This is a big one, folks! We’re giving away two blu-ray copies of 12 Years a Slave, which took home several awards this year including Oscars for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay, an armful of Independent Spirit Awards, and a truckload more. This is your chance to own one of the best films of the year!

How To Enter

You’ve got three chances to win:

• Follow us on Twitter and tweet us your favorite film of 2013
• Like us on Facebook and share this article
• Tell us your favorite film of 2013 in the comments section below

Two winners will be selected at random. If chosen, we’ll notify you either by email, twitter, or Facebook. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

Mark Fishkin, California Film Institute (CFI) Executive Director and Founder, has announced that the 37th annual Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) will be held October 2 – October 12, 2014.

MVFF’s programming team, led by Zoë Elton, Director of Programming, also announced the Festival’s Call for Entries in all categories, including feature length films (50 + minutes) and short films in the following genres: Narrative, Documentary, Animation, Children and Family, Experimental and Youth Produced. Festival sections include Official Premieres, World Cinema, US Cinema, Valley of the Docs, Children’s FilmFest, and the popular “5@5” shorts programs.

MVFF’s regular submission period begins March 1 and ends May 16, 2014.

The Mill Valley Film Festival entry form is available for download at mvff.com. Preview formats for submissions are DVD (NTSC: Region 1 or Region 0). MVFF will also accept online submissions through Without A Box, withoutabox.com, as an economical, eco-friendly, and secure alternative to traditional hard-copy DVD submissions. Presentation formats for films accepted to MVFF include 35mm, DCP, and HDCAM.

Designated as one of the “20 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” by Moviemaker magazine, the Mill Valley Film Festival offers a high profile, prestigious, non-competitive environment perfect for celebrating the best in independent and world cinema. 

With a reputation for launching new films and creating awards season buzz, MVFF has a knack for spotting emerging talent as well as drawing legendary artists. Know as the filmmaker’s festival, MVFF welcomes more than 200 filmmakers and guests from around the world and has hosted such luminaries as Dustin Hoffman, Ang Lee, and Steve McQueen.

Last year, the festival featured 200 screenings, representing 49 countries with 43 official premieres and more than 40,000 audience members present.

[Pictured at top: Mark Fishkin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, Steve McQueen, and Zoë Elton at the 2013 festival.]

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave was unsurprisingly the big winner at the Film Independent Spirit Awards today with a total of five wins including, Best Feature, Best Director, Best Supporting Female, Best Cinematography, and Best Screenplay. There were some great acceptance speeches from Matthew McConaughey who had the most inspirational speech (yes, it began with “All right, all right, all right.”), Jared Leto who had the longest speech (it was so long they had to cut it in several places during broadcast to stay on time), and Cate Blanchett who mentioned the large elephant in the room. Blanchett used part of her acceptance speech to call out the fact that the Best Males category received six nominees and the Best Females category only got five. Furthermore, she asked the question everyone at home was wondering–if the voters missed seeing Greta Gerwig’s wonderful performance in Frances Ha.

Other winners included the magnificent Blue is the Warmest Color for Best International Film, Short Term 12 edged out Upstream Color for Best Editing, and the wonderfully understated This Is Martin Bonner received the John Cassavetes Award. The biggest surprise for the evening was Twenty Feet From Stardom winning for Best Documentary.

Full List of 2014 Independent Spirit Award Winners:

(Winners are highlighted in bold red font)

Best Feature:

12 Years A Slave
All Is Lost
Frances Ha
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska

Best Director:

Shane Carruth – Upstream Color
J.C. Chandor – All Is Lost
Steve McQueen – 12 Years A Slave
Jeff Nichols – Mud
Alexander Payne – Nebraska

Best First Feature:

Blue Caprice
Concussion
Fruitvale Station
Una Noche
Wadjda

Best Male Lead:

Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years A Slave
Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis
Michael B. Jordan – Fruitvale Station
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford – All Is Lost

Best Female Lead:

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Julie Delpy – Before Midnight
Gaby Hoffmann – Crystal Fairy
Brie Larson – Short Term 12
Shailene Woodley – The Spectacular Now

Best Supporting Male:

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years A Slave
Will Forte – Nebraska
James Gandolfini – Enough Said
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
Keith Stanfield – Short Term 12

Best Supporting Female:

Melonie Diaz – Fruitvale Station
Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years A Slave
Yolanda Ross – Go For Sisters
June Squibb – Nebraska

Best International Film: (Award given to the director)

A Touch of Sin
Blue is the Warmest Color
Gloria
The Great Beauty
The Hunt

Best Cinematography:

Sean Bobbitt – 12 Years a Slave
Benoit Debie – Spring Breakers
Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis
Frank G. Demarco – All Is Lost
Matthias Grunsky – Computer Chess

Best Documentary:

The Act Of Killing
After Tiller
Gideon’s Army
The Square
Twenty Feet From Stardom

John Cassavetes Award: (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)

Computer Chess – Andrew Bujalski
Crystal Fairy – Sebastian Silva
Museum Hours – Jem Cohen
Pit Stop – Yen Tan
This Is Martin Bonner – Chad Hartigan

Best Editing:

Shane Carruth & David Lowery – Upstream Color
Jem Cohen & Marc Vives – Museum Hours
Jennifer Lame – Frances Ha
Cindy Lee – Una Noche
Nat Sanders – Short Term 12

Best Screenplay:

Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine
Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater – Before Midnight
Nicole Holofcener – Enough Said
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber – The Spectacular Now
John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave

Best First Screenplay:

Lake Bell – In A World
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – Don Jon
Bob Nelson – Nebraska
Jill Soloway – Afternoon Delight
Michael Starburry – The Inevitable Defeat Of Mister & Pete

Robert Altman Award: (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)

Mud
Director: Jeff Nichols
Casting Director: Francine Maisler
Ensemble Cast: Joe Don Baker, Jacob Lofland, Matthew McConaughey, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard, Tye Sheridan, Paul Sparks, Bonnie Sturdivant, Reese Witherspoon

Piaget Producers Award: (Award given to a producer)

Toby Halbrooks & James M. Johnson
Jacob Jaffke
Andrea Roa
Ferderick Thornton

Truer Than Fiction Award: (Award given to the director)

Kalyanee Mam – A River Changes Course
Jason Osder – Let The Fire Burn
Stephanie Spray & Pancho Valez – Manakamana

Someone to Watch Award: (Award given to the director)

Aaron Douglas Johnston – My Sister’s Quinceanera
Shaka King – Newlyweeds
Madeleine Olnek – The Foxy Merkins

It requires a lot of restraint for me not to put down Steve McQueen as the director that should win the award on Oscar night. I believe he is one of the best upcoming directors of our time, so I am delighted that he is finally starting to be recognized for his brilliant work. In 12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen was able to capture deeply moving performances from his cast and present difficult subject matter in a raw and powerful way. Despite all of this, I must concede that there is another director that might deserve the win just slightly more.

Alfonso Cuarón’s expert filmmaking abilities are on full display in the visually breathtaking film Gravity. The film opens with what I would consider to be one of the best scenes in all of 2013. The director uses a long continuous (digitally blended) fifteen-minute shot that introduces the characters and also establishes the vast environment of space. Despite a relatively weak story, it would be hard to argue that the cinematography and visual effects found within the film are anything but downright stunning. Cuarón spent four years developing the film and it certainly shows.

The rest of the field in this category (David O. Russell, Alexander Payne, and Martin Scorsese) have tremendous amounts of reputation behind them. The only director that I would exclude from the category is David O. Russell for American Hustle. The film benefited from a stellar cast, but did not have much else going for it. Although it would be a long shot, it would have been nice to see Destin Cretton in this group for his breakout indie film Short Term 12. Other worthy nominees for Best Director are Derek Ciafrance for The Place Beyond the Pines and Paul Greengrass for Captain Phillips. However, the biggest nomination snub from the Academy was the absence of Spike Jonze on the ballot. His vision in the film Her was one of the most original and artistic achievements in cinema that 2013 had to offer.

Category Predictions

Best Director Nominees

David O. Russell – American Hustle (review)

Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity (review)

Alexander Payne – Nebraska (review)

Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave (review)

Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street (review)

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Foreign Film
Best Documentary
Best Actress
Best Actor

If my predictions of the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards hold true (nobody hold their breath), 12 Years A Slave would walk away the big winner with a projected total of 5 awards. I believe the rest of the field will be much more spread out with Before Midnight, Nebraska, Upstream Color, Fruitvale Station, Blue Jasmine, and others going home with one award. After winning the Palm d’Or and taking the Cannes Film Festival by storm this year, Blue is the Warmest Color‘s momentum has started to slow down and may no longer the obvious frontrunner anymore. Though I am still picking it to win Best International Film here, it is against fierce competition.

For better or worse, I am posting my Spirit Award predictions one day ahead of the official announcement of Oscar nominees. In just 45 days the Spirit Award winners will be officially announced and will dictate whether or not I can beat my prediction accuracy from last year of 53% (7 out of 13). In addition to picking the winners for each category below, I explain the reasoning behind my picks in detail under the categories.

Watch IFC on Saturday, March 1st at 10PM ET to see how my predictions hold up.

List of 2014 Independent Spirit Award Predictions:

(My prediction for the winners are highlighted in bold red font)

Best Feature:

12 Years A Slave
All Is Lost
Frances Ha
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska

Best Director:

Shane Carruth – Upstream Color
J.C. Chandor – All Is Lost
Steve McQueen – 12 Years A Slave
Jeff Nichols – Mud
Alexander Payne – Nebraska

Best First Feature:

Blue Caprice
Concussion
Fruitvale Station
Una Noche
Wadjda

Best Male Lead:

Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years A Slave
Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis
Michael B. Jordan – Fruitvale Station
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford – All Is Lost

Best Female Lead:

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Julie Delpy – Before Midnight
Gaby Hoffmann – Crystal Fairy
Brie Larson – Short Term 12
Shailene Woodley – The Spectacular Now

Best Supporting Male:

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years A Slave
Will Forte – Nebraska
James Gandolfini – Enough Said
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
Keith Stanfield – Short Term 12

Best Supporting Female:

Melonie Diaz – Fruitvale Station
Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years A Slave
Yolanda Ross – Go For Sisters
June Squibb – Nebraska

Best International Film: (Award given to the director)

A Touch of Sin
Blue is the Warmest Color
Gloria
The Great Beauty
The Hunt

Best Cinematography:

Sean Bobbitt – 12 Years a Slave
Benoit Debie – Spring Breakers
Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis
Frank G. Demarco – All Is Lost
Matthias Grunsky – Computer Chess

Best Documentary:

The Act Of Killing
After Tiller
Gideon’s Army
The Square
Twenty Feet From Stardom

John Cassavetes Award: (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)

Computer Chess – Andrew Bujalski
Crystal Fairy – Sebastian Silva
Museum Hours – Jem Cohen
Pit Stop – Yen Tan
This Is Martin Bonner – Chad Hartigan

Best Editing:

Shane Carruth & David Lowery – Upstream Color
Jem Cohen & Marc Vives – Museum Hours
Jennifer Lame – Frances Ha
Cindy Lee – Una Noche
Nat Sanders – Short Term 12

Best Screenplay:

Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine
Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater – Before Midnight
Nicole Holofcener – Enough Said
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber – The Spectacular Now
John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave

Best First Screenplay:

Lake Bell – In A World
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – Don Jon
Bob Nelson – Nebraska
Jill Soloway – Afternoon Delight
Michael Starburry – The Inevitable Defeat Of Mister & Pete

After years of prodding, he’s finally woken the sleeping giant…and it’s pissed.

Several witnesses have accused Armond White, contrarian film critic and now former member of the New York Film Critics Circle, of vicious heckling directed at 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen at a recent New York Film Critics Circle awards ceremony. McQueen was making his way toward the stage to accept the award for Best Director when White allegedly shouted insults from his table: “Liberal white bullshit!”, “Kiss my ass!”, “Fuck You!”. Many attendees also recalled him calling McQueen “an embarrassing doorman” and “a garbage man”. Strange…

White staunchly denied the accounts of his accusors, most notable of which was Slate’s Dana Stevens, who was seated at his table and initially reported the heckling of White and his guests, young men. In the end, the evidence proved too overwhelming: with several attendees backing up Stevens’ claims, the NYFCC voted White out of their ranks on Monday morning.

ABOVE: McQueen at the 2013 Mill Valley Film Festival

I view White’s disruptive actions as indefensible. Civility and respect for all filmmakers should be key standards for events like this, and all evidence points to White throwing those principles out the window.

What makes the scandal so regrettable is that White, in my estimation, is one of the most knowledgable, brilliant, demanding film critics of the past 50 years. His voice is irreplaceable. Despite many violently disagreeing with his defiant, consensus-crushing (some say antagonistic) statements and critiques, his opinions are inarguably educated, and his immovable stance is a constant catalyst for healthy film discussion. For someone so talented, who’s dedicated such a large part of his life to film, to disrespect his peers and the community he belongs to by acting so rudely, is a damn shame.

He’s as gifted and passionate a critic as you’ll find on the internet or in print, but now he’s gone and pissed people off in all the wrong ways.

At the 36th Mill Valley Film Festival last week, one of the biggest highlights in the festival’s stunning lineup was Steve McQueen’s  (Shame, Hunger) highly-anticipated new film, 12 Years a Slave (which opens today) see our review, based on the autobiography and life story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was abducted and sold into slavery in 1841. On what was perhaps the most emotional and moving night of the festival, McQueen and stars Chewetel Ejiofor (Children of Men) and newcomer Lupita Nyong’o took the stage to participate in a Q&A with the still-reeling audience.

12 Years a Slave is in theaters today.

On what sort of change has come from, or will come from, the film:
Nyong’o: Being in that woman’s world has changed my life. My understanding of slavery will never be the same, because I’ve had the opportunity to take that part of history so personally. I’m hoping that will be the case for everyone who gets to see it.

Ejiofor: I think there was a life before this experience and a life afterwards. Some of that has to do with nature and some of that is the process of making it and the way in which Steve works with actors and the crew. The way everyone is determined and allowed to gain their creativity through the process and are encouraged to give 100%. Everybody wants to do that, but it’s great to have somebody articulate that desire. The process has changed my relationship with the way I think. The overall theme and situation was directly personal for me as an actor.

McQueen: The whole point of me making this film was because of this book. I wanted to make a film about slavery because I felt–within the canon of film–this particular subject hadn’t been tackled. My wife found this book, I read the book, and I was astonished by it. I was astonished by two things: First of all, I didn’t know the book. I was ashamed of myself, angry at myself. How did I not know this book? Everybody knows Anne Frank’s diary, right? Every school should have 12 Years a Slave on their curriculum. That’s my aim with this film–every school should have this book in their curriculum. As far as change is concerned, that would be a big change, if that’s at all possible. It’s all about evidence and getting things done.

