It’s been less than 10 years since Mikey Madison made her feature debut at 16, playing the titular lead in American indie Liza, Liza: Skies Are Grey. Since then she has continued to build her career with notable roles as Pamela Adlon’s daughter in the FX series Better Things, Manson Family member Sadie in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, the Ghostface killer in the latest iteration of Scream, and most recently, as Natalie Portman’s friend in the Apple+ crime series Lady in the Lake. But she has created her biggest splash and put herself in awards season contention with her vibrant role as a sex worker involved with an oligarch’s son in Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning Anora.
Our spotlight on Mikey Madison and Anora includes honoring her with an MVFF Award, marking the latest step in a burgeoning and brilliant career.
Anora:The winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Sean Baker’s latest indie marvel explores a familiar subject from the writer-director—the lives of sex workers—but in a far more propulsive and, ultimately, heartbreaking manner. Mikey Madison delivers a breakthrough performance as Anora, a New Yorker working at a strip club, who meets and impulsively weds young, rich Russian Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn). Anora’s Cinderella story seems destined for a happy ending until Ivan’s corrupt oligarch father sends his goons to annul the marriage. As it segues from screwball comedy to one-crazy-night thriller, Anora offers further proof that the auteur behind The Florida Project (MVFF40) and Red Rocket (MVFF44) has a distinctive perspective on those residing on the margins of American society, who fight to stay afloat while trying to reach their dreams. So hilarious, yet so sad—swooningly romantic, yet so sobering—the film is powered by Madison’s comedic, gripping turn. Few characters this year are more messily alive or more ferociously rendered.
IN PERSON: Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofia Gascón, Adriana Paz, and Edgar Ramirez
Can a radical transformation change one’s destiny? Jacques Audiard’s (Dheepan, MVFF36) narco trans musical explores this question with a unique, wonderful blend: crime-thriller-meets-exuberant-musical, complete with production numbers. Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz star in this story of ruthless cartel boss Manitas Del Monte, who hires lawyer Rita Moro Castro (Saldaña) to manage his sex change to become Emilia Pérez (Gascón) while his family relocates to Switzerland. Awarded Cannes’ best actress jury prize for its ensemble, the film brings women to the forefront of the traditionally male-dominated gangster movie. Audiard enhances the genre’s visual and tonal hallmarks with a liberating sense of expression through song and dance, making Emilia Pérez a standout in contemporary cinema with its engaging and compelling narrative and stellar performances. —João Federici
With an extraordinary acting ensemble and an astute sense of cinema, Malcolm Washington’s memorable directing debut continues his father Denzel Washington’s (Fences) project of adapting playwright August Wilson’s work to the screen. Set in 1936 during the depths of the Great Depression, Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning story of siblings battling over legacy is riveting. Boy Willie (the director’s brother John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman), a sharecropper, wants to sell an heirloom piano in order to buy land that his family once worked as slaves. But his sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler, Till, MVFF45) insists on keeping the instrument, which is embellished with images carved by their enslaved great-grandfather of his wife and son. The inimitable Samuel L. Jackson costars as their Uncle Doaker, who attempts to mediate the dispute but is disturbed by ghosts of the past in this beautifully rendered, searing drama exploring identity, birthright, and generational trauma.
The Piano Lesson:
With an extraordinary acting ensemble and an astute sense of cinema, Malcolm Washington’s memorable directing debut continues his father Denzel Washington’s (Fences) project of adapting playwright August Wilson’s work to the screen. Set in 1936 during the depths of the Great Depression, Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning story of siblings battling over legacy is riveting. Boy Willie (the director’s brother John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman), a sharecropper, wants to sell an heirloom piano in order to buy land that his family once worked as slaves. But his sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler, Till, MVFF45) insists on keeping the instrument, which is embellished with images carved by their enslaved great-grandfather of his wife and son. The inimitable Samuel L. Jackson costars as their Uncle Doaker, who attempts to mediate the dispute but is disturbed by ghosts of the past in this beautifully rendered, searing drama exploring identity, birthright, and generational trauma.
Danielle Deadwyler began her career in native Atlanta on stage before making her screen debut in A Cross to Bear (2012). Over the next decade, she acted in both features and shorts, as well as television series, where she recurred in the long-running series To Have and Have Not, was a series regular on Paradise Lost (2020), and starred in two miniseries Station 11 (2021–22) and From Scratch (2022). Her feature films include The Harder They Fall (2021), I Saw the TV Glow (2024), and Till (2022), a film honored at MVFF45 and for which she received BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for her riveting performance as Emmett Till’s mother Mamie.
The Festival throws the spotlight on Danielle Deadwyler and honors her with an MVFF Award for her latest triumphant role in The Piano Lesson.
Party at Tam Commons and Taproom and Kitchen, San Rafael
Unstoppable
Oscar®-winning film editor William Goldenberg makes an indelible directing debut with this thrilling underdog sports drama focused on the life of wrestler Anthony Robles. Jharrel Jerome (Moonlight, MVFF39; I’m a Virgo) stars as Robles, introduced as a high school senior whose record ought to have college wrestling programs scrambling to recruit him. But the teen was born with one leg and the wrestling powerhouses pass on him. Ultimately, he chooses to walk on at Arizona State University and compete for a non-scholarship spot. Balancing wrestling, school, a job in airplane maintenance, and support of his younger siblings and mother (Jennifer Lopez) as she navigates an abusive relationship with his prison-guard stepfather (Bobby Cannavale) is a challenge, but Robles strives to attain his goal to not just wrestle but win a national championship. Michael Peña and Don Cheadle offer empathetic support as his coaches in an electrifying film that, like its hero, has the heart of a champion.
IN PERSON: Director Michael Gracey and lead actor Jonno Davies
Better Man:
Two decades before Harry Styles, there was Robbie Williams drawing the map Styles followed from boy-band fame to solo superstardom. This exuberant musical biopic charts Williams’ journey as a child raised to worship at the altar of Frank Sinatra who finds his own voice first as a teenager with Take That and later as a solo artist. No hagiography, the drama frankly portrays the addictions and demons that accompany Williams’ rise to acclaim as well as the impostor syndrome that vividly manifests as he performs. The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey’s sophomore feature contrasts Williams’ personal struggles with the absolute joy of his music, adding to the mix of recording sessions, club dates, arena shows, and extravagant and irresistible song-and-dance sequences. But the film’s biggest strengths are in its unconventional approach to an artist’s life, and Jonno Davies’ soulful, cheeky, and self-lacerating performance that proves he is, indeed, a “better man,” as is Williams himself.
Payal Kapadia is a Mumbai-based filmmaker and MVFF47 Mind the Gap Award winner. She studied film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India. Her short films Afternoon Clouds (2017) and And What Is The Summer Saying (2018) premiered, respectively, at the Cinéfondation and the Berlinale. Her first feature film A Night of Knowing Nothing premiered at Cannes 2021 Directors’ Fortnight, where it won the Golden Eye. Her second feature film and narrative debut, All We Imagine as Light, won the Grand Prix at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Crafted with visual poetry and emotional empathy, this 2024 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner from MVFF Mind the Gap Award honoree Payal Kapadia shines a light on three nurses as they negotiate love and life in the teeming Mumbai metropolis. Prabha has a husband living overseas, her younger roommate Anu is carrying on a secret relationship with a Muslim boy, and Parvati plans to leave the big city after her husband dies. Without the support of men, these women forge bonds of mutual support while dispensing much-needed information and advice to their female patients. Cinematographer Ranabir Das tracks their days from work to home with a shimmering beauty, especially in the nighttime scenes. As the film moves from city to country in its second half, the women’s relationships shift and deepen as Kapadia finds the small but wondrous epiphanies in everyday lives.
