Emma Stone - LA LA LAND - MVFF Opening Night 2016

Stark Insider is a major media sponsor of Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) 39. Don’t miss a thing. Get your iPad, iPhone, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, or plain old web browser ready, and be sure to subscribe to the Stark Insider YouTube Channel for updates, news, and reviews. Plus interviews with host Loni Stark.

While Amy Adams and Emma Stone may headline the list of guests expected to attend the upcoming Mill Valley Film Festival, there are scores of others, including local directors, up-and-coming actors, and emerging filmmakers, ready to descend upon our beloved, near humid-free, Bay Area.

Below is the complete list. Note: this is, as you might expect, “subject to change”.

Brie Larson at Mill Valley Film Festival ROOM premiere
ROOM Premiere at MVFF 2015: Programming director Zoe Elton welcomes actress Brie Larson as festival founder Mark Fishkin looks on. Photo by Tommy Lau.

MVFF 39 runs October 6-16 across five theaters: Century Cinema (Corte Madera); Century Larkspur (Larkspur); CinéArts Sequoia (Mill Valley); Lark Theater (Larkspur); and, the Smith Rafael Film Center (San Rafael).

In addition, many more locations, including concert halls, cafes, and restaurants will host panels, live music, and other events scheduled during the 11-day festival.

As we previously reported on Stark Insider, opening night is, as is MVFF tradition, a dual bill. La La Land with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, and Arrival with Amy Adams share the honors on October 6, 2016. Both films have played to raves at TIFF, so that bodes well for the festival kick-off.

MVFF Headlines

Mill Valley Film Festival Headlines: News, Interviews, Reviews, Videos

There’s plenty of information over on the MVFF web site including details on how to go about buying tickets. To scratch your nostalgic itch, and give your highlighter and pencil a workout, hardcopies (physical!) of the MVFF guide are now available.

For a cheat sheet of sorts, you can read the recap of the MVFF press conference hosted by founder Mark Fishkin and programming director Zoe Elton. Held earlier this week at Dolby Labs in San Francisco, several titles were highlighted and the themes of this year’s edition revealed, including: Germany; food cinema; women and film (“Mind the Gap”); and Cannabis.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Stark Insider YouTube Channel — an official Google partner. We will be publishing interviews, on-location updates, and various bits and pieces with surely a few off the beaten path.

San Francisco Arts & Culture news, stories, videosMill Valley Film Festival 39

Expected Guests
October 6-2016, 2016
#MVFF39

Feature Films

20th Century Women /US/ – director Mike Mills, actress Annette Benning, actor Lucas Jade Zumann
24 Weeks /Germany/ – actor Bjarne Maedel
American Pastoral /US/ – director/actor Ewan McGregor
The Archer /US/ – director Valerie Weiss
The Architect /US/ – director Jonathan Parker
Arrival /US/ – actress Amy Adams
The Ballad of Fred Hersch /US/ – director Carrie Lozano- Director, subject Fred Hersch
Baden Baden /Belgium, France/ – director/writer Rachel Lang
Bang! The Bert Berns Story /US/- director Bob Sarles, director Brett Berns
Best and Most Beautiful Things /US/ — producer Ariana Garfinkel, film subject Michelle Smith
Bleed For This /US/ – actor Aaron Eckhart
Burden /US/  — director Rich Dewey (director)
California Typewriter /US/ — director Doug Nichol
Certain Women /US/ – director Kelly Reichardt
Circus Kid /US/ — director, film subject Lorenzo Pisoni
Company Town /US/ — director Deborah Kaufman, director Alan Snitow
The Confessions /Italy/ – actress Connie Neilson
Daughters of the Dust /US/ – Julie Dash
Death by Design /US/ — director Sue Williams
Devil’s Bride /Finland/ – director/writer Saara Cantell, actress Elin Petersdottir
Diani and Devine Meet The Apocalypse /US/ – directors/writers/stars Gabriel Diani and Etta Devine
Fire at Sea /Italy/ — director Gianfranco Rosi
Girl Flu /US/ – director Dorie Barton- Director, actress Jade Pettyjohn
Green Is Gold /US/ – director/actor Ryon Baxter, producer Anthony Burns, actor Jimmy Baxter
The Groove Is Not Trivial /US/ – director Tommie Dell Smith, editor Elizabeth Finlayson, film subject Alasdair Fraser, MVFF Music performer Natalie Hass
Katie Says Goodbye /US/ – director Wayne Roberts, actress Olivia Cook (Invited)
The Hi De Ho Show /US/ – director John Goddard- Director
Icaros: A Vision /US, Peru/ – co-director Matteo Norzi
In Dubois Battle /US/ – director James Franco
Iqaluit /Canada/ – director/writer Benoit Pilon
Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent /US/ — director Lydia Tenaglia, film subject Jeremiah Tower
Kepler’s Dream /US/ – director Amy Glazer, producer Sedge Thomson, actress Isabella Blake-Thomas
La La Land /US/ – director Damien Chazelle, actress Emma Stone
Lamb /Ethiopia/ – director Yared Zeleke
The Last Dalai Lama? /US/ — director Mickey Lemle
A Late Style of Fire: Larry Levis, American Poet /US/ — director Michele Poulos, composer Sam Beam, producer Gregory Donovan
Lion /US/ – actress Nicole Kidman
The Long Night of Francisco Sanctis /Argentina/ – actor Diego Velazquez
Loving /US/ – director Jeff Nichols, actor Joel Edgerton, actress Ruth Negga
Love Twice /US/ – director Rob Nilsson, actor Jon Cale, actor Carl Lumby
Lupe Under the Sun /Mexico/ – director/writer Rodrigo Reyes, actor Daniel Muratalla, actress Ana Muratalla
Mifune: The Last Samurai /US/ — director Steven Okazaki
Mom and Other Loonies in the Family /Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria/ – director/writer Ibolya Fekete
Monday Nights at Seven /US/ – director/actor Marty Sader, producer Laura Keys, actor Edward James Olmos, actress Vanessa Cure
A Monster Calls /US/ – director J.A Boyona
My Love Affair with the Brain: The Life and Science of Dr. Marian Diamond /US/ — director Catherine Gray, director Gary Weimberg
Moonlight /US/ – director Barry Jenkins
Mum Is Wrong /France, Belgium/ – director Marc Fitoussi
Neruda /Chile, France, Spain, Argentina/ – actor Gael García Bernal
The Nine /US/ — director Katy Grannan, producer Marc Smolowitz, producer John McNeil, producer Nils Peyron
Occupy, Texas /US/ – director Jeff Barry, producer/actor/writer Gene Gallerano
Paint It Black /US/ – director Amber Tamblyn
Paris Can Wait /US/ – director Eleanor Coppola
The Rendezvous /US/ – director Amin Matalqa, producer Dan Halstead, actress Stana Katic, actor Raza Jaffrey, writer Terrel Seltzer, actress Uma Halstead, editor Sasha Ball, composer Austin Wintory
Rolling Papers /US/ — director Mitch Dickman, film subject Ricardo Baca
The Salesman / Iran, France/ – director/writer Asghar Farhadi
She Started It /US/ — director Nora Poggi, director Insiyah Saeed
A Serious Game /Sweden/ – actress Karin Franz Korlof
A Song For You: The Austin City Limits Story /US/ – director Keith Maitland
Unleashed /US/ – director Finn Taylor, producer Susan Johnson
Visitor’s Day /US/ — director Nicole Opper
Yasuni Man /US/ — director Ryan Patrick Killackey
You Will Know What to do With Me /Mexico/ – director Katina Medina Mora
You’re Killing Me, Susana /Mexico/ – director Roberto Sneider, distributor Samuel Douek