Ejiofor on McQueen’s process and getting to the core of the characters:
Ejiofor: We had this fundamental thing, that Solomon Northup had the ability and faculty to write about his experiences in this incredibly detailed way so soon after these things happened to him. He wrote about these things with a great amount of humility. The book cries out, “This is what happened”, and it has this power of its own reality. Going through it and being connected to that experience, which is Solomon and his journey, I was constantly reminded by the book and what Steve and John (Ridley) had done with the screenplay, that this was the truth. You could touch its tangible reality, that everything he describes is complex in the way that people are complex. Everything is three-dimensional in the way that people are. All the relationships, personalities, and characters involve you in the system of their society, and it is just a slice of their entire reality. That was the most powerful touchpoint for me when I read the screenplay. For a while, before I really engaged with the biography, I saw the story as a kind of overall story about something that happened to this man. I didn’t see it accurately until later, when I realized it was about this specific individual and his worldview that has made it possible for him to survive this experience with his mind intact.

On if there is an advantage to being non-American when telling this story:
McQueen: I’m not a nationalist, so I don’t really care. The only difference between me and a person born [in the U.S.] of African descent is that their boat when right and my boat went left. My parents are from the West Indies. My father’s from Grenada, my mother is from Trinidad. Malcolm X’s mother was born in Grenada. Stokely Carmichael, the man who coined the phrase “Black Power”, was from Trinidad. It’s much more complex to talk about American or British or European. It’s more complex than any sort of nationality. Talking to my grandmother who passed away recently, she spoke about how her grandmother was a slave. There’s no real difference other than our geography.

Ejiofor: I’ve never walked in another man’s shoes. I know that this story is about something very universal. It’s about history, and slavery is one aspect of that, but what Solomon’s story speaks to, to me, is something that involves everybody. It’s about the ideas of human respect and dignity, and how those things, in specific circumstances, are dealt with. 95% of the people working on this film, on every level, are Americans. It’s a very American story. There’s an international aspect because some of the people involved in making the film are from other countries, but that is also, to me, correct. It has an international reality.

McQueen: It’s like Harry Belafonte or Sidney Poitier, these Black American actors who are from the West indies. I remember a line by James Brown: “It’s not who you are–it’s where you’re at.”

On if the film was informed by cinema’s lack of stories about slavery:
McQueen: [12 years] wasn’t informed by cinema at all. It was informed by the book. I didn’t look at films or references. The book was enough. You turn the pages and you get images in your head. Filmic references weren’t necessary, because landscape is so rich–you just try to find stuff with the camera. Sometimes, having other people’s images in your head gets too busy as opposed to when something is right in front of you within reality. We looked at the book and found things as we were present in these plantations in Louisiana.

McQueen on the originality of his filmmaking process:

McQueen: For me, it’s like being blindfolded and thrown into someone’s apartment and having to negotiate around that particular space using your other senses: taste, smell, hearing. It’s a different way of navigating your way around the room, and when you do that, you bring a different set of sensibilities to certain things rather than the obvious ones, and that’s sort of interesting.

On what informs McQueen’s choices to shoot certain scenes as one-shot takes as opposed to shooting traditional coverage:
McQueen: I don’t do coverage. For me, it’s a waste of time because I know what I want. I was very fortunate to have been given a Super 8 camera when I was 18. That Super 8 camera was so expensive that I couldn’t just shoot willy-nilly like people do now. I had to be very precious with a shot, so I’d look into the lens and, when I found what I wanted, I’d shoot it. That trained me to look before I shot. I didn’t spray like an AK-47 everywhere. It trained my eye.

On what sort of discussions and reactions the film will spark:
Ejiofor: You can’t make films in terms of what reactions you’re going to get or what the wider objectives are, entirely. You try to tell a story that you think needs to be told, that you think is powerful. When I first read the script, I was very aware of what it would mean. I felt the weight of its responsibility. I felt the weight of the responsibility in terms of Solomon himself and his descendants, but also in terms of telling a story from inside the slave experience in a way I’d never seen done before and what that might mean. I had to take pause before I accepted the job.

McQueen: You said no.

Ejiofor: It’s been the subject of some debate (laughs). I couldn’t give an immediate “yes”, which is part and parcel of the nature of the story. The truth is, there’s a whole other thing that happens as well, which has nothing to do with the wider aspects of [the film]. There are personal things. I’m an actor, and I have my own senses of what my limitations are. They’re sometimes false, but I sometimes have that voice in my head. You wait all your life for these great scripts. You hassle your agent. Suddenly, you’re presented with something really remarkable, and your first instinct is to say, “I don’t know if I can do this, actually.” I was confronted with that reality, and it didn’t take anybody to convince me out of that, but I went back to the book and the screenplay and found a point of contact for me, which was, in the end, Solomon. In a weird way, I suppose that comes towards answering the question. The journeys that you make when telling stories are personal to you, and how you tell them is about what your heart tells you. What you feel. What your own journey is. I wasn’t considering [the project] in the sense of its wider reality. I knew that I felt it was important, and Solomon was somebody who was forgotten and shouldn’t be. Ultimately, that’s what I hope people take away from it.

