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Mill Valley Film Festival will run through Oct. 12
The Mill Valley Film Festival opened Thursday night and will run to October 12th at various theaters in Mill Valley, San Rafael, Larkspur, and Berkeley.
MILL VALLEY, California - The Mill Valley Film Festival opened Thursday night and will run to October 12th at various theaters in Mill Valley, San Rafael, Larkspur, and Berkeley.
There are 48 different film festivals in California alone and more than 12,000 worldwide. The Mill Valley Film Festival is by and for Bay Area people.
48 years strong
The 48th Annual Mill Valley Film Festival kicked off its 11-day run at the legendary, 96-year-old, Sequoia Cinema. The festival is dedicated to the promotion and production here in the Bay Area of quality, mostly independently made films.
Hundreds gathered and reminisced about previous festivals many had attended and anticipated the many films to come, most by independent filmmakers. "There's an intimacy about it and you get to talk to and listen to and ask questions after or before the movie and your also around people who appreciate the art," said attendee Leann Koerner.
The art of film
"Film Festivals have a magic attraction. You can see in the filmmaker's responses here. They want to be here. They want to see what people are thinking about their films because they're artists," said attendee Frank Wells. "We appreciate just having the variety of content that you get at these festivals and also being able to meet some of the talent that you would never get close to otherwise," said attendee Karla Rivera Cervantes.
The first film shown is entitled Hamnet, a historical drama that tracks the relationship of William and Agnes Shakespeare and impact of the tragic death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet on their lives. Hamnet's director is Chloe Zhao, the best director and best picture Oscar winner for Nomadland in 2020.
Zhao and actor Jessie Buckley are big believers in film festivals.
"The energy and the environment of a film festival is people coming together in front, behind the camera with the audience and the organizers. Everybody comes with the same open heart and curiosity," said Oscar winner Zhao. "I love coming to festivals. I love the communities that it brings. I love, you know, like bucking between films and seeing your slant of this incredible singular mind like Chloe Zhao's singular mind," said actor Jessie Buckley who plays Agnes Shakespeare.
The evening ended with an after viewing gala at Larkspur's open-air Marin County Market.
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