Mudbound Wins Audience Award at Middleburg Film Festival

Middleburg Film Festival announced today the Audience Award winner for Best Narrative Film, concluding the annual four-day festival. This year’s award went to Mudbound, directed by Dee Rees, who attended the festival and was recognized with the festival’s 2017 Visionary Award.

“We want to congratulate Dee Rees on her remarkable film,” said Middleburg Film Festival Executive Director Susan Koch. “With Mudbound, Dee Rees has firmly established herself as one of the most talented and important directors working in film and television today – and we look forward to presenting many more of her films in the future.”

Middleburg Film Festival Founder Sheila C. Johnson.“We are grateful to all of our sponsors, distributors, filmmakers, special guests, volunteers, and the local Middleburg community who helped make this year’s film festival possible. With their support, we have been able to share many of the year’s best films accompanied by thought-provoking conversations.”

Set in post-World War II Jim Crow Mississippi, Mudbound follows two returning veterans—one white and one black—as they navigate a quagmire of social codes in an unforgiving landscape. Starring Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, Jonathan Banks, and Garrett Hedlund, the film powerfully depicts the ongoing struggle to extricate American society from a legacy of injustice.

The audience winners were chosen by audience ballot.

This wraps the festival which saw directors, screenwriters, actors attending the festival to present their films. Below is a list of those who attended to help make the festival bigger and better than ever.
DARKEST HOUR – Anthony McCarten (screenwriter), Lisa Bruce (producer), Ben Mendelsohn (actor)
BATTLE OF THE SEXES – Nicholas Britell (composer/MFF Distinguished Composer honoree); Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (directors)
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME – James Ivory (screenwriter/MFF Legacy Award honoree)
HOSTILES – Scott Cooper (writer/director)
A FANTASTIC WOMAN – Daniela Vega (actress)
LADY BIRD – Greta Gerwig (writer/director)
LAST FLAG FLYING — David Gale (founder of We Are The Mighty), Bonnie Carroll (president/founder of TAPS), Don Northcutt (Vietnam vet), Scott Cooper (Director, National Security Outreach, Human Rights First)
MELTDOWN – Fredrick Golding (director), Mike Tollin (producer), film subjects: photographer Lynn Davis and climate change expert Tony Leiserowitz
MIDDLEBURG FILM FESTIVAL – Sheila Johnson (founder), Susan Koch (executive director), Connie White (artistic director)
MUDBOUND – Dee Rees (writer/director/MFF Visionary Award honoree)
MUSIC GOT ME HERE — Susan Koch (director)
NOVITIATE – Margaret Betts (writer/director)
UNDER THE TREE – Geir Haarde (Icelandic ambassador)