Steve McQueen‘s filmography will be feted at the 2024 Middleburg Film Festival.
The annual festival, which will take place from October 17 through 20, will honor Academy Award winner McQueen with the Visionary Director Award. McQueen’s latest film “Blitz” will open the festival, and the auteur will participate in a post-screening conversation.
“Blitz” follows the “epic journey of George (Elliott Heffernan), a 9-year-old boy whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside. George, defiant and determined to return home to Rita and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son,” per the official synopsis.
“Blitz” will screen at Middleburg as a co-presentation with the British Embassy. British Ambassador to the United States Dame Karen Pierce will introduce the feature, and also receive the Festival’s inaugural Film Diplomacy Award. The honor is in recognition of Pierce’s “longstanding commitment to the film industry and the power of film to both increase our understanding of the world and one another and foster the global creative economy,” as a representative for the festival stated. Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Lee Satterfield will present the award to the Ambassador.
Sir McQueen’s career is the centerpiece honor at Middleburg, though. The writer/director has helmed features such as ”Hunger,” “Shame,” “Widows,” and Best Picture winner “12 Years a Slave.” McQueen’s anthology film series ”Small Axe” (2020) won Best Picture from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and received fifteen BAFTA nominations. McQueen’s recent projects include the feature documentary ”Occupied City” and the BAFTA-winning documentary series ”Uprising.”
As for the rest of the Middleburg lineup, the Friday Spotlight film will be “Emilia Pérez,” which tells the story of four women in Mexico who are each pursuing their own happiness. Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Edgar Ramírez star.
Saldaña will be recognized with the Festival’s Spotlight Actor Award for her role as Rita in “Emilia Pérez,” with the honor taking place after the screening of the film. She won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress earlier this year with her ”Emilia Pérez” co-stars. The Netflix film is the official selection from France for the 97th Academy Awards.
The Saturday Centerpiece film for Middleburg is “Conclave,” hailing from director Edward Berger. Ralph Fiennes stars as a Cardinal who is tasked with appointing the next Pope after an unexpected death. Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati, and Isabella Rossellini also star.
Rossellini will join Berger at the Festival to receive the Agnès Varda Trailblazing Film Artist Award for her iconic career, which encompasses films “Blue Velvet,” “Wild at Heart,” and ”Death Becomes Her.” Her recent work includes appearances in ”Spaceman,” “Problemista,” “La Chimera,” and lending her voice to ”Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.”
The Middleburg Film Festival continues its collaboration with the U.S. Department of State through the United States’ flagship film diplomacy program, American Film Showcase, to host a delegation of leading Kenyan and Nigerian filmmakers. Kunle Afolayan (Nigeria), Bolanle Austen Peters (Nigeria), Kenneth Ambani (Kenya) and Philip Karanja (Kenya) will share selections of their work and participate in a conversation focused on connecting with global audiences and the important role of film in the wider creative economy. The State Department’s American Film Showcase is implemented and produced by the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
