan ‘Catch the Films Before They Catch On,’” said Film Fest 919 founders Randi Emerman and Carol Marshall in the release of the festival’s lineup. “Our audiences were among the first to see Oscar winners ROMA and The Green Book, and other award-winning films such as Shoplifters, Capernaum and The Favourite. We are beyond excited for this year’s lineup.”
Emerman added the Chapel Hill audience is “particularly savvy and appreciative of the finest films and they fully embraced us last year.”
In addition to film screenings, the festival will feature Q&As with filmmakers, panels and various events outside of the theater. New to Film Fest 919 this year is the Offscreen: Interactive Student Symposium, a program where local college students can engage with filmmakers and learn in a master class about working in the film industry.
The festival’s slate features many other movies distributed by Netflix in addition to Marriage Story that are aiming to be awards contenders. Eddie Murphy’s comedy Dolemite Is My Name, the 15th century English drama The King, and the character study The Two Popes will all be screened, with The Two Popes scribe Anthony McCarten being honored with the festival’s Distinguished Screenwriter Award.
Film Fest 919 also features an array of international films; 18 countries will be represented, including four Official Academy submissions for Foreign Language Film.
Individual tickets for Film Fest 919 go on sale October 2, with passes for additional festival activities on sale now.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines