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MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

When Covid-19 shuttered the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, the Sequoia, all of our other venues, and much of the world in March, uncertainty loomed over both the DocLands Documentary Film Festival, which was to take place in May, and the 43rd Mill Valley Film Festival, still seven months away: When will theaters re-open? What will the Festivals look like? Will we be able to have them at all?

Do we have the staff and expertise? Will the community support such great change during unprecedented times? Do we have the knowledge to try something new, to be able to make a success of these films that filmmakers spent years (and perhaps their whole savings) developing? Will we be able to deliver this fabulous content in a way that won’t frustrate people, that audiences will be able to watch and engage with while sheltered in place?

At long last, we can answer all of our questions with a resounding “Yes.” We were able to host DocLands and MVFF43 in tandem this year. They may have been smaller—with fewer films, no receptions, and missing the live component we all treasure—but in some ways the Festivals felt grander, in a multitude of surprising ways. Trust has never played a more important role as we designed a film festival that could unreel virtually in our audience’s individual homes, and in the real world, communally, at the Drive-In we created at Lagoon Park - Marin Center, part of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Marin Civic Center. There was no defined modus operandi, no existing model for individual filmmakers, sales agents, or distributors. It was up to us, the MVFF staff, to trust one another that we could deliver to our audiences the international, independent, and documentary films that have come to define our Festivals.

In some ways, neither Festival changed at all. We still highlight shorts with our 5@5 programs, celebrate women filmmakers with our Mind the Gap panel discussions and screenings, showcase work emerging from Latin America with the ¡Viva el Cine! initiative, and offer entertainment for parents and kids with our Family Films.

We even maintained our long-standing tradition of celebrating Star Wars with a 40th anniversary screening of The Empire Strikes Back at the Drive-In. As usual, films that are sure to be in awards contention were part of the mix, including Regina King’s hotly anticipated feature directorial debut One Night in Miami, Francis Lee’s Ammonite starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, and Chloé Zhao’s tremendous Nomadland with its fierce central performance from Frances McDormand, among them.

We may not have been able to bring the stars to Mill Valley this year; instead, we brought the stars to your living room with a glittery slate of Spotlights and Tributes. We honored award-winning documentary filmmaker Freida Lee with the DocLands Honors Award for her timely and insightful look at the life and work of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Writer-director Aaron Sorkin and The Trial of the Chicago 7 cast members Eddie Redmayne, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Jeremy Strong discussed their film in our MVFF Ensemble Spotlight Conversation. Viola Davis stepped into the Mind the Gap Spotlight and received the Actor of the Year Award, while first time director Regina King and her film One Night in Miami took the Centerpiece Spotlight. Local treasure, actor Delroy Lindo, who is in this year’s Oscar® race for his

work in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods , was in conversation with fellow actor Clarke Peters, featuring special guest director Spike Lee.

Among the Tributes are those to Judi Dench, Kate Winslet, Sophia Loren, and Anthony Hopkins, whose performance in Florian Zeller’s The Father is among his career highlights. Maybe we cannot fête any of these people onstage or with a party or reception this year, but that does not mean we cannot have an intimate experience. We found that we are able to create these special moments, even on a Zoom call.

Take Sir Anthony Hopkins, for example. Now we’re on a first name basis. I said, “You know, we were debating whether we should call you Sir Anthony Hopkins or Sir Tony.” I called him Anthony, and he replied, “You can go with Tony.” Just being on the Zoom with him, it felt intimate; it felt real. I’ve been told that from other viewers as well.

You’re going to meet Anthony Hopkins and Clare Dunne, another of our Spotlights, the actor and screenwriter who co-wrote and stars in the drama Herself —one with a lifetime of work behind him, the other in her first starring role. I am excited to be able to present these events to our community. We have risen to the challenge and adjusted to our changing times to create this engagement. I give credit and thanks to our staff, our board, and our community of members, donors, sponsors, and filmmakers who created a viable path to this year’s Festivals, and a model that was needed in these challenging times. It is important to give filmmakers a voice by providing a platform for all of these incredible films.

At CFI, we believe in the importance of showcasing great, thought-provoking work; yet, how do we continue in a time when people are wondering if anyone is going to go to the movies anymore? The films we highlight have great artistic content and social impact; they open a window to the world; they provide alternative views that are comprehensive and based on fact; and most importantly, they fulfill our greatest needs: to create empathy and, at their best, bring us together in these divisive times. At a time when people fear that opportunities to see the kind of challenging and meaningful films we exhibit may go away, we hope to continue to create events that respect the kind of cinema that has resonated with audiences over the last four decades.

I believe independent films and serious films for adults will continue to be made. The Rafael, the Sequoia, MVFF, and DocLands will continue to show them. Online presentation isn’t going to go away. Films will live on there, even after the virus goes away. It is important to make sure that these films and these stories live in multiple venues and that our audiences have the opportunity to see them in any form. It is with pride and joy that I welcome you to look back at MVFF43.

Mark Fishkin, MVFF Founder/Director

IN MEMORIAM

AMA ADHE

1932—2020

Adhe Tapontsang, known as Ama Adhe, was a Tibetan freedom fighter, incarcerated by the Chinese government for more than two and a half decades. On her release in 1985, she fled to Nepal and on to Dharamsala, in India. Her story, and what her journey embodied, was featured in Rosemary Rawcliffe’s 2008 film, Women of Tibet: A Quiet Revolution. And for the film’s premiere, Ama Ahde, then in her 80s, came from the other side of the world to attend the Mill Valley Film Festival. While at the festival, she blessed both audiences and others with her presence, notably a group of teens at a CFI Education program: A Tibetan elder sharing her story and her wisdom with a couple of hundred American kids is a reminder of how a life well led and a story well told can inspire generation after generation. May her story live on.

CECILIA CHIANG

1920—2020

It was in 2014 that Wayne Wang’s delicious Soul of a Banquet played at MVFF and offered us the rare opportunity to honor a chef and restaurateur, Cecilia Chiang, the subject of the film. Chiang was a trailblazing entrepreneur, known for The Mandarin, her famed restaurant in San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square. Born and brought up in China, she fled the Japanese during World War II and came to San Francisco, where she discovered that Chinese food being served in restaurants bore no resemblance to the dishes she grew up with. Through a series of unlikely events, she opened her own restaurant and introduced Americans to dishes like potstickers, Sichuan eggplant, moo shu pork, and sizzling rice soup. Alice Waters compared Chiang’s role in elevating Chinese cuisine in America with what Julia Child did for French cuisine. And so she did, earning her place in culinary history as “the mother of Chinese cooking.”

LOWELL GALLIANI

1950—2020

Lowell Galliani was an absolute original and, via his decades-long marriage to Maureen Galliani, our executive office staffer, held a special place in the CFI/MVFF family. Lowell was someone who made art with his talents and made an art of his life. His craftsmanship manifested as a master-maker of crowns (cast in his dental lab, they grace many a jawline). He had a genius for all things mechanical and constructed, for fixing and creating. And as one who grew up in the ‘60s, his experience of that time, its music, its style, made him a guide for the next-gen musicians that he met as a regular in clubs in SF and beyond. Known as Captain Crunk, wearing that captain’s hat, he was a leader and a follower of all things punk, indie, dub, reggae. And he was a traveler, on road trips that rooted out Americana, from Disneyland to Death Valley, from Hercules to Chimayo. And, mostly, he loved life. He loved his family. And he loved Maureen.

BOBBY PIN

1970—2020

Bobby Pin: He of the oyster train (“It’s 4pm! Let’s get oysters.”), he of the blue (pink! gold! green!) hair. Bobby the traveler, Bobby the festival nomad, the artist, the diver—and the universal friend. A theme emerges, in Bobby’s all-too-short life: Ever moving, ever exploring the world, ever connecting with people, ever connecting heart to heart. Like Ganesha, the elephant god whose image he had tattooed on his arm, Bobby was a big-hearted remover of obstacles, a bringer of light and love and friendship whose smile lit up a room. For his festival family and his family-family, that smile and that love remain forever.

JAMES REDFORD

1962—2020

Jamie Redford led an exemplary life. The qualities he embodied—his grace, his enthusiasm, his commitment to the environment, his thoughtfulness—manifested in his work in film and his legacy as a leader and activist. As a long time Marin resident, as a filmmaker and environmentalist, he touched our lives and was a beloved member of our community. His personal experience with a rare disease and subsequent liver transplants led him to found the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness. His deep commitment to the environment inspired the co-founding, with his father, Robert Redford, of the Redford Institute, a nonprofit focused on environmental filmmaking. Many of his films played at MVFF and in CFI programs: most recently, he presented his film Playing for Keeps as the special Members Screening at MVFF43. What a great gift that was, what a great gift his life has been.

HAL WILLNER

1956—2020

Hal Willner’s creative genius was categorized under the title “music producer,” but the gifts he brought to the world—his creative brilliance, his supportiveness, his innovativeness—opened the door to new ways of hearing and experiencing music. Many knew him as the long-term music coordinator of Saturday Night Live’s sketches. For others, he was a bringer-together of musicians and composers in ways no-one else had imagined. His amazing series of concept albums had Lou Reed and Marianne Faithfull singing Kurt Weill; another had Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits, and Yma Sumac interpreting Disney classics. (Waits doing Heigh Ho! what’s not to love?) His collaborations with artists and the composers whose work he produced (and often re-conceived) are an amazing legacy. Everything he did had that touch of genius, a genius that we were fortunate enough to celebrate in an extraordinary evening at MVFF in 1990.

MVFF43 DRIVE-IN

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

MARK FISHKIN

2020 BOARD

KENNETH BROAD (Co -Vice President)

LYNNE HALE

RICHARD J. IDELL (Secretary)

DANIEL KENYON

AMY KEROES

MAIDA LYNN

JENNIFER COSLETT MACCREADY (President)

KURT MOBLEY

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MARK FISHKIN

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MORE PHOTOS ?

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GAYLE DONSKY AND MORTON J. STEIN

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MARGARET E. HAAS

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MVFF & DOCLANDS PREMIERES

WORLD

ABUELOS

THE BIG SCARY “S” WORD

BLITHE SPIRIT

CALABRIA BY FEEL CLOUDS

THE FALCONER

MICHAEL ARAGON: THE BEAT GOES ON

NORTH AMERICAN

23 WALKS

THE BIRTH ORDER EXPERIMENT

THE BOYS WHO SAID NO!

CHARLATAN

COLETTE THE ARTIST

JACKIE & OOPJEN

MAINSTREAM

SISTERS: THE SUMMER WE FOUND OUR SUPERPOWERS

CALIFORNIA

9 to 5: THE STORY OF A MOVEMENT

AVALANCHE

BANKSY MOST WANTED

BELLY OF THE BEAST

BINTI

THE EVENING HOUR

GIRASOL

LOS HERMANOS/THE BROTHERS

THE NAMES OF THE FLOWERS

NEVER TOO LATE: THE DOC SEVERINSEN STORY

RAMÓN

TEDDY OUT OF TUNE

THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT’S A RESURRECTION

SWEET THING THE WARDEN

US

BABENCO: TELL ME WHEN I DIE

HERE WE ARE RUTHLESS SOULS

STOP FILMING US

THREE SUMMERS

WEED & WINE

OPENING NIGHT | DRIVE-IN

BLITHE SPIRIT

UK 2020, 95 min Director Edward Hall

Oscar® winner Judi Dench ascends to the astral plane as the unctuously inept spiritualist Madame Arcati in Edward Hall’s spectacular adaptation of Noël Coward’s 1941 theatrical hit. Blithe Spirit manifests itself in and around the palatial home of wannabe screenwriter/sponger Charles Condomine (a marvelous Dan Stevens), and his Hollywood-obsessed wife Ruth (a wondrous Isla Fisher). Suffering from a ghastly combination of writers’ block and genuine lack of talent and motivation, Condomine entreats Madame Arcati to conduct a séance in his home, receiving much more than he bargained for, in the shape-shifting form of Elvira (a spellbinding Leslie Mann), his ex-wife and American Dream-cum-nightmare. Add to the mix a guileless housekeeper and a cantankerous cook, and you’ve got a recipe for some otherworldly merriment and mayhem that stands the test of time after time, alongside timely jabs at male chauvinism. Dame Judi truly breaks through to the other side with her diaphanous performance as Arcati, whose attempts to follow The Art of the Séance (wink-wink nudgenudge) spin an endlessly entertaining yarn.

u Watch the conversation with Conversation with director Edward Hall and actor Isla Fisher

SWEET THING

US 2020, 91 min Director Alexandre Rockwell

Stunningly rendered as simultaneously nostalgic and timeless, this gorgeous lo-fi black-and-white ode to the magical resilience of childhood from veteran American indie director Alexandre Rockwell (In the Soup, MVFF15) is a beautifully bittersweet meditation on coming-of-age amid paucity, dysfunction, and hope. Scrappy young siblings Nico and Billie are bonded through their dreams and profound love for each other, even as they exist in an unstable world of parental neglect and alcoholism. Exhausted from shouldering the burden of their parents’ misery, these puckish outlaws take up with fellow renegade Malik, similarly abandoned by absent parents, reclaiming a wild and windswept world of discarded spaces, juxtaposed between fairy tale and real life. With intimate cinematography, lovely, lived-in performances, and an abundance of throwback charm, this wondrous film, which won the Crystal Bear at this year’s Berlinale, is a deeply optimistic testament to the poetry of adventure and the imagination of childhood. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

u Watch the conversation with director Alexandre Rockwell and actors Lana Rockwell and Karyn Parsons

THE HEIST OF THE CENTURY (EL ROBO DEL SIGLO)

Argentina/Spain 2020, 114 min Director Ariel Winograd

Buckle up for this wildly entertaining ride through the plotting, prepping, and execution of one of the greatest bank robberies in Argentinian history. Saturated with eye-popping color and infused with droll humor, director Ariel Winograd injects Hollywood heist tropes steeped in heavy doses of Tarantino and Ritchie, stylishly matching the sheer audacity of this real-life band of brothers’ ingenious criminal work. Based on the true story of the 2006 Banco Rio heist in Buenos Aires, the plot cleverly intertwines the thieves’ paths of assembling, planning, and implementing their plan to net a potential $25 million payday. The clever casting coup of Guillermo Francella (The Secret in Their Eyes) and Diego Peretti (The German Doctor, MVFF36) heightens the tale’s witty rapport, while Winograd showcases an incisive attention to detail and a mastery of suspense, set to a rockin’ score featuring Frank Sinatra, The Kinks, Andrés Calamaro, and Argentinian punkers Los Violadores y Dos Minutos.

u Watch the conversation with THE HEIST OF THE CENTURY director Ariel Winograd

VEINS OF THE WORLD

(DIE ADERN DER WELT)

Germany/Mongolia 2020, 97 min Director Byambasuren Davaa

A child of nomadic herders tending the sweeping lands of the Mongolian steppe, 11-year-old Amra dutifully helps his parents take care of their land, sheep, and goats. When his work is finished, he devours YouTube videos with his friends, dreaming of being featured as a singer on Mongolia’s Got Talent with his folk hymn “Golden Veins.”

As greedy gold mining companies begin threatening the community’s traditional way of life, Amra’s father organizes an opposition group within their close-knit clan. Following a sudden, tragic accident, Amra must grow up quickly to become the protector of his family and carry on a legacy of preserving his people and their lands. Mongolian-born, German-based filmmaker Byambasuren Davaa (The Cave of the Yellow Dog, MVFF28; and the Oscar®-nominated The Story of the Weeping Camel) has crafted a beautifully shot, hopeful testament to the power of preserving cultural heritage and embracing the resistance required to defend it. Age 10+

u Watch the conversation with producer Ansgar Frerich

THE BOYS WHO SAID NO!

US 2020, 90 min Director Judith Ehrlich

During unsettling times, it helps to remember how we survived past struggles. The Boys Who Said NO! focuses on the nonviolent warriors who actively opposed the military draft during the Vietnam War and whose brave actions would eventually lead to the end of both the draft in the United States and the long-standing, devastating war. Offering a thorough and fascinating (recent) history lesson, Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Judith Ehrlich (The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, MVFF32) highlights several heroes of the anti-war movement—from iconic figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., musician Joan Baez, and famed resistance leader David Harris to ordinary youth organizing sit-ins. Alongside harrowing, breathtaking news footage of the struggles at home and overseas, the film is a captivating account of a historic turning point in America, celebrating the amazing resilience of humans fighting for change and speaking truth to power.

u Watch the conversation with Conversation with director Judith Ehrlich and film subject David Harris

OPENING NIGHT | DOCLANDS

PUBLIC TRUST

US 2020, 96 min Director David Garrett Byars

One of the most important documentaries of the year, Public Trust is a film that needs to be seen by everyone who enjoys getting out in nature. Although many of us take the 640 million acres of America’s Public Lands for granted, these lands are endangered by powerful forces that are attempting the largest land grab in modern history. By focusing on the eminent destruction of the Boundary Waters Wilderness in Minnesota, the downsizing of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, and the wholesale appropriation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, director David Garrett Byars enlists a slew of journalists, land historians, tribal leaders, and government whistleblowers to present a highly persuasive argument that is impossible to ignore and vital to hear. Above all else, as executive producer Robert Redford tells us, “Public Trust is the story of citizens who are fighting back. It’s a much-needed wake-up call for all of us who want to preserve our unique and wild cultural heritage.”

u Watch the conversation with director David Garrett Byars and producer Jeremy Rubingh

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI

US 2020, 114 min Director Regina King

On one incredible night in 1964, four icons of sports, music, and activism gather to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. When underdog Cassius Clay, soon to be called Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree), defeats heavy weight champion Sonny Liston at the Miami Convention Hall, Clay memorialized the event with three of his friends: Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom, Jr.), and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). Based on the award-winning play of the same name, One Night in Miami is a fictional account inspired by the historic night these four formidable figures spent together. It looks at the struggles these men faced and the vital role they each played in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 1960s. More than 40 years later, their conversations on racial injustice, religion, and personal responsibility still resonate. Premiering at this year’s Venice Film Festival, One Night in Miami is the feature directorial debut of Oscar®-winning actor Regina King.

u Watch the conversation with Spotlight Conversation with director Regina King and Reginald Hudlin

THE BEE GEES: HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART

US 2020, 110 min Director Frank Marshall

It’s all about the harmony for the British-born, Australian-raised Gibb brothers—Robin, Barry, Maurice, and later on, Andy—who came to fame as The Bee Gees. Frank Marshall’s infectiously watchable film is a trip through their life and times, through their highs and lows. With harmonies as tight as their signature pants, The Bee Gees’ star ascended in the mid ‘60s, only to wane in the early ‘70s, their tours reduced to backwater bars. But then came Saturday Night Fever, that iconic, era-defining film—and their extraordinary soundtrack. The Bee Gees were back, and doing more than just Stayin’ Alive. The eventual decline of disco found the multitalented brothers turn to producing and songwriting for the likes of Barbra Streisand and Dionne Warwick. What emerges in Marshall’s definitive Bee Gees story are their breathtaking talents, and a reminder of their amazing songbook. This is a foot-tapping, sing-a-long anthem of a film, filled with soaring falsetto harmonies—and isn’t that just what we need, right now? A Telluride Film Festival Selection

u Watch the conversation with director/co-producer Frank Marshall and co-producer Nigel Sinclair

TRIBUTE

VIOLA DAVIS

MIND THE GAP AWARD ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Viola Davis has rightly gained incredible recognition for her work. She’s the first Black woman to attain that great trifecta of acting: two Tony Awards, for Fences and King Hedley II; an Oscar®, also for Fences; and an Emmy® for How to Get Away with Murder. She is an artist of the highest order, whose brilliance as an actor and producer and whose dedication to speaking out with eloquence and wisdom on issues of equality, especially for women and Black women, have established her as one of the great performers and spokespeople of our time. She finds the heart and soul of her characters, giving them a fullness of life, a sense of their hopes and aspirations, so that we as audience understand the human spirit more deeply. Think of Mrs. Miller in Doubt, the complexity of Annalise in How to Get Away with Murder, and her deep work as characters written by August Wilson. Her breathtaking, powerful, sensual rendition of the title character in the upcoming Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, directed by George C. Wolfe, again confirms she is the perfect embodiment of -Wilson’s work. Mind the Gap continues to shine light on issues that 2020 has laid bare—systemic racism, inequity, and the deep need to reframe narratives in film and life. Davis founded JuVee Productions with her husband to give voice to the voiceless through strong, impactful, and culturally relevant narratives. She speaks truth, she lives truth, through her embodied characters and the sustained commitment of her extraordinary life.

u In conversation with Zoë Elton and special guest George C. Wolfe

DAME JUDI DENCH

Dame Judi Dench took her first steps toward becoming a living legend in 1957 when, at the age of 22, she debuted at the Old Vic as Hamlet’s Ophelia. She went on to become one of the best actors of her—or any other—generation. An Oscar®-winner for her role as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (1998), Dench is a master of the Bard, performing multiple acclaimed roles from Juliet to Lady Macbeth. Long established as a theater luminary, Dench added film star to her resume with the one-two punch of Wetherby and A Room with a View. Onscreen, she mingles art-house roles with mainstream fare, becoming a pop culture immortal for her turn as 007’s boss M in seven James Bond movies. At 85, she stars in MVFF’s Opening Night Film at the DriveIn, Blithe Spirit. Her awards must fill a trophy room: that Oscar, a Tony, ten BAFTAs, seven Oliviers, and many, many more.

u Watch the conversation with Judi Dench, Zoë Elton and special guest Sir Ian McKellen

SOPHIA LOREN TRIBUTE

Sophia Loren’s first big movie was the Biblical epic Quo Vadis in 1951 as an uncredited extra at the age of 17. By 20 however, she had already become a star in her native Italy, breaking through in Vittorio De Sica’s L’oro di Napoli and starting her long association with leading man Marcello Mastroianni in La bella mugnaia. By 1960, Loren was a major international star, renowned for her incandescent talent. In Hollywood, she starred opposite Cary Grant in Houseboat in 1958. Returning home and to De Sica, she won an Academy Award® for Best Actress as a widow and a mother in WWII Italy in Two Women, making her the first actor to win an Oscar® for a performance not in the English language. Over the decades, she continued to burnish her radiance in such movies as El Cid, Boccaccio ’70, Marriage Italian Style, Arabesque, Man of La Mancha, A Special Day, Ready to Wear, and Nine. Now, still luminous at 86, she stars as a Holocaust survivor in her son Edoardo Ponti’s upcoming drama The Life Ahead.

