Middleburg Film Festival 2025: 'Being Heumann' to Close, McDonagh and Rogen Honored

Oscar winner Siân Heder's Apple Original Film "Being Heumann" will close the 14th Middleburg Film Festival, running October 15-18 in Virginia. The festival announced a slate of honorees led by Martin McDonagh, Seth Rogen, Brad Bird and Rosalind Eleazar.

Jesse Eisenberg's "The Debut" (A24) opens the festival on Thursday, Oct. 15. Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi's "La Bola Negra" (Netflix) serves as the Friday Spotlight, Peter Farrelly's "I Play Rocky" as the Saturday Centerpiece, and Tony Gilroy's "Behemoth!" (Searchlight Pictures) as the Sunday Spotlight.

Who receives this year's awards?

The full honorees list includes:

• Outstanding Achievement in Acting: Léa Seydoux, "Gentle Monster"
• MFF Artistic Achievement Award: Seth Rogen, "The Invite" and "Tangles"
• Director Spotlight Award: Martin McDonagh, "Wild Horse Nine"
• Spotlight Animation Award: Brad Bird, "Ray Gunn"
• Spotlight Actor Award: Jack O'Connell, "Ink"
• International Spotlight Award: Guitarricadelafuente, "La Bola Negra"
• Breakthrough Actor Award: Rosalind Eleazar, "Misty Green"
• Breakthrough Filmmaker Award: Jordan Firstman, "Club Kid"
• Distinguished Composer Award: Daniel Pemberton, "Ink" and "Project Hail Mary"
• Special Achievement in Casting Award: Adam Caldwell and Bernard Telsey, "Being Heumann"
• Distinguished Makeup and Hair Design Award: Nadia Stacey, "Elsinore"

Caldwell and Telsey will join a post-screening Q&A. Their recognition arrives as the Academy's achievement in casting category enters its second year.

What films bring the honorees to Virginia?

McDonagh's Director Spotlight honors "Wild Horse Nine" (Searchlight). Set just before the 1973 Chilean coup, the film stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as longtime CIA agents sent from Santiago to Easter Island, where they confront their dark pasts and a conspiracy unfolding around them.

Rogen receives the MFF Artistic Achievement Award at an "In Conversation with Seth Rogen" event covering several of his festival films. He stars in Olivia Wilde's A24 film "The Invite" alongside Wilde, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, playing one of two married couples whose relationships are tested by an increasingly unpredictable dinner party. Rogen also produced Leah Nelson's animated film "Tangles" with Lauren Miller Rogen, Evan Goldberg and others. Based on Sarah Leavitt's graphic memoir, it follows a young artist who moves home to care for her mother after an Alzheimer's diagnosis. Rogen will join Nelson and Miller Rogen for a post-screening conversation.

Eleazar takes the Breakthrough Actor Award for A24's "Misty Green," written and directed by Chris Rock. In her first leading film role, she plays Misty, a once-successful actress whose career has stalled, fighting to reclaim her Hollywood place while facing financial trouble, broken relationships and her own self-destructive streak.

Bird receives the Spotlight Animation Award for Netflix's "Ray Gunn," a sci-fi noir more than 30 years in the making. Bird wrote and directed the film, set in Metropia, a city where humans and aliens live side by side.

Guitarricadelafuente wrote and performs "La Nieve," the original song from "La Bola Negra." He joins a post-screening discussion and the festival's Songwriters and Composers Panel. That panel also features Ari Balouzian ("Primetime," "You Can See Everything"), Lesley Barber ("Gail"), Jesse Eisenberg ("The Debut"), Lukas Frank ("Behemoth!"), Daniel Pemberton ("Ink," "Project Hail Mary"), Christopher Spelman ("Paper Tiger") and Diane Warren ("Maserati: The Brothers").

Which special guests are coming?

Tennis legend Billie Jean King attends with Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff's documentary "Give Me the Ball!" The film uses rare archival footage and candid interviews to examine the victories, struggles and personal sacrifices behind her career and her fight for equality in sports and beyond. King sits down with festival founder and board chair Sheila Johnson for a one-on-one conversation on Sunday, Oct. 18.

Bill Pullman attends with Grant Gee's "Everybody Digs Bill Evans," an unconventional portrait of the jazz pianist. Set in 1961, the film follows Evans (Anders Danielsen Lie) after the sudden death of his bassist and close collaborator Scott LaFaro, when grief drives him to stop playing and retreat from New York to his family home. Middleburg advisory board members Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa executive produce.

Other confirmed guests include Jesse Eisenberg and Julianne Moore for a "The Debut" Q&A, Jay Duplass and P.J. Byrne for "I Play Rocky," Marie Kreutzer for "Gentle Monster," and Olivia Colman for post-screening conversations on "Wicker" and "Elsinore."

"Toy Story 5" production designer Bob Pauley will lead a masterclass on his more than three decades at Pixar. Pauley was part of the original "Toy Story" creative team, designed Buzz Lightyear for the 1995 film and has worked on all five installments. He will also give a drawing demonstration focused on new characters from "Toy Story 5." The festival will additionally host a concert featuring selections from Daniel Pemberton's work.

Over the past decade, Middleburg has become a reliable fall stop for awards hopefuls. Its proximity to Washington, D.C., draws national press, and its small size gives filmmakers time for longer conversations with audiences. This year's lineup, spanning new films from Danny Boyle ("Ink"), Phil Lord and Christopher Miller ("Project Hail Mary") and Simon Stone ("Elsinore"), continues that tradition as the fall awards season takes shape.