Middleburg Film Festival Sets ‘Being Heumann’ as Closing Night Film, Martin McDonagh, Seth Rogen and Rosalind Eleazar Lead Honorees

“Being Heumann,” Oscar winner Siân Heder’s Apple Original Film, will close the 14th Middleburg Film Festival, which runs Oct. 15-18. The festival has also set Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s “La Bola Negra” as its Friday Spotlight and Tony Gilroy’s “Behemoth!” as its Sunday Spotlight. As previously announced, the festival will open with Jesse Eisenberg’s “The Debut.”

Martin McDonagh, Brad Bird, Seth Rogen, Rosalind Eleazar, Guitarricadelafuente and casting directors Adam Caldwell and Bernard Telsey will be honored at this year’s festival. Billie Jean King and Bill Pullman are among the special guests.

Over the past decade, Middleburg has become a reliable fall stop for awards hopefuls. Being close to Washington, D.C., helps it draw national press and its small size gives filmmakers time for longer conversations with audiences. This year’s lineup continues that tradition.

Caldwell and Telsey will receive the festival’s Special Achievement in Casting Award and join a post-screening Q&A. The recognition arrives as the Academy’s achievement in casting category enters its second year.

Representing “La Bola Negra,” Guitarricadelafuente wrote and performs the film’s original song, “La Nieve.” He will receive the International Spotlight Award, participate in a post-screening discussion and join the festival’s Songwriters and Composers Panel.

Gilroy will be on hand for a post-screening conversation following Searchlight Pictures’ “Behemoth!” where Pedro Pascal plays a gifted cellist and former child prodigy who returns to Los Angeles after two decades on the road to record film scores and confront his complicated family history.

McDonagh will receive the Director Spotlight Award for “Wild Horse Nine,” also from 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.

Bird will receive the Spotlight Animation Award for Netflix’s “Ray Gunn,” a passion project more than 30 years in the making. Bird wrote and directed the sci-fi noir, which is set in Metropia, a city where humans and aliens live side by side.

Rogen will receive the MFF Artistic Achievement Award at an “In Conversation with Seth Rogen” event covering several of his films at the festival. 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 a dinner party that grows more unpredictable as the night goes on. 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 will receive 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. She is fighting to win back her place in Hollywood while dealing with financial trouble, broken relationships and her own self-destructive streak.

The annual Songwriters and Composers Panel will feature Ari Balouzian (“Primetime,” “You Can See Everything”), Lesley Barber (“Gail”), Jesse Eisenberg (“The Debut”), Lukas Frank (“Behemoth!”), Guitarricadelafuente (“La Bola Negra”), Daniel Pemberton (“Ink,” “Project Hail Mary”), Christopher Spelman (“Paper Tiger”) and Diane Warren (“Maserati: The Brothers”).

“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 lead a drawing demonstration focused on new characters from “Toy Story 5.”

Tennis legend Billie Jean King will attend 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 tennis career and her fight for equality in sports and beyond. King will sit down with festival founder and board chair Sheila Johnson for a one-on-one post-screening conversation on Sunday, Oct. 18.

Finally, Pullman will attend with “Everybody Digs Bill Evans,” Grant Gee’s 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. MFF advisory board members Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa executive produce.

The full Middleburg Film Festival lineup and honorees are below. The full schedule and lineup are available at middleburgfilm.org.

Honorees

Marquee Screenings

Additional Films

Special Guests and Events