u Watch the conversation with Sophia Loren, Pete Hammond, and special guest Edoardo Ponti

KATE WINSLET TRIBUTE

Kate Winslet was still a teenager when she blazed across screens as an adolescent killer in Peter Jackson’s 1950s-set true crime drama Heavenly Creatures in 1994, establishing herself as a formidable talent to watch. A visage that could grace a vintage cameo made her a natural for period roles: at home in Jane Austen’s world in Sense and Sensibility, rising to international stardom in Titanic, playing an 18th-century laundress in Quills, and winning an Emmy® for her portrayal of a Great Depression-era mother in Mildred Pierce. But Winslet’s tremendous range expands far beyond costume pieces, as she has showcased vibrant, of-the-moment women in such films as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Little Children, Contagion, and Steve Jobs. Nominated for seven Oscars®, Winslet won for The Reader in 2009. She is back in period form as a 19th-century fossil hunter in Ammonite, which played at the MVFF43 Drive-In.

u Watch the conversation with Kate Winslet and Zoë Elton

SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS

Sir Anthony Hopkins received an Academy Award® for his performance in The Silence of the Lambs, as well as Oscar® nominations for his roles in The Remains of the Day, Nixon, Amistad, and The Two Popes (MVFF42). He was also honored with the Best Actor Award by the British Academy of Film & Television Arts for The Remains of the Day, The Silence of the Lambs, and War & Peace, and has received two Emmy® Awards for The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, in which he portrayed Bruno Hauptmann, and The Bunker, in which he portrayed Adolf Hitler. In addition to reprising the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter in both Hannibal and Red Dragon, Hopkins has starred in such films as Howards End, The Mask of Zorro, Legends of the Fall, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Elephant Man, and Thor in his over-50-year career. With Florian Zeller’s screen adaptation of his own play The Father, Hopkins acts opposite fellow Oscar® winner Olivia Colman and delivers one of his richest, most unforgettable performances, which Variety described as “flat-out stunning” and a “tour-de-force.”

u Watch the conversation with Anthony Hopkins and David Thomson

CLARE DUNNE

Upon graduating the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (Cardiff) BA (Hons) Degree course in 2009, Clare Dunne was immediately cast in the leading role of Pegeen Mike in the Druid Theatre Company’s acclaimed production of Playboy of the Western World. In the UK, she quickly established herself in major theatre roles. Perhaps most importantly, she performed at the Donmar Warehouse as Portia in Julius Caesar, opposite Harriet Walter and directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Dunne reprised her roles of Portia and Octavius Caesar in Julius Caesar and Prince Hal in Henry IV as part of Phyllida Lloyd’s TRILOGY at the Donmar Warehouse Autumn 2016. Onscreen, Dunne appeared in Spider-Man: Far from Home, but she has truly made her mark in the world of cinema with Herself. Co-writing the beautiful and deft screenplay with Malcolm Campbell and re-teaming with her regular theatre director Lloyd, Dunne delivers an uncompromisingly powerful performance at the heart of this moving film, which premiered earlier this year at Sundance.

u Watch the conversation with Clare Dunne and Mark Fishkin

DELROY LINDO

REGINA KING SPOTLIGHT

Oscar®-winning actress Regina King has a decades-spanning career in Hollywood and shows no sign of slowing down. In addition to the Academy Award®, King won a Golden Globe, a Film Independent Spirit Award, and the National Board of Review Award for Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk (MVFF41). King has also won four Emmy® Awards in recent years: one for Netflix’s Seven Seconds, two for ABC’s American Crime, and most recently for HBO’s Watchmen. Over the past few years, King has directed episodes of critically acclaimed TV series, including ABC’s Scandal, TNT’s Animal Kingdom, and HBO’s Insecure. With her feature directorial debut One Night in Miami, King has already made history, becoming the very first African American woman director to have a feature selected at the Venice Film Festival. Bringing Kemp Powers’ play about an imagined meeting between four Black American icons—Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown—in 1964 to the silver screen, King displays a formidable eye for detail and perspective as well as a natural, astounding ability eliciting sensational performances from her quartet of leading men.

u Watch the conversation with Regina King and Reginald Hudlin

DELROY LINDO

In Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, Delroy Lindo is a Vietnam vet who returns to the country on a treasure hunt for gold. But the film’s real treasure is its cast, particularly Lindo, haunting in his portrayal of a war-damaged soul. It is only the latest triumph for the Oakland actor whose roles resonate with his wide emotional palette and attention to the smallest character detail. The American Conservatory Theatre-trained Lindo was already a 1988 Tony nominee for August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone when he began his long association with Lee and rose to screen stardom as numbers kingpin Indian Archie in Lee’s Malcolm X. Parts in Clockers, Get Shorty, The Cider House Rules, Heist, TV’s The Good Fight, and more continue to reveal Lindo as one of our most gifted actors.

u Watch conversation with Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, and special guest Spike Lee

ENSEMBLE SPOTLIGHT AARON SORKIN & THE CAST OF THE

TRIAL

OF THE CHICAGO 7

AARON SORKIN

EDDIE REDMAYNE

YAHYA ABDUL-MATEEN II

SACHA BARON COHEN

JEREMY STRONG

WITH PETER COYOTE

The riots that accompanied the 1968 Democratic National Convention ended in a show trial like no other, as the counterculture squared off against a conservative court. Who better to bring this watershed moment in our history into the light than Aaron Sorkin with The Trial of the Chicago 7? The writer-director applies the sharp wit and insight that have been the hallmarks of a career that brought us the classic TV series Sports Night, The West Wing, and The Newsroom, and movies like A Few Good Men, The Social Network, and Moneyball u Watch the Ensemble Spotlight conversation

FREIDA LEE MOCK DOCLANDS HONORS

The 2020 DocLands Honors Award is presented to five-time Academy Award ® nominee Freida Lee Mock for her determination in bringing to light the stories behind some of the most remarkable American artists, politicians, humanitarians, and social justice activists. From Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember; Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner; Anita – Speaking Truth to Power; G-Dog; and Return with Honor, to her 1995 Academy Award-winning documentary feature Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, and her most recent film Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words, Mock’s intimate, yet powerful cinematic biographies allow us to experience extraordinary lives, often from contrasting walks of life.

Freida Lee Mock, partner in the Los Angeles-based Sanders and Mock Productions and co-founder of the nonprofit American Film Foundation, was the first Governor elected to the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and served as Chair and Co-chair of the DGA Documentary Awards selection Committee for 6 years. She graduated from UC Berkeley in history and English and did graduate work in law and history.

u Watch the conversation with Freida Lee Mock and Joni Cooper

MVFF SECTIONS

US CINEMA

WORLD CINEMA

SPONSORED BY JIM BOYCE TRUST AND KRIS OTIS

Stories that foster a new understanding of our global neighbors and ourselves.

VALLEY OF THE DOCS

FAMILY FILMS

5@5 SHORTS

Collections of short cinematic gems from every genre: narratives, documentaries, animation, family films, and youth works

DOCLANDS STRANDS

WONDERLANDS

SPONSORED BY BELLAM SELF STORAGE AND BOXES

Lifts our spirits through stories of joy, wonder, and possibility.

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

SPONSORED BY THE EACH FOUNDATION AND LIONEL SHAW

Transports us outside to truly appreciate, explore, and ultimately compel us to save and conserve our environment and the wilds of our precious and precarious planet.

ART OF IMPACT

SPONSORED BY THE EACH FOUNDATION AND STEVE TALAN

Engages and sparks action by sharing stories that open our eyes to the global community and its disperate cultures, politics, personal narratives, and biographies.

Mind the Gap is both a celebration and a call to action. Through films, Q&As, panels, and conversations, CFI & MVFF continue to highlight and explore the work and the impact of women in the media industry. Our mission is to open doors and provide access, education, and opportunities for women filmmakers.

Two years ago, we signed the 50/50 by 2020 pledge to include 50% women filmmakers at the Mill Valley Film Festival. We are very pleased to announce that we exceeded our own pledge goal this year with 57% representation of women filmmakers at MVFF43.

The pandemic has laid bare the inequalities in society that have fueled and structured the film industry, and guided which perspectives are centered and which are left off screen. The global support of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as the uprisings against racial injustice has forced the industry to examine the systems that have marginalized BIPOC creatives.

Mind the Gap 2020 has built on these cultural and industry conversations and examined how these issues can be reframed, centering the voices of those who have remained on the margins for far too long. Beyond the current context of upheaval, MTG also explored the formation of networks and communities of black and brown film professionals, in particular those connecting intersectional women, non-binary, and queer people, and how they form alternative eco-systems and spaces of learning, healing, and re-envisioning.

PANELS | THE POLITICS OF NOW: REDEFINING THE NARRATIVES

EVOLUTION OF BLACK WOMEN’S ROLES ONSCREEN

This conversation with film creatives, actors, and curators charts the changing nature of the portrayal of Black women onscreen. By revisiting the simplistic type-casting of Black women in film since its inception, the speakers discuss how the representation of Black women in Hollywood and beyond has moved towards a variety of depictions and voices.

PANELISTS:

RUTH CARTER – Costume Designer

EKWA MSANGI – Director, Farewell Amor

LORRAINE TOUSSAINT – Actress, The Glorias MODERATOR: FARIDAH GBADAMOSI, MVFF US Indies Programmer

u Watch the panel

RETHINKING THE CLASSICS: TOWARD A MORE DEMOCRATIC GLOBAL CANON

For as long as there has been a film canon, it has been dominated by white heterosexual men as creatives, educators, and critics. This canon has in recent times come under increased pressure to open up to a broader spectrum of authors and perspectives. Challenging this canon involves questioning the criteria and the conventions for films to be considered “worthy” of being an important film as well as who is making those decisions. This conversation explores how to shift the decision-making on what enters the international canon towards a broader, more inclusive and ultimately more democratic pool can be achieved at a global level.

PANELISTS:

AMALIA CORDOVA – Programmer, Latinx digital curator at the S mithsonian Center for Folklore and Cultural Heritage

KATARINA HEDRÉN – Programmer, African film

JANAINA OLIVEIRA – Programmer, Academic – Pan-African Cinema (Zózimo Bulbul Black Cinema Encounter, FICINE, Flaherty Seminar)

JENNI OLSON – Filmmaker, Queer Film Historian

LORNA TEE – Programmer, Macao International Film Festival

MODERATOR: VICTORIA THOMAS – Producer, Filmmaker, Lecturer

u Watch the panel

CHANGING THE INDUSTRY FROM THE INSIDE

By creating awareness and a conversation around discrimination, marginalization, and underrepresentation, these are organizations, collectives, and initiatives striving to address the fundamental systemic inequities of the film industry and effect change from the inside. This conversation explores how these industry players are using their power and clout to create structural change across Hollywood and beyond.

