Middleburg Film Festival Opens With Oscar Contenders in Virginia

The Middleburg Film Festival launched Thursday night with roughly 45 new features on view, including three of the season's hardest-to-see Oscar contenders: Jesse Eisenberg's "The Debut" (A24), the Sundance hit "Wicker" (Black Bear), and the Toronto crowdpleaser "I Play Rocky" (Amazon/MGM). The four-day festival runs at the Salamander resort in the Virginia hills outside Washington, D.C., owned by BET co-founder Sheila Johnson.

Festival director Susan Koch keeps landing bigger talent and stronger awards titles every year, along with the Oscar pundits who cover them. The sell-outs this year include all three of those titles. Attendees from the greater D.C. area get something Los Angeles and New York critics rarely do: almost everyone makes it into the venue.

Eisenberg, wearing a baseball cap, was on the reporter's flight from New York and later "held court in the Salamander lobby" before his screening and Q&A, according to the source report. That's the practical draw of a small, awards-focused festival — access, not queues.

Who's in the halls?

The guest list reads like an awards-season rolodex:

• Searchlight distribution chief Derval Whelan, accompanying two directors: Martin McDonagh ("Wild Horse Nine") and Tony Gilroy ("Behemoth!")
• THR's David Canfield and The Ankler's Katey Rich, debating the likely final five in the international feature race
• Oscar-nominated songwriter Diane Warren (17 nominations, no wins), a Middleburg perennial

Koch thanked Amazon/MGM production executive Scott Foundas at opening night for luring "I Play Rocky" talent to the festival. Rich is backing the German longshot "Everytime" for the international category.

What's leading the international race?

The festival is screening the current frontrunners. Cannes prize-winners "Fatherland" and "Minotaur" may compete for the fifth slot, while the likely top four are:

• Palme d'Or winner "Fjord"
• Director prize winner "La Bola Negra"
• Cannes Actress and co-writer honoree "All of a Sudden"
• Venice hit "Possible Love"

Rich and Canfield's debate over that final list is exactly the kind of conversation Middleburg now attracts — the sort once reserved for Telluride or Venice backchannels.

The weekend ahead

Friday brings Seth Rogen, an Oscar contender for "The Invite," in conversation, plus the annual Women's Lunch. Expected attendees include Olivia Colman (starring in both "Wicker" and "Elsinore"), "The Debut" Best Actress frontrunner Julianne Moore — who introduced herself as "Julie" — Léa Seydoux, and director Marie Kreutzer (Netflix's Cannes breakout "Gentle Monster").

Saturday's panels feature producer-advisors Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger ("Little Miss Sunshine") with Bill Pullman, who plays the title role in "Everybody Digs Bill Evans" (Cohen Media). A music panel includes Eisenberg and Daniel Pemberton, both performing alongside "La Bola Negra" star Guitarricadelafuente.

What does this change for the Oscar race?

It confirms the fall-festival circuit is no longer just Venice-Telluride-Toronto. Regional festivals like Middleburg — with AFI FEST opening in Los Angeles on October 21 and London still underway — now host the same contenders and the same pundits, earlier and closer to voters. One casualty: a planned interview in Middleburg's Stallion Barn fell through, a first the horse-obsessed community will have to wait for.