Come and enjoy some fresh air and fresh ideas with filmmakers, friends, festival staff, and cinephiles during this hour long hike to the ocean through beautiful terrain. Exchange ideas on filmmaking, filmmaker resources, activism, and strategies for engagement. Bring water and sunblock, and wear good hiking shoes. All welcome! Meet at Tennessee Valley Trailhead parking lot.
After last year’s popular panel covering Virtual Production, local sponsor iodyne Pro Data returns with a second annual tech panel interviewing some of the innovators in the arts and sciences of filmmaking.
Join our panel of industry experts who collaborate with filmmakers, exhibitors, distributors, and technical professionals to ensure that the films we cherish—including documentaries, American independent productions, and world cinema—not only survive but thrive well into the 21st century and beyond.
Invited guests: Producer Albert Berger (Election, Cold Mountain, Little Miss Sunshine, Nebraska); Barbara Twist, Executive Director of the Film Festival Alliance and former General Manager of The Art House Project (AHP); plus more.
Moderator: California Film Institute Executive Director Mark Fishkin
Adam Elliot grew up on a shrimp farm in southern Australia and went on to study at Victorian College of the Arts, where he began a trilogy of award-winning short films, Uncle (1996), Cousin (1999), and Brother (2000). His other shorts include Harvie Krumpet (2003), for which he won a Best Animated Short Oscar® and Ernie Biscuit (2015). He made his feature debut with Mary and Max (2009), winner of a Crystal Bear Special Mention at the Berlin International Film Festival, an Australian Directors Guild Award for Best Direction in a Feature Film, and the Cristal Award for Best Feature at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. For his latest feature, Memoir of a Snail, Elliot becomes the first animation director to receive an MVFF Award.
Memoir of a Snail:
Director Adam Elliot’s exquisitely crafted, beautifully scripted stop-motion animation geared to an adult audience is a basket of wonders, from Elena Kats-Chernin’s brilliant musical score to the voiceover talents of Australian luminaries Sarah Snook (Succession), Eric Bana (Full Frontal), and Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog, MVFF44). It’s Australia, 1970s. Life is no bowl of cherries for young Grace Pudel and her twin brother Gilbert. Bullied at school, Grace imagines growing a shell, curling her soft center into a ball of protection—just like her beloved pet snail, Sylvia. After their street musician dad dies in a busking accident, Grace is left alone when the twins are shunted off to separate parts of the continent. Enter Pinkie, an ebullient, cigar smoking octogenarian whose colorful past includes stints as an exotic dancer in a schnitzel bar, pingpong matches with Fidel Castro, and now, a leading role in Grace’s life as her first human friend. Whimsical, irreverent, totally charming. And: unforgettably sub(s)lime!
In the realm of cinema, few actors possess the captivating allure and versatile talent quite like Jude Law. This Tribute will revisit key moments from his remarkable and diverse career.
In the realm of cinema, few actors possess the captivating allure and versatile talent of Jude Law. With a career spanning decades – a BAFTA winner and Oscar®, Tony®, and Olivier Award-nominated actor – Law has left an indelible mark on the landscape of film, enchanting audiences with his magnetic presence and commanding performances. This Tribute will revisit key moments from his films and examine his unique portrayal of Henry VIII in Firebrand, a testament to his remarkable and diverse career. In 2024 in addition to Firebrand, Law leads the Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Ron Howard’s Eden, and Justin Kurzel’s The Order, produced by Law’s production company Riff Raff. He is currently in production on the Netflix series Black Rabbit, in which he stars opposite Jason Bateman, who also directs, and executive produces under Riff Raff. OUR TRIBUTE PROGRAM honors lifetime achievement, and will feature a conversation with Jude Law, and the presentation of the MVFF Award.
Expected In Person Guest
Sunday October 13, 2024 2:00pm - 2:59pm PDT
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