PANELISTS:

ADRIANA CHARTRAND – ImagineNATIVE

LILIANA ESPINOZA – National Association of Latino Independent Producers

TILANE JONES – Array

LUCY MUKERJEE – Programmers of Colour Collective (POC2)

EMILY SMITH BEITIKS – Paul K. Longmore Institute / Superfest Disability Film Festival

MODERATOR: TRACY RECTOR – Nia Tero

u Watch the panel

BUILDING YOUR OWN TABLES & CHAIRS

As a response to the many ism’s that are endemic to the film industry, these organizations, collectives, and initiatives have chosen to focus their attention on building alternative networks, platforms, and eco-systems—alongside the mainstream industry—in which their communities can flourish, create power structures and set their own rules. As opposed to working towards having a seat at the table, these industry players have opted to create their own table.

PANELISTS:

JENNIFER CRYSTAL CHIEN – Re-Present Media

GUETTY FELIN – Daughters of Tressie

MARIA FORTIZ-MORSE – Brown Girls Doc Mafia

SARITA KHURANA – Asian American Documentary Network

MODERATOR: TRACY RECTOR – Nia Tero

u Watch the panel

2020 will go down as the year when everything changed—in ways both daunting and exciting. Where will it all lead? With theaters closed, festivals cancelling or re-inventing, online platforms springing up, zoom rooms and virtual events becoming ubiquitous, words like “pivot” and “nimble” have peppered daily discussions about work, life, and navigating radical change. It seems like a 20-year growth spurt packed into a single year. This program considers what things will return and what will have shifted as we imagine the future for independent filmmakers. The program includes a keynote by an industry leader and a roundtable of directors whose work was released this year discussing their experiences of navigating 2020 and their insights about how this year’s challenges may inform innovations in the post-pandemic world of film.

KEYNOTE

CATHY SHULMAN, Co-founder, ReFrame; Academy Award®-winning producer; President and CEO, Welle Entertainment; Writer-Producer, First Ladies

DIRECTORS’ FORUM PANELISTS:

RADHA BLANK (The 40 Year Old Version)

GIA COPPOLA (Mainstream)

GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD (The Old Guard)

LIESL TOMMY (Respect)

ALICE WU (The Half of It)

MODERATOR: ZOË ELTON, MVFF Director of Programming

u Watch the Keynote & Directors Forum

MIND THE GAP SPONSORS

¡VIVA EL CINE!

¡Viva el Cine! showcases prize-winning Spanish-language and Latin American films that seek to engage and embrace our Spanish-speaking and -loving audiences. These screenings create a unique community where history, culture, and identity can be explored through the magic of movies. This year, we celebrate our Viva’s Opening Night with the North American premiere of The Heist of the Century (El robo del siglo) by Ariel Winograd Argentina/Spain

¡Viva el Cine! es una iniciativa que presenta películas galardonadas en español y latinoamericanas que buscan involucrar y recibir a nuestro público hispano-hablante y los amantes del idioma. Estas proyecciones crean una comunidad única donde se puede explorar la historia, la cultura y la identidad a través de la magia de las películas. Este año, celebramos el ¡Viva el Cine! con el estrena norteamericano de El robo del siglo (The Heist of the Century) de Ariel Winograd, Argentina/España.

ABUELOS

US 2020, Director Rodrigo Reyes

BABENCO: TELL ME WHEN I DIE

Brazil 2019, 75 min, Director Bárbara Paz

COLETTE, THE ARTIST

Mexico 2020, 14 min, Directors The Colettivo

I CARRY YOU WITH ME

Mexico 2020, 111 min, Director Heidi Ewing

THE HEIST OF THE CENTURY (EL ROBO DEL SIGLO)

Argentina/Spain 2020, 114 min, Director Ariel Wingrad

ACTIVE CINEMA

LOS HERMANOS/THE BROTHERS

US 2020, 83 min, Directors Ken Schneider, Marcia Jarmel

MAXIMA

US 2019, 88 min, Director Claudia Sparrow

THE NAMES OF THE FLOWERS (LOS NOMBRES DE LAS FLORES)

Bolivia/Qatar/Canada 2019, 79 min, Director Bahman Tavoosi

THREE SUMMERS

Brazil/France 2020, 94 min, Director Sandra Kogut

¡VIVA LOS NIÑOS!

Argentina/Chile/Colombia/Cuba/Germany Mexico/Puerto Rico/US/Venezuela

A forum for films that inspire people to take action to create positive change, MVFF’s Active Cinema films are united in their commitment to explore the world and its issues, engage audiences, and transform ideas into action both locally and globally.

BELLY OF THE BEAST

US 2020, 81 min, Director Erika Cohn

CODED BIAS

US/UK/China 2020, 81 min, Director Shalini Kantayya

TRUST ME

US 2020, 91 min, Director Roko Belic

US KIDS

US 2020, 101 min, Director Kim A. Snyder

CFI’s fundraising initiative designed to connect documentary filmmakers and their ideas to funders, distributors, philanthropists, fellow filmmakers, and future audiences. This year’s forum was held virtually from August 13-21, 2020, featuring eight filmmakers with feature docs in development, all of whom received cash awards to help with the completion of their projects. Read more about DocPitch here.

u Watch the DocPitch Kick-Off Conversation

500 DAYS IN THE WILD

DIRECTOR: DIANNE WHELAN

$25,000 AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD

MY NAME IS ANDREA

DIRECTOR: PRATIBHA PARMAR

$20,000 JURY AWARD

AMERICAN ESPIONAGE

DIRECTOR: CHRISTOPHER SMITH

$5,000 JURY AWARD

NOMADS

DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS:

VANESSA CARR, JOSH GLEASON

$5,000 JURY AWARD

DOCPITCH SPONSOR

u Watch the DocPitch Awards Presentation

BLACK & GOLD

DIRECTOR: KHADIJA DIAKITÉ

$20,000 JURY AWARD

SAL Y CIELO (SALT AND SKY)

DIRECTOR: TAYLOR REES

$5,000 JURY AWARD

BLACK MOTHERS

DIRECTOR: DÉBORA SOUZA SILVA

$40,000 JURY AWARD

STARTUP

EMBASSY

DIRECTOR: KENJI YAMAMOTO

PRODUCER: NANCY KELLY

$5,000 JURY AWARD

DOCPITCH FUNDERS

NANCY P. AND RICHARD K. ROBBINS FAMILY FOUNDATION

CFI EDUCATION AT MVFF

CFI Education has been offering free education programs to local K-12 schools in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 30 years, welcoming thousands of students to MVFF to view new festival films and meet filmmakers from around the world. With our theaters closed and school field trips prohibited this year, we shifted all of our MVFF Education programs online and, for the first time ever, were able to make them available to schools anywhere in the country—enabling us to reach over 8,000 students from 72 different schools.

MVFF EDUCATION SCREENINGS

A curated series of free online screenings of narrative features, documentaries, shorts programs, and panel discussions selected from the general Festival program for K-12. All screenings included pre-recorded Q&As with filmmakers and subject experts as well as a collection of new curriculum resources featuring film analysis toolkits, lesson plans, and discussion guides.

FILMMAKERS GO TO SCHOOL

For a more interactive festival experience, we also continued our FGTS program online, connecting Festival filmmakers with students in real time via Zoom to discuss and answer questions about their films and the art and craft of filmmaking. More than a dozen filmmaker guests from around the world took part in these Virtual Visits with hundreds of students from schools across the country.

CFI EDUCATION AT MVFF IS MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM

NANCY P. AND RICHARD K. ROBBINS FAMILY FOUNDATION

RESONANCE PHILANTHROPIES

MVFF TEEN CINECLUB

Distance learning has opened up new and creative ways for CFI Education to collaborate with educators and students across the country. The Mill Valley Film Festival invited youth cinephiles from every corner of the US to join this new national teen film club, where members had the opportunity to stream an exclusive MVFF film and engage in a live discussion and critical analysis of the films with other young film enthusiasts nationwide.

1 DAY/1 ROLL SUPER 8 YOUTH FILMMAKING CHALLENGE

This virtual, interactive workshop was an opportunity for kids aged 12-18 to step back into another age of moving image production to experience a time before smartphones, LCD screens, and instant playback. Students learned how to adapt the style of Super 8 filmmaking to a digital platform, using a smartphone or digital camera. A tutorial was followed by group Zoom discussions exploring the wonderful world of shooting and processing analog film.

BEHIND THE SCREENS

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY PANEL: A PIVOTAL YEAR

2020 has brought about significant, unparalleled changes to all facets of the movie industry. How do we navigate from this uncertain place we’re in now? Could there be a silver lining in this upheaval, an opportunity for reinvention and innovation? At a time when there is anxiety and fear within the industry as a whole, we’ll discuss the possibilities for the future.

PANELISTS:

IRA DEUTCHMAN – founder Cinecom and Fine Line Features; director, Searching for Mr. Rugoff (MVFF43)

AIJAH KEITH – Director of Acquisitions, IFC Films

REBECCA GREEN – Producer, It Follows; Editor-in-Chief, Dear Producer

MODERATOR:

MARK FISHKIN – MVFF Founder/Director

u Watch the panel

DEMOCRACY ROUNDTABLE

Democracy is facing some significant challenges right now. Filmmakers are stepping into the political fray and utilizing film as a vital resource for information, a catalyst for change, and a call to action for deeper engagement in the democratic process. This roundtable discussion featured the filmmakers and subjects of Festival films that address both the tools and the threats to democracy including voter suppression, protest movements, and the spread of misinformation. In the spirit of civic engagement, the discussion was streamed live to allow for audience Q&A participation.

PANELISTS:

JIMMEKA ANDERSON – Founder/Executive Director, I Am not the MEdia

LISA CORTÉS – co-director, All In: The Fight for Democracy

JUDITH EHRLICH – director, The Boys Who Said NO!

DAVID HARRIS – journalist, activist

MICHAEL SHERMER – founding publisher, Skeptic Magazine; author, Giving the Devil His Due

MODERATOR:

SHAKIRA REFOS, CFI Education Outreach Manager

u Watch the Democracy Roundtable

VARIETY’S 10 SCREENWRITERS TO WATCH

Variety has honored 10 SCREENWRITERS TO WATCH for over a decade, and for the second year in a row, the honorees will be showcased during the Mill Valley Film Festival. Whether reinventing big franchise action films or ensuring inclusion of fresh and diverse voices, screenwriters’ contributions are an essential part of the filmmaking process, laying the foundation for storytelling through film. With Variety spotlighting the brightest and most promising writers of the year, the chance to meet and hear their stories first-hand in a casual and intimate setting makes this a hot-button discussion for both casual fans and aspiring filmmakers.

MODERATOR: STEVEN GAYDOS, Executive VP of Global Content, Variety

CHARLIE KAUFMAN

VARIETY‘S CREATIVE IMPACT IN SCREENWRITING AWARD

One of Variety‘s screenwriters to watch in 1999 for Being John Malkovich, Charlie Kaufman’s work is discussed in a conversation with Variety deputy awards and features editor Jenelle Riley with a focus on the award-winning screenwriter’s latest film, I’m Thinking of Ending Things. u Watch the panel

AUDIENCE FAVORITES

DRIVE-IN & MIND THE GAP

NOMADLAND

CHLOÉ ZHAO

STREAMING (TIE)

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI

US CINEMA WORLD CINEMA VALLEY OF THE

REGINA KING

UNCE FRANK

ALAN BALL

MASTER CHENG

MIKA KAURISMÄKI

STREAMING (TIE)

THE FATHER FLORIAN ZELLER

DOCLANDS

LAUREL CANYON: A PLACE IN TIME

ALISON ELLWOOD

THE DOCS FAMILY FILMS ¡VIVA EL CINE!

