The Byrd Theatre is among the venues for the 11th Richmond International Film Festival.
The 11th annual Richmond International Film Festival is back June 7-12, bursting with 171 films of all genres from 20 countries, performances by more than 20 musical groups, and a roster of guests from film, television and music. The festival features panels, mixers, pitch sessions and concerts at venues that include the Byrd Theatre, Bow Tie Cinemas, In Your Ear Studios and the Quirk Hotel. RIFF’s theme this year is “Turn Out Richmond,” and festival founder Heather Waters hopes it does. RIFF is the passion project of Waters, who came to Richmond via Nashville, Atlanta and Los Angeles, with a background as an entertainer and producer. We spoke with the festival founder about this year’s diverse offerings and the event’s recent challenges.
Richmond magazine: To borrow from movie promotion language, the past few years have brought thrills, spills and adventure.
Heather Waters: [Laughs] Oh, that’s true. We were supposed to go in April 2020, postponed twice, and ended up doing 90% virtual in September. Last year was our 10th anniversary, and we had people come from all over along with locals from across the state. We ended up getting in through the window between [COVID-19 variants] delta and omicron. And I’m glad we did — I needed it for myself, and judging from how people expressed their gratitude, the audiences did, too, and certainly the creatives.
But it’s been a challenge; we lost 60% of our sponsorship. Our community partners needed to dial down and redistribute their commitments, and we’re working to get everyone back. And after all that, I felt we needed to pull in the offerings — and then this year, we got 1,000 submissions for films and music. There’s a need, and a demand, and so here we are again in June. I’d like to get us back into April in 2023 because we really need a full year to plan what’s really three festivals in one: film, music and an industry conference.
RM: It’s good to see on the schedule a documentary about the trailblazing late 19th- and early 20th-century Black editor and publisher of the Richmond Planet, John Mitchell Jr.
Waters: What an incredible story! “Richmond on Paper: Birth of a Planet” comes from Tilt Creative + Production. They primarily do commercial work for big clients like Walmart and Capital One, but they’re venturing into film with this 32-minute documentary, and that’ll be shown 7:30 p.m, Friday, June 10, at the Movieland Bow Tie Cinemas. We’ll have a great panel following the screening and then a VIP after-party across the street at Tilt.
RM: The festival offers a snapshot of how art is translating present situations, across the world and here at home.
Waters: I think that’s true. At least I hope it is! We curate the films and the music to see how they might resonate with each other. The creatives are showing us the spectrum of human experience at this time. They’re plugged into the global stream of consciousness.
Richmond International Film Festival tickets are available in several packages for film, music and panels, including a five-film pass ($40). For more details, visit rvafilmfestival.com.
