WVIFF celebrates 40th anniversary with ‘Fall Film Festival’

By Matthew Young, RealWV

For the past several weeks, The WV International Film Festival (WVIFF) has been teasing the release of the full lineup of films for their upcoming Fall Film Festival. 

Spanish-film “Sirāt” and Slovakian-film “The Hungarian Dressmaker” were the first titles to be announced, followed by “Dreams” and “Four Mothers,” Norwegian and Irish productions, respectively. And before the big reveal of the festival’s full lineup, Chinese-epic “Living the Land” and Brazilian-release “The Secret Agent” were added to the teaser list. 

On Tuesday, the wait was over, as the full Fall Film Festival lineup and schedule was released. Joining the films already announced were titles such as “Breaking the Mould,” “Why Ukraine Matters,” and “Stranger With a Camera.” In addition to In addition to the film screenings – which will take place at both the Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema on Capitol Street, and the Park Place Cinema on Washington Street – the festival will also feature an opening reception, “Trivia Night” at Fife Street Brewing, and “Filmmaker Workshops” taught by Tijah Bumgarner, Clara Lehmann, and Jonathan Lacocque. 

Since its inception 40 years ago, the Charleston-based WVIFF has sought out films from all over the world to screen here at home in the Mountain State – films that local viewers would not typically have the opportunity to watch otherwise. 

“The festival began in 1985 with a handful of people who were interested in international films,” Delford Chaffin, WVIFF President, told RealWV. “Since the beginning, the idea was to bring international films to Charleston, where we don’t have a lot of exposure to stuff like that.”

The original concept for the WVIFF was an annual event bringing “Seven films from seven continents” to West Virginia. Over the ensuing four decades, the WVIFF has grown into a more conventional theater experience, offering monthly showings of a wider-variety of both national and international films at its Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema location, in downtown Charleston. 

“Personally, I discovered the festival when I was at West Virginia State,” Chaffin noted. “I used to go to the festivals quite often as a student.”

Chaffin explained that during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the WVIFF would host two separate festivals each year: a short festival in the spring, followed by a much longer festival in the fall. However the rise of streaming availability, Chaffin noted, saw interest in the bi-annual festivals begin to wane. 

“In 2017 we opened the Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema as an extension of that vision to bring different films to Charleston, but on a year-round basis,” Chaffin said. “That’s been our focus for eight years now.”

Prior to finding a permanent home at the Floralee, the WVIFF would host events at different locations, such as the Capitol Theatre, Park Place Cinemas, and South Charleston’s LaBelle Theatre. However, according to Chaffin, the festival would not return to the attendance levels experienced during the 1980s and 90s. 

“That isn’t necessarily just because of location,” Chaffin explained. “There’s also the competition with the streaming market.”

“Although you still can’t stream everything,” Chaffin noted. “We have a film coming from Norway this year, and last night I was looking for some of that director’s earlier works. I could not find it streaming anywhere.”

“So there’s still some stuff we’re able to bring that you’re not able to stream, if you even find out about it,” Chaffin added.

The WVIFF, as Chaffin puts it, is “more of a curated festival,” meaning it is not a juried festival which accepts film submissions. While there has been some discussion amongst WVIFF board members about moving toward that type of structure, Chaffin says the resources for such a structure are simply not there yet. As a result, the films screened by the WVIFF are “curated” by those involved with the organization. 

“We know, to some extent, what our audience likes,” Chaffin said. “For this (upcoming festival) I wanted to reach out a little broader even than we normally do at the Floralee.”

“One of the films we have coming was nominated for the Palme d’Or, which is the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival,” Chaffin continued. “The film I mentioned from Norway actually won what’s called ‘The Golden Bear,” which is the highest prize awarded at the Berlin International Film Festival. And we have a film coming from China which won at Berlin. It won “The Silver Bear,” which is for best achievement in directing.”

“I wasn’t necessarily trying to find a film from every continent, but it’s kind of worked out that we’ve got five continents, including North America,” Chafin added. 

The WVIFF Fall Film Festival will take place November 13 – 16, at various locations throughout Charleston. Full festival passes are available at a cost of $95. Saturday and Sunday one-day passes are also available, at a cost of $50 and $35 respectively. 

“The films themselves start on Friday night,” Chaffin explained. “‘Ireland West Camino’ is going to kick it off, and then after that we’ll go to Fife Street for some movie trivia. Saturday morning we’re going to start with a couple workshops from local filmmakers, and then we’ve got films all day long.”

“Sunday morning we’re going to have a brunch with the West Virginia Filmmakers Guild and the WV Film Office,” Chaffin added. “That’s going to be at Coco’s (on Hale St.). Then we’ll go back over to the cinemas and watch a few more movies. I believe the last one ends around 8:30 p.m., so we won’t keep you out too late on Sunday night.”

For more information about the WVIFF, or to purchase tickets to the Fall Film Festival, visit wviff.org.