WHO SAID NO! SISTERS: THE SUMMER WE FOUND OUR SUPERPOWERS ARILD ØSTIN OMMUNDSEN SILJE SALOMONSEN

THE HEIST OF THE CENTURY ARIEL WINOGRAD

9to5: THE STORY OF A MOVEMENT

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

US 2020, 85 min Directors Julia Reichert & Steven Bognar

From the filmmakers of last year’s Oscar®-winning documentary American Factory, 9to5 is an inspiring look at the historic intersection of the women’s movement and the labor movement in the 1970s, when secretaries all over the nation decided that they were done making the boss’ coffee and ready to start a revolution.

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

23 WALKS

WORLD CINEMA

UK 2020, 102 min Director Paul Morrison

Over the course of 23 dog walks, two senior singletons and their personable pooches—Dave and his German Shepherd; Fern and her Yorkshire Terrier—slowly evolve from strangers to sweethearts. Actors Dave Johns and Alison Steadman’s palpable chemistry and charm fill every frame of this heartwarming, emotionally resonant love story from Oscar®-nominated director Paul Morrison. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

ALICE STREET

VALLEY OF THE DOCS

US 2020, 66 min Director Spencer Wilkinson

A portrait of modern activism, Alice Street lovingly captures the city of Oakland in the age of gentrification. Following a downtown mural project as it’s overtaken by plans for a new high-rise, Bay Area filmmaker Spencer Wilkinson documents a diverse community of artists and activists coming together to prevent its identity from being erased.

AMMONITE

VALLEY OF THE DOCS

UK 2020, 117 min Director Francis Lee

Kate Winslet’s simmering, understated portrait of Mary Anning, a self-trained paleontologist in 19th century Dorset, is as powerful as the wind-whipped seaside landscape where she daily collects and catalogues fossils. Hired on as a companion for Charlotte (Saoirse Ronan), the young wife of a visiting geologist, a secret language is discovered: of shared loneliness, intimacy, and unquenchable desire. A Telluride Film Festival Selection

APPLES (MILA)

WORLD CINEMA

Greece/Poland/Slovenia 2020, 91 min Director Christos Nikou

In this surreal and beguiling deadpan comedy, a mysterious amnesia pandemic is sweeping the globe, and the only hope for those afflicted is an unusual recovery program that guides patients in constructing new identities from scratch. Funny, smart, and sneakily affecting, Apples is a mystifying existential odyssey into the core of what it means to embrace the present. A Telluride Film Festival Selection

AUGMENTED

DOCLANDS • WONDERLANDS

US 2019, 81 min Director Matthew Orr

Following a mountain climbing accident which left him with two prosthetic legs, Augmented follows Hugh Herr’s lifelong quest to become a scientist at MIT and an expert in the area of prosthetics. Herr’s success leads to a major scientific breakthrough allowing bionic limbs to move and feel like the real thing.

Preceded by OUT ON A LIMB Canada 2019, 21 min Director Jordan Manley

BABENCO: TELL ME WHEN I DIE (BABENCO: ALGUÉM TEM QUE OUVIR O CORACÃO E DIZER PAROU)

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

Brazil 2019, 75 min Director Bárbara Paz

Winner of the Best Documentary on Film award at Venice, this meditative, moving film chronicles the end of Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Héctor Babenco’s (Kiss of the Spider Woman) life as he faces cancer and reflects on his career. Directed by his wife, Bárbara Paz, this stunning portrait brings Babenco back to life onscreen. US PREMIERE

u SPONSORED BY COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT

BANDAR BAND

WORLD CINEMA |

Iran/Germany 2020, 75 min Director Manijeh Hekmat

Three idealistic young musicians make their way to a battle-of-the-bands competition in Tehran, hoping a win will be their big break. Set during the cataclysmic floods that submerged large swaths of the country in the spring of 2019, Manijeh Hekmat brings her keen documentary eye and deep empathy for Iran’s regular folk to this joyful song-infused road movie.

u SPONSORED BY XFINITY

BANKSY MOST WANTED

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

France 2020, 82 min Directors Aurélia Rouvier & Seamus Haley

Street artist Banksy’s meteoric rise to fame has left a huge lingering question: who is the person behind the name? This in-depth investigation of the celebrated provocateur entertains many differing theories of who exactly is pulling the strings while looking at the overwhelming impact Banksy’s art has had throughout the world.

TV5MONDE | CFI FRENCH CINEMA SPONSOR

THE BEE GEES:

BELLY OF THE BEAST

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

US 2020, 81 min Director Erika Cohn

A woman in a California prison sends an impassioned, desperate letter to an ambitious lawyer pleading for help, setting off a shocking investigation into the Department of Corrections’ dark history of forced sterilizations. This unlikely pair teams up to explode the extraordinary truth of modern-day eugenics occurring throughout the US.

u SPONSORED BY ANONYMOUS

THE BIG SCARY “S” WORD

DOCLANDS • ART OF IMPACT |

US 2020, 85 min Director Yael Bridge

Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign brought unprecedented focus on the notion of socialism in the context of the United States. Since then, socialists have won seats in both houses of Congress while others equate socialism with totalitarianism. This thorough, thoughtful, and engaging film tracks the history of socialism in America and dispels many of the myths that are so often promulgated in public discourse. WORLD PREMIERE

BINTI

FAMILY FILMS |

Belgium 2019, 90 min Director Frederike Migom

Binti is a budding YouTube star who dreams of making a permanent home with her Congolese father in Belgium where they live without legal documentation. An incredibly charming cast and energetic storytelling provide a real-world look at immigration that brings a complex issue into relatable focus for kids and adults. Age 9+

SPONSORED BY JIM BOYCE TRUST AND KRIS OTIS u

BLITHE SPIRIT

WORLD CINEMA

UK 2020, 95 min Director Edward Hall

Judi Dench ascends to the astral plane as the impeccably inept spiritualist Madame Arcati in this spectacular Noël Coward adaptation. Alongside a stellar cast including Dan Stevens, Leslie Mann, and Isla Fisher, Dame Judi truly breaks through to the other side as Arcati, whose attempts to follow The Art of the Séance (wink-wink nudge-nudge) spin an endlessly entertaining yarn. WORLD PREMIERE

SPONSORED BY PROJECT NO. 9 AND JENNIFER COSLETT MACCREADY

THE BOOK MAKERS

DOCLANDS • WONDERLANDS

US 2019, 58 min Director James Kennard

Don’t you just love the smell of a good book? Bay Area-bred filmmaker James Kennard taps into the tangible connection humans have to physical books, profiling the talented artists, authors, collectors, and historians who retain and preserve the artistry and craft of bookmaking. Featuring interviews with Dave Eggers, Daniel Handler, Peter Koch, and more.

THE BOYS WHO SAID NO!

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

US 2020, 90 min Director Judith Ehrlich

Oscar®-nominated director Judith Ehrlich combines breathtaking news footage and moving testimonials to offer a snapshot of America at a historical turning point. Ehrlich points her camera toward the nonviolent warriors who actively opposed the military draft during the Vietnam War, eventually leading to the end of both the draft and the war. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

CHARLATAN

WORLD CINEMA |

Czech Republic/Ireland/Poland/Slovak Republic 2020, 118 min Director Agnieszka Holland

What profound secrets live in the heart of a healer? Veteran Polish director Agnieszka Holland explores the complex character of renowned Czech herbalist and healer Jan Mikolášek in this radiantly atmospheric and deeply humanistic portrait of a flawed yet gifted man performing medicinal miracles far ahead of his time. A Telluride Film Festival Selection

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

CITIZEN PENN

DOCLANDS • ART OF IMPACT

US 2020, 93 min Director Don Hardy

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti affecting millions of people, and among those driven to help was Oscar®-winning actor and filmmaker Sean Penn. Citizen Penn chronicles the moment Penn and his team of volunteers landed in Haiti just days after the earthquake and the decade since.

Preceded by THE WAY HOME: THE MOST VULNERABLE US 2020, 10 min Director

Camille Servan-Schreiber

CLOUDS

VALLEY OF THE DOCS

US 2020, 121 min Director Justin Baldoni

Following his feature directorial debut Five Feet Apart, actor-turned-director Justin Baldoni brings us another triumph of the human heart. Starring Fin Argus and Neve Campbell, this Disney+ original movie covers the inspiring, all-too-brief life of teen YouTube star Zach Sobiech, who captured the hearts and attention of the world with his hit single “Clouds” while battling a rare bone cancer. Clouds launched CFI Education’s 2020-21 Teen Wellness Film Series presented in partnership with the Tam Union High School District Wellness Center. WORLD PREMIERE

SPONSORED BY MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL AND KAISER PERMANENTE

CODED BIAS

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

US/UK/China 2020, 87 min Director Shalini Kantayya

After Joy Buolamwini revealed the racial and gender biases built into facial recognition software, the MIT academic turned to activism. Following Buolamwini’s work as leader of the Algorithmic Justice League, documentarian Shalini Kantayya shows us the awesome power these computer algorithms already wield and how women like Buolamwini are leaning in for change.

SPONSORED BY ANONYMOUS AND MARIN MAGAZINE

THE COMEBACK TRAIL

US CINEMA

US 2020, 104 min Director George Gallo

From the writer of Midnight Run comes the ultimate, retro Drive-In movie! It’s 1974, and producer Max Barber is deep in debt to the mob. He devises an insurance scam to save himself and his partner from ruin. If you’re up for a flick that flips stereotypes and tramples taboos, drive on over, tune in, and enjoy the ride. With Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Zach Braff, and Tommy Lee Jones onscreen, isn’t that just what you need?

SPONSORED BY NICE GUYS DELIVERY AND VICKIE SOULIER

CURRENT SEA

DOCLANDS • THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Malaysia/US/Cambodia 2020, 87 min Director Christopher Smith

Two very different men—Matt Blomberg, an Australian investigative journalist, and Paul Ferber, a former British police officer—find new lives separately in Cambodia and become unexpectedly bound together by a common cause: putting a stop to illegal fishing by creating a marine conservation area in the Gulf of Thailand.

SPONSORED BY NANCY P. AND RICHARD K. ROBBINS FAMILY FOUNDATION

THE DILEMMA OF DESIRE

DOCLANDS • ART OF IMPACT |

US 2020, 108 min Director Maria Finitzo

With humor and candor in equal measure, The Dilemma of Desire follows a quartet of remarkable women whose work in science, academia, industrial design, and art has paved the way for a better understanding of women’s sexual desire, anatomy, and health in an era where women’s rights are once again under fire.

u SPONSORED BY COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT

THE EVENING HOUR

US CINEMA |

US 2020, 114 min Director Braden King

The Southern Appalachian Mountains echo with beauty and remorse in this powerfully empathetic portrait of a rural community struggling against a rising tide of opioid addiction. Director Braden King (Here) conjures an evocative web of hardship and hope, with a luminous cast which includes Lili Taylor, Philip Ettinger, Stacy Martin, and Cosmo Jarvis. u

THE FALCONER

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

US 2020, 73 min Director Annie Kaempfer

Rodney Stotts learned how to rescue and train predatory birds and, in the process, rescued himself from a life of violence and petty crime on the streets of DC. With a cinema vérité style, director-cinematographer Annie Kaempfer shows Stotts as he builds a bird sanctuary in rural Maryland to help others form these same healing bonds with nature. WORLD PREMIERE

FAREWELL AMOR

US CINEMA |

US 2020, 95 min Director Ekwa Msangi

Years ago, Walter fled from war-torn Angola to America. Newly reunited with his wife and daughter, all three must adjust to their new life together in very different ways. From its beautiful opening image, Tanzanian American filmmaker Ekwa Msangi’s debut brims with an extraordinary humanity, as well as being blessed by three pitch-perfect central performances.

THE FATHER

WORLD CINEMA

UK/France 2020, 97 min Director Florian Zeller

Masterful writing meets masterful performances as the spry but stubborn Anthony (Anthony Hopkins), whose grip on reality is ever-eroding, continually thwarts daughter Anne’s (Olivia Colman) efforts to find him a caretaker. The brilliant twist: The story is told via Anthony’s shifting perceptions, which, rendered through Hopkins’ extraordinary performance, makes for a breathtaking experience. A Telluride Film Festival Selection

FIVE YEARS NORTH

DOCLANDS • ART OF IMPACT

HE DREAMS OF GIANTS

DOCLANDS • WONDERLANDS

Fifteen years after Lost in La Mancha, directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe return to director Terry Gilliam’s long, plagued attempt to bring Don Quixote to the screen, now starring Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce. With cues from Fellini’s 8½, this film documents the culmination of Gilliam’s cinematic legacy.

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THE HEIST OF THE CENTURY (EL ROBO DEL SIGLO)

WORLD CINEMA |

Argentina/Spain 2020, 114 min Director Ariel Winograd

Buckle up for this wildly entertaining ride through the thrilling execution of one of the greatest bank heists in Argentinian history. This sly and mesmerizing tale is amplified by droll humor and its magnetic leading men duo of Guillermo Francella (The Secret in Their Eyes) and Diego Peretti (The German Doctor, MVFF36).

u SPONSORED BY TACOLIST

HERE WE ARE

WORLD CINEMA

Israel/Italy 2020, 94 min Director Nir Bergman

This tender drama about a father and son stars Shai Avivi as a graphic designer who goes on one last road trip with his autistic adult child (Noam Imber) before taking him to a special facility. Nir Bergman’s gentle, wise film meticulously charts how both characters learn to say goodbye without ever saying a word. US PREMIERE

HERSELF

WORLD CINEMA |

Ireland/UK 2020, 97 min Director Phyllida Lloyd

Delivering an uncompromisingly powerful performance, beloved stage actor Clare Dunne makes a triumphant transition to the silver screen, working from a beautiful script she co-wrote with Malcolm Campbell (What Richard Did). Floating between living situations with her young two daughters, Sandra decides, if the perfect home doesn’t exist, why not build it herself?

HOME

DOCLANDS • THE GREAT OUTDOORS |

UK 2019, 91 min Director Jen Randall

I CARRY YOU WITH ME

US CINEMA |

US 2020, 66 min Director Spencer Wilkinson

US/Mexico 2020, 111 min Director Heidi Ewing

Oscar® nominee Heidi Ewing makes her first foray into narrative cinema with this epic romance between two Mexican men who risk everything by relocating to New York as undocumented immigrants. This double prizewinner at Sundance is a heartfelt, lyrical testament to the dreamers searching for a new beginning in what was once the land of opportunity.

THE INFINITE RACE

DOCLANDS • THE GREAT OUTDOORS

US 2020, 70 min Director Bernardo Ruiz

JACKIE & OOPJEN

FAMILY FILMS |

Netherlands 2020, 90 min Director Annemarie van de Mond

Night at the Museum vibes infuse this charming, funny friendship tale between a precocious 12-year-old and a Rembrandt painting come to life. Oopjen steps out of her famous portrait in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum to search for her long-lost sister. Resourceful Jackie comes to her aid and finds an unexpected BFF from another era. Age 9+ NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

JUMBO

WORLD CINEMA |

SPONSORED BY BELLAM SELF STORAGE AND BOXES

France/Luxembourg/Belgium 2020, 94 min Director Zoé Wittock

One of the most talked-about films at both Sundance and the Berlinale this year, Jumbo is a neon-lit fable of an unlikely romance that unfolds in the after hours of an amusement park. Noémie Merlant (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, MVFF42) delivers a fearless yet delicate performance in Zoé Wittock’s exuberant feature debut, and it’s an amazing ride all the way.

TV5MONDE | CFI FRENCH CINEMA SPONSOR

u

KINGS OF MULBERRY STREET

FAMILY FILMS |

South Africa 2019, 87 min Director Judy Naidoo

In an impoverished South African neighborhood, two young Indian boys join forces to take down a local hoodlum in this exuberant, silly, sly, action-packed, sometimes gritty, and unexpectedly moving paean to boyhood, friendship, and classic Bollywood cinema. Age 11+

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LAPSIS

US CINEMA

US 2020, 108 min Director Noah Hutton

In an alternate present, the world has fully embraced a version of the gig economy that pits man against machine. Middle-aged ex-hustler Ray, in an effort to raise enough cash to help his ailing brother, finds himself enlisted in a get-rich-quick scheme that is not as simple as it seems.

LAUREL CANYON: A PLACE IN TIME

DOCLANDS • WONDERLANDS |

US 2020, 156 min Director Alison Ellwood

In the 1960s, the woodsy community of Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles became home to a who’s who of the nascent rock-and-roll musical scene. Alison Ellwood (The Go-Go’s) brings together a highly entertaining array of contemporary interviews, home movie footage, and vintage performance clips in this rollicking feature.nascent rock-and-roll musical scene.

SPONSORED BY BELLAM SELF STORAGE AND BOXES

LOS HERMANOS/THE BROTHERS

WORLD CINEMA |

US 2020, 108 min Directors Ken Schneider & Marcia Jarmel

Geopolitical forces separate Cuban brothers and virtuosos Aldo and Ilmar López-Gávilan, even as their love of music unites them. Tracing their efforts to maintain their musical and familial bonds, Los Hermanos/The Brothers is an exuberant and tender paean to the enduring power of music, family, and home. Featuring an original score by Aldo and Ilmar.

Preceded by ABUELOS US 2020, 8 min Director Rodrigo Reyes

u SPONSORED BY KQED

MAINSTREAM

US CINEMA |

US 2020, 94 min Director Gia Coppola

When she meets a strange and magnetic man in a mouse costume at the mall and secretly films his anti-capitalist rant, Frankie (Maya Hawke) unexpectedly turns her new friend into a viral sensation. Featuring a larger-than-life performance by Andrew Garfield, Gia Coppola’s sophomore film is a vibrant, timely satire of celebrity in the influencer age. A Telluride Film Festival Selection

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

u SPONSORED BY MARIN CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU

MASTER CHENG (MESTARI CHENG)

WORLD CINEMA

Finland 2019, 114 min Director Mika Kaurismäki

It’s a beautiful summer day in Lapland, when a mysterious Chinese gentleman and his young son arrive in the remote village looking for an individual no one seems to know. The town’s inhabitants are about to discover delicious Chinese food in this gentle romantic comedy from Finnish auteur Mika Kaurismäki.

u SPONSORED BY MARIN SUITES HOTEL

MAXIMA

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

US 2019, 88 min Director Claudia Sparrow

Indigenous farmer Máxima Acuño lives in harmony with nature, raising her sheep in the Peruvian Andes. When a local gold mine seeks to expand its operations, threatening her land and way of life, Máxima inspires the community to fight back, in this stirring David-versus-Goliath story of environmental justice

u SPONSORED BY TERESA

MY DONKEY, MY LOVER & I (ANTOINETTE DANS LES CÉVENNES)

WORLD CINEMA |

France 2020, 107 min Director Caroline Vignal

This bright Gallic comedy centers on a Parisian school teacher (Laure Calamy, in a hilarious star-making turn) who impulsively decides to stalk her married lover on his familial hiking vacation astride an adorable ass named Patrick. Along the way, she forms an unlikely bond with her immovable pack mule while overturning stubborn-ass clichés about the Other Woman.

TV5MONDE | CFI FRENCH CINEMA SPONSOR

THE NAMES OF THE FLOWERS (LOS NOMBRES DE LAS FLORES)

WORLD CINEMA |

Bolivia/Qatar/Canada 2019, 79 min Director Bahman Tavoosi

On the 50th anniversary of Che Guevara’s execution, the schoolteacher who served him a final bowl of soup is determined to claim her part in history. But is she lying—and does it matter? This breathtakingly photographed film is a rumination on truth’s fluidity, governmental oppression, and life on the Bolivian plateau.

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NEVER TOO LATE: THE DOC SEVERINSEN STORY

WORLD CINEMA |

US 2019, 84 min Directors Kevin S. Bright & Jeff Consiglio

Who is Doc Severinsen? The colorfully dressed bandleader of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson? A spectacular, underrated trumpet player? A complex man who prioritizes music over all else? Filled with terrific music and captivating television moments, this intimate, surprising film portrait examines the fascinating life of this internationally famous (and enigmatic) figure.

u SPONSORED BY ALMANAC BEER

WOLF

NOMADLAND

US CINEMA |

US 2020, 108 min Director Chloé Zhao

Following the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada, Fern (Frances McDormand) packs her van and sets off on the road exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. The third feature film from director Chloé Zhao, Nomadland features real nomads Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells as Fern’s mentors and comrades in her exploration through the vast landscape of the American West. A Telluride Film Festival Selection

SPONSORED BY BIOMARIN PHARMACEUTICAL, INC. AND NANCY P. AND RICHARD K. ROBBINS FAMILY FOUNDATION

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI

US CINEMA |

US 2020, 114 min Director Regina King

u SPONSORED BY WAREHAM DEVELOPMENT

THE OUTSIDE STORY

US CINEMA

US 2020, 85 min Director Casimir Nozkowski

In this heartfelt and funny romp, a phenomenal Brian Tyree Henry plays Charles, a video editor who makes a living pre-cutting in memoriam tributes to still-living celebrities. While lamenting a recent heartbreak, this textbook introvert accidentally locks himself out of his apartment, forcing him to rely on his eccentric neighbors for help.

SPONSORED BY MARIN CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU

PIANO TO ZANSKAR

DOCLANDS • WONDERLANDS

Opening on the vast and awesome landscape of the Himalayas, Piano to Zanskar follows piano tuner Desmond “Gentle” O’Keefe, his young assistants, a team of local Sherpas, and various yaks and ponies, as they travel to the majestic, remote village of Lingshed to deliver a piano.

u SPONSORED BY TERESA WOLF

PLAYING FOR KEEPS

VALLEY OF THE DOCS

US 2020, 61 min Director James Redford

Confronting the stresses of everyday modern society with an upbeat optimism, Playing for Keeps examines the positive impacts of recreation on the mind, body, and spirit to combat our challenging lives. This film looks at the value of play in ways that satisfy the scientifically and socially curious.

