Mill Valley Film Festival - October 10

5@5: Falling off the Face of the Earth

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 21:27:22 -0500

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With suspense, humor, poignancy and often surprising equanimity, these captivating shorts encourage us to confront mortality-some with a gentle nudge and others with a powerful punch.

SHORTS IN PROGRAM: Across the Hall, Kuboå, Morbid Curiosity, The Shovel, The Substitute, 'Til Death

5@5: I Am a Child

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 17:34:31 -0500

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Family dynamics are an endless resource of rich, funny and heartbreaking stories. And, as in these shorts, it's often our childhood experiences that set us up for the tales to be told later.

SHORTS IN PROGRAM: Bright Lights, Father's Day, Fourteen, Locked Upstairs, The Ranch, The Stories, What Remains

Catch a Fire

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:57:34 -0500

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Suspense-filled dramatization of Patrick Chamusso's life as a non-political family man whose apartheid-era false arrest forces him to re-examine his life and make a startling decision.

Chronicle of an Escape

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 21:53:52 -0500

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Based on a true story, this intense blend of psychological thriller and escape drama stars Rodrigo de la Serna (Motorcycle Diaries) as a soccer player caught in the madness of the 1976–1983 Argentine military junta's reign of terror.

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 18:03:19 -0500

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This irreverent yet unexpectedly poignant documentary relates the incredible-but-true saga of the German Jewish chemist behind that hippy-chic iconic bottle of peppermint Castile soap, and the son who devised his own inspiring way of following in dad's footsteps.

PRECEDED BY: Diet Leibovich

Going Private

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 17:39:50 -0500

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A garden party on Switzerland's trendy Gold Coast goes irreparably awry in this dramatic investigation into the overlapping of work and private life.

Journals of Knud Rasmussen

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 15:46:53 -0500

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The directors of Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner (MVFF 2001), return to the incredible icy landscapes of northern Canada's Iglulik, in a story that chronicles the conversion to Christianity of Avva, a famous shaman.

Liar Shepherd

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 17:53:32 -0500

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Filmmaker Sirus Hassanpur upholds Iranian cinema's tradition of exquisite stories centered around children with this fable about a boy who spares a sick animal out of pity and sets off a chain reaction with dire consequences.

Lorange, Muffin and Dartanjang

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 17:31:27 -0500

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Dad, son and grandfather couldn't be happier, particularly at times when everyone else seems at their worst. This cartoon family makes the Simpsons look stiff.

PRECEDED BY: A Fish with a Smile

Love for Share

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 02:17:37 -0500

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Three Indonesian women from different backgrounds react differently when they learn of other women in their men's lives. Nifty plot twists link the stories together into a portrait of polygamous lifestyles in contemporary Jakarta.

Nightly Song of the Travellers

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:14:01 -0500

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Like fellow countryman Abbas Kiarostami's cinema of poetic ruralism, filmmaker Chapour Haghighat's debut feature about a tailor looking for his lost village finds beauty in the small moments.

Orange Thief

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:17:20 -0500

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If Jim Jarmusch shot a musical Sicilian folk tale, it might look, and sound, something like this delightful, rustic charmer about a young man whose dream of owning a bit of land depends on the whims of a murdering epicurean and his girlfriend.

Summer Palace

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:55:25 -0500

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Star-crossed lovers meet, part and reunite against a backdrop of contemporary Chinese society and the giddy rise of the student-led pro-democracy movement in this poetic, sexually charged story from director Ye Lou.

Taafe Fanga

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 20:26:39 -0500

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Beautifully shot, gender-bending farce in which women and men switch roles to hilarious effect. A 1997 African classic, by Adama Drabo.

Venus

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:49:33 -0500

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Peter O'Toole stars as Maurice, an aging actor who develops a uniquely tender and subtly sensual intergenerational relationship with Jessie, the grandniece of his best friend and fellow actor, Ian. Also featuring Vanessa Redgrave, Venus gives new meaning to the term "for mature audiences only."