• An Education

By Matt Brunson

The seventh annual Asheville Film Festival will be held November 12-15, meaning that it's time once again for Charlotteans not averse to road trips to get excited about seeing a wide range of potentially interesting movies. Over 90 features, documentaries, shorts and student films will be screened over a four-day stretch at various downtown venues.

A trio of possible award-season contenders will be shown out of competition: An Education, starring Peter Sarsgaard and Carey Mulligan; Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, with Mo'Nique and newcomer Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe; and That Evening Sun, featuring Hal Holbrook.

• In/Significant Others

As usual, many of the works in contention come from Carolina filmmakers — that crop includes Charlottean John Schwert's In/Significant Others, which recently took the Best Narrative Feature award at this past September's Charlotte Film Festival.

This year's judges, all film critics, hail from Charlotte (Lawrence Toppman and me), Asheville (Ken Hanke), Atlanta (Felicia Feaster) and Johnson City, Tenn. (Sam Watson, my partner in judging the Short Films and Student Films categories).

For complete details about the Asheville Film Festival, including titles, times and prices, go to www.ashevillefilmfestival.com. And check out www.clclt.com/film Nov. 12-15 for updates from the festival.