PUBLIC TRUST

DOCLANDS • THE GREAT OUTDOORS

US 2020, 96 min Director David Garrett Byars

Focusing on the eminent destruction of some of America’s Public Lands, director David Garrett Byars enlists a slew of journalists, land historians, tribal leaders, and government whistleblowers to present the story of citizens fighting to protect and preserve our unique cultural heritage. Executive produced by Robert Redford.

SPONSORED BY TERESA WOLF AND JIM BOYCE TRUST AND KRIS OTIS

QUEEN WITHOUT LAND (DRONNING UTEN LAND)

DOCLANDS • THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Norway 2018, 70 min Director Asgeir Helgestad

Over the course of four years, wildlife photographer and filmmaker Asgeir Helgestad tracks and documents the lives of a family of polar bears within a breathtaking and beautiful ecosystem imminently impacted by rising temperatures and glaciers melting at record speed.

Preceded by FROM KURILS WITH LOVE US 2020, 24 min Director Taylor Rees and LAST GLACIERS IN YOSEMITE US 2020, 4 min Director Alexander Schwartz

SPONSORED BY TERESA WOLF AND JIM BOYCE TRUST AND KRIS OTIS

RUTH: JUSTICE GINSBURG IN HER OWN WORDS

DOCLANDS • THE GREAT OUTDOORS |

US 2019, 89 min Director Freida Lee Mock

By relying on Ginsburg’s own words and actions, as illuminated by carefully culled archival footage and interviews, Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock covers the full breadth of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life, views, and career. Furthermore, Mock succeeds in creating a compelling portrait as authentic, poignant, and powerful as the Justice herself.

u SPONSORED BY TERESA WOLF

RUTHLESS SOULS

WORLD CINEMA |

US 2020, 85 min Directors Julia Reichert & Steven Bognar

Canada 2019, 84 min Director Madison Thomas

An Ojibwe artist leans on the unconditional support of her two lifelong friends to begin to heal, to trust, and to love again, following the sudden loss of her partner. Utilizing vibrant visual art, music, and powerful spoken word poetry, Ruthless Souls tells a down-to-the-bone tale of healing and closure, a testament to the resilience of chosen family. US PREMIERE

SEARCHING FOR MR� RUGOFF

VALLEY OF THE DOCS

US 2019, 94 min Director Ira Deutchman

The untold story of Donald Rugoff, the mercurial movie baron who became a deeply influential figure in independent cinema before fading into relative obscurity. Through an array of colorful interviews with directors like Costa-Gavras, Lina Wertmüller, and Robert Downey, Sr., Rugoff’s impact as an exhibitor, distributor, and innovator in art films is vividly detailed.

SHITHOUSE

US CINEMA

US 2020, 102 min Director Cooper Raiff

College freshman Alex is struggling with living away from home and can’t quite figure this whole college thing out. When he meets Maggie, an RA in his dorm, they form a strong connection during one eventful night. Brimming with humor and sincerity, this Grand Jury Award winner from SXSW presents an exciting new voice in American independent film. u SPONSORED BY YELP

SISTERS: THE SUMMER WE FOUND OUR

SUPER POWERS

(TOTTORI! SOMMEREN VI VAR ALENE)

FAMILY FILMS

Norway 2020, 78 min Directors Silje Salomonsen & Arild Østin Ommundsen

Nine-year-old Vega and five-year-old Billie set out on a playful camping trip with their father, but must embark on an epic wilderness adventure to save him after a sudden accident. Tested by the crisis, these remarkable sisters triumph by discovering the superpowers in their relationship and within their hearts. Age 8+ NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

SOUND OF METAL

US CINEMA

US/Belgium 2019, 130 min Director Darius Marder

Beginning with a ringing in his ears, a heavy metal drummer (a career-best Riz Ahmed in an absolutely showstopping performance) discovers he’s on the verge of total deafness and is forced to learn how to navigate a brave new noiseless world. Director Darius Marder completely immerses you in his protagonist’s perspective, underlining how this loss helps a broken man regain his soul.

SPRING BLOSSOM (SEIZE PRINTEMPS)

WORLD CINEMA |

France 2020, 73 min Director Suzanne Lindon

In one of the year’s most striking debuts, writer-director-actor Suzanne Lindon firmly establishes herself as an artist to watch. When her sixteen-year-old lead character (played by Lindon), bored by school and her peers’ mindless chatter, meets a handsome actor (Arnaud Valois, BPM, MVFF40) twenty years her senior, sparks fly. Lindon captures the elation and confusion of first love with an authenticity and creativity rarely accomplished onscreen.

TV5MONDE | CFI FRENCH CINEMA SPONSOR

STAR WARS, EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

US CINEMA

US 1980, 127 min Director Irvin Kershner

STOP FILMING US

VALLEY OF THE DOCS

Netherlands 2020, 95 min Director Joris Postema

Dutch documentarian Joris Postema sets out to show life in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s troubled northeast beyond the bleeding headlines of western news. When his largely local crew begins calling out the film’s slanted approach, Postema ends up with a stirring reflection on the complexities of cross-cultural representation. US PREMIERE

TV5MONDE | CFI FRENCH CINEMA SPONSOR

SPONSORED BY JIM BOYCE TRUST AND KRIS OTIS

SWEET THING

US CINEMA

US 2020, 91 min Director Alexandre Rockwell

A beautiful lo-fi black-and-white ode to the magical resilience of childhood, Alexandre Rockwell’s stunningly rendered film centers on a tightly-bonded sibling duo who try to break free from their dysfunctional home life. Liberating themselves from neglectful, self-absorbed parents, Billie and Nico reclaim their own wild and windswept world of music, poetry, adventure, and freedom. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

SYLVIE’S LOVE

US CINEMA

US 2020, 114 min Director Eugene Ashe

In the summer of 1957, gifted saxophonist Robert meets ambitious Sylvie, and thus begins their love story which endures disapproving parents, overseas opportunities, a fiancé at war, and time itself. With its sultry soundtrack and stunning costumes, this sweeping romantic journey creates a world easy to disappear into, so easy that you may not ever want to leave.

TAKE ME TO THE RIVER NEW ORLEANS

VALLEY OF THE DOCS

US 2020, 66 min Director Martin Shore

Packed with thrilling performances, this musical travelogue is a joyous portrait of the history and continuing evolution of the New Orleans music scene. Martin Shore’s sequel to the Memphis-focused Take Me to the River puts the audience in the recording studio with one-of-a-kind legends like Aaron Neville and the Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Ani DiFranco, Big Freedia, and Snoop Dogg. Shown as a work-in-progress.

STREAMED SCREENINGS SPONSORED BY DOLBY DRIVE-IN SCREENING IN MEMORY OF LARRY HAIMOVITCH

TEDDY, OUT OF TUNE

US CINEMA

US 2020, 66 min Director Daniel Freeman

Wayward street musician Teddy embarks on a road trip to Canada to spread his mother’s ashes in this remarkable and poignant narrative/documentary hybrid. With little more than the piano tethered to his truck, Teddy’s solitary journey quickly becomes one of camaraderie and healing as he encounters various friends and characters along the way.

TEST PATTERN

US CINEMA |

US 2019, 91 min Director Shantara Michelle Ford

In Shatara Michelle Ford’s award-winning Test Pattern, a young interracial couple’s idyllic life is challenged when Renesha is sexually assaulted by a stranger. As her boyfriend Evan pushes her to obtain a rape kit, the film compassionately examines the intersection of race, romance, and gender in an unjust system.

THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT’S A RESURRECTION

WORLD CINEMA

Lesotho/South Africa/Italy 2019, 120 min Director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese

From the tiny African country of Lesotho, this beautiful film parable features an octogenarian who ignites a people’s movement of protest when she discovers her village and its graveyard are earmarked for flooding to make way for a new reservoir. Documentary detail combines with magic realism, in this strikingly original Sundance award winner.

SPONSORED BY JIM BOYCE TRUST AND KRIS OTIS

THREE SUMMERS (TRÊS VERÕES)

WORLD CINEMA |

Brazil/France 2019, 94 min Director Sandra Kogut

Gregariously quippy housekeeper Madá’s (a terrific Regina Casé) boss has been implicated in a countrywide corruption scandal, and the luxury home’s remaining staff are left behind waiting for back wages. Reflecting the real-life scandal that helped topple Brazil’s most powerful politicians, this rich dramedy sharply examines class as Madá uses her ingenuity and dry humor to keep the household afloat. US PREMIERE

u SPONSORED BY ANONYMOUS

DOCLANDS • ART OF IMPACT |

US 2020, 85 min Director Garrett Bradley

Fox Rich is a fighter. The entrepreneur, activist, and mother of six boys has spent the last two decades campaigning for the release of her husband, Rob, who is serving a 60-year sentence for a robbery they both committed long ago in a moment of desperation. Combining the video diaries Fox has recorded for Rob over the years with intimate glimpses into her present-day life, director Garrett Bradley paints a mesmerizing portrait of the resilience and radical love necessary to prevail over the endless separations of the prison-industrial-complex—a legacy of slavery in America.

u SPONSORED BY ANONYMOUS

THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

Italy/US/Greece 2020, 84 min Directors Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw

Within the breathtaking forests of Northern Italy, directors Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw paint a rich and joyous portrait of the gatekeepers of the area’s rare and exclusive delicacy. Meet a merry and eccentric band of elderly men and their highly skilled canines who carry on an age-old tradition of procuring the Alba truffle. A Telluride Film Festival Selection

TRUST ME

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

US 2020, 91 min Director Roko Belic

From confirmation bias to fake news, Trust Me examines the psychological effects and social ramifications of the spread of misinformation on society, democracy, and our mental health. Outlining both problems and solutions, Oscar®-nominated documentarian Roko Belic (Genghis Blues, Happy) explores how we consume and process media in the digital age, stressing the urgent need for media literacy and journalistic integrity.

UNCLE FRANK

US CINEMA

US 2020, 95 min Director Alan Ball

UNDINE

WORLD CINEMA

Germany/France 2020, 90 min Director Christian Petzold

Endlessly enchanting, twisty, and unfolding not so much as a slow burn as an ever-tightening vice grip, German auteur Christian Petzold has crafted a sophisticated and shimmering magical realist fantasy romance unlike any other. The spellbinding stars of Transit (MVFF41), Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski, are reunited as a pair of star-crossed lovers whose attraction to water may harbor life-altering secrets.