WATCH: Best of MVFF with Loni Stark

Shorts Programs

5@5 I Want to Take You Higher
The Secret Story /US/ — director Brian Applegarth
Deflowered with the Marines /US/ — director Todd Bishop, producer Georgette Angelos
Green Thumb /US/ — writer/director Kiel Murray, writer/director Phil Lorin

5@5 Wishful Thinkin’
The Child and the Dead /US/ — director Marc Ripper, producer Jake Rossman
Down South /US/ — director Bob Yothers

5@5 Family Affair
I Remember You /US/ — actor Bruce Davison
Twinsburg /US/ — producer Kyle Parker, assistant director Frazier Phillips, costume designer Meghan Hunt

5@5 My World
Step 9 /US/ — director Leonora Pitts
As If to Say /US/ — writer/director Kerry Bishé, cinematographer Patrick Jones
Another Time /US/ — director Autumn McAlpin

5@5 Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again
The Firefly Girls /US/ — director Katie Micay, producer Kyle Bown
At Ease /US/ — director Jacob Kirby, producer Ning Zhao
Modern Houses /US/ — writer/director Matthew Dixon, producer Kate Williams

5@5 Everyday People
The New Environmentalists – from Peru to Tanzania /US/ — directors John Antonelli, Will Parrinello, Tom Dusenbery
Oddball /US/ — director Joshua Moore, editor Liz Payne
Stolen Youth /US/ — director Joshua Dylan Mellars, producer Sofia Englund
Washed Away /US/ — director Dana Nachman

5@5 Harmony — Family Films 
Polka Dott /US/ — director Cynthia Pepper, producer Melinda Darlington-Bach, editor Elaine Trotter
Strings Attached /US/ — director/producer Harris Cohen, director/producer George Rosenfeld

5@5 Poet— Animated Shorts
Borrowed Time /US/ — director Andrew Coats, director Lou Hamou-Lhadj
Splotch /US/ — director Dan McHale

The 3D Sideshow
3Deee Mirrors /US/ — director Franklin Londin
Hidden Worlds & Hidden Stereo Treasures /US/ — director Robert Bloomberg, editor Pad McLaughlin
Inner Workings /US/ – director Leo Matsuda, producer, Sean Lurie
Motion in Time /US/ – director Steve Andersen
Piper /US/ – director Alan Barillaro, producer Marc Sondheimer

Shorts Before Films
Basic Human Needs /US/— director Jesse Block, film subject Wavy Gravy, musical guest The Ace of Cups
Crescite /US/ — director Will Agee
The Dean Scream /US/ — producer Nicole Boxer
Finding Justice: Ending the School to Prison Pipeline /US/ — director Vincent Cortez, producer Don Carney
I Don’t Care /US/ — director John Sanborn, songwriter David Meyer
A Love Poem to My Friend Ethel /US/ — director/producer Wendy Slick, co-producer Joan Saffa

WATCH: Celebrating Film and MVFF with Loni Stark

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