Friday Schedule
Friday, November 13
Location
7:00pm – 9:00pm | Opening Night Ceremony + Wine & Cheese Reception
Join us on the first night of the festival to kick off VAEFF 2026 at the iconic Cinema Village!
The opening night ceremony will take place on Friday, November 13th from 7pm – 9pm at Cinema Village. We hope you’ll join us for the event to take photos, meet the artists, and watch trailers as a sneak peek into what’s in store for the rest of the festival! Enjoy wine and cheese as you mingle and celebrate the beginning of VAEFF 2026.
9:00pm – 11:00pm | Screening + Artist Q&A
Whose body is this? Is it mine? Or does it belong to those who lust after it? “Beauty, Sex, and Shame” is a program of films that question our relationship with our bodies, as they become undone under the relentless sexual gaze of society. Each filmmaker toys with the human physique, poking and prodding at the cracks beneath the often fastidiously manicured surface. Pleasure undercuts the idea of perfection as these films confront the cross-section of what we do for our own desires, and what is for the desire of others.
Saturday Schedule
Saturday, November 14
Location
1:00pm – 3:00pm | Screening + Artist Q&A
“Are you a 1 or 0?” asks one of the films rejecting the rigidity of established binaries in “On the Edge,” a collection of films that push us to relish in the in-between space of what we readily accept in our society. Foundational silent cinema, uncovered film strips, and dystopian futures become fodder for the modern imagination in these films, grabbing from both the past and future to make sense of our present realities. Both abstract and hyper-focused, this program invites us to deconstruct our held beliefs, positing that the clearest way to see our world is to blur all of the lines.
3:30pm – 5:30pm | Screening + Artist Q&A
Between Fashion & Music
“What lies between fashion and music? A vast spectrum of works that value style and aesthetic, whether visual or auditory. Now in its ninth edition, this program has become a role and opportunity that I truly cherish. It allows me to share with you my perspective on some of the most influential recent video works in fashion and music. Mind you, this isn’t intended as a ‘Best of Music and Fashion Films 2026’, but rather a reflection of my current curatorial voice across these worlds. ” – Niccolo Montanari
Niccolo Montanari has been a VAEFF Guest Curator since 2016. He is the founder of Curation Hour, a platform that amplifies the voices of filmmakers through curated screenings with partner festivals, online features, and network building.
6:00pm – 8:00pm | Screening + Artist Q&A
Me, Sex, & Other People
Turned on. And terrified. Sexuality may be innate, but that doesn’t make it easy to understand. A blend of fiction and documentary, both hyper-personal and abstract, “Me, Sex, and Other People” is a program of films rooted in our constantly varying relationship with pleasure. The answer to the unknowables of sex may feel promised in the validation of others or an ancient temple in the middle of nowhere, but these films offer that our shared uncertainties may just be the connective thread. We cannot control what tantalizes us much less what tantalizes others. Perhaps, that’s what makes it so exciting.
Sunday Schedule
Sunday, November 15
Location
2:00pm – 4:00pm | Screening + Artist Q&A
A hand. A strum. A beat. A flick of the wrist becomes synchronized with music that comes pouring in. In “Color, Movement, & Space,” what begins mundane is instantly transformed into something that entrances, daring us to look away. These films cultivate a spectacle, a program that is always in motion, offering brief escapes into constructed worlds in which aesthetic sensibilities give way to the laws of reality. Style is the guide here, as these films are dominated by hypnotic images that stir us, inexplicably appealing to senses we didn’t know we had, but leave us thrilled to have discovered.
4:30pm – 6:30pm | Screening + Artist Q&A
Home Sweet Home
Our memories make us. Be it a domineering father or the floor plans of the family home, fragments of our childhood become foundational parts of who we are. “Home Sweet Home?” is a program of films that capture both what is beautiful and tender about growing up, and the baggage that may come with looking back at our youth. In the hands of these filmmakers, memories become a mouthpiece for self-expression and a reclamation of the coming-of-age that is chosen for us.
7:30pm – 9:30pm | Screening + Artist Q&A
Something is Wrong. Very wrong!
“Something is Wrong. Very Wrong” is a program of oddities, films that reach beneath our skin and force us to reckon with the absurdity of modern life. These are films that do not seek to simply ask questions or make statements, rather, to poke and prod at our comfort until we begin to question ourselves. Prompting us to look past the obvious, the program represents the intricate and variable nature of evil in a world that resembles our own, urging us to contemplate our fears and their place amidst our ever-changing reality.