Director attends Charlottesville debut

Staff Report

The Virginia Festival Film Society begins its spring season with a series of films by American independent director Jonathan Nossiter, to be screened at Vinegar Hill Theatre Jan. 27-29. The New York-based filmmaker, whose films have received critical acclaim in recent years but have never been shown in Charlottesville, will attend and discuss each of the three programs. He will also visit classes and work with students at U.Va. in the drama, French and Italian departments.

Nossiter’s irreverent art documentary “Losing the Thread/Perdere Il Filo” (2000) will be shown Jan. 27 at 5:30 p.m. His film, “Sunday,” for which he won the Grand Jury Prize and the Screenwriting Award at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, will run Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. His latest feature, “Signs and Wonders,” an innovative digital video production starring Skellan Skarsgard and Charlotte Rampling in a tale of Americans abroad, will play Jan. 29 at 7 p.m.

Admission to the films is $7 at the door. Virginia Festival Film Society members receive free admission to the series, co-sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the student-run film program, OFFScreen. The film society’s spring season memberships are on sale for $25. For other events, see www.vafilm.com or call 982-5560.

The son of New York Times reporter Bernard Nossiter, Jonathan grew up in England, France, Italy and India, among other places. He studied painting at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris but caught the film bug at Dartmouth, from which he graduated. To learn directing, he worked in the theater in both New York City and London before becoming Adrian Lyne’s assistant on “Fatal Attraction.”

From his travels, Nossiter also developed a love of wines that rivals his love of movies. He has worked as a sommelier in some very fashionable New York City restaurants, earning two awards of excellence from Wine Spectator magazine. Following the screening of “Losing the Thread,” the Friends of the Virginia Film Festival will host an Italian dinner and wine tasting at L’Avventura Restaurant. Nossiter will select and introduce the wines, and discuss the relationship of fine wines to great films. Tickets are available for the dinner by calling 982-4543.