The Mill Valley Film Festival swoops in this week looking to surpass everyone’s expectations.
But it seems to that every year.
The over-achieving annual event has a knack for landing films, filmmakers and celebrities that would not be out of place at Cannes, Venice or Sundance. This year is no different.
Just take a look at what’s on tap during MVFF’s Oct. 2-12 run:
A Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to one of our foremost filmmakers, Spike Lee (Oct. 11).
There are celebrity-studded Spotlights aplenty: Rose Byrne in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”; Tonatiuh in “Kiss of the Spiderwoman”; Zoey Deutch in Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague”; former Bay Area resident Eva Victor in “Sorry, Baby”; Joel Edgerton, star of the Sundance fave “Train Dreams”; and the unforgettable Jessie Buckley from “Hamnet,” the fest’s opener that’s guaranteed to not leave one dry eye in the house.
There’s more: A tribute to celebrated Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi for his consummate masterpiece “It Was Just an Accident”; a Centerpiece showing of the rousing, fan-focused “Metallica Saved My Life, which brings Metallica co-founder and one of the Bay Area’s most ardent movie buffs Lars Ulrich to the stage for a screening; and an appearance by Palo Alto-born “Wicked: For Good” director Jon M. Chu, who will talk about how he crafts big-screen magic.
In between opening night showings of Oscar winner Chloé Zhao’s heart-wrenching take on Maggie O’Farrell’s cherished novel “Hamnet” and screenwriter and director Hikari’s Oscar-hopeful “Rental Family,” with Oscar winner Brendan Fraser, as the closing night selection, there will be an impressive lineup of events and films, making this one of the best and biggest Bay Area entertainment events of the year.
Here are 14 films, some with Bay Area connections, we recommend.
“The Alabama Solution”: Directors Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman expose the horrendous conditions of unjust treatment of incarcerated men in Alabama’s broken state prison system. Using contraband video shot furtively on the inside, “The Alabama Solution” is a powerful piece of investigative journalism and a call for action. Screenings: 4 p.m. Oct. 3 at BAMPFA; 11:45 a.m. Oct. 4 at Smith Rafael Center.
“Charliebird”: Libby Ewing’s heartfelt debut concerns a transformative friendship between a musical therapist (Samantha Smart, who wrote the screenplay) and a hospitalized 17-year-old patient (Gabriela Ochoa Perez) who is able to pierce through her new friend’s emotional armor. It’s a tender story about healing and coping with the pain and joy life hands us. Screenings: 4 p.m. Oct. 4 and 6 p.m. Oct. 6, both at Smith Rafael Center.
“André Is an Idiot”: Irreverent San Franciscan André Ricciardi scoffs at advice for getting a colonoscopy then receives a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Director Tony Benna’s life-affirming documentary inventively chronicles the marketing whiz’s limited time with family and friends. It sounds like a downer, but Benna finds tears and laughter out of a terminal situation. Screenings: 8 p.m. Oct. 6 at Sequoia Cinema; 3 p.m. Oct. 9 at Smith Rafael Center.
“Blue Moon”: Ethan Hawke sounds every booze-soaked note to perfection as talented, often inebriated Broadway legend Lorenz Hart, who — as depicted in Richard Linklater’s chamber piece – was his own worst enemy. Hart’s neuroses spill all over the place at famed theater district eatery Sardis when his Broadway musical partner Richard Rodgers’ (played here by Andrew Scott) walks in and gets showered with praise for “Oklahoma!” It bustles with witty lines. Screenings: 7 p.m. Oct. 7 at Sequoia Cinema; 1 p.m. Oct. 8 at Smith Rafael Center.
“The Secret Agent”: Kleber Mendonça Filho’s epic crackles with ambition as it reflects both the cruelty and beauty of life in 1977 Brazil. Centering on Marcel (an unforgettable Wagner Moura), and his double-life as a professor and a fugitive, this magnificent work is also a Valentine to moviemaking (“Jaws” fans, in particular, will eat it up) and a powerful statement on the our need to respect, value and protect the past and family stories. Screenings: 6 p.m. Oct. 3 at Sequoia Cinema; 11:15 a.m. Oct. 5 at Smith Rafael Center.
“Love+War”: Oscar winners Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi carry on as the go-to team for profiling groundbreakers who risk all to achieve greatness. This time the married duo behind “Free Solo” and “Nyad” hone in on fearless Pulitzer Prize-winning American photojournalist Lynsey Addario who stares down sexism and jumps at the chance to venture into dangerous war zones and humanitarian crisis hotspots. Screenings: 7 p.m. Oct. 4 at Smith Rafael Center; 8 p.m. Oct. 7 at Sequoia Cinema.
“Brother Verses Brother”: Equal parts ode to dysfunctional families and a love song to San Francisco, this musical drama sweeps you off your feet from the start as twin brothers Ari and Ethan Gold embark on a one-take stroll through the city’s landmark streets and bars. Fact and fiction commingle as the siblings — one a moody creative sort (Ethan) and the other a gabby entertainer (Ari) — try to score a gig during this ambling 24-hour spree that coincides with their revered novelist dad Herbert’s final birthday. Francis Ford Coppola executive produces this sparkling delight. Screenings: 8 p.m. Oct. 5 and 3 p.m. Oct. 7 at Sequoia Cinema.
“Metallica Saved My Life”: One of the Bay Area’s most iconic bands hands the mic to its most ardent fans by offering them a major platform to expound upon their fierce loyalty to the band and how Metallica’s music and band members have enriched their lives. In a sea of music documentaries, this fresh approach appeals to fans, of course, but it provides an uplifting message about finding a community that opens its arms wide to everyone. We all could use that. Screening: 6 p.m. Oct. 9 at Sequoia Cinema; 3 p.m. Oct. 10 at Smith Rafael Center.
“Sirāt”: The more left unsaid about director Oliver Laxe’s fourth mind-blower the better. It starts like a traditional thriller as a father and son search for a missing woman spotted at a rave in the Moroccan desert. The two tag along with some of the ravers, and then something happens that throws a stick of dynamite to the screen. Expect an Oscar nod for this daring, exciting and unconventional film. Screening: 3:30 p.m. Oct. 5 and 4:30 p.m. Oct. 7 at Smith Rafael Center.
“Diamond Diplomacy”: Fans of the San Francisco Giants and sports in generalwon’t want to miss Yuriko Gamo Romer’s look at how a love of baseball shaped relationships between Japan and America. Romer covers a lot — the first baseball game in Japan, how the San Francisco Seals figured into all of this, World War II, Japanese interment camps, the Giants, and more. Best of all, there are the reflections of some of the trailblazing Japanese players — including Masanori “Mashi” Murakami — the first Japanese player on an American team, the S.F. Giants. Murakami is slated to appear. Screening: 3:30 p.m. Oct. 3 and 12:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at Sequoia Cinema.
“It Was Just an Accident”: A mechanic scarred forever by a traumatic event suspects that a customer might well be the cruel officer who abused him and others. Seeking to confirm this, he kidnaps the man and seeks the consul of others. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has given us perhaps his best film, and maybe the best film of 2025. Screenings: 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at Smith Rafael Center; 2 p.m. Oct. 11 at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
“Roads of Fire”: Nathaniel Lezra’s eye-opener on the migration crisis provides humanity in a complex, fraught topic and takes a three prong view. First by shadowing a refugee smuggler and some refugees preparing to trek through the treacherous Darién Gap rainforest. Second, by following an asylum-seeking mom in New York hoping to stay far away from an abusive husband. And finally, by surveying the harsh reality faced by tireless humanitarian volunteers who know firsthand about failures in the system. It’s a must watch. Screenings: Noon Oct. 1 at Sequoia Cinema; 4 p.m. Oct. 11 at Smith Rafael Center.
“The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo”: A plague that’s spread by staring into an afflicted person’s eyes serves as an effective parable to the AIDS crisis and opens the door for Chilean filmmaker Diego Céspedes to dapple in magical realism for his shapeshifting directorial debut — a metaphorical and often humorous endeavor set in a remote tiny 1982 Chilean mining town. It is there that members of a resilient and tight-knit queer community find a home at a cabaret that’s popular with lusty townsfolk — some filled with fear or with a lonely ache to fill. You never know where Céspedes will take his story and that’s what makes “Gaze” so exciting and invigorating. Screenings: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 8 and 8 p.m. Oct. 11 at Smith Rafael Center.
“A Private Life”: Jodie Foster cements her rep as one of our best living actors in French director/co-screenwriter Rebecca Zlotowski’s fun and very, very intelligent neo-noir, wherein a psychiatrist (Foster) gets all Nancy Drew and tries to suss out whether the death of one of her patients is a murder. She’s aided in her sleuthing by her ex-hubby (a charming Daniel Auteuil). There are many layers that get peeled back in this wise film. Screenings: 8 p.m. Oct. 4 and 5 p.m. Oct. 10 at Sequoia Cinema.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.
MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL
When: Oct. 2-12
Where: Various theaters, including the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Center, the Sequoia Cinema in Mill Valley, the Lark in Larkspur and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive