2009 Souvenir Program Guide - California Film Institute

In the 1960s there was a popular saying, “You
can’t trust anyone over 30.” When it comes to
the Mill Valley Film Festival, however, that fl atly
isn’t the case. In our role as “trusted curator,”
the Mill Valley Film Festival has been recognized
both here and abroad for the depth and breadth
of its innovative and consistently excellent programming,
and—now a genuine 30something—
continues to focus on bringing the highest caliber
fi lms to our loyal, spirited audiences. Will our
32nd MVFF result in discoveries like Slumdog
Millionaire, which last year screened at Telluride,
Toronto and Mill Valley? Who knows, but isn’t the
search for discovery a reward in itself?
Bay Area fi lmmakers have been an integral part
of our vision from the Festival’s inception, of
course, and this year is no exception. From the
astounding concentration of gifted fi lmmakers
here in our little corner of the world, the Mill Valley
Film Festival continues to showcase the best
of Bay Area fi lmmaking. The 35 Bay Area–centered
fi lms represented this year include Imbued,
the new work from American independent–fi lm
icon and MVFF stalwart Rob Nilsson (and featuring
the great Stacy Keach); a lyrical and local
meditation on music and devotion called
Miracle in a Box: A Piano Reborn, the latest
from West Marin’s Academy Award–winning
fi lmmaker John Korty; Michael Anderson’s moving
dramatic feature Tenderloin, fi lmed on location
in the heart of the titled neighborhood; a
crucial world premiere exposé of the pressures
faced by our country’s school children in Vicki
Abeles’ Race to Nowhere; and still another riveting
and timely account in Rick Goldsmith and Judy
Ehrlich’s inspiring documentary-cum–political
thriller, The Most Dangerous Man in America:
Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.
This year’s Festival opens with two incredibly
powerful and poignant fi lms. Scott Hicks’ The
Boys Are Back is impressive in its humanity and
vision, being at once exhilarating, deeply moving
and unfl inchingly humorous in its look at the
travails and joys of a newly widowed single father
(warmly embodied by our Spotlight honoree
Clive Owen). MVFF is also leading off with Precious:
Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire,
in which director Lee Daniels bravely tackles diffi
cult subject matter with an uplifting honesty and
humanity, bringing his insightful vision to those
too easily overlooked in our society, and reveal-
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ing the beautiful and resilient soul residing there.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance
Film Festival, Precious promises to be one of
this year’s defi ning fi lms and we’re honored to
showcase it. Our Closing Night fi lms include Ken
Loach’s wonderful new soccer-centric workingclass
dramedy, Looking for Eric, which recently
scored points with audiences at Cannes; as well
as The Young Victoria, a sharp and contemporaryfeeling
fi lm featuring an indelible performance by
Emily Blunt as the teenage queen.
We are proud to honor three exceptional actors
with Tributes this year. The Tributes are a complete
evening’s entertainment, including career
clip-reels, onstage interviews, fi lm screenings
and sparkling receptions with our guests. Uma
Thurman, who has delighted audiences worldwide
for over 20 years, will be honored and feted
in conjunction with a screening of her new fi lm,
Motherhood. Also this year comes our Tribute
to Woody Harrelson, a gifted, dynamic actor
who invests the most varied of roles and fi lms
with exceptional truth and heart. Accompanying
Harrelson’s Tribute will be a screening of his powerful
new fi lm, The Messenger. As we were going
to print, we learned that our Tributee, legendary
French New Wave icon Anna Karina, is unable
to join us due to a recent accident. She will join
us for her Tribute in Spring 2010, at a precise
time to be announced. In the meantime, the Festival
will go forward with the North American premiere
of her new fi lm, Victoria, which she wrote,
directed and stars in. Her producer, Héjer Charf,
will attend the screening. MVFF is also screening
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
WELCOME TO THE 32nd MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL
Pierrot le fou, Karina’s 1965 collaboration with
then-husband Jean-Luc Godard.
Other highlights include two Spotlight programs,
each a not-to-be-missed evening of festivities.
Our Spotlight on Clive Owen begins with retrospective
clips and an onstage interview, followed
by a screening of his breakout fi lm Croupier and
a reception with the actor and invited guests. In
honor of his contribution to the art of cinema,
Owen will be presented with the Mill Valley Film
Festival award. In our second Spotlight program,
the MVFF award will also be presented this year
to Jason Reitman, who at 32 already has two
Academy Award nominations under his belt: Best
Director and Best Motion Picture (Juno, 2007).
Of Reitman’s bold and deeply felt new fi lm, which
will screen as part of this year’s program, Anne
Thompson of Variety predicts, “Up in the Air will
fl y,” and aptly notes that as “awards season beckons—this
one’s in the hunt.”
During the next 11 days, you’ll have the opportunity
to view features, shorts, documentaries,
panels, workshops, special programs, Spotlights
and Tributes. You will be transported to different
countries, different time periods, different homes
and homelands. There are some 41 countries
represented in over 140 fi lms. I am proud of the
fact that the Mill Valley Film Festival has a reputation
for a well-balanced range of fi lms, with something
for everyone; a good fi lm can affect the way
we look at ourselves, each other and the world.
It’s with that truth always in mind that the Festival
has earned its audience’s trust, even as it inches
past that old 30-year peg. So sit back and enjoy
the fl ight!
I would like to thank everyone who has played
a part in making our 32nd MVFF possible: our
generous donors and sponsors, our dedicated
staff, our Board of Directors, our hard-working
volunteers and, most of all, the extraordinary artists
who share their work with us.
MARK FISHKIN
MVFF Founder-Director
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