MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL #44 (October 7-17, 2021)

[Chris Knipp]

MVFF44 SHORT FILM PROGRAMS -- IN THEATRES AND VIRTUAL

Finding Where You Belong
We can all feel a little out of place sometimes. But as demonstrated by this delightful collection of animated shorts from around the world, the journey to find where you fit in can be fun and inspiring. When a curious lynx ventures out of its forest lair in A Lynx in the Town (Nina Bisiarina, France/Switzerland 2019, 7 min, nonverbal), the locals don’t quite know what to make of the colossal cat. In Louis’s Shoes (Marion Philippe, Kayu Leung, Théo Jamin, & Jean-Géraud Blanc, France 2020, 5 min, in French with English subtitles), the first day at a new school presents unique challenges to autistic 8½-year-old Louis. When a baby owl hatches amidst a fierce storm in Shooom’s Odyssey (Julien Bisaro, France/Belgium 2019, 26 min, in French with English subtitles), she embarks on a determined quest to find her mother. In Star Bound (Richard O'Connor, US 2020, 3 min, in English), a NASA engineer and his outer space-obsessed six-year-old nephew have an animated chat about why space is so darn cool. Inspired by Thumbelina, Tulip (Andrea Love, Phoebe Wahl, US 2020, 9 min, in English) brings a miniature garden world to life as a tiny flower child tries to find her community. When a grumpy polar bear gets an unexpected visit from a perky brown bear in Blanket (Marina Moshkova, Russia 2020, 6 min, nonverbal), he gets an unexpected lesson in friendship and simple pleasures. And in 1938 Jerusalem in Cinema Rex (Mayan Engelman & Eliran Peled, Israel 2020, 8 min, in Arabic, Hebrew, and English with English subtitles), a Jewish boy and Arab girl transcend language to find a common love for film. Age 5+ – In English and various languages with English subtitles.

From Faeries to Fatalities
This year’s collection of peer-reviewed, youth-produced short films showcases an international cohort of storytellers whose work spans genres. After a long, locked-down year, it’s unsurprising that some of these young filmmakers have leaned toward darker themes, with a fair amount of murder, death, and dystopia—balanced by a dose of social justice, a dash of fairy dust, and a bit of scatological humor. It’s a wild but worthwhile ride! My Best Friend (Benji Tucker, 2020, US 6 min), O.range (Sunday Derham, Australia 2020, 5 min), Spud (Will McDonald & Gavin Bell, US 2021, 5 min), Beyond the Model (Erin Kökdil, US 2020, 5 min), The Black Collective (Roxy Morris, Shiva Kansagara & Sophia Lee, US 2021, 3 min), Jasmine's Book (Ashley Kumar & Chloe Meyer, US 2021, 8 min), Conjugal Revivification (Reed H. Sharp, US 2021, 10 min), Down Seafaring Way (Roxy Morris, Sophia Lee, Shiva Kansagara & Meia Voss, US 2021, 8 min), Distanced (Cassy Callari, US 2021, 1 min), The Puppet (Will Nordstrom, US 2020, 2 min), The Fairy Tale (Seung jae Lee, Korea 2020, 15 min), Faery Houses (Marabee Barry, US 2021, 3 min), Distortion (Verzerrung) (Samuel J Punto, Germany 2021, 7 min), Aw, Sh*t! (Thomas Ian Valencia, US 2021, 4 min), Closing Night (David Camilo Cuevas, Canada, 5 min) Age 13+

The New Environmentalists
The New Environmentalists: From Accra to Eleuthera Island (Mexico 2021, 36 mins, dirs. John Antonelli, Will Parrinello, Matt Yamashita) ​​is the latest in the Mill Valley Film Group’s Emmy Award-winning series, narrated by Robert Redford and featuring inspiring portraits of six passionate and dedicated activists from Myanmar, France, Mexico, Ghana, The Bahamas, and Ecuador. They share a common goal: safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for justice in their communities. These are the true environmental heroes who have placed themselves squarely in harm’s way to battle intimidating adversaries while building strong grassroots support. Directed by John Antonelli, Will Parrinello, and Matt Yamashita. In Anchored Out (US 2021, 25 min) Katie Bernstein and Clara Mokri focus on a vulnerable community known as the anchor-outs who live on boats anchored off the coast in Sausalito, just north of San Francisco. Tule Elk - The Killing of a Native Species (US 2020, 8 min) looks at the heated controversy between conservationists and the National Park Service over the fate of the Tule elk in Point Reyes National Seashore.

The Ocean
“Here come the waves down by the shore, washing the soul of the body that comes from the depth of the sea.” A deep dive into tales where courage, self-confidence, and renewal are front and center. Marianne Farley’s medical thriller Frimas (Canada 2021, 20 min) shows how the commonplace can become forbidden in a dystopian future. Grace Sloan’s Death Valley (US 2021, 11 min) is a fabulous tribute to ’70s science-fiction cinema. Caroline Liviakis’s highly kinetic dance film Boys and Girls (US 2021, 6 min) presents an irresistible battle of wills. There are few words but a ton of emotions, and laughs, in Ariel Iman Rose’s empowerment parable Bolt Cutters Make Great Friends (US 2021, 9 min). And a trans dancer’s efforts to opt out of mandatory military service forces a gutsy confrontation in Byun Sung-bin’s unforgettable God’s Daughter Dances (South Korea 2020, 25 min). This is a collection of films that will definitely stick with you.

Pale Blue Eyes
"If I could make the world as pure and strange as what I see, I'd put you in the mirror I put in front of me.” Suspicious packages found in a small town in Northern California expose a vast network of succulent plant poachers in Plant Heist (US 2020, 17 min) from Chelsi and Gabriel de Cuba. In Anna Kuperberg and Julia Caskey’s Eleven Weeks (US 2020, 14 min), we are witness to a couple’s final conversations in a story that is more about love than death. Matt Klug and Joshua Harding show us how a San Francisco-based chef and his team found a way to bring a new dining experience to life during the pandemic in Going Dark, Finding Light (US 2021, 6 min). As Erin Brethauer and Tim Hussin’s Eric and the Bees (US 2020, 8 min) reveals, when Eric Grandon discovered beekeeping, he had no idea that bees would give him the power to transform both his own life and that of many others. After 25 years as an in-home caregiver, a Midwestern Black woman in her 60s strikes out for San Francisco to restart her music career in My Little Hilton (US 2020, 12 min) by Kevin Duncan Wong and Todd Sills.

Some Kind of Love
“Between thought and expression lies a lifetime. Situations arise because of the weather.” These wonderful stories explore the intersection of creativity, loss, and embracing the unknown. Eric Roberts (Runaway Train) stars in Matthew Avery Berg’s Marked (US 2021, 12 min), about a tattoo artist who encounters a blast from his past. The complex relationship between artist and muse is the foundation of Erin Whited-Ford’s powerful The Wild Woman and the Painter (US 2021, 17 min). A playful spirit and local color bring life to the beautiful watercolor-style animation of Laura Margulies' Blue Cooler (US 2021, 8 min). In Jay Kamal’s touching Baba (Canada 2021, 14 min), a young boy must navigate traditions and obligations at his Muslim father’s funeral. And an archeologist must decipher a mysterious code at a dig, sending her down a historical wormhole, in Giulio Callegari’s truly unpredictable Erratum (France 2020, 19 min). Expect the unexpected with this formidable set of stories.

Spread Your Wings and Fly
Figuring out who we are and what matters to us most is a lifelong practice that inevitably starts in our youth. In this grab bag of narrative, documentary, and animated shorts, meet a captivating group of real and fictional young characters who are finding their voice, their purpose, their values—and their wings. Prepare for take-off! In Golden Age Karate (Sindha Agha, US 2021, 5 min), Jeff Wall is a teenage martial-arts pro excited to share his passion for the dojo with an unlikely group of students: senior citizens. When a baby owl gets pushed from her nest in the animated Try to Fly (The Affolter Brothers, Canada 2020, 8 min), it triggers a darkly comic existential crisis that takes her from anxiety to ambition in rapid succession. Set in 1999 Novato, Furthest From (Kyung Sok Kim, US 2020, 19 min) tells the story of two best friends who must embrace change but separate from each other when their trailer park is evacuated due to a water contamination crisis. Are You Okay? (Ryan Cannon, US 2021, 9 min) addresses the rampant problem of cyber-bullying, highlighting the positive impact bystanders can have by simply reaching out to support their peers. In the cleverly animated Matilda and the Spare Head (Ignas Meilūnas, Lithuania 2020, 13 min, in Lithuanian with English subtitles), a drive to be the smartest person in the world leads Matilda and her mom to the misguided conclusion that two heads would actually be better than one. In Generation Impact: The Coder (Samantha Knowles, US 2021, 7 min), meet 13-year-old Jay Jay Patton, who designed and built a mobile app to help kids send photos and letters to their incarcerated parents. Kata (James Latimer, Japan 2021, 7 min, in Japanese with English subtitles) introduces us to the incredible spirit and unique talent of tween Mahiro Takano, a national karate champion in Japan. Finally, in Rise Up (Bryan Buckley, US 2021, 8 min, in various languages with English subtitles), hear from 12 inspiring children from around the world who address the question of who the definitive role models for mankind are today (we’re pretty sure it’s them). Age 9+ – In English and various languages with English subtitles.

There She Goes Again
“Not take a look, there’s no tears in her eyes. Like a bird, you know she would fly.” These wonderfully diverse stories from female filmmakers demonstrate how certain impulses—to grow, change, want—are indeed universal. A young woman finds her agency slipping away when it comes to an arranged marriage in Suzannah Mirghani’s beautiful Al-Sit (Sudan/Qatar 2020, 20 min). Internal anxiety about creating a family forces a woman to question her own personal history in Ashley Paige Brim’s The Goldfish (US 2021, 17 min). A meditation on her daughter and the elusiveness of memory grounds Lynne Sachs’s lovely Maya at 24 (US 2021, 4 min). Holiday tensions between father and daughter loom over efforts to reconcile the past in Suzanne Lenz and Tom Bean's Christmas Eve Eve or: The Things I Can’t Remember (US 2020, 14 min). And an ad hoc therapy “session” allows a teenage girl to process a host of epiphanies about herself and her high school in C. Fraser Press’s enchanting Too Many Buddhas (US 2021, 14 min). Perceptive, beautiful, and engaging stories that you won’t want to miss.

MVFF44 SHORT FILM PROGRAMS – VIRTUAL ONLY
Lunafest
LUNAFEST features seven short films. Overexposed (Holly Morris, Santa Fe, NM, 12 min): A behind-the-scenes look at the film team that captured the daring story of the Women’s Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition. Knocking Down the Fences (Meg Shutzer, Oakland, CA, 12 min): AJ Andrews, the first woman to win a Rawlings Gold Glove Award, struggles to make it as one of the best professional softball players in the world. A Line Birds Cannot See (Amy Bench, Austin, TX, 9 min): Separated at the border, a 12-year-old sets out on a harrowing journey to the U.S. to find her mother. The Scientists Versus Dartmouth (Sharon Shattuck, Brooklyn, NY, 14 min): A young neuroscientist and her colleagues make a life-changing de- cision to speak up for women in science everywhere. Until She Is Free (Maria Finitzo, Chicago, IL, 14 min): Mixed-media artist Sophia Wallace, best known for her viral project Cliteracy, imagines a world where all people are equal and able to live with rich possibility and purpose. Connection (Ciara Lacy, Honolulu, HI, & Portland, OR, and Tracy Nguyen-Chung, Los Angeles, CA, 8 min): A lifelong angler, Autumn Harry had never fished beyond the waters of her reservation—until she picked up a fly rod. Betye Saar: Taking Care of Business (Christine Turner, Brooklyn, NY, 8 min): At 93, there’s no stopping when it comes to this legendary artist.

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[Chris Knipp]

The Mill Valley Film Festival is on (Oct. 7-17, 2021). You will find capsule reviews of some of the films in the Filmleaf Festival Coverage section HERE. Fuller reviews are coming.

Opening night film CYRANO by Joe Wright with Peter Dinklage got glowing reviews in Variety and Hollywood Reporter, and a couple of more qualified ones. Metascore (from 5 reviews) so far 75%.

[Chris Knipp]

More Mill Valley. . .


JULIA (Julie Cohen, Betsy West 2021)
All about Julia Child, author of the seminal Mastering the Art of French Cooking and an icon who taught generations of Americans how to take the kitchen and food seriously. Full of bubbly joie de vivre, just like Julia, this film does her justice.
This documentary comes out Nov. 5, 2021 in US theaters. I don't know if I will review it, but if you like Julia Child or cooking programs, you will want to see it. It made me smile a lot.

BECOMING COUSTEAU (Liz Garbus 2021)

A conventional and somewhat offical portrait but a richly illustrated one of the immensely famous Frenchman whose "Undersea World" TV series eventually led to his early, intense petitioning of the world to stop polluting the sea, his early alarms of global warming that made him important at Rio 1992. My elderly French neighbor thinks that Cousteau was a very bad boy in his later days, and you might look at it that way. He messed around.

This documentary comes to US heaters Oct. 22 and my full review will appear at that time.

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (Todd Haynes 2021)

The most beautiful music documentary I've ever seen, a pure work of art. Use of split- and multiple-screen is a delight to the eye, elegant, and packs in a lot of visual information. But still leaves room for future docs about this seminal but under-documented sixties band with more detail about the music and the emotional clashes and the later accomplishments of the band members.

VELVET UNDERGROUND opens in selected US theaters on Friday (Oct. 15, 2021), and my full-length review of it will appear on Thursday. This is a superb documentary about the seminal late 1960's rock band with lead singer Lou Reed and lead composer John Cale, which was under the wing of Andy Warhol and his Factory.