Women in Mill Valley openers

For the second year in a row, the Mill Valley Film Festival is throwing a spotlight on women with its “Mind the Gap” selection of films that celebrate the female perspective. And while neither of the official opening-night films, Denis Villenueve’s “Arrival” and Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land,” nor unofficial opening-night film Mick Jackson’s “Denial,” are part of “Mind the Gap,” all three films nevertheless reflect its spirit with three strong female characters played by three celebrated actresses at their center.

Five-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams, 42, who also stars this fall in Tom Ford’s hotly anticipated “Nocturnal Animals,” is “Arrival’s” Dr. Louise Banks. A prominent linguist, she is also the only woman on a team that includes a physicist (Jeremy Renner), an Army officer (Forest Whitaker), and a CIA agent (Michael Stuhlbarg) brought to the remote site of an alien landing to try to determine why the extraterrestrials are here.

Emma Stone, 27, an Academy Award nominee two years ago for “Birdman,” has already picked up one acting award, for “La La Land,” the Venice Film Festival’s Volpi Cup. As Mia in Chazelle’s modern take on the musical (and the audience award winner at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival), Stone is a struggling actress whose romantic and career fortunes take a turn after she meets jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling).

Oscar winner Rachel Weisz, 46, adopts a Queens, N.Y., accent to play real-life historian Deborah Lipstadt in “Denial.” The drama, adapted by David Hare from Lipstadt’s book “Denial: Holocaust History on Trial,” re-creates Lipstadt’s fish-out-of-water experience in an English courtroom after Holocaust denier David Irving sued her for libel.

The Chronicle caught up with all three women in the weeks leading up to MVFF’s opening night (where Adams and Stone are expected to be in attendance) to talk about this singular moment in their careers as the stars of three of the fall’s big movies.