Nyong’o: What I’m excited about when sharing this film is that it gives us a common story, a common reference point, to start talking about things. When I first watched this film, I watched it with my best friend who is half black, and my agent and manager who are both white. After about an hour of crying we went to a restaurant and had a conversation about our relationship with other races in a way that I don’t think would have happened without this film. Those are the kind of things that I’m excited are happening. That’s the power of film. What seems so distant in the past is brought to the present.

On MVFF’s gigantic penultimate day, a quintet of some of the industry’s most exciting directors gathered for a meeting of the minds, the stars and directors of At Middleton and Beside Still Waters unveiled their respective films to packed houses, and the whole lot of them partied it up in the beautiful town of Tiburon, right down the road.

Filmmaker Superfriends

To start off Day 10 of the festival, a killer lineup of directors gathered to participate in a panel organized by Variety, in which they discussed the industry and their filmmaking processes. In my previous festival recap, I mentioned that Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) asked Steve McQueen a question during the 12 Years a Slave Q&A; McQueen didn’t seem to notice that the young buck was a talented filmmaker himself at the time, but when the two met officially for the Variety panel they became fast friends. Joining Coogler and McQueen for the panel was J.C. Chandor, who helmed the Robert Redford “man at sea” film, All is Lost and 2011’s Margin Call. We spoke to Chandor about the film, so keep an eye out for our interview next week. Also in attendance were John Wells of August: Osage County and Scott Coooper of Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace.

Click to view slideshow.

Andy Garcia’s Campus Romance

At Middleton,  directed by newcomer Adam Rodgers, focuses on a sporadic on-campus romance between George (Andy Garcia) and Edith (Vera Farmiga), who meet while accompanying their kids on a campus tour of Middleton University. A walk-and-talk rom-com cut from the same cloth as Richard Linklater’s Before series but with a more lighthearted flare, the film was received incredibly well by the Mill Valley audience at CinéArts@Sequoia, who expressed their enthusiasm during the post-screening Q&A with Rodgers, Garcia, and the films’ producers. “When you have a chance to play with [an actor like] Vera Farmiga,” Garcia gushed, “[the scenes] are all fun.” The chemistry developed between the accomplished actors, amazingly, took no time to develop at all. “We never even read the script together once,” Garcia said, to the surprise of the audience, who had been so taken by the screen romance. “We got to know each other as the characters did on camera. She’s incredible.”

Future BIG Movie Stars CHILL in Beside Still Waters

A few feet down from the At Middleton screening, another movie about people talking was pleasing a separate batch of MVFF-goers. Chris Lowell, an actor best known for his roles in Veronica Mars (the “kickstarted” film version is shooting now) and The Help, hops into the director’s chair for the first time with his nostalgia-driven hangout movie, Beside Still Waters. In it, a tragedy causes a group of old childhood friends to reconvene at the memory-filled cabin in the forrest they grew up playing around in (no, it’s not a horror movie). The cast, comprised of some of some of the prettiest rising-star actors in the game right now (just look a the pictures!), were all in attendance at the MVFF screening along with their incredibly excited director, who was all smiles during the audience Q&A. “I was really excited to direct [and] talk to actors the way I’d like a director to talk to me,” Lowell beamed. “That was probably the thing I was most thrilled about. That, and not having to go through hair and makeup in the morning.” Comparisons to the king of all hangout movies, The Big Chill, are inevitable, and Lowell didn’t shy away from acknowledging the influence of Kasdan’s film, which has a strikingly similar premise. “[My co-writer Mohit Narang] and I obsessed over every conceivable reunion [movie], to see what people did right and wrong. The Big Chill is obviously the big tentpole film for [this kind of movie], which is why everyone comes back to it. It’s a film that you watch when you’re sick because it makes you feel good and right about the world.”

Worlds Collide…Over Cocktails

After the dual screenings of At Middleton and Beside Still Waters, the buzzing crowds and proud filmmakers met again at the Tiburon Tavern just down the road to schmooze, booze, and enjoy delectable bites of delicious food (the coffee-coated cheese was curious, yet excellent). Andy Garcia and the Beside Stll Waters cast were happy to mingle, keeping the good vibes flowing along with the bubbly. Lowell and Rodgers, both elated to have their films so well-received, shared their experiences and a big, congratulatory hug.

Stiller Closes Out With Mitty

MVFF closed out big with what looks to be one of the most visually striking films of the year, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Ben Stiller unsurprisingly drew a blitz of media and fan attention when he arrived at the CinéArts@Sequoia theater to present his passion project, about an office worker (played by Stiller himself) who lives in picturesque fantasy worlds represented onscreen beautifully by Stiller and DP Stuart Dryburgh (The Piano). After the screening, Stiller was given the Mill Valley Award and then headed down the street to San Rafael’s beautiful Elk’s Lodge where everyone–from the hard-working festival staff, to the filmmakers, to industry people, to the excited festival-goers–celebrated as the wonderful 11-day festival came to a close.

But wait…that’s not all! We’ve still got a ton of content coming out of the festival, so stay tuned in the next few days for more MVFF goodness!

Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave, and the Unexpected Guest

Of all the films in the exceedingly strong MVFF lineup, none have generated the momentum and near-universal acclaim of Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, based on the autobiography of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. McQueen and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (who plays Northup) and Lupita Nyong’o took the stage in front of a full house at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center to answer the questions of the audience, who were still reeling after seeing the gut-wrenching film.

“I wanted to make a film about slavery because I felt, within the cannon of film, this particular subject hadn’t been tackled,” professed a straight-faced McQueen. “Everybody knows Anne Frank’s diary. Every school should have 12 Years a Slave (the book) on their curriculum. That’s my aim with this film.”

During the Q&A session, something very special happened, though few noticed it. The mobile microphone that had been floating around the theater from person to person wound up in the hands of Fruitvale Station director and Bay Area native, Ryan Coogler, one of the brightest young directors in the game. Funny thing is, very few audience members seemed to recognize Coogler, though he didn’t seem to pay that any mind at all. With wide-eyed curiosity, eagerness, and humility, Coogler–amongst a sea of weighty questions about slavery–chose instead to ask McQueen about filmmaking technique, specifically his proclivity for doing one-shot takes as opposed to traditional coverage.

“I don’t do coverage,” McQueen explained to the intently focused Coogler. “For me, it’s a waste of time because I know what I want.” It’s this confident, assertive, no-bull attitude that so many great auteurs share, and in that moment between McQueen and Coogler, I could sense the future of cinema getting just a little bit brighter.

A Dark Teen Idol Returns with a Powerhouse Performance

No red carpet arrival at MVFF could match the energy of Jared Leto’s. The most likely explanation for the fervor is that he’s one of the dreamiest cinema dreamboats of the past 20 years, but in his new film, Dallas Buyers Club (his first film in four or five years), he proves once again that he’s much too talented to be reduced to just another pretty face.

Based on a true story, the film (you know, the one Matthew McConaughey lost a bunch of weight for) follows Ron Woodruff (McConaughey), a bull-riding man’s man who was diagnosed as being HIV positive and subsequently waged pharmaceutical war on the FDA and other companies in the ’80s in hopes to make alternative treatments available for HIV-positive patients. Leto plays Rayon, a transsexual, HIV-positive business partner of Ron’s who’s got sass and hustle for days. Though McConaughey is likely to get an Academy Award nomination for his turn as Woodruff, Leto is equally deserving of a supporting nod, with a performance so lived-in and remarkable it’ll make you wish he’d quit 30 Seconds to Mars (that rock band of his) and come back to acting for us full-time.

Leto stayed in character even when off-set, walking around with Rayon’s leggings, lipstick, and clothes on. “It was interesting how people treated me differently,” Leto said in the post-screening Q&A session. “Every glance somebody gave me, every time I had an encounter, every time a grip offered his hand when I stepped out of the van…it ultimately helped me deliver a much better performance.”

John Wells Turns the Tables

One of the best things about film festivals are the Q&A’s; everyday people like you and me get to pry the brains of some of the most talented filmmakers in the business. Director John Wells, however, flipped the script on the MVFF Q&A crowd–who had just finished watching his new film, August: Osage County–by asking them questions.

“Did you think it was funny?” Wells asked, earnestly, which was met by an emphatic, unanimous “yes” and a smattering of applause from the smiling festival-goers. Wells was likely concerned whether the film’s humor came through or not because the film–based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Tracy Letts, who also wrote the screenplay–revolves around a family tragedy and crises. The feuding women of the Weston family–played by Meryl Streep as the drug-addled matriarch, and Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson and Juliette Lewis as Streep’s daughters–are brought together after years of separation to their old Oklahoma home after receiving devastating news about their father, Beverly (Sam Shepard).

Wells went further with his questioning, asking the audience members who were familiar with the play if there was something they missed from the stage version that he cut from his screen adaptation. When several audience members voiced their preference for the play’s ending (which is only slightly different), Wells admitted their feedback could have an effect on the final cut of the film. “I actually have to lock the film by Monday or Tuesday next week, which is why I’m asking these questions!”

When asked about the on-screen relationship between Streep and Roberts and how they approached their roles as mother and daughter, Wells explained just how significant their mother-daughter chemistry is to the story. “One of the themes of the film is, for better or for worse, we become our parents. We reach a moment in our adult lives at which we have to decide what we’re going to use and what we’re not going to use.”

Blues Bad-Asses Rock Sweetwater

In celebration of late Blues guitar legend Mike Bloomfield and the new film detailing his life, Sweet Blues (which played at MVFF), music fans piled into Mill Valley’s historic Sweetwater Music Hall to listen to some of the baddest Blues on the planet played by some veteran virtuosos and some old friends of Bloomfield’s. Amongst the music marvels were Conan O’Brien cohort Jimmy Vivino, Bay Area Blues veteran Elvin Bishop, and harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite. The tiny, excellent-sounding venue was packed shoulder to shoulder with elated music lovers swaying as one, a perfect way to unwind and a perfect lead-in to what’s sure to be a killer final two days at the festival.

