It's Oscar Time! The Festival Takes a Look Back at Academy Award-Winning and Nominated Filmmakers Who Have Been Part of Its History
"War Dance," directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, profiles war-orphaned children living in a displacement camp in northern Uganda, who compete in and win their country’s national music and dance festival. Andrea attended the screening of the film and participated in a Q&A at the inaugural Alexandria Film Festival in 2007, accepting our first award for Best of Fest. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Feature Documentary in 2008. The couple’s later film "Innocente" won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 2012.
"Smile Pinki," directed by Megan Mylan, is about the journey of Pinki and Ghutaru, two children in rural India whose lives are forever changed by a simple surgery they never imagined possible. It screened at the 2008 Alexandria Film Festival, and went on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 2009.
"Beasts of the Southern Wild," directed by Benh Zeitlin, follows a 6-year-old girl who copes with a hot-tempered father in fading health as melting ice-caps destroy her impoverished bayou community. The film was nominated for four Oscars, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actress. Incredibly, at 9 years of age, Quvenzhand Wallis was and still is the youngest person ever nominated for Best Actress. The film screened at the 2013 Alexandria Film Festival and Benh participated in a Q&A via Skype.
Directors Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar, won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar in 2019 for their film "American Factory." Their next film "9to5: the Story of a Movement," documents the 9to5 organization, founded in Boston and which fought for workplace rights for women, won the Alexandria Film Festival's Joe Cantwell Award for Documentary Excellence in the 2020. Steve and Julia accepted the award at our virtual festival, during the pandemic, via Zoom.
Director Roko Belic, who won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2000 for his first film "Genghis Blues," screened two films at the Alexandria Film Festival: "Trust Me," which won the festival's Joe Cantwell Award for Documentary Excellence in 2020, and "Happy" in 2022. "Trust Me" made a prescient case about peoples’ need for media literacy to build trust, resilience, lessen polarization, support credible journalism, and preserve democracy -- and how easy it can be to fool us! Screening "Trust Me" when the festival was virtual, Roko participated in a Q&A via Zoom, and attended the screening of "Happy" in person, along with Executive Producer Joe Phelps.
Director Paula van der Oest's film "Zus and Zo" was nominated for an Oscar in 2001 for Best Foreign Language Film for her film. Her later film "Love in a Bottle" won the Alexandria Film Festival's Special Jury Award in 2021. The film focuses on how two people in two different countries, both in quarantine, have a love affair through FaceTime. The director participated in a Zoom Q&A when the festival was virtual.
"In the Shadow of the Cypress," directed by Iranian filmmakers Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, screened at the 2024 Alexandria Film Festival. The film tells the story of a Persian man, who struggles with PTSD, and his daughter who tries to help him cope, but loses hope. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 2025.