'Being Heumann' Closes Middleburg; Rogen, McDonagh Honored — SkimNews
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- Being Heumann, Siân Heder's Apple Original Film, closes the 14th Middleburg Film Festival Oct. 15-18; Jesse Eisenberg's 'The Debut' opens, Peter Farrelly's 'I Play Rocky' is the centerpiece, and Tony Gilroy's 'Behemoth!' is the Sunday Spotlight.
- Martin McDonagh receives the Director Spotlight Award for Searchlight's 'Wild Horse Nine,' set just before the 1973 Chilean coup and starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as longtime CIA agents dispatched to Easter Island.
- Seth Rogen receives the MFF Artistic Achievement Award; he stars in Olivia Wilde's A24 film 'The Invite' alongside Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton and produced animated Alzheimer's film 'Tangles' with Lauren Miller Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
- Brad Bird receives the Spotlight Animation Award for Netflix's 'Ray Gunn,' a sci-fi noir Bird wrote and directed set in 'Metropia,' where humans and aliens coexist — a passion project more than 30 years in the making.
- Adam Caldwell and Bernard Telsey receive the Special Achievement in Casting Award for 'Being Heumann' as the Academy's achievement in casting category enters its second year.
- Rosalind Eleazar receives the Breakthrough Actor Award for her first leading film role in A24's 'Misty Green,' written and directed by Chris Rock, about a once-successful actress fighting to win back her place in Hollywood.
- Billie Jean King will attend with documentary 'Give Me the Ball!' and sit down with festival founder Sheila Johnson, while Bill Pullman appears with Grant Gee's jazz portrait 'Everybody Digs Bill Evans,' and Guitarricadelafuente receives the International Spotlight Award for Netflix's 'La Bola Negra.'
Why it matters: Festival organizers credited Middleburg's small size and proximity to Washington, D.C. for giving awards-hopeful films longer filmmaker-audience conversations and national press access, and the casting honor coincides with the Academy's second-year casting category.
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