Mill Valley Film Fest Announces Tribute to Todd Haynes and CA Premiere of ‘Wonderstruck’

SAN RAFAEL, CA (August 8, 2017) – The Mill Valley Film Festival is proud to honor acclaimed director Todd Haynes (Carol, Far From Heaven, Safe, I’m Not There) with a Tribute, featuring an onstage conversation and presentation of the MVFF Award in recognition of a career that exemplifies the art of great directing. Haynes was last here for MVFF30 in 2007 and returns for MVFF’s 40th anniversary in 2017 with the California premiere of his latest film WONDERSTRUCK.

The Mill Valley Film Festival, celebrating its 40th year, runs from October 5-October 15, 2017.

Tribute to Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes is a widely admired American independent film director and screenwriter. Critically acclaimed and awarded films include Poison (1991), Safe (1995), Far From Heaven (2002), I’m Not There (2007), Carol (2015) and Mildred Pierce (2011) for television. His latest feature film, Wonderstruck, is based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Brian Selznick, who adapted the novel into a screenplay. The film stars Oakes Fegley, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams and Millicent Simmonds. The film premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2017, and competed for the Palme d’Or.

Following the Wonderstruck screening, Todd Haynes will participate in an onstage conversation and audience Q&A culminating in the presentation of the MVFF Award on Friday, October 13, 2017.

About WONDERSTRUCK
US 2017, 117 min
Director Todd Haynes
Based on Brian Selznick’s critically acclaimed novel, Ben and Rose are children from two different eras who secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known, while Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his home and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out on quests to find what they are missing that unfold with mesmerizing symmetry.

Wonderstruck will be released by Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions on Friday, October 20, 2017.

About the Mill Valley Film Festival
Presented by the California Film Institute, the 40th Festival runs October 5-15, 2017. Locations this year include: CinéArts@Sequoia (Mill Valley), Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center (San Rafael), Lark Theatre (Larkspur), Cinema Corte Madera and other theatres throughout the Bay Area. With a reputation for launching new films and creating awards season buzz, MVFF has earned a reputation as a “filmmakers’ festival” by celebrating the best in American independent and world cinema alongside high profile and prestigious award contenders.

About the California Film Institute
The non-profit California Film Institute (CFI) celebrates and promotes film by presenting the annual Mill Valley Film Festival and DocLands Documentary Film Festival, exhibiting film year-round at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, and building the next generation of filmmakers and audiences through CFI Education. CFI relies on the generosity of its community to sustain these core programs. The invaluable support of our sponsors, foundations, and individual donors ensures our continued success as we celebrate our 40th year. For more information please visit www.cafilm.org.

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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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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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