Johns Hopkins graduate film students will get an inside look at one of the country’s premier film festivals this fall, with opportunities to interact with professional filmmakers and gain hands-on experience behind the scenes at the Middleburg Film Festival in Middleburg, Virginia.
Building on a continuing relationship with the Middleburg Film Festival, Hopkins students in the MA in Film and Media program will help film post-screening panel sessions with filmmakers and other festival guests – giving them the chance to work in a professional production environment while bolstering their portfolios during the four-day festival October 15-18.
Last year, the festival’s executive director Susan Koch, an Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker, graciously invited Hopkins to bring 25 students to experience an A-list film festival by attending film screenings and industry panels and interacting with award-winning filmmakers.
The festival also gives students a window into the broader film industry. Rather than viewing filmmaking in the abstract, students can meet directors, producers, actors, composers, and other professionals and see how films move from festivals into wider distribution and awards consideration.
The festival is known for showcasing narrative and documentary films that go on to receive major industry recognition. The film slate typically focuses on a wide variety of subjects including music, the environment, fashion, family relationships, history, biographies, and social justice issues.
In recent years, the film festival’s guests have included filmmakers and actors such as Chloé Zhao, Kenneth Branagh, and Zoe Saldana, as well as other leading directors, actors, and creative professionals. This year’s festival features appearances by Julianne Moore, Seth Rogen, and Oscar-winning writer/director Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, In Bruges). Staged at the Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg and several surrounding venues, the festival is particularly accessible to Hopkins students who study in Washington D.C. and in Baltimore.
Hopkins graduate film program director Sig Libowitz said the festival has become an important part of the program’s emphasis on experiential learning – putting students in situations where their work has a real audience, a real schedule, and real expectations.
“The students will be in the room and up close with top-tier professionals at a major film festival that is on the Oscar circuit,” Libowitz said. “We are excited to offer our students these rare opportunities.”
That industry access is central to the program’s approach to preparing students for careers in the rapidly changing film and media field, where careers increasingly extend beyond traditional film and television production.
“We want to provide our students with real-life experiences and professional opportunities to pursue their dreams,” Libowitz said. “The filmmakers at the Middleburg Film Festival got there through tremendous effort, talent, and devotion to their craft. Our students will be in the same space interacting with the people doing the work they want to do. That’s a perspective few receive. That’s a door to their future.”