Mill Valley film fest rich with diversity
Marking its 40th anniversary, the Mill Valley Film Festival revealed its highly anticipated lineup on Monday, Sept. 11, with a bevy of Academy Award contenders, international festival winners, documentaries and national and local offerings — not to mention a guest list filled with Hollywood luminaries.
“It’s an embarrassment of riches,” said Mark Fishkin, executive director of the festival, which runs Oct. 5-15 in Mill Valley, San Rafael, Corte Madera and Larkspur. “I think it’s a really strong, well-balanced lineup that’s appropriate for our 40th anniversary.”
Sean Penn and Holly Hunter, two of the best actors of their generation, are expected to appear in person, as well as Andrew Garfield, Greta Gerwig, Richard Linklater, Todd Haynes, Aaron Sorkin and Dee Rees, just to name a few.
As usual, the festival will unveil two opening night films. “Darkest Hour,” about the turbulent times of Winston Churchill, starring Gary Old-
man (a front-runner for a best actor Oscar) and Kristin Scott Thomas (who will be feted at the festival), will screen along with “Wait for Your Laugh,” a documentary about legendary comedian and “Dick Van Dyke Show” star Rose Marie, whose entertainment career has spanned nine decades.
Mill Valley, one of the most important film festivals in the United States, has become a reliable prognosticator of the Oscars, screening nine of the last 11 best picture recipients, including last year’s real winner, “Moonlight,” and mistaken winner, “La La Land.”
The closing night films will be “Lady Bird” and “The Current War.” The former is written and directed by Gerwig, who hails from Sacramento, and is getting significant Oscar buzz for Saoirse Ronan, who plays a Northern California girl trying to escape her family. “The Current War” pits Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) in a race to market electricity.
Linklater’s “Last Flag Flying,” based on a sequel to the novel “The Last Detail,” will be the centerpiece film and is sure to draw Oscar consideration. The movie, about three Vietnam vets who go on a road trip, stars Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell and Laurence Fishburne.
Other Oscar contenders include “Call Me by Your Name,” a sensitive drama about the relationship between a doctoral student and his employer’s 17year-old son; “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” in which Frances McDormand takes action after the murder of her daughter; and Todd Haynes’ “Wonderstruck,” about two children from different eras who yearn for different lives.
The U.S. lineup also features “Mudbound,” Rees’ examination of racism on a Mississippi farm during the Jim Crow era; Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories,” a dark comedy about a family reunion (starring Dustin Hoffman, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Emma Thompson); and “The Deep Sky,” Oakland resident Frazer Bradshaw’s drama about a couple whose lives change when they open up their relationship to a mysterious stranger.
Among the festival’s 46 foreign films are Cannes winner “Loveless,” about a divorcing Russian couple whose son has gone missing; “A Fantastic Woman,” in which a transgender woman in Chile faces a crisis when her lover dies; and “The Square,” a satirical drama about a Swedish museum’s disastrous PR campaign.
Bay Area filmmakers have scores of documentaries in the festival, on topics that range from homeopathy to swimming to slavery. Other documentaries focus on music, which has become a trademark of the festival over the years.
Two of the most prominent music films are “Horn From the Heart: The Paul Butterfield Story,” a profile of an influential blues harmonica player; and “On the Sly: In Search of the Family Stone,” about the search for the reclusive bandleader Sly Stone.
Joel Selvin, The Chronicle’s former pop music critic, will host a blues celebration Oct. 10 in honor of Butterfield at the Sweetwater Music Hall, where music events will be hosted nightly during the festival. In addition, Huey Lewis and the News are slated to headline a benefit concert on Oct. 15.
It’s all part of a diverse lineup at this year’s festival.
“Looking down on this little blip from Mount Tamalpais, we will see this amazing display of world-class talent,” said Zoe Elton, the festival’s director of programming. “There will be fun things for both kids and adults.”