San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Notable names set for festival
The 45th Mill Valley Film Festival is scheduled to bring Kate Hudson and director Rian Johnson to celebrate its opening night, and Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne to closing night. In between will be dozens of filmmakers, actors and producers who want to get the word out about their movies.
“I always recommend it to the filmmakers I’m working with,” film producer and former industry executive Ted Hope said of MVFF. “I really think it’s true for all filmmakers, that people just want their movies in front of an audience — not just the folks on the couch, but a live audience. This is such a great way to do it: beautiful theaters, good crowds that are smart, educated audiences that are there because they love cinema.”
A full list of guests expected is at mvff.com; below are some highlights:
‘WOMEN TALKING’
In person: Actress Frances McDormand.
McDormand, a four-time Academy Award winner who lives in Bolinas, has but a small role in Sarah Polley’s film, which is set in a Mennonite colony and stars Judith Ivey, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley and Ben Whishaw.
But McDormand is a producer on the film; it is her fifth producing project (her fourth Oscar was for producing the 2019 best picture winner “Nomadland”). “Women Talking” is the festival’s Mind the Gap Award winner for ensemble acting.
5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9, Smith Rafael Film Center
‘TILL’
In person: Writer-director Chinonye Chukwu.
This profile of Emmett Till — the 14-year-old Black child who was lynched in 1955 and became a landmark figure in the civil rights movement — is getting plenty of Oscar buzz, especially for actress Danielle Deadwyler as Till’s mother. The film is the festival’s Mind the Gap Award winner for creativity and truth; director Chukwu (“Clemency”) is considered a fast-rising talent.
7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11, CinéArts Sequoia.
‘THE WHALE’
In person: Actor Brendan Fraser.
The festival’s acting tribute goes to Fraser, the onetime heartthrob of “Encino Man” and “The Mummy” films. The actor reinvents himself in Darren Aronofsky’s new movie about a 600-pound man working remotely from his dead-end Idaho apartment, trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter. Prognosticators are predicting a sure Oscar nomination for Fraser, who donned a fat suit for the role.
7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, CinéArts Sequoia.
‘BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS’
In person: Actors Daniel Giménez Cacho and Ximena Lamadrid.
Veteran Mexican actor Giménez Cacho receives the festival’s award for acting, as he centerpieces director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s personal passion project, about a filmmaker experiencing a Fellinesque
midlife crisis.
6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, Smith Rafael Film Center.
‘NANNY’
In person: Director Nikyatu Jusu, actress Anna Diop.
“Nanny” is the first horror film to win the grand jury prize at Sundance. The setup: Diop is a Senegalese immigrant who is a nanny for a wealthy New York couple; what could go
wrong?
6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, CinéArts Sequoia.
‘WHITE NOISE’
In person: Writer-director Noah Baumbach.
Baumbach receives the festival’s screenwriting award for his adaptation of Don DeLillo’s novel about a year in the life of a professor (Adam Driver), his fourth wife (Greta Gerwig) and
their children.
7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, Smith Rafael Film Center.
‘THE GOOD NURSE’
In person: Director Tobias Lindholm, actors Eddie Redmayne and Nnamdi Asomugha.
Redmayne, who won a best actor Oscar for playing physicist Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything” (2014), plays Charles Cullen, a convicted serial killer who confessed to killing dozens of patients while working as a nurse. Asomugha has been acting for more than a decade; Bay Area football fans remember his career as an NFL cornerback for the Oakland Raiders (2003-2010) and the San Francisco 49ers (2013).
“The Good Nurse,” the closing night film, will be followed by an outdoor party at Mill Valley Depot Plaza.
5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, CinéArts Sequoia and Smith Rafael Film Center.
G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ajohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BRfilmsAllen