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Virginia Film Festival brings creative giants Ava DuVernay and Jon Batiste to Charlottesville – WTOP News

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Virginia Film Festival brings creative giants Ava DuVernay and Jon Batiste to Charlottesville – WTOP News


Are you a movie fan? Are you looking for a nice fall getaway? Just head to Charlottesville, Virginia!

WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews the Virginia Film Festival (Part 1)

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Are you a movie fan? Are you looking for a nice fall getaway? Just head to Charlottesville, Virginia!

The 36th edition of the Virginia Film Festival returns this Wednesday through Sunday with screenings at the historic Paramount Theater, as well as other venues around town.

“We’re very excited about the lineup,” senior programmer Ilya Tovbis told WTOP. “The Virginia Film Festival happens in Charlottesville, Virginia, which is a little over two hours drive, or you can take Amtrak in from the D.C. or DMV area. It’s a beautiful setting — the fall leaves are at their peak, you’re right in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s just a very idyllic town to have a festival of this sort. Most of the venues are within really brief walking distance.”

The lineup kicks off Wednesday with “Maestro,” including a Q&A with makeup effects artist Kazu Hiro.

“This is one of the big fall titles,” Tovbis said. “If you’re getting ready to fill out your Oscar ballots, you definitely want to see this. If you’re a Bradley Cooper fan, you want to see this. If you’re a Carey Mulligan fan, you want to see this. If you’re a fan of great music in the tradition of Leonard Bernstein, you want to see this, because this is the story of his life and his love story with Felicia Montealegre, who was the mother of his children.”

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Thursday returns to the Paramount Theater for “American Fiction,” which recently won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Cord Jefferson.

“This is a hilarious film that is deeply entertaining and will have you rolling in the aisles, while at the same time taking on very serious subject matter,” Tovbis said. “It takes on the book ‘Erasure’ and centers on Jeffrey Wright as a professor who is an author deemed ‘not Black enough.’ … One night in the peak of frustration, he takes every possible ugly stereotype about minority culture, stuffs it into a manuscript. … and Hollywood comes calling.”

Friday brings the U.S. premiere of “Origin” with a Q&A with filmmaker Ava DuVernay (“Selma,” “13th”).

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“This is a huge deal,” Tovbis said. “She has outdone herself here. I think this film will be talked about as her crowning career achievement. It takes on Isabel Wilkerson’s book ‘Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,’ which looks at the preconceptions that lead to racism … and links together the caste system of India, the early Nazi laws that led to the Shoah and the Holocaust with American racism from Jim Crow laws all the way to modern day.”

Saturday will honor poet Nikki Giovanni with an award, while screening the new documentary “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” which won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. That screening is followed by Alexander Payne’s new film “The Holdovers,” including a Q&A with producer Mark Johnson.

“(‘The Holdovers’) sees him re-team with Paul Giamatti, who plays this curmudgeonly professor who has to stay during the winter break with some students whose parents did not pick them up at a boarding school,” Tovbis said. “He is not particularly beloved by the students or his fellow teachers, and through the course of this vacation, he has to sort of win them over and they have to win him over — almost like an updated ‘Dead Poets Society.”

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It all culminates Sunday with the Jon Batiste music documentary “American Symphony,” followed by a Q&A with Oscar-nominated director Matthew Heineman (“Cartel Land”) and a special live concert by Batiste.

“It began as somewhat of a typical concert film … as he was looking to put together one of the crowning achievements of his career, looking to pull on all the different sounds that make up America: African-American sounds, jazz, Native American music,” Tovbis said. “During the course of this ambitious project, he had a near tragedy: his wife had a recurrence of leukemia … and the film takes on a much more personal dimension.”

Find more information here.

WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews the Virginia Film Festival (Part 2)

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Listen to our full conversation here.



