MVFF38: Film, Special Events, Parties and More

MVFF38: Film, Special Events, Parties and More

03 Oct, 2015

Alas, the 38th Mill Valley Film Festival (October 8 – 18, 2015) is upon us. Time to celebrate another year of the best of independent and world cinema. The line of programs and events has been released and we’d like to give you the scoop on whose going to be there, the top films on our list to see, special events and more. This is going to be a great festival year and we hope to see you in Marin County, CA at the movies.

Opening Night kicks off with the Bay Area premieres of Tom McCarthy’s investigative drama Spotlight, starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams, and Tom Hooper’s transgender drama The Danish Girl, which stars Academy Award® Winner Eddie Redmayne (MVFF37) and Alicia Vikander. Both directors will be present for their respective screenings.

Spotlight Screens Thursday, October 8 at 7 & 7:15PM at the Cinéarts Sequoia
The Danish Girl screens Thursday, October 8 at 7 & 7:15PM at the Century Larkspur
Screenings followed by Opening Night Gala at 9PM at Marin Country Mart in Larkspur

SPOTLIGHT | Sarah Silverman

Actress/comedian/writer Sarah Silverman will be honored with a Spotlight presentation along with a screening of her latest film “I Smile Back,” followed by a live on- stage conversation and presentation of the MVFF Award.
Silverman gives a career-defining performance as a woman in a downward spiral of reckless hedonism seeking a chance for redemption.

Friday, October 9 at 7PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center
Spotlight followed by Reception at 9PM at Pizza Antica

TRIBUTE | Catherine Hardwicke

Director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Thirteen, Tank Girl) will be honored with a Tribute along with a screening of her latest film Miss You Already, starring Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette. Following the screening will be an live on-stage conversation with Catherine Hardwicke and presentation of the MVFF Award.

Saturday, October 10 at 7:30PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center
Tribute followed by Reception at 9:30PM at Tiburon Tavern

TRIBUTE | Ian McKellen

Sir Ian McKellen–known for his commanding Shakespearean performances to the “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy and “X-Men” series, whose award-winning career spans decades and genres will be celebrated.

Sunday, October 11 at 7PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center Tribute followed by Reception at Il Fornaio

SPOTLIGHT | Carey Mulligan

Saturday, October 17th, Academy Award® Nominated actress Carey Mulligan will be presented with a Spotlight program which will feature an on-stage conversation, a clip reel of her many film roles (An Education, Drive, Never Let Me Go, Shame, The Great Gatsby), clips from her latest film Suffragette, and the presentation of the MVFF Award.

Saturday, October 17 at 6PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center
Spotlight followed by a reception at 9PM at Frantoio Restaurant

CLOSING NIGHT | Suffragette

And as MVFF38 draws to a close, the festival with feature the Closing Night Film, Suffragette, the story of the women who were foot soldiers in the fight for the right to vote in the early 20th century, ordinary women who risked their jobs, homes, children and even their lives. The film stars MVFF Spotlight Awardee and Academy Award® Nominated actress Carey Mulligan, former MVFF Tributee Academy Award® Nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter and MULTIPLE Academy Award® WINNER actress Meryl Streep.

Sunday, October 18 at 5PM at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center
Sunday, October 18 at 5PM and 5:15PM at Cinéarts Sequoia
Screenings followed by Closing Night Party at 7PM at Terrapin Crossroads

Additional MVFF38 highlights include:

Yosemite starring James Franco, based on short stories by Franco himself, is the feature directorial debut from Gabrielle Demeestere. Set in suburban Palo Alto and starring a talented cast of Bay Area locals, this nostalgic ode to boyhood weaves together the intertwined tales of three fifth-graders precariously navigating the shifting emotional grounds of their young lives in the fall of 1985.

Truth stars Academy Award® winners Cate Blanchett as 60 Minutes producer producer Mary Mapes and Robert Redford as journalist Dan Rather. Truth is a riveting account of the 2004 television scandal that erupted after Rather’s report alleging George W. Bush received preferential treatment that allowed him to dodge the Vietnam War.

Brooklyn by John Crowley, is a film which follows Eilis Lacey’s (Saoirse Ronan) journey from Ireland to America in the search for a home in the early 1950’s.

The Assassin was the winner of the Best Director Prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival by director Hou Hsiao Hsien. The movie is set during the Tang Dynasty in China and follows a young woman who is ordered to kill the man she loves, or break definitively with the “order of Assassins”.

Here are a few of the BEHIND THE SCREENS: PANELS, MASTER CLASSES, AND CONVERSATIONS that caught our eye:

Panel + Reception | GIVE US A BREAK!

