Festivals Previews

Mill Valley Film Fest, maybe not a household name, but a heck of lineup

by Morgen Schuler

In 2021, in the heat of the pandemic, I was looking for anything to keep my mind busy and find new films that deserve attention. Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF), was more than happy to help me on this venture and I had an incredible time even if just from my living room. While, once again, I’m not able to head down to California to catch it in person, they’re still offering virtual viewing options not only for press but more importantly, you the viewing audience!

To get a taste of with they have to offer head on over to the festival lineup page and dig into some of the documentaries, features, international offerings and the overflowing plethora of short films MVFF has to offer. I’ve listed a few films below that I’m so eager to see. While some might be out of reach to me for now, I’ll be making a mental note and putting in the leg work to screen them before awards season is upon us. Have fun and happy viewing!

Films to get excited about:

The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki, Japan)
Fast Charlie (Philip Noyce, US)
The Crime is Mine (François Ozon, France)
Fingernails (Christos Nikou, US)
La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher, Italy/UK)
Monster (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan)
ÖTE (Malik Isasis/Esra Saydam, US)
The Persian Version (Maryam Keshavarz, US)
Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger, Spain/France)
Rosa and the Stone Troll (Karla Holmbāck, Denmark)
Society of the Snow (J.A. Bayona, Spain)
Summer Solstice (Noah Schamus, US)
The Taste of Things (Trần Anh Hùng, France)
Terrestrial Verses (Ali Asgari/Alireza Khatami, Iran)
Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds (Benoit Chieux, France/Belgium)
Rustin (George C. Wolf, US)
If Only I Could Hybernate (Zoljargal Purevdash, Mongolia)

SunBreakers have actually already contributed a couple reviews about films that are showing during this festival; we probably won’t be adding new reviews for these in this round, but encourage readers to check out our pre-existing coverage on: