{"id":15039,"date":"2026-10-01T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/01\/middleburg-film-festival-2026-being-heumann-set-as-closing-film\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T16:00:00","slug":"middleburg-film-festival-2026-being-heumann-set-as-closing-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/01\/middleburg-film-festival-2026-being-heumann-set-as-closing-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Middleburg Film Festival 2026: ‘Being Heumann’ Set as Closing Film"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\t\u201cBeing Heumann<\/a>,\u201d Oscar winner Si\u00e2n Heder\u2019s Apple Original Film, will close the 14th Middleburg Film Festival<\/a>, which runs Oct. 15-18. The festival has also set Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi\u2019s \u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d as its Friday Spotlight and Tony Gilroy\u2019s \u201cBehemoth<\/a>!\u201d as its Sunday Spotlight. As previously announced<\/a>, the festival will open with Jesse Eisenberg\u2019s \u201cThe Debut.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMartin McDonagh, Brad Bird, Seth Rogen<\/a>, Rosalind Eleazar, Guitarricadelafuente and casting directors Adam Caldwell and Bernard Telsey will be honored at this year\u2019s festival. Billie Jean King and Bill Pullman are among the special guests.<\/p>\n

\n\tOver the past decade, Middleburg has become a reliable fall stop for awards hopefuls. Being close to Washington, D.C., helps it draw national press and its small size gives filmmakers time for longer conversations with audiences. This year\u2019s lineup continues that tradition.<\/p>\n

\n\tCaldwell and Telsey will receive the festival\u2019s Special Achievement in Casting Award and join a post-screening Q&A. The recognition arrives as the Academy\u2019s achievement in casting category enters its second year.<\/p>\n

\n\tRepresenting \u201cLa Bola Negra,\u201d Guitarricadelafuente wrote and performs the film\u2019s original song, \u201cLa Nieve.\u201d He will receive the International Spotlight Award, participate in a post-screening discussion and join the festival\u2019s Songwriters and Composers Panel.<\/p>\n

\n\tGilroy will be on hand for a post-screening conversation following Searchlight Pictures\u2019 \u201cBehemoth!\u201d where Pedro Pascal plays a gifted cellist and former child prodigy who returns to Los Angeles after two decades on the road to record film scores and confront his complicated family history. <\/p>\n

\n\tMcDonagh will receive the Director Spotlight Award for \u201cWild Horse Nine,\u201d also from Searchlight. Set just before the 1973 Chilean coup, the film stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as longtime CIA agents sent from Santiago to Easter Island, where they confront their dark pasts and a conspiracy unfolding around them. <\/p>\n

\n\tBird will receive the Spotlight Animation Award for Netflix\u2019s \u201cRay Gunn,\u201d a passion project more than 30 years in the making. Bird wrote and directed the sci-fi noir, which is set in Metropia, a city where humans and aliens live side by side. <\/p>\n

\n\tRogen will receive the MFF Artistic Achievement Award at an \u201cIn Conversation with Seth Rogen\u201d event covering several of his films at the festival. He stars in Olivia Wilde\u2019s A24 film \u201cThe Invite\u201d alongside Wilde, Pen\u00e9lope Cruz and Edward Norton, playing one of two married couples whose relationships are tested by a dinner party that grows more unpredictable as the night goes on. Rogen also produced Leah Nelson\u2019s animated film \u201cTangles\u201d with Lauren Miller Rogen, Evan Goldberg and others. Based on Sarah Leavitt\u2019s graphic memoir, it follows a young artist who moves home to care for her mother after an Alzheimer\u2019s diagnosis. Rogen will join Nelson and Miller Rogen for a post-screening conversation.<\/p>\n

\n\tEleazar will receive the Breakthrough Actor Award for A24\u2019s \u201cMisty Green,\u201d written and directed by Chris Rock. In her first leading film role, she plays Misty, a once-successful actress whose career has stalled. She is fighting to win back her place in Hollywood while dealing with financial trouble, broken relationships and her own self-destructive streak. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe annual Songwriters and Composers Panel will feature Ari Balouzian (\u201cPrimetime,\u201d \u201cYou Can See Everything\u201d), Lesley Barber (\u201cGail\u201d), Jesse Eisenberg (\u201cThe Debut\u201d), Lukas Frank (\u201cBehemoth!\u201d), Guitarricadelafuente (\u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d), Daniel Pemberton (\u201cInk,\u201d \u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d), Christopher Spelman (\u201cPaper Tiger\u201d) and Diane Warren (\u201cMaserati: The Brothers\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cToy Story 5\u201d production designer Bob Pauley will lead a masterclass on his more than three decades at Pixar. Pauley was part of the original \u201cToy Story\u201d creative team, designed Buzz Lightyear for the 1995 film and has worked on all five installments. He will also lead a drawing demonstration focused on new characters from \u201cToy Story 5.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTennis legend Billie Jean King will attend with Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff\u2019s documentary \u201cGive Me the Ball!\u201d The film uses rare archival footage and candid interviews to examine the victories, struggles and personal sacrifices behind her tennis career and her fight for equality in sports and beyond. King will sit down with festival founder and board chair Sheila Johnson for a one-on-one post-screening conversation on Sunday, Oct. 18.<\/p>\n

\n\tFinally, Pullman will attend with \u201cEverybody Digs Bill Evans,\u201d Grant Gee\u2019s unconventional portrait of the jazz pianist. Set in 1961, the film follows Evans (Anders Danielsen Lie) after the sudden death of his bassist and close collaborator Scott LaFaro, when grief drives him to stop playing and retreat from New York to his family home. MFF advisory board members Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa executive produce.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe full Middleburg Film Festival lineup and honorees are below. The full schedule and lineup are available at middleburgfilm.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tOlivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Pen\u00e9lope Cruz and Edward Norton appear in The Invite by Olivia Wilde, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo c\/o The Invite<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Invite<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tHonorees<\/strong><\/p>\n

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