Mill Valley Film Festival announces its program
The Mill Valley Film Festival enters its thirty-second year this October, running from the 8th to the 18th. Today, they have announced their full program line up, and there are tons of films to get excited about, including numerous stand outs from recent festivals. The MVFF prides itself on being a true filmmaker’s festival. They offer a wide mix of features, documentaries, and shorts in a noncompetitive setting. Also, Mill Valley is in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area, so you really have no excuses for not going. Check out more about the fest at their website HERE.
The festival divides its films into a number of special categories and focuses. This year’s categories feature World Cinema, Valley of the Docs, and the Children’s FilmFest. Some the focuses include New Russian Cinema, films of Australia and New Zealand, and Architects of the Avant-Garde. Hit the jump to see some of today’s announced films that are catching my eye, and more on some of the special programs the fest is offering, open for anyone to purchase a ticket and attend.
AN EDUCATION (UK)
Director: Lone Scherfig
Jenny is a vivacious 16-year-old eager to embrace adulthood in 1961 London, when an older urbane charmer lures her from Oxford-bound studies to Paris in this beguiling coming-of-age story from director Lone Scherfig and writer Nick Hornby.
THE HORSE BOY (US)
Director: Michel O. Scott
Spent from the four-hour tantrums, Western treatments and overall emotional toll of their son’s autism, a mother and father take a profound leap of faith as they journey through Mongolia’s majestic landscape in search of shamans and miracles.
LINOLEUM (Netherlands)
Director: Marcel Visbeen
This spellbinding tale of disconnected brothers and the complicated women they love is fueled by a captivating ensemble performance, vivid family dynamics and candid conversations about love and death.
OH MY GOD (US)
Director: Peter Rodger
In this uplifting, thought-provoking documentary sure to spark discussion, filmmaker Peter Rodger travels to 23 countries to interview both believers and skeptics about one “simple” question: What is God?
ORIGINAL (Denmark)
Directors: Antonio Tublen and Alexander Brondsted
If there’s one thing Henry has learned, it’s that reality is overrated. Suffused with charm, magical realism and whimsy, Original injects vivid color into everyday black-and-white in a tale of love lost and found along the road to self-discovery.
PASSENGERS (US)
Director: Michael Bond
This intimate, nuanced drama in which a married couple set out for a dinner party in Hollywood and embark on a life-changing conversation is a strikingly realistic look at the sometimes tenuous bonds that connect us to those we love
THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE (US)
Director: Rebecca Miller
Robin Wright Penn is a woman in her late 40s struggling to suppress her rocky past in a newly tranquil present in this thoughtful, star-studded drama also featuring Alan Arkin, Keanu Reeves, Blake Lively, Winona Ryder, Maria Bello and Julianne Moore.
RICKY RAPPER (Finland)
Director: Mari Rantasila
Crayon colors and larger-than-life characters animate this Finnish family treat, a preteen romance with all the stumbles, misunderstandings and crushes, climaxing in a dance-floor rap duel—in Finnish! Ages 6+.
WINNEBAGO MAN (US)
Director: Ben Steinbauer
What happens to those poor souls doomed to eternal humiliation in YouTube viral videos? To find out, Ben Steinbauer went searching for Jack Rebney, aka Winnebago Man, the “Angriest Man in the World,” and crafted this compelling story of redemption.
YOUTH IN REVOLT (US)
Director: Miguel Arteta
He’s not mentally ill. He’s just a teenager. In the tradition of Superbad, and starring that film’s own Michael Cera Youth in Revolt is a teen sex comedy that puts an entirely fresh and outrageous new stamp on adolescent obsession and rebellion.
ZOMBIE GIRL (US)
Directors: Aaron Marshall, Justin Johnson, Eric Mauck
Emily Hagins loves horror movies, and with the support of the Austin film community and the eternal vigilance of her mother, she will finish her feature-length zombie film. And she’ll do it before she graduates from junior high.
See the full program for the MVFF right HERE.
The MVFF is also offering a number of special events and programs at this year’s festival. There will be two opening night films on October 8, Sundance darling PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE and the exceptional THE BOYS ARE BACK. Both are outstanding choices and will surely please festival-goers. Closing night festivities will include two films, as well, Ken Loach’s latest LOOKING FOR ERIC and the Emily Blunt starmaker THE YOUNG VICTORIA.
The festival also likes to honor individual stars and artists who have films showing at the festival. Uma Thurman and Woody Harrelson are both being honored with Tribute programs. Thurman will be on hand for a screening of her new film, MOTHERHOOD, and Harrelson will be in attendance for a screening of THE MESSENGER. As the Spotlight honorees, Clive Owen will be at the fest for a showing of his breakout film, CROUPIER, and director JASON REITMAN will introduce his latest, UP IN THE AIR.
Commenting Rules: Comments are intended to open up the discussion to our readers about the topics at hand, and as such should be offered with a positive and constructive attitude. If your comment is not relative to the above post or is disrespectful to the authors and readers, we reserve the right to delete it. Continued abuse of our good nature will result in banishment of the offender. Additionally, if you have any burning issues to point out to the GATW crew - typos, corrections, suggestions, or straight-up criticism - please email us instead of commenting here.