The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation will host its first Anti-Communist Film Festival Oct. 1-4 in Washington, D.C., featuring six films selected to examine life under communist governments and resistance to political repression.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
A new film festival conceived by journalist Mark Judge will debut in Washington, D.C., next month with a four-day lineup spanning historical dramas, Cold War films and Hollywood satire centered on communism and life under authoritarian governments.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s inaugural Anti-Communist Film Festival will run Oct. 1-4 at the VOC Museum, located two blocks from the White House. The lineup includes Pilecki’s Report, The Killing Fields, Night Crossing, Red Dawn, The Lives of Others and Hail, Caesar!
The festival opens Thursday, Oct. 1, with the 2023 Polish film Pilecki’s Report, which recounts the story of Witold Pilecki, a Polish resistance officer who voluntarily entered Auschwitz during World War II to gather intelligence about the Nazi concentration camp and later became a prisoner of Poland’s postwar communist authorities.
“The Killing Fields,” the 1984 drama about Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, follows on Oct. 2. Other screenings during the weekend include Disney’s 1982 Cold War drama Night Crossing, the 1984 invasion film Red Dawn, the 2006 East German surveillance drama The Lives of Others and the Coen brothers’ 2016 Hollywood comedy Hail, Caesar!
“Join the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation for our first annual Anti-Communist Film Festival. This multiday event will be held at the VOC Museum, just two blocks from the White House, and feature some of the greatest films that depict the struggle of living under communist tyranny and the heroic fight for freedom against this oppressive ideology,” the foundation said in its event description.
“VOC’s 2026 Anti-Communist Film Festival will take place from October 1-4 and include movies for all audiences and age ranges,” it added.
Judge began developing the festival in 2025, spending more than a year working on film licensing and seeking a sponsoring organization before the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation joined the project. He has described The Lives of Others, which examines East Germany’s Stasi surveillance apparatus, as one of the films that helped inspire the effort.
“The Lives of Others is a masterpiece of acting, editing, pacing and screenwriting. Revealing the characters as human beings. I discovered a lot of these great films going to film festivals at the American Film Institute,” Judge said last year. “Movies like I was a Communist for the FBI are supposed to be these cheesy old movies from the 1950s but in reality are quite good. Helen Hayes, a great actress, is in My Son John, a very good movie. Red Dawn is a good movie.”
Judge, whose book The Devil’s Triangle recounted the upheaval in his life surrounding Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations during Brett Kavanaugh’s 2018 Supreme Court confirmation proceedings, has said the festival is intended to combine political and historical discussion with a traditional moviegoing experience.
“We want to remind people about the evils of communism and also get a bunch of us together for a good time. It’s an idea that fits the moment we’re in and also will get a bunch of freedom-loving people under one roof for beer and popcorn. All for a small fraction of the cost of making a new film,” Judge said.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation describes itself as an educational, research and human-rights nonprofit focused on documenting the history and legacy of communist governments and commemorating their victims. The organization has indicated that the 2026 festival is intended to become an annual event.
Tickets and the complete screening schedule are available through the festival’s website.
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