‘Lion’ and ‘Moonlight’ Win 39th Mill Valley Film Festival Audience Awards

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The Weinstein Company’s LION and A24’s MOONLIGHT walked away with the top Audience Awards from the 39th Mill Valley Film Festival, which concluded last Sunday with the film LOVING. During the festival LION‘s Nicole Kidman was on hand to receive a tribute and present her film and MOONLIGHT director Barry Jenkins was on hand to present his film for the festival’s Director’s Night.

The Festival opened October 6 with the Bay Area premieres of LA LA LAND and ARRIVAL. Emma Stone, Damien Chazelle, and Justin Hurwitz were in attendance for the premiere of LA LA LAND and Amy Adams was on hand to represent ARRIVAL.

During the 11 days, the Festival presented Academy Award® winning actress Nicole Kidman with a special Tribute for her performance in Garth Davis’ LION and acclaimed filmmaker Julie Dash with a Tribute to her career, featuring a special anniversary screening of the newly restored digital print of her groundbreaking film DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST.

The Festival also presented Spotlight programs on actor Ewan McGregor for his directorial debutAMERICAN PASTORAL, actor and director Gael García Bernal for his performance in Pablo Larraín’s NERUDA and actor Aaron Eckhart for his supporting work alongside Miles Teller in Ben Younger’s BLEED FOR THIS.

Mike Mills’ 20^TH CENTURY WOMEN served as the Festival Centerpiece, receiving the first ever MVFF Ensemble Spotlight Award. Mike Mills was in attendance to accept the award on behalf of the entire cast and was joined on stage by Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, and newcomer Lucas Jade Zumann.

Festival Highlights
The Festival program consisted of 113 feature films, 88 short films, with 60 premieres from 37 countries and 336 visiting filmmakers, panelists, and performers from all over the world. Notable guests at the Festival included Academy Award® winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi in attendance for the Bay Area premiere of his Cannes’ Film Festival winning drama THE SALESMAN; breakout actor Lucas Hedges in attendance for Kenneth Lonergan’s acclaimed Sundance drama MANCHESTER BY THE SEA; filmmakers Barry Jenkins and J.A. Bayona in attendance for the Bay Area premieres of MOONLIGHT and A MONSTER CALLS, respectively, for the Festival’s Directors’ Night in Mill Valley.

Edward James Olmos and the entire cast and crew of MONDAY NIGHTS AT SEVEN present for the World Premiere of Marty Sader’s drama;Wayne Roberts in attendance for the US Premiere of his directorial debut, KATIE SAYS GOODBYE; acclaimed filmmaker Kelly Reichardt in attendance for the Bay Area premiere of her film CERTAIN WOMEN; Gianfranco Rosi in attendance for two screenings of his Golden Bear-winning documentary FIRE AT SEA; James Franco and newcomer Lola Sultan present for the US Premiere of Franco’s latest directorial effort IN DUBIOUS BATTLE; Eleanor Coppola in attendance for the premiere of her first feature, PARIS CAN WAIT, with special guest Tom Waits in the audience; director Rob Nilsson premiered his latest film LOVE TWICE, with actor/musicianJohn Cale and actor Carl Lumbly in attendance; actor Bruce Davison in attendance for his short film I REMEMBER YOU, programmed alongside brothers Christian and Justin Long’s short film ABE & IKE; actress Katee Sackhoff on hand to support her latest film GIRL FLU; Metallica’s Lars Ulrich hosted a Q&A for Jonathan Parker’s THE ARCHITECT, which he produced.

Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam came out in support of poet Michele Poulos’ feature debutA LATE STYLE OF FIRE: LARRY LEVIS, AMERICAN POET; director Pablo Larraín was presented with Variety Magazine’s International Director of the Year Award by Vice President and Executive Editor Steve Gaydos in advance of a screening of Larraín’s highly acclaimed new filmJACKIE; actors Raza Jaffrey, actress Stana Kanic, and director Amin Matalqa attended the world premiere of their film THE RENDEZVOUS; actress and director Amber Tamblyn attended the screenings of her feature debut PAINT IT BLACK; Wildfilm Panda Award winner Ryan Patrick Killacky with the World Premiere of his film YASUNI MAN; actress Kate Micucci and director Finn Taylor supported both screenings of their locally shot film UNLEASHED; and actress Connie Nielson provided an introduction in support of her film THE CONFESSIONS.

Audience Award Winners 2016

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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