Fairfax County’s very own film festival is returning this month with a lineup that ranges from “Shrek” to ruminations on women’s rights in Iran and European attitudes toward refugees.
Now in its 14th year, the Washington West Film Festival will kick off this Friday (Oct. 3) at Reston Town Center with a 25th-anniversary screening of “Shrek,” organized in conjunction with the town center’s inaugural Rocktoberfest. More than a dozen other movies will follow from Oct. 9-13.
“We’ve received films from all over the world, as we do every year, and it’s been a great process,” said festival president and executive director Brad Russell, who works with programming director Avery McCann to curate the films. “I feel that we had an earlier sense — earlier than normal — that we have strong films this year. We’re really excited about this program.”
Highlights of this year’s festival include special appearances by former U.S. senator and NASA administrator Bill Nelson and Olympic hurdler Edwin Moses.
A senator who represented Florida for 18 years before leading NASA during the Biden administration, Nelson will participate in a panel after a 30th-anniversary screening of Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13” at Reston’s LOOK Dine-In Cinemas (11940 Market Street) at 3:15 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12.
According to Russell, the Washington West team initially hoped to invite one of the filmmakers, but Howard and the cast were unavailable due to other commitments, though supporting actor Kevin Bacon did perform a concert with his band, the Bacon Brothers, last year.
The planets aligned, however, when a board member for the film festival revealed that he’s been “neighbors for years” with Nelson and offered to text the retired NASA administrator, who enthusiastically accepted the opportunity to discuss the past and future of the U.S. space program.
“The audience will get to interact with [Nelson] about why going back to the moon next year is so important for many reasons,” Russell told FFXnow. “I’m kind of a space geek, so I’m particularly excited about this.”
Like it was in real life, “Apollo 13” will be preceded by “Apollo 1,” a documentary about the planned mission that ended in tragedy when a fire during a pre-flight test killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. Making its East Coast debut after a world premiere in March at the Boulder International Film Festival, the movie will start at 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 12 and be accompanied by a Q&A by director Mark Craig.
Tickets for the two space movies can be purchased individually for $20 each or together at a 15% discount.
Edwin Moses, who won gold medals for the 400-meter hurdles at the Olympics in 1976 and 1984, will participate in the festival’s other double feature: the documentaries “Moses — 13 Steps” and “She Runs the World,” which revisits fellow Olympic track-and-field athlete Allyson Felix’s 2019 split with Nike over its maternity policies.
“She Runs the World” will screen at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, followed at 7 p.m. by “13 Steps” and a Q&A by Moses.
Russell says it was a coincidence that Washington West was able to program two different movies about decorated track-and-field athletes, but the scheduling also helped the team identify one of two charity partners that will receive proceeds from this year’s festival.
Founded by Russell in 2011, Washington West aims to “create inspiring stories rather than just watching them,” as stated on its website, and has always donated 100% of its box office proceeds to community nonprofits.
This year’s beneficiaries are Our Military Kids — an Oakton-based organization that supports extracurricular activities for the children of service members and veterans — and the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a charity founded with the support of Nelson Mandela that funds sports programs to youth around the world.
Moses has been involved with the foundation since he was elected the inaugural chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy in 2000. Russell says he had committed to visiting Washington West before they learned about his philanthropic work.
“Sometimes this happens, where someone’s film … leads to us learning” about an inspiring charity, Russell said. “… We like to leave room for this kind of possibility.”
Most of this year’s screenings will be held at LOOK Dine-In at Reston Town Center, with the exception of “Shrek,” which is a free event at the pavilion, and the closing film, which is traditionally shown at the Reston Community Center in Hunters Woods (2310 Colts Neck Road).
The community center has been a longtime partner of the festival, Russell says. The 2025 edition will conclude with “American Bombing: The Road to April 19th” — an Emmy-nominated look at the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing — at the Leila Gordon Theatre on Monday, Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Washington West will also host a free screening of student short films at Lightridge High School in Aldie on the morning of Oct. 9 as part of a partnership with Loudoun County Public Schools. The program invites all high school students to submit short films, and the top 10 are selected for the screening.
While it’s mostly concentrated in Reston this year, Washington West anticipates bringing back some screenings in Tysons in 2026, and Russell has a longer-term goal of expanding throughout the Northern Virginia portion of Metro’s Silver Line corridor. That would mean events in Loudoun County, though nothing has been finalized yet.
“That’s an idea for the future,” he said.
The festival is also planning to introduce year-round programming with one-night screenings outside of its usual October time frame.
The full schedule for the 2025 festival and the portal for purchasing tickets can be found on Washington West’s website.
