THE FESTIVAL
The 19th annual Alexandria Film Festival will take place November 6-9, 2025. Venues and ticket availability will be announced in the coming months.
The Alexandria Film Festival, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, brings high-quality short and feature-length films, documentaries, filmmaker panels, and arts presentations to the port city of Alexandria, Virginia and beyond. The festival highlights the talents of local, national, and international filmmakers in an acclaimed travel destination within eyesight of the nation’s capital. The festival is supported by a grant from the Alexandria Commission for the Arts and the City of Alexandria, as well as by numerous individual and corporate sponsors.
Follow the festival on Facebook, X and Instagram for updates. Use the hashtag #AlexFilmFest to discuss films online.
Executive Committee
Gillian Ray
Chair
“Jill” Ray, formerly vice chair of the Alexandria FIlm Festival, is now its chair, managing a little bit of everything. Through American University’s graduate film program, Jill fell even more in love with filmmaking, and had several of her own documentaries screened at the festival between 2010-2017.
Chris Colligan
Vice Chair
Chris Colligan has called Alexandria home since 1985, raising three children here, and getting involved in the public school system at the city level. He has a life-long interest in film and was a judge for the festival for years before taking on the role of its programming lead in 2024.
Patti North
Executive Director
Patti North helped found the festival as Vice Chair of the Alexandria Commission for the Arts. As festival executive director, she (mostly) makes sure the bills get paid and forms get filed. If you are owed either one . . . chill. We’re busy making magic.
dara Sanders
Chair Emeritus
Wine, films, and jellybeans! Not necessarily in that order. Dara has been involved with the Alexandria Film Festival for the better part of a decade. She is the former chair of the festival.
Anne Merrill
Anne Merrill has been managing social media for the Alexandria Film Festival since 2020. She has devoted most of her career to nonprofit communications and enjoys exploring how digital platforms can advance good causes.
ELISA MORSCH
Elisa is a respected graphic design and brand expert obtaining her master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications. She is working with the Alexandria Film Festival to develop its visual brand across print and digital platforms.
Alexis Turek
Alexis Turek has volunteered with the Alexandria Film Festival for the past two years. This year, she is responsible for community outreach, with the goal of spreading the word about the festival to as many people as possible. In her day job, Alexis works as a foreign and defense policy analyst with a focus on China-Taiwan issues, and she takes advantage of any opportunity to unplug and review films for the festival.
Randy McCracken
A lover of nature and art, Randy supports the Alexandria Film Festival through marketing, film screening and selection, and on-site photography. When not in Northern Virginia, Randy enjoys traveling and photographing landscapes and wildlife throughout the world.
david griffin
David has worked in marketing, SEO and websites for many years and joined the Alexandria Film Festival team in 2017 as the webmaster. While he likes to think everything on the website is perfect, he sometimes missspellss some wordds.