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VIDEO: UVA Football Players Preview the Virginia Tech Game

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VIDEO: UVA Football Players Preview the Virginia Tech Game


With the game of year looming this weekend, members of the Virginia football team were made available to to the media after practice on Tuesday morning to talk about the regular season finale against Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash on Saturday night in Blacksburg. Watch the video below to hear what UVA senior safety Jonas Sanker, graduate tight ends Tyler Neville and Sackett Wood Jr., and graduate defensive tackle Jahmeer Carter had to say ahead of the Virginia Tech game:

Sanker is the team’s leader in tackles with 89 total tackles and also leads the ACC in solo stops with 60 unassisted tackles. He has racked up 8.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, four pass breakups, two fumble recoveries, and an interception as part of a strong senior campaign that should earn Sanker some serious consideration for a First-Team All-ACC selection.

A transfer from Harvard, Tyler Neville is Virginia’s second-leading receiver with 35 catches for 387 yards and two touchdowns. Sackett Wood Jr., meanwhile, has recorded three receptions for 18 yards and a touchdown this season. Between the two of them, Neville and Wood have combined to appear in 83 college football games and make 48 starts.

Saturday will be the 55th game in the five-year career of Jahmeer Carter, who has started nearly every game for the last four seasons at Virginia. This season, Carter has 30 total tackles, including nine solo stops, two tackles for loss, one sack, and a pass defender. For his career, Carter is up to 131 total tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 7.5 tackles for loss.

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Saturday night will be the first time Virginia plays at Lane Stadium in front of fans since the 2018 season, as the 2020 edition of the Commonwealth Clash was played in front of only 250 fans due to COVID-19 restrictions and then the 2022 Virginia vs. Virginia Tech game was canceled due to the shooting tragedy at UVA.

Virginia is seeking its first road victory at Virginia Tech since 1998, as the Hokies have won the last 11 Commonwealth Clash games played at Lane Stadium. Virginia Tech has won 17 of the last 18 overall games against Virginia and leads UVA 61-38-5 in the all-time series that dates back to 1895.

Both Virginia and Virginia Tech bring a 5-6 overall record into the regular season finale and both need to win the game in order to reach the six-win threshold required for bowl eligibility. There is only one other game this weekend between FBS teams who are battling for bowl eligibility (Eastern Michigan vs. Western Michigan). Virginia and Virginia Tech played each other for bowl eligibility at the end of the 2014 season.

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Virginia Lottery Mega Millions, Pick 3 Night results for Nov. 26, 2024

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Virginia Lottery Mega Millions, Pick 3 Night results for Nov. 26, 2024


The Virginia Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Nov. 26, 2024, results for each game:

Mega Millions

Mega Millions drawings take place every week on Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m.

05-22-24-39-42, Mega Ball: 03, Megaplier: 3

Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.

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Pick 3

DAY drawing at 1:59 p.m. NIGHT drawing at 11 p.m. each day.

Night: 7-3-0, FB: 2

Day: 7-2-1, FB: 5

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Pick 4

DAY drawing at 1:59 p.m. NIGHT drawing at 11 p.m. each day.

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Night: 1-6-6-8, FB: 5

Day: 7-4-5-8, FB: 4

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Pick 5

DAY drawing at 1:59 p.m. NIGHT drawing at 11 p.m. each day.

Night: 0-5-4-9-9, FB: 2

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Day: 6-9-5-3-2, FB: 0

Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Cash4Life

Drawing everyday at 9 p.m.

04-11-13-30-39, Cash Ball: 02

Check Cash4Life payouts and previous drawings here.

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Cash Pop

Drawing times: Coffee Break 9 a.m.; Lunch Break 12 p.m.; Rush Hour 5 p.m.; Prime Time 9 p.m.; After Hours 11:59 p.m.

Coffee Break: 04

After Hours: 05

Prime Time: 06

Rush Hour: 09

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Lunch Break: 12

Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.

Cash 5

Drawing every day at 11 p.m.

12-22-31-38-44

Check Cash 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

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Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Center for Community Journalism (CCJ) editor. You can send feedback using this form.



