Kevin Bacon Coming to Fairfax Co. Film Fest
Kevin Bacon will be at the 13th annual Washington West Film Festival when it returns to Fairfax County next week.
Kevin (right) and Michael Bacon perform with The Bacon Brothers band on Sept. 20 in Des Plaines, Ill. They will perform a free concert at 7:30 p.m on Oct. 12 at Reston Town Center as part of the Washington West Film Festival. (Photo: Vanessa Sundra/Facebook)
The philanthropic festival will show a varied lineup of movies from Oct. 10-13 at Look Dine-In Cinemas, 1667 Silver Hill Drive, Tysons, and 11940 Market St., Reston.
The Footloose star will perform a free concert at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12, at the Reston Town Center pavilion, 1818 Discovery St., with The Bacon Brothers, the band he started with brother Michael. He will also participate in a virtual Q&A after a 40th anniversary screening of Footloose at the Reston theater on Sunday, Oct. 13, which begins at 4 p.m.
Help SixDegrees.org make kits for foster kids
SixDegrees.org, Bacon’s nonprofit, is the festival’s 2024 charity partner and will receive 100 percent of the box office proceeds to fund backpacks with hygiene items, socks and shelf stable food for Virginia’s Kids Belong, a Richmond-based foster care and adoption nonprofit.
From 1-3 p.m. on Oct. 13, volunteers can help pack kits for hundreds of at-risk kids.
The partnership with SixDegrees.org, which is headquartered in Fairfax City, continues the film festival’s efforts to “create inspiring stories rather than just watching them,” according to a press release.
Since launching in 2011, the festival has donated box office proceeds to a dozen different nonprofits. Virginia’s Kids Belong, the Henry & William Evans Home For Children, Blu_Print and The Children’s Inn at NIH were the beneficiaries from 2019-2023.
Highlights include Sixth Sense anniversary, Watershed
Other highlights of this year’s festival include a 25th-anniversary screening of The Sixth Sense at 8 p.m. on Oct. 10 in Tysons and opening night film Searching for Amani — Debra Aroko and Nicole Gormley’s film about a Kenyan man investigating his father’s death, which won the Albert Maysles Award for best new documentary director at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it premiered this summer – at 7 p.m. in Tysons that same night.
Mallory Weggemann (left), 7-time Paralympic medalist including a gold and silver in 2024, and husband Jay Snyder at the Los Angeles premier of their movie Watershed in July. The pair will participate in a Q&A after the screening of their movie on Oct. 12. (Photo: Mallory Weggemann/Facebook)
Oct. 11 features a collection of short films at 5:30 p.m. in Tysons, and gold medal-winning Paralympic swimmer Mallory Weggmann will participate in an in-person Q&A with director and husband Jay Snyder after a screening of their movie Watershed, the closing night film in Tysons at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 12.
Outside the main festival, Washington West has partnered with the Reston Town Center Association for a free, outdoor screening of The Lion King (2019) on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. as part of the Arts in the Park series at Reston Town Square Park, 12034 Town Square St.
For the Cheuse Center at George Mason University’s 100th anniversary celebration of James Baldwin’s birthday, the festival will screen three short films about the writer and activist at the Reston Community Center’s CenterStage, 2310 Colts Neck Road, at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 21. GMU professor Keith Clark will lead a post-screening discussion.
Tickets for all films are now on sale and range from $20-$40.
Saturday, Oct. 5
7 p.m. — The Lion King — Reston Town Square Park
Thursday, Oct. 10
7 p.m. — Searching for Amani — Look Dine-In Tysons
8 p.m. — The Sixth Sense — Look Dine-In Tysons
Friday, Oct. 11
5:30 p.m. — Short Film Friday — Look Dine-In Tysons
Saturday, Oct. 12
Noon — Climbing to Life with director Melissa Davey — Look Dine-In Tysons
Noon — GMU Student Showcase with live Q&A — Look Dine-In Tysons
2:30 p.m. — Luther: Never Too Much — Look Dine-In Tysons
3 p.m. — Champions of the Golden Valley with producer Baktash Ahadi — Look Dine-In Tysons
3 p.m. — Local Spotlight: 1001 Cuts and Can’t Retire From This with Q&A — Look Dine-In Tysons
5:30 p.m. — The Thinking Game — Look Dine-In Tysons
7 p.m. — The Bacon Brothers — Reston Town Center Pavilion
7:30 p.m. — Watershed — Look Dine-In Tysons
Sunday, Oct. 13
11:30 a.m. — Environmental shorts program — Look Dine-In Reston
1 p.m. — Kit-build with SixDegrees.org — Look Dine-In Reston
2 p.m. — Porcelain War — Look Dine-In Reston
4 p.m. — Footloose with virtual Q&A — Look Dine-In Reston
4 p.m. — Black Table — Look Dine-In Reston
Monday, Oct. 21
7:30 p.m. — James Baldwin Abroad: A Series of Three Short Films — CenterStage in Reston
