Growing an audience takes care, determination, patience and time. no wonder, then, that the Virginia Film Festival has invited a University of Virginia alumnus to share a film that has taken more than two decades to ripen for enjoyment.
The 24th annual festival gets under way Thursday with a slate of screenings, including a showing of Alexander Payne’s “the Descendants,” starring George Clooney. It’s followed by the Opening Night Gala, which will be at 9 p.m. at the University of Virginia’s Alumni Hall. Screenings, discussions and a host of other events will continue through Nov. 6.
Paul Junger Witt, the Emmy Award-winning producer of “Brian’s Song” and “the Golden Girls,” will be presenting “A better Life,” his latest film. Chris Weitz is the director.
The story of a Latino gardener who’s determined to earn more money and move his teenage son into a safer environment with a brighter future has been a labor of love for Witt and his colleagues. Its message actually has grown more timely over the years as immigration issues have taken a larger role in national political discussions.
“I’ve been trying to get it made over twenty years,” Witt said. “Of course, it’s more compelling today than it would have been if I’d gotten it done twenty years ago.”
Demian Bichir plays Carlos Galindo, who toils to make enough money to move his American-born son, played by Jose Julian, away from gangs. Quite simply, he wants to give his son a better life than he had.
Bichir, a bilingual star who’s a box-office favorite in Mexico, became more familiar to U.S. television viewers while portraying a corrupt mayor on the Showtime series “Weeds.” Witt said “A better Life” has generated “universally brilliant reviews” for Bichir.
Since the film’s June release, it has been embraced by Latino audiences, and it recently won the National Council of La Raza’s 2011 ALMA Award for favorite movie.
“the recognition has been there,” Witt said. “There was kind of an art-house crowd, and there was the Hispanic audience. I think it will do very well in its secondary exposure on DVD.
“we think the afterlife of this film is going to be absolutely extraordinary.”
Witt believes that the film will touch audiences from all backgrounds because its focus on a parent’s determination to give his child a bright future is universal. getting a second chance on DVD worked well for the 1999 action-adventure film “Three Kings,” which Witt also produced.
“It’s increasingly an international audience for all films,” he said.
Witt’s other feature films include “Dead Poets Society” and “Insomnia.” his “Brian’s Song” won an Emmy Award for outstanding made-for-television movie.
He won another Emmy, an outstanding-comedy-series trophy, for “the Golden Girls.” his company also produced a variety of other hit television series, including “Beauty and the Beast,” “empty Nest,” “Blossom,” “Soap” and “Benson.”
Witt said that he is selecting more projects in films than television these days so he and his wife, writer Susan Harris, can spend more time with their family — which includes “four grandchildren and counting” — than the hectic world of television work afforded them earlier in their careers.
And, like the gardener in “A better Life” who cultivated a young life while he tended the earth, Witt is concerned about the safety and quality of the world his children and grandchildren will inherit. That’s why he has been devoting time and energy to environmental causes.
“I’ve been concentrating basically for the past ten years on the environment, and filmmaking has been a secondary pursuit,” Witt said. “That’s my passion now, my primary focus.
“whatever we do, it is primary in our thinking if we have children. It is a universal theme.”
Witt will introduce a screening of “A better Life” at 7:45 p.m. Nov. 4 at Regal Downtown Mall 4.
Tickets are $10; students, seniors, faculty members and local educators play $8. Get details and tickets for all festival events at virginiafilmfestival.org or 924-3376.
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