The Mill Valley Film Festival always showcases many of the most promising prestige films that are scheduled for release during Award Season. It’s the best opportunity for Bay Area film goers to catch an early look at the Big Movies.
For example, last year’s festival featured La La Land, Arrival, Loving, Elle, Toni Erdmann, Lion, The Handmaiden, The Salesman and Paterson.
Here is a selection of the MVFF’s Oscar bait:
- Downsizing from director Alexander Payne of (Sideways and Nebraska).
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri from Martin McDonagh (The Guard) – see trailer below.
- The Shape of Water from Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth).
- Last Flag Flying from Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Before Sunrise/Susnet/Midnight).
- Wonderstruck from Todd Haynes (Far from Heaven, Carol).
- The Square from Ruben Ostlund of (Force Majeure).
- Thelma from Joachim Trier (Reprise, Louder Than Bombs).
- The Current War from Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl).
- Call Me By My Name from Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love, A Bigger Splash).
- Loveless from Andrey Zvyagintsev the director of (Leviathan).
- The Florida Project by Sean Baker the director of (Tangerine).
Celebrity appearances, for those of you who like that sort of thing, will include Sean Penn, Kristin Scott Thomas, Andrew Garfield and Holly Hunter. For those of you seeking a chance to hear great filmmakers discuss their work in the flesh, you’ll get your chance with Richard Linklater, Joe Wright, Todd Haynes and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon.
The directorial debut of actor Greta Gerwig will screen, as will the first German-language film directed by actor Diane Kruger.
There will also be several documentaries featuring musicians: Paul Butterfield, Bill Frisell, Joe Satriani and Sly and the Family Stone.
This year’s MVFF runs from October 5-15, at the Sequoia in Mill Valley, the Rafael in San Rafael, the Century Larkspur and the Lark in Larkspur and the Century Cinema in Corte Madera. Check out the program and tickets for the MVFF.