Sponsored by LUNAFEST, this panel aims to answer the questions many women face in the film business. How do you find opportunity in the film industry? Is there such a thing as a “lucky break”? How do women make and sustain viable careers in film? The following panelists will share their experiences, answering these questions and many others.
• JUDY BECKER, production designer (Carol, American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook)
• JENA MALONE, actress (Angelica, The Hunger Games, Into The Wild)
• STACY L. SMITH, PhD Associate Professor at USC Annenberg School for Communication
and Journalism, director of research-driven initiative on Media, Diversity, and Social Change
• VALERIE WEISS, director (A Light Beneath Their Feet, Losing Control, Dance by
Design)
• Moderator: MELISSA SILVERSTEIN, writer; speaker; founder, Women and Hollywood

Saturday, October 10 at 11AM at Throckmorton Theater

Master Class | A CONVERSATION WITH CATHERINE HARDWICKE

MVFF38 Tributee CATHERINE HARDWICKE will discuss her career from her roots as a production designer to her films including Twilight, Thirteen and Tank Girl. Hardwicke has proven over the course of her career that it is possible to sustain a viable creative life in the film industry. Writer, speaker and founder of Women and Hollywood, MELISSA SILVERSTEIN will join Hardwicke on stage.

Sunday, October 11 at 12:30PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center

Panel + Reception | MVFF STATE OF THE INDUSTRY CONVERSATION

As new technologies and DIY distribution models continue to emerge, filmmakers are left with a series of questions including: how can you connect with your audience in an increasingly crowded entertainment landscape and how do these new technologies affect independent filmmakers? The annual MVFF STATE OF THE INDUSTRY CONVERSATION will look to answer these questions and explore new sustainable business models that enable filmmakers to thrive. Invited guests include:
• RUSS COLLINS, director, State & Michigan Theaters, Ann Arbor, MI; founder/director, Art House Convergence; artistic director/founder, Cinetopia Festival Detroit
• IRA DEUTCHMAN, president, Deutchman Company Inc.; marketing and distribution consultant; producer (Kiss Me, Guido, 54)
• BOUS DE JONG, producer, Daniel Film (How To Change the World, BBC’s Classic Albums Series)
• KOMAL MINHAS, producer, writer, investor (Dream, Girl; Without Love It Ain’t Much)
• Moderator: MARK FISHKIN, founder/director, Mill Valley Film Festival

Saturday, October 17 at 1PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center; Reception at Vin Antico to follow

Panel | THE FUTURE OF FILM AND TECHNOLOGY

Join the festival for a lively discussion using history, film, and technology to address questions such as: What have we lost in the transition from celluloid film to digital, and where do we go from here? Sponsored by InVisage Technologies, panelists will discuss how innovations in technology are opening up new paths for the art of film. Invited guests include:
• CHRISTOPHER COPPOLA, director (Sacred Blood, Creature of the Sunnyside Up Trailer Park); founder/chairman, Project Accessible Hollywood (PAH)
• JESS LEE, president/CEO, InVisage Technologies
• EMMANUEL LUBEZKI, cinematographer (Birdman, Gravity)
• TIFFANY SHLAIN, founder, Webby Awards; co-founder, International Academy of Digital
Arts & Sciences, filmmaker (Connected: An Autobiography About Love, Death &
Technology)
• Moderator: TBD

Sunday, October 18 at 2PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center

MVFF Music | Nine Nights of Live Music at the Sweetwater Music Hall

This year for the first time at MVFF will be nine nights of live music exclusively curated for the Mill Valley Film Festival at the landmark Sweetwater Music Hall. Rock, pop, roots, folk, swing and much more will provide a soundtrack for MVFF38 in the heart of Mill Valley.

Friday, October 9 – Saturday, October 17 at Sweetwater Music Hall

About the 38th Mill Valley Film Festival

Presented by the California Film Institute, the 38th Mill Valley Film Festival runs October 8-18, 2015 at the CinéArts Sequoia (25 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley), Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center (1118 Fourth Street, San Rafael), and other venues throughout the Bay Area. With a reputation for launching new films and creating awards season buzz, MVFF has earned a reputation as a “filmmakers’ festival” by celebrating the best in American independent and world cinema, alongside high profile and prestigious award contenders. MVFF welcomes more than 200 filmmakers representing more than 50 countries.

About the California Film Institute

The non-profit California Film Institute celebrates and promotes film as art and education through the presentation of the Mill Valley Film Festival and year-round exhibitions at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, film distribution by CFI Releasing, and building the next generation of filmmakers and audiences through the CFI Education program. For more information visit www.cafilm.org or call (415) 383-5256.

About the author

Cindy Maram

Cindy Maram is a Dancer, Public Speaker and our Founder & Editor-in-Chief of the entertainment, fashion and arts publication, Dig IN Magazine. She is an accredited film critic for Cannes Film Festival in the South of France, Venice International Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, SFFilm Festival and CAAMFest, as well as a runway fashion photographer and editor for London Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. She also serves as a professional sports photographer and writer. She is a prolific art critic providing media coverage for Art Basel Miami Beach and surrounding Miami Art Week fairs. As a creator, Cindy is a writer, vlogger, podcaster, social media strategist and manager possessing a Bachelor's Degree from UC Davis and Master's Degree completing graduate work in Mass Communications + Popular Culture Studies with an emphasis in Film/Marketing/Writing from Cal State Fullerton. Further, she is producer of independent feature length and short films, and is committed to supporting the visibility of underrepresented groups in the media and film industry.

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