Coordinates: 38°1′51.2″N 78°29′0.2″W / 38.030889°N 78.483389°W / 38.030889; -78.483389 The Virginia Film Festival is hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, held usually in late October/ early November.

The Virginia Film Festival has historically had a different theme each year. Past themes include:

The 2010 Festival has announced its intention to leave the themed approach in favour of more flexible programming.

Each year, there are almost 100 speakers & guests. Past speakers & guests have included Morgan Freeman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Robert Duvall, Jon Voight, Matthew Broderick, James Stewart, Anthony Hopkins, Sandra Bullock, Alan Ball, Gena Rowlands, Sigourney Weaver, Norman Jewison, & John Waters.

There are almost 60 films featured every year. The 2010 Festival will take place 4 - 7 November, 2010.

Virginia (ⁱ/vərˈdʒɪnjə/), officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state located in the South Atlantic region of the United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city and Fairfax County the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population is over eight million.

The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colony's early politics and plantation economy. Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War, during which Richmond was made the Confederate capital and Virginia's northwestern counties separated to form the state of West Virginia. Although the Commonwealth was under conservative single-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.

A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. Increasingly film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings. The films may be of recent date and, depending upon the focus of the individual festival, can include international releases as well as films produced by the organisers' domestic film industry. Sometimes there is a focus on a specific film-maker or genre (e.g., film noir) or subject matter (e.g., horror film festivals). A number of film festivals specialise in short films, each with its defined maximum length. Film festivals are typically annual events.

The first major film festival was held in Venice in 1932; the other major and oldest film festivals of the world are: Cannes Film Festival (1939), Festival del film Locarno (1946), Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (1946), Edinburgh International Film Festival (1947), Melbourne International Film Festival (1951), Berlin International Film Festival (1951) and Toronto International Film Festival (1976).

Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress and former fashion model. She is primarily known for her roles in two Alfred Hitchcock films, The Birds and Marnie (in which she played the title role), and her extensive efforts in animal rescue at Shambala Preserve, an 80-acre (320,000 m²) wildlife habitat which she founded in 1983.

Hedren is the mother of actress Melanie Griffith, with whom she shares credits on several productions, notably Pacific Heights (1990).

Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, in 1930, the daughter of Dorothea Henrietta née Eckhardt) and Bernard Carl Hedren. Her paternal grandparents were immigrants from Sweden, and her maternal ancestry is German and Norwegian. Her father ran a small general store in the small town of Lafayette, Minnesota and gave her the nickname "Tippi." "My father thought Nathalie was a little bit much for a brand new baby," Hedren explained at a 2004 screening of The Birds.

As a teenager, Hedren took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was still a high school student. When she reached her 18th birthday, she bought a ticket to New York and began a professional modeling career. Within a year she made her film debut (minus dialogue) as a Petty Girl model in The Petty Girl (1950) musical comedy, although in interviews she refers to The Birds (1963) as her first film.

Joshua Thomas "Josh" Radnor (born July 29, 1974) is an American actor, producer, director, and writer, best known for portraying the main character Ted Mosby on the popular, Emmy Award-winning CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, for which he has received worldwide fame and recognition.

He made his writing and directorial debut with the 2010 comedy-drama film happythankyoumoreplease, for which he won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. He is producing his second film, entitled Liberal Arts, which he again wrote and directed.

Radnor was born in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Alan Radnor, a medical malpractice lawyer, and Carol Radnor. He has two sisters, Melanie and Joanna. He grew up in Bexley, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, where he attended Jewish day schools (including the Columbus Torah Academy). Radnor attended Bexley High School and later Kenyon College, where his school's theater department presented him with the Paul Newman Award, and he graduated with a B.A. in drama. Radnor received his Master of Fine Arts degree in acting from New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts.