Paula FarmerCA,
Despite the devastating fires taking place just north of Marin County, where the Mill Valley Film Festival takes place, this year’s festival forged ahead to celebrate its 40th anniversary. They also made a valid point to remember their neighbors facing ...
Director Yorgos Lanthimos is the latest buzzed auteur provocateur.
George Wu
In the contemporary footsteps of Michael Haneke, Gaspar Noe, and Lars von Trier and the more distant lineage of Luis Bunuel and Pier Paolo Pasolini comes Greek Yorgos Lanthimos as the latest buzzed auteur provocateur. His ...
Paula FarmerCA,
When the Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) gets underway this year on October 5th, it will mark a bit of a milestone as it will be turning the BIG 4-0. As such, special celebrations are to be expected, not least ...
A dark comedy about a narcissistic college dropout.
Jenna MundoSan Francisco,
https://vimeo.com/littlehandproductions/suicidetrailer
Filmmaker and actress Molly Ratermann is not afraid to take on the tough topics. This Bay Area native has been winning film festivals around the globe with her dark comedy short film, “Suicide.” Most recently, she screened it ...
Toba Singer
“Whose Streets?” by Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis, is a documentary film about the aftermath of the August 2014 gunning down of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old Black youth, by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson Missouri. The co-directors decided ...
Toba Singer
“It’s like a play within a play,” Nate (Finn Wittrock) observes halfway through “Landline.” He’s the clever, charming, and handsome interloper from Dana’s (Jennie Slate) past. He insinuates himself into the traditions of what she describes when she proclaims ...
An honest, intimate look at the end of a ballerina's career.
Michael Wade Simpson
Wendy Whelan was one of the celebrated ballet dancers in the New York City Ballet. until her retirement in 2014. She danced leading roles in many of the classic Balanchine and Robbins works that form the basis for ...
Renata PoltSan Francisco,
When I wrote an article on Jewish film festivals for Hadassah magazine 14 years ago, the San Francisco Jewish film festival was the oldest and the largest anywhere.
Of course it's still the oldest; and--guess what?--it's still the largest.
...
Toba Singer
“Moka” is a revenge thriller tendering a compact story that traverses Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). Some of its action plays out on the lake’s French bank in the city of Évian-les-Bains, and the rest in the Swiss city of Lausanne. ...
A documentary about the extraordinary Gertrude Bell.
Renata Polt
Everybody has heard of T. E. Lawrence--"Lawrence of Arabia"--adventurer, explorer, expert on what's now called the Middle East. Certainly every movie-goer has seen Peter O'Toole in flowing white robes, riding through the wide-angle desert with his coterie of Arab ...
