‘Conclave’ and ‘September 5’ tie for top prize at Middleburg Film Festival
For the first time in its history, the contest for the Audience Award at the Middleburg Film Festival has resulted in a tie. “Conclave” from Edward Berger and “September 5” from Tim Fehlbaum won top honors at the 12th edition of the Northern Virginia event.
“Conclave” centers on a cardinal (Ralph Fiennes) who is tasked with leading the secretive papal election after the sudden death of the Pope and finds himself in the middle of a battle for the direction of the Universal Church. It also stars Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini. Rossellini received the Agnès Varda Trailblazing Film Artist Award at this year’s festivities.
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“September 5” chronicles the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis from the perspective of the ABC television crew that covered the Olympics outside the Olympic Village. It stars Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, and Leonie Benesch.
The top honor for documentary filmmaking went to “Martha,” which chronicles the life of lifestyle expert and businesswoman Martha Stewart. This latest from R.J. Cutler will be premiering on Netflix later this month. The top international accolade went to “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” from Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof. It centers on a family that gets thrust into the public spotlight when the patriarch is made an investigative judge in Tehran. It was chosen by Germany to be their official submission this year for Best International Feature.
Over the last 12 years, the Middleburg Film Festival has solidly established itself as one of the most important stops during Oscar season. In just a dozen years, 104 of the films screened at Middleburg have gone on to amass a whopping 346 Oscar nominations, including 38 for Best Picture. Last year, five films programmed by Middleburg organizers landed Best Picture nominations: “American Fiction,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Holdovers,” “Maestro,” and “The Zone of Interest.”
Out of those 300-plus Oscar nominations, the films at Middleburg have won 61 Oscars. Last year produced six of those wins: “The Zone of Interest” (Best International Feature and Best Sound), “American Fiction” (Best Adapted Screenplay), “Anatomy of a Fall” (Best Original Screenplay), “The Holdovers” (Best Supporting Actress), and “The Last Repair Shop” (Best Documentary Short).
Before that, films that played at the festival had claimed seven Oscars in 2023, four in 2021, six in 2020, eight in 2019 and 2018, seven in 2017, and 12 in 2016. In total, five Best Picture winners have been shown at Middleburg: “Spotlight,” “Moonlight,” “Green Book,” “Parasite,” and “Nomadland.”
The festival was first started in 2013 by Sheila Johnson, the CEO of Salamander Hospitality and co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, and filmmaker Susan Koch to showcase the small Northern Virginia town that is east of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley that’s home to around 750 people. The town is located in the southwest region of Loudoun County. The combination of the region’s beautiful country backdrop along with being only an hour away from the power center of the country have helped the festival establish its identity in such a quick period.
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