Some of This Season’s Oscar Favorites Set Sights for Mill Valley Film Festival
The Square, Call Me By Your Name, The Florida Project, Mudbound and A Fantastic Woman are just some of the early announced films hitting the Mill Valley Film Festival
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The Venice and Telluride Film Festivals are just kicking off but the Mill Valley Film Festival, now in its 40th season, is set to show off some of the fall and winter seasons’ biggest awards hopefuls. Winners and presentations from this year’s Cannes Film Festival are heavily representing including the Palme d’Or winner The Square (Sweden’s selection for the Foreign Language Film Oscar), Grand Prize winner 120 BPM and In the Fade, which won Diane Kruger the Best Actress prize and is Germany’s Foreign Language Film Oscar submission. The previously announced Wonderstruck will be there with a tribute to director Todd Haynes.
One of the hottest titles of the year, Call Me By Your Name, will land in the small Northern California town after opening at Sundance early this year and hitting Toronto and New York’s film festivals at the end of summer. Another Sundance hit, Mudbound, will follow suit with Toronto and New York showings before landing on the west coast before its November release. It still remains to be seen if Netflix is going to change up its release style for the film to be more awards and industry friendly.
The Berlin International Film Festival is also well-represented with Best Actress hopeful Daniela Vega in A Fantastic Woman as well as prize winners On the Beach at Night Alone, The Other Side of Hope and Felicite.
Here is the sneak peek at the early announcements. The full slate will be revealed on September 11th.
Early confirmed films from the 2017 Cannes Film Festival at MVFF40:
Ruben Östlund’s Palme D’Or Winner and Swedish Oscar Submission THE SQUARE
Robin Campillo’s Grand Prix, FIPRESCI Prize and Queer Palm winner 120 BPM
Acclaimed Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s LOVELESS, winner of the Jury Prize
Fatih Akin’s IN THE FADE, Best Actress award and German Oscar Submission
From writer/director Noah Baumbach, THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED)
Todd Haynes’ WONDERSTRUCK
Acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase’s new film RADIANCE
Agnes Varda’s Golden Eye winner FACES, PLACES
Cecilia Atan and Valeria Pivato’s THE DESERT BRIDE
Sean Baker’s THE FLORIDA PROJECT
Early confirmed films from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival at MVFF40:
Luca Guadagnino’s acclaimed romance CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
Dee Rees’ highly anticipated MUDBOUND
Early confirmed films from the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival at MVFF40:
Sebastián Lelio’s Silver Bear Winner for Best Screenplay, A FANTASTIC WOMAN
Audience Award winner in the Panorama section IN SYRIA
Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Actress Sang-soo Hong’s ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE
Daniela Thomas’ VAZANTE
Winner of the Best First Feature Carla Simón’s SUMMER 1993
Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director, Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE
Alain Gomis’ FELICITE, winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize Winner
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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