The Mill Valley Film Festival – now getting ready to serve up year No. 42 in Mill Valley, San Rafael and Larkspur – is more than just a ten-day buffet of internationally curated cinematic gems. Since the acclaimed festival just happens to take place in early October, at the start of Academy Award season, the…
Every holiday has its own traditions, and watching certain holiday-themed movies has long been part of many family’s annual observations of Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and others. Easter is no exception. As practiced in America (and many other Western countries), Easter has become an especially odd blend of sacred and secular, as some approach the…
I’ve been covering the San Francisco International Film Festival for over ten years now, so long that it’s changed its name. Now it’s known as the SFFILM Festival and it’s running now through April 23 at a variety of venues in the Bay Area. My day began with a “check-in” at the Festival Lounge. This…
OUTwatch, the wine country film festival dedicated to cinema that shows the fabulous, rich diversity of the LGBTQI experience, opens this Friday, October 12. Now in its sixth year, the Festival will be presenting seven films over three days at the Rialto Cinemas in Sebastopol. This year, in addition to their slate of films, they’ve added…
To a vast number of local film fans, the annual Mill Valley Film Festival is like a 10-day-long Roman feast, a cinematic bacchanal in which roasted pigs and hand-peeled grapes have been metaphorically substituted with movies, movies and more movies. Running through mid-October, the 2018 MVFF—now in its 41st year—will screen more than 200 movies…
Local vintner Robert Mark Kamen of Sonoma’s Kamen Estate Wines also happens to be one of Hollywood’s most successful screenwriters. Kamen, who back in 1979 took the money from his first script sale and invested it in Sonoma property, is responsible for three extremely successful film series – The Transporter series starring Jason Statham the…
I’ve been covering the San Francisco International Film Festival for ten years now for another web site. I’ve screened, reviewed and discussed well over one hundred films – some great, some good, and some real clunkers – and conducted numerous interviews over those ten years. This year’s festival, the 61st, runs April 4 through April…
