Virginia Film Festival names audience winners after Charlottesville run

The Virginia Film Festival has named I Play Rocky its audience-award winner for narrative feature and Admission Possible its documentary-feature winner following the October 21–25 festival in Charlottesville.

The other audience awards went to Getar Hero for narrative short and Sarah Ann Kelley: Becoming Visible for documentary short. The awards recognize the audience favorites across four categories of the festival program.

In its October 27 recap, the festival reported 26,613 total attendances and 64 sold-out events, describing the attendance total as a record. Attendances measure visits across the program and should not be read as a count of unique people. Organizers said the program included 134 films and 122 industry guests, speakers and discussants.

The University of Virginia program also brought filmmakers into university classes and arranged individual meetings through its Connection Point program. That activity extended the festival beyond screenings to exchanges among filmmakers, students and community members.

The 2026 screenings have concluded. The festival’s recap and award links provide a starting point for exploring the winning films, without implying that they are currently showing locally.