Get ready, Bay Area. Some awfully big names are heading to Marin County this week.
Just take a gander at Mill Valley Film Festival’s flashy celebrity guest list: Ralph Fiennes, Amy Adams, Danielle Deadwyler, Jude Law, Mikey Madison, Jharrel Jerome, Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Adriana Paz and Édgar Ramirez, to name only a few.
They’ll be walking the red carpet with other noteworthy actors and filmmakers at the Oct. 3-13 festival, which is marking its 47th year with another deep and impressive lineup. Screenings span from San Rafael to Mill Valley and include Berkeley and Larkspur.
This year’s slate serves as a calling card for the upcoming award season, and that gets reflected in its Thursday opening selection, the papal-themed thriller “Conclave,” which is already collecting incredible awards season buzz. The festival ends Oct. 13 with another buzzy feature, the horror comedy “Nightbitch.”
In between there will be showings of other features and documentaries gaining awards traction, from Sean Baker’s “Anora” to Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer” and Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.”
Also in the mix are a variety of hidden gems, many with Bay Area ties and some getting their world premieres. There are awards and tributes, too.
We recommend these 14 MVFF films. For tickets. a full schedule and more information, visit www.mvff.com.
“Lost in Time: Druid Heights”: Iconic counterculture figures (philosophical writer Alan Watts, poet Gary Snyder, groundbreaking lesbian poet Elsa Gidlow and more) once flocked to a Utopian-like hideaway nestled in John Muir Woods. During its ‘60s-’70s heyday, Druid Heights served as a happening spot where renegades would zone out, dance, perform music, create, experiment with drugs, have loads of sex and walk around in the buff. Today, most structures are surrendering back to the natural environment. Director D. Damian Panetta’s podcast-like documentary does an exceptional job sifting through the raucous accounts of those who were there. In this world premiere, resident Ed Stiles serves as lead guide to all the outlandishness. Screenings: 8:30 p.m. Oct. 5, Rafael 2; 1 p.m. Oct. 11, The Lark.
“Chaperone”: Never count on Misha (Mitzi Akaha). The 29-year-old movie theater attendant is devoted to her aimlessness, a personality trait that annoys most everyone around her, including relatives miffed at how she neglects the house she’s inherited and lives in on the island of Hawaii. Misha does gain a purpose, but it’s hardly a responsible one when a 19-year-old high school athlete (the striking Laird Akeo) appears and assumes she, too, is a teen, a notion that Misha doesn’t discredit. Director/writer Zoe Eisenberg handles the cringeable relationship that ensues with candor, never letting Misha — one of the most indelible protagonists you’ll meet this year — off the hook. It’s a true-blue indie find. Screenings: 3:30 p.m. Oct. 6 and 4:30 p.m. Oct. 7, Rafael 2.
“Exhibiting Forgiveness”: The fallout from a horrendous childhood and the healing power of art carry the same weight in artist-turned-filmmaker Titus Kaphar’s emotionally charged family drama, a powder keg of a debut that refuses to relent to trite resolutions. André Holland …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
