There's something funny about the Virginia film festival

What do Matthew Broderick, Cherry Jones, director Norman Jewison and cult filmmaker John Waters have in common?

Answer: They will all be laughing it up next Thursday through Sunday - Nov. 5-8 - at the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville.

"Funny Business" is the theme, and among the 80 or so films being screened are such classic comedies as "Duck Soup," "His Girl Friday," "Some Like it Hot," "Police Academy" and "My Man Godfrey."

A mixture of classics and new finds, the festival has become an autumn ritual that goes with the changing of the leaves on the University of Virginia campus and other Charlottesville locales.

Jones, the winner of multiple Tony Awards on Broadway and an Emmy for TV, will present a sneak preview of her new film, "Mother and Child," co-starring Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and Samuel L. Jackson, about a daughter given up for adoption.

John Waters, the flamboyant and unpredictable director of cult movies like "Pink Flamingos" and "Hairspray," will present a multimedia lecture called "This Filthy World " at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 6 in the campus' Culbreth Theatre as part of the University of Virginia Arts Assembly. "Hairspray" will be screened at 7 that night and "Pink Flamingos" at 10 in Newcomb Hall.

Jewison, the director of "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Moonstruck," will present a 30th anniversary screening of his "... And Justice For All," starring Al Pacino (4 p.m. Nov. 7 at The Paramount Theater). His comedy "The Russians are Coming the Russians are Coming" screens at 1 p.m. Nov. 6 at the Regal Downtown Mall movie theater. He will answer questions at each screening.

Broderick will appear on behalf of his new movie, "Wonderful World," the festival's closing-night selection.

Also to be screened is the dark comedy "Election," starring Broderick and Reese Witherspoon.

"Wonderful World," set for 5:30 p.m. Nov. 8 at Culbreth Theatre, is the story of a failed folk singer who finds his only happiness through chess games with the sister of his Senegalese roommate.

Writer-director Alan Ball will present a 10th-anniversary screening of the Academy Award-winning suburban dramedy "American Beauty," which he wrote, at noon Nov. 8 in Culbreth Theatre.

Ball is also the creator of the HBO TV series "Six Feet Under" and the current TV sensation "True Blood." A free seminar will be devoted to "True Blood" at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 8 in Culbreth.

Jody Kielbasa, the festival's new director, said: "When I sat down to really look at the theme of comedy, I realized that there is an awful lot of funny business surrounding us in all aspects of our lives today. You've got the funny business of business, the funny business of politics. There is funny business everywhere we turn."

The festival, consequently, will show classics like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "Modern Times." Kielbasa was the director of the Sarasota Film Festival for 10 years and made the move to Charlottesville in June.

The opening-night film, Thursday at 7 p.m. at Culbreth Theatre, will be "Marching Band," a documentary by French filmmaker Claude Miller, filmed in Virginia and featuring the marching bands of the University of Virginia and Virginia State University. The U.Va. marching band will perform outside the theater.

A number of films made in Virginia also will be screened.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com