Tthe 34th annual Mill Valley Film Festival opens tonight with Jeff Who Lives at Home, directed by Jay and Mark Duplass. The filmmakers will attend the 7:15 p.m. screening at the Sequoia Theatre in Mill Valley, Calif.
Also this evening, Glenn Close will appear at a screening of Albert Nobbs. That event begins at 7 p.m. at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center.
For the next 10 days, the MVFF will host over 200 filmmakers from around the globe who will be presenting feature films, documentaries, and shorts, including several U.S. and world premieres.
The festival's centerpiece film, My Week With Marilyn, is based on the memoirs of Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), who gets a job as an assistant on The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) fresh out of college. Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) and Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) work out their artistic differences.
Director Simon Curtis will appear at the October 11 screening.
The Artist closes the MVFF on Sunday, October 16 (see trailer HERE)
French director Michel Hazanavicius preternaturally channels the rhythm and feel of the Hollywood silent era with his playful but affectionate film, The Artist.
On one level, the film tells a love story about rising starlet Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) and silent star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), who is world famous and full of swagger, but unprepared for the talkie revolution.
On another level, The Artist is a profound mediation about sound on film, like John Cage’s 4'33".
The Artist incorporates mostly silent film conventions. Music was recorded by the Flanders Philharmonic in Brussels – an orchestra composed of 50 strings, 8 horns, and 5 percussionists, not to mention a substantial technical staff.
In preparing the music score, Hazanavicius had Ludovic Bource listen to film composers Max Steinerand Franz Waxman. Bource also listened to the composers that had influenced them: Prokofiev, Debussy and Ravel.
Cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman matches the ambitious music score frame for frame with his exquisite black-and-white camera work.
The Artist is pure cinematic joy, an original vision that should not be missed.
Actor Jean Dujardin (awarded Cannes Film Festival Best Actor for The Artist), Director Michel Hazanavicius and Actress Berenice Bejo will attend Closing Night screenings on Sunday, October 16.
For more information on tickets, films, and playdates, see the 34th Mill Valley Film Festival.
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