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Virginia Basketball Holds Off Manhattan 74-65 | Key Takeaways

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Virginia Basketball Holds Off Manhattan 74-65 | Key Takeaways


Virginia (4-2) got back in the win column with a 74-65 victory over Manhattan (3-3) on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Here are our five quick takeaways from the Cavaliers’ win over the Jaspers.

Virginia was in serious need of a win after suffering those two humbling losses to Tennessee and St. John’s in The Bahamas. But a convincing and comfortable victory would have been even better and for a while, it seemed like the Cavaliers were on their way to doing just that. UVA led by as many as 15 points in the first half and opened up a 16-point advantage midway through the second half. But rather than putting the game away, Virginia let Manhattan hang around and the visiting Jaspers were in a situation where they were fouling to stop the clock in the final minutes, narrowing the deficit to as little as six points. A win is a win, but this was far from a confidence-boosting performance.

Virginia went with a new starting lineup on Tuesday night, as Andrew Rohde replaced TJ Power. Rohde has been playing very well recently, particularly with his resurgent outside shot, while Power came into this game shooting 25% from beyond the arc this season.

Power initially responded well to the benching, swishing a corner three shortly after he first entered the game, hitting the deck for a loose ball, and coming up with a steal to stop a Manhattan fastbreak. But he wound up playing only six minutes, fewest among Cavaliers who saw the floor in the game. That does not bode well for the Duke transfer.

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Read Val’s Plus/Minus breakdown of the game here.

Rohde, on the other hand, had another solid game and was perhaps the top performer for the Hoos on Tuesday night. Though he missed his only three-pointer, which was a desperation off-balanced heave at the end of the shot clock, Rohde finished with a season-high 14 points, two assists (with one turnover), two rebounds, and four steals. Rohde showed excellent feel for the game, getting exactly where he wanted to go and exhibiting some nice touch on a couple of floaters plus a short jumper off the glass. If Rohde is playing like this and his three-point shot continues to be there, this could be a big season for the former St. Thomas transfer.

The main reason why this game continued to be close deep into the second half is because UVA’s defense frequently broke down and gave up open shots to Manhattan, particularly from the perimeter. The Jaspers shot 11/26 (42.3%) from beyond the arc and and seven different players knocked down a three. A couple of those Manhattan triples were well-contested, but the vast majority of them were wide-open. That’s very concerning and shows that this Virginia defense, with its many new faces, is still very much a work in progress.

Virginia’s offense was pretty well neutralized by Tennessee and St. John’s in The Bahamas. Tuesday night against Manhattan was a small step in the right direction, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

Let’s start with the good. Five different Cavaliers scored in double figures, including a game-high 18 points from Isaac McKneely, who hit three of his four three-point attempts and went 5/6 from the free throw line. We still think McKneely needs to shoot way more, but we’ll leave that alone for now. Dai Dai Ames scored 10 points and dished out five assists, but fouled out of the game. Blake Buchanan made his first four shots and finished with 11 points and five boards. Cofie made five of his seven shots and finished with 10 points and five boards. The best part of the game was that Virginia had 15 assists on 29 made baskets and turned the ball over only eight times, a vast improvement over the team’s turnover issues in The Bahamas.

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Virginia outscored Manhattan 42-22 in the paint. That looks like a good stat, but it’s also an inevitable stat because of UVA’s size advantage over the Jaspers, whose tallest player in the rotation is 6’8″. Still, Manhattan snared 10 offensive rebounds and scored 11 second-chance points. In The Bahamas, UVA was dominated on the glass and was simply outmatched from a physicality and athleticism standpoint. Nothing we saw from the Cavaliers on Tuesday night did anything to alleviate those concerns.

Up next, Virginia remains at home for another (supposed) tune-up game against Holy Cross on Friday at 4pm at John Paul Jones Arena.

Virginia vs. Manhattan Live Updates | NCAA Men’s Basketball

UVA Basketball: Ten Things We Learned About Virginia in The Bahamas

Virginia Basketball Falls to St. John’s 80-55 | Key Takeaways

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