SPONSORED BY MARIN HOTELS

US KIDS

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

US 2020, 101 min Director Kim A. Snyder

A hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, documentarian Kim A. Snyder’s latest feature is an inspiring portrait of the courageous teenagers of Parkland, Florida. After surviving the tragic mass school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, these kids created and led the 2018 March for Our Lives youth movement against gun violence.

u SPONSORED BY BERKELEY FILM FOUNDATION

VEINS OF THE WORLD (DIE ADERN DER WELT)

FAMILY FILMS |

Germany/Mongolia 2020, 97 min Director Byambasuren Davaa

In Byambasuren Davaa’s beautifully shot child’s-eye view of nomadic life on the Mongolian steppe, young Amra daydreams of appearing on Mongolia’s Got Talent. But after a sudden, tragic accident, he must grow up quickly to protect his family and carry on a legacy of defending his people and lands from threats posed by avaricious mining interests. Age 10+

THE WARDEN (DIE VOGELWACHTER)

WORLD CINEMA |

Netherlands 2020, 89 min Director Threes Anna

After fifty years spent on a tiny, remote island, a bird sanctuary warden faces an uncertain future when he learns his post will be shut down. Director Threes Anna captures the complexities of self-imposed solitude in a beautiful film allegory that fits our current pandemic era, revealing the joys of finding oneself face to face again with another human being. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

u

WEED & WINE

VALLEY OF THE DOCS |

US 2020, 89 min Director Rebecca Richman Cohen

Two intergenerational families of farmers on two separate continents—one a Southern Rhône biodynamic vineyard and the other a Humboldt County organic cannabis farm—share many of the same challenges as they adapt to changing times and prepare the businesses to be passed onto the next generation. US PREMIERE

TV5MONDE | CFI FRENCH CINEMA SPONSOR

SHORTS PROGRAMS

5@5 BREAKOUT

FAMILY FILMS

Total Program 84 min |

Often referred to as “digital natives,” today’s youth filmmakers display talent that extends far beyond their fluency in technology—it’s evident in their storytelling, their creativity, their fearlessness. This year’s collection of peer-reviewed youth-produced shorts spans genres from animation to documentary, comedy to sci-fi, and showcases an international cohort of storytellers eager to forge new paths for the future of film. Age 12+

BASKETHOOD

Hong Kong 2020, 8 min, Director Tsz Shun CHOW

A CURE FOR HUMANITY

US 2020, 6 min, Directors Jared Fontecha, Iziyah Robinson

THE DUMMY

US 2020, 5 min, Director Sidney Keuhn

FOR YOUR MEMORY

US 2020, 3 min, Director Katrina Kwok

GOLEM

US 2020, 1 min, Director Theo Taplitz

I’LL BE THERE

US 2019, 10 min, Director Kallista Palapas

IT’S NICER HERE

US 2020, 9 min, Director Kane Parsons

MIGRANTES

US 2019, 10 min, Directors Ian Duncanson, Ethan Swope

THE MOVIE ABOUT US

Hong Kong 2020, 9 min, Director Keung Chor-Kiu

NO FAN OF ANDY

US 2019, 7 min, Director Kai Tomizawa

THE PAINTER

US, 3 min, Director Vivian Blantz

POTLUCK

US 2019, 4 min, Directors Olivia Squires, Jared Goudsmit

SEEING THINGS IN BLACK AND WHITE

US 2020, 3 min, Director Ashley Lee

SIDE EFX

India 2019, 1 min, Students of Toon Club & Oberoi International School

WE STILL MATTER

7 min, Directors Talia Smith, Ashalia Dawkins, Sophia Kerner, Lauren Pyfer

5@5 KILBURN TOWERS

5@5 SHORTS

Total Program 102 min |

“I am a street watching the people walk as I listen to conversations glisten as they start to talk.” In this documentary shorts program, we present a collection of true-life tales from Bay Area directors about extraordinary individuals. This is a wonderful set of stories taking place in our own backyard.

CAREGIVER: A LOVE STORY

US 2020, 23 min, Directors Kevin Gordon, Jessica Zitter

DENNIS: THE MAN WHO LEGALIZED CANNABIS

US 2020, 19 min, Director Brandon Moore

ONE THOUSAND STORIES: THE MAKING OF A MURAL

US 2019, 14 min, Director Tasha Van Zandt

PHYLLIS: A SELF PORTRAIT

US 2020, 9 min, Director Harris Cohn

SACHEEN, BREAKING THE SILENCE

US 2019, 26 min, Director Peter Spirer

SMALL FOOTPRINT

US 2019, 4 min, Director Deanne Fitzmaurice

5@5 LIVING IN CHICAGO

5@5 SHORTS

Total Program 98 min |

“Will you show me someone who may treat me kind, or is this world I live in just a frame of mind?” The urge to test the bonds of old friendships and feel out new tenuous connections make for some very thoughtful and uplifting tales. Don’t miss this wonderful set of stories that speak deeply to matters of the heart.

AVALANCHE

US 2019, 12 min, Director Heather Jack

CIRCUS PERSON

US 2020, 17 min, Director Britt Lower

MIGHTY

US 2019, 16 min, Director Lola Glaudini

OUT OF PLACE

US 2019, 19 min, Director Peier “Tracy” Shen SIGNS

US 2020, 15 min, Director Jason Satterlund

TOPPING OUT

New Zealand/UK 2020, 15 min, Director Kerry Fox

5@5 NIGHT FEVER

5@5 SHORTS

Total Program 91 min

“Listen to the ground. There is movement all around. There is something goin’ down. And I can feel it.” Characters face circumstances that range from challenging to harrowing in this collection of shorts that is both provocative and playful. This collection offers a lot of twists—some fun, some subversive, but none you’re likely to forget anytime soon.

ADELINE, THE GREAT

US 2019, 11 min, Director Jessica Mendez Siqueiros

THE BIRTH ORDER EXPERIMENT

US 2019, 9 min, Director Tom Schroeder

THE COLLECTOR

France 2019, 7 min, Director Godefroy Ryckewaert

FORT IRWIN

US 2019, 11 min, Director Quinn Else

IDEA

Finland 2020, 3 min, Director Olli Huttunen

IT’S WHAT SHE WOULD HAVE WANTED

US 2020, 13 min, Director Nate Trinrud

LITTLE CHIEF

US 2019, 11 min, Director Erica Tremblay

ODE TO THE BEANS (ODA A LOS FRIJOLES)

US 2020, 3 min, Director Karolina Esqueda

STUCCO

US 2019, 17 min, Directors Janina Gavankar, Russo Schelling

WALLY WENDA

US 2020, 5 min, Director Diane Russo

LOVE & TEAMWORK: ANIMATION FOR ALL FAMILY FILMS

Total Program 68 min

Nonverbal and in English. Looking for a small dose of comfort and cheer to counteract the darkness of your news feed? There’s no age restriction on appreciating this charming collection of uplifting animated shorts that highlight the power of love, friendship, and collaboration. It’s also a fun way to share the pure joy of film and storytelling with your youngest family members. Age 5+

FOR ESTEFANI, THIRD GRADE, WHO MADE ME A CARD

US 2020, 3 min, Director Jordan Bruner

THE FOX & THE PIGEON

US 2020, 6 min, Directors Michelle Chua, Aileen Dewhurst, Sharon Gabriella, Viktor Ivanovski, Sang Lee, Tyler Pacana, Sikyung Kevin Sung, Morgan Thompson, Chelsea van Tol, Matt Walton, Steven Wang

THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING

Canada 2018, 22 min, Director Arna Selznick

THE SNAIL AND THE WHALE

UK/Germany 2019, 27 min, Director Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon

WHAT’S MY SUPERPOWER?

Canada 2019, 10 min, Director Neil Christopher, Monica Ittusardjuat

¡VIVA LOS NIÑOS!

FAMILY FILMS |

Total Program 86 min

Nonverbal and in Spanish with English subtitles. MVFF’s ¡Viva el Cine! initiative continues its annual celebration of Spanish-language and Latin American films and stories with this festive collection of shorts for families and younger viewers. These kid-centric animated, narrative, and documentary films are a visual feast for both Spanish and English speakers alike. Age 9+

11:40

Argentina 2018, 12 min, Director Claudia Ruiz

199 LITTLE HEROES: JESUS FROM MEXICO

Germany/Mexico 2018, 6 min, Director Lina Luzyte

AILÍN ON THE MOON (AILÍN EN LA LUNA)

Argentina 2018, 5 min, Director Claudia Ruiz

THE BLUE CAPE (LA CAPA AZUL)

Puerto Rico 2019, 5 min, Director Alejandra López

CHAMPIÑON

Colombia 2017, 8 min, Director Luber Yesid Zuñiga Ordoñez

THE CUBICBIRD (EL PÁJAROCUBO)

Colombia 2019, 9 min, Director Jorge Alberto Vega

GIRASOL

Venezuela 2019, 9 min, Director María Victoria Sánchez

LAND WITHOUT EVIL (TIERRA SIN MAL)

Argentina/Hungary 2017, 4 min, Director Katalin Egely

RAMÓN

Colombia 2020, 8 min, Director Natalia Bernal

SHY & KETCHUP

Chile 2019, 4 min, Director Teresa Romo

SPELLIASMOUS

Cuba/UK 2018, 3 min, Director Ben Garfield

MVFF SHORT BEFORE FEATURE

ABUELOS

US 2020, 9 min, Director Rodrigo Reyes

DOCLANDS SHORTS:

NOTHING BUT THE FACTS!

DOCLANDS |

Total Program 162 min

From remote lands and welcoming cultures, from immigration to innovation—we give you nothing but the facts in this program of DocLands short films!

A MESSAGE FROM THE FUTURE II: THE YEARS OF REPAIR

US 2020, 9 min, Directors Kim Boekbinder, Jim Batt

UNNÚR

US 2019, 16 min, Director Chris Burkard

FROM KURILS WITH LOVE

US 2020, 24 min, Director Taylor Rees

THE ROADS MOST TRAVELED

US 2020, 25 min, Director Bill Wisenski

THE LAST GLACIERS IN YOSEMITE

US 2020, 4 min, Director Alexander Schwartz

DICK OGG: FISHERMAN

US 2019, 9 min, Director Cynthia Abbott

OUT ON A LIMB

Canada 2019, 21 min, Director Jordan Manley

MERWAHI

South Africa 2019, 4 min, Director James Walsh

ONE WORD SAWALMEM

US 2020, 16 min, Directors Natasha Deganello, Michael “Pom” Preston

CALABRIA BY FEEL

US 2020, 9 min, Director Maya Pisciotto

BETWEEN THE NOTES

US 2020, 15 min, Director Jordan Hwang

THE WAY HOME: THE MOST VULNERABLE

US 2020, 10 min, Director Camille Servan-Schreiber

For those looking to be uplifted and inspired, this special, online, international celebration of the premiere of the short film Colette the Artist was just the panacea. This special program included the North American film premiere, a Q&A with special guests, and an art-making workshop where audiences were encouraged to make their own pig art and join in Colette’s online International Pig Art Challenge!

ABOUT THE FILM: Colette is a very special pig who lives in Todos Santos, Mexico. She’s a thinker, a pig-anthropist—and an artist of the world. She’s surrounded by people who love her, like Don Javier, her rescuer, who saved her bacon and recognized her true calling: Colette is an artist! Cubism, installations, conceptual art, video art: Colette has dabbled her trotters in the lot. And now, she’s out to conquer the world—and our hearts.

Directors The Colettivo (Mexico 2020) 14 min

u Watch the COLETTE Special Event

Tom Franco, Artist

MVFF & DOCLANDS CONVERSATIONS

For the past 42 years, we’ve had the pleasure of inviting many brilliantly talented guests to spend time in our house during homes – and what fun we had!