J.D. Dillard‘s Korean War era buddy drama “Devotion” won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2022 Middleburg Film Festival. Even though the film currently trailing in Gold Derby’s predictions center to receive a Best Picture nomination, earning this prize could suggest there’s a path for the film to make it into the race.
The festival, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, is based in the exurbs of Washington, D.C. All of the past recipients that have claimed this honor have gone on to be big factors in the Oscar race. Specifically, seven of the past nine winners of this prize have gone on to score nominations for Best Picture: “Philomena” (2013), “The Imitation Game” (2014), “Spotlight” (2015), “Lion” (2016), “Green Book” (2018), “Minari” (2020) and “Belfast” (2021). “Spotlight” and “Green Book” would ultimately go on to win Best Picture.“Mudbound” (2017) and “The Two Popes” (2019) were the only two that did not make it into the Best Picture lineup.
“Devotion” is inspired by the true story of Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner and how the friends became among the most celebrated wingmen to fly during the Korean War in the early 1950s. Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell star as Brown and Hudner, respectively. The film also stars Joe Jonas, Christina Jackson, Thomas Sadoski and Serinda Swan. Other films looking to be players in this year’s Oscar derby that screened at Middleburg included “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Decision to Leave,” “Empire of Light,” “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” “The Inspection,” “She Said,” “The Son,” “TÁR,” “Till,” “Triangle of Sadness,” “The Whale” and “Women Talking.”
In its 10 years of existence, the Middleburg Film Festival has solidly established itself as one of the most important stops for movies that are looking to be a part of the Oscar conversation. To date, 77 of the films that have screened here have gone on to amass a whopping 269 Oscar nominations, including 28 for Best Picture. Last year saw four of the films that played Middleburg go on to score Best Picture nominations: “Belfast,” “Drive My Car,” “King Richard” and “The Power of the Dog.”
Out of those 269 Oscar nominations, the films at Middleburg have won 48 Oscars altogether. 2016 was the first year in which Middleburg titles brought home a huge amount of trophies, with 12 Oscar wins: “Moonlight” (Picture, Supporting Actor and Adapted Screenplay), “La La Land” (Directing, Actress, Original Score, Original Song, Cinematography and Production Design), “Manchester by the Sea” (Actor and Original Screenplay) and “The Salesman” (International Feature).
2017’s lineup would take home seven Oscars: “Three Billboards” (Actress and Supporting Actor), “Darkest Hour” (Actor and Makeup and Hairstyling), “I, Tonya” (Supporting Actress), “Call Me By Your Name” (Adapted Screenplay) and “A Fantastic Woman” (International Feature).
2018’s festival saw films that would bring home eight Oscars: “Green Book” (Picture, Supporting Actor and Original Screenplay), “Roma” (Directing, Cinematography and International Feature), “The Favourite” (Actress) and “Free Solo” (Documentary Feature).
The 2019 crop brought in another eight Oscars: “Parasite” (Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and International Feature), “Jojo Rabbit” (Adapted Screenplay), “Marriage Story” (Supporting Actress) and “Ford v. Ferrari” (Film Editing and Sound Editing).
2020 saw another six Academy Awards go to films that were showcased at Middleburg: “Nomadland” (Picture, Directing and Actress), “Minari” (Supporting Actress) and “Sound of Metal” (Film Editing and Sound).
Last year, Middleburg had four films that would each go on to score a single win: “The Power of the Dog” (Directing), “King Richard” (Actor), “Belfast” (Original Screenplay) and “Drive My Car” (International Feature).
Among the other honors being handed out at this year’s festival included Noah Baumbach, who received the Spotlight Filmmaker Award and also screened his upcoming movie, “White Noise.” Michael Ward was on hand to accept the Spotlight Actor Award for his performance in “Empire of Light.” Rian Johnson was on hand to accept two awards. The first was the Variety Creative Collaborators Award, which he received alongside his longtime editor, Bob Ducsay, and the Distinguished Screenwriter Award. Stephanie Hsu won the Rising Star Award for her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” The Breakthrough Performance Award went to Filipino actress Dolly De Leon for her scene-stealing work in “Triangle of Sadness” and the International Spotlight Award went to Edward Berger for his upcoming version of “All Quiet on the Western Front.” “The Woman King” director Gina Prince-Bythewood won the Agnès Varda Trailblazing Film Artist Award and Michael Abels took home the Distinguished Composer Award. Also attending were “The Whale” star and screenwriter, respectively, Brendan Fraser and Samuel D. Hunter along with Ray Romano, who was on hand to screen his directorial debut, “Somewhere in Queens.”
The festival was first started in 2013 by Sheila Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, and filmmaker Susan Koch in order 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, a commuter region with one of the highest median incomes in the United States that’s still experiencing huge growth in its population. 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 of time.
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