Stay tuned to Way Too Indie for all the news coming out of the festival this weekend, including coverage of the directors panel (Ryan Coogler, Steve McQueen, JC Chandor, Scott Cooper, John Wells), capsule reviews, interviews, photo galleries, and much more!

With the 50^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement’s march on Washington having just passed, and with the historically deplorable Columbus Day holiday upcoming, we can’t be reminded enough of the history of humanity’s tyranny over one another. Sobering and immensely difficult to watch, British director Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, is to date the most unyielding film depiction of slavery in America ever released. With raw and heart wrenching performances from it’s cast, and a brutally honest artistic perspective from it’s director, this film deserves serious attention and veneration.

Based on the book published in 1853, 12 Years a Slave is the true story of Solomon Northup, a free African-American living in New York in 1841, who was torn from his life of freedom to that of slavery. Once a man of distinction and known for his musical talents, Northup is duped into taking a job with two men who drug him and sell him into slavery. Given the new identity of “Platt Hamilton” and forced to recognize himself as a runaway slave from Georgia, he was sold to and owned by several plantation owners in the Louisiana bayous. Unsure of whether he would ever see his wife and children back in New York, Northup is faced with the greatest obstacle any man can face: the revocation of his humanity and freedom.

Just as a slave in those days had no respite from the daily injustices they were subjected to, the film offers very little rest from the non-stop emotional and physical devastation of slavery. Indeed, in the way that Northup is thrown into and introduced to the severity of what it was to be a slave, so are we the audience forced into an uncomfortable understanding of what it would be to have all ones privileges and family stripped from them. Northup’s position as a free man is identifiable to us, and therefore his harrowing journey is all the more provoking. Through every hanging, every lashing, each panic-inducing escape attempt, McQueen uses the camera to show more than we’ve ever seen before and for longer than we’ve ever seen it. But aside from the physical barbarity we’re forced to witness, it’s the assassination of the soul that is hardest to watch.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men) IS Solomon Northup. Each wide-eyed look of disbelief when Northup encounters new injustices, and his eloquent speaking patterns, as a man both educated and wise, shows a complete immersion into the role. Michael Fassbender (an actor I often find myself not recognizing immediately in films because he seems so utterly different in every role he plays) epitomizes the very worst of men to emerge from white dominance in the slave-fueled South. As Solomon/Platt’s master, Edwin Epps oversees his slaves with a sort of controlled insanity that can only come from the drunkenness of entitled power. Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, and Brad Pitt also give pivotal and fantastic performances. Though, side note, it’s honestly unsettling how well Paul Dano seems to be at playing despicable people. The face to watch from 12 Years a Slave, however, is that of Lupita Nyong’o. This newcomer plays fellow slave Patsey, a woman subjected to the living hell of being the Master’s favorite. Arguably having the hardest content of the entire film to perform, she is mesmerizing and her performance is truly affecting.

McQueen has made two other feature films, Shame (2011) and Hunger (2008), each about difficult topics. He’s made it clear he isn’t afraid to challenge his viewers with disturbing content, but with this film he’s found the best outlet for his talent. He shows a masterful control of the subject matter, never letting it overwhelm the artistic focus of the film, and pairing every heightened moment with well-designed sound editing and an unsettling musical score.

While Tarantino’s vengefully satisfying Django Unchained showed far more blood, gore, and savagery than 12 Years a Slave does, it’s ridiculousness made it laughable and thus far easier to take. McQueen’s film is not easy to take, and this is what makes it an absolute must-see; in fact even elicits a feeling of significance while viewing it. This film, and others like it, will always be necessary. Serving as a reminder of all we have, and all that can be denied from us. The moment we stop thinking about the past, at it’s most truthful, may be the moment we lapse into old ways of thinking. 12 Years a Slave has set the bar in honest historical filmmaking, as well as just how emotionally connecting a film can be.

12 Years a Slave trailer:

Starting tonight, October 3rd and going through October 13th, the 36th Mill Valley Film Festival will be rolling out the red carpet for local Bay Area filmmakers, movie stars, and acclaimed directors from around the world in the gorgeous surroundings of Marin County. From a costume-friendly screening of Return of the Jedi, to live music performances, to screenings of some of the most buzz-worthy films in the cinemasphere, the festival has got a little something for everybody.

Way Too Indie will be there to give you updates on the myriad events and screenings going down at the festival, with photos galore, reviews, interviews, and more.

Here are some of the guests, screenings and events you can expect to see at the festival:

Alexander Payne’s highly-anticipated new film, Nebraska, will be opening up the festival, with stars Will Forte and Bruce Dern in attendance. A father-son Midwestern odyssey from Montana to Nebraska, the movie earned Dern a best actor award at Cannes.

Splitting opening night honors with Payne is Brian Percival, with his beautiful Nazi Germany-set drama, The Book Thief, starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and newcomer Sophie Nelisse, playing a young girl who discovers the power of storytelling.

At Middleton, a middle-aged romance between parents of college hopefuls set entirely during a campus tour, is director Adam Rodger’s feature debut and stars two seasoned, excellent actors in Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga. The film is making its premiere at the festival, and Rodgers and Garcia will be in attendance.Also making its premiere is Beside Still Waters, but writer-director Chris Lowell, who will be on hand to introduce the film.

One of the most highly-anticipated films of the year (especially for us) is Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor. The film, following a free black man in 1841 who is stripped of everything when he’s sold as a slave, is undoubtedly one of the major highlights of the festival.

And that’s just scratching the surface. There will be screenings of Palme d’Or winner Blue is the Warmest Color, John Wells’ August: Osage County, the Matthew McConaughey breakthrough piece Dallas Buyers Club, Jan Troell’s The Last Sentence, the heartfelt Matt Shepard documentary Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine, Asghar Farhadi’s The Past, a children’s film program, and much, much more.

There will also be a closing night tribute Ben Stiller, who’s bringing with him his new film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Also receiving festival spotlights are actors Jared Leto (Dallas Buyer’s Club) and Dakota Fanning (Effie Gray), and legendary auteur Costa Garvas (Capital, Z, State of Siege).

Stay tuned to Way Too Indie for updates on all the action going down in Mill Valley! For more info, visit mvff.com

Steve McQueen’s Hunger is based on real events on the huge battle between the Irish Republican Army and the British Government which ultimately led to a hunger strike in 1981. Michael Fassbender’s performance is easily his best to date as one of the leads. This art-house film is an enigma; it is brutally violent which at times makes it hard to watch but it is so interesting and well shot that you cannot look away.

At first we follow a man who checks underneath his car before getting inside of it. This is to make sure that no one has placed an explosive on the vehicle. There is even deliberate focus on the key as he turns the ignition as to suggest an explosive is still a threat. Luckily for him, he is safe from any catastrophes today.

Within the first ten minutes of Hunger director Steve McQueen puts emphasis on this man’s bloody knuckles. Twice we see him nursing them in a water filled sink and once he zooms on him while he is outside having a smoke. At this point we are given no explanation as to how his happened. We still do not even know his name. In fact, hardly any spoken dialog has occurred yet.

Come to find out that this man’s name is Raymond Lohan (Stuart Graham) who works as an officer at the Maze Prison. This prison houses the Irish Republicans that are protesting against the British state. One of the things these individuals are protesting is no bathing, which for sanitary reasons in a prison you can see how this can be a problem. So when they pull prisoners out of their cells from time to time to bathe them, the officers are met with furious resistance. It then becomes apparent how Raymond’s knuckles get so bloody.

One of those prisoners is Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) who is serving a 12 year sentence. At first when you see the walls of his cell you think it is just dirty or rust that is forming but you soon realize that it is feces the line the walls. He is very determined to defend what he believes in. His believes, after all, are the most powerful thing he has.

The title of the film comes from when Bobby reveals his plans on starting a hunger strike. Instead of all 75 inmates starting at the same time and each person is going to start 2 weeks after the next. This makes it last the longest. He is willing to die from hunger to demonstrate the message they want to send out.

It’s the small details that the director chooses to show that makes Hunger so well done. During the close up shot of Raymond’s battered knuckles a tiny snow flake lands right on them and then quickly melts. McQueen is a true visual artist and after watching this film it would be hard to debate that.

Another great piece of filmmaking is the stationary camera that shows Bobby and a priest having a cigarette together. From when they first lit the cigarette until it’s fully smoked, the camera does not move for nearly 17 minutes. In fact, enough time passes where Bobby finishes another cigarette.

The long haunting hallway shots he used reminded me of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. The slow pan of the camera over the floor until it reaches the end of the hallway adds to this. His eye for artistic detail seems to be right on par with the best. So it comes to little surprise that he won the Camera D’or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. But what is most unbelievable is that this was his first feature film of his career.

Fassbender lost over 35 pounds to portray the role of Bobby Sands on his hunger strike. His role was physically demanding and at the same time incredibly violent. When he is not being beaten completely nude, he is bleeding from wounds from previous beatings. Near the end of the film his skeleton body loses all of its natural color.

Rather than telling the story of the protest hunger strike, Hunger shows it in a visually powerful way. There will be several times where you will cringe at what you see on the screen while simultaneously appreciating the unflinching approach to this visual masterpiece. The film is like a vivid nightmare that sticks with you; a nightmare that is filled with exquisite art.

Steve McQueen’s Shame is a mesmerizing film about a man that has a severe addiction to sex who finds it impossible to have emotions around others. The film is dark and depressing with shame present in each of the characters eyes. But the true shame here is that the film will not be seen by most because of the NC-17 rating it received, a true shame.

The film starts off in a New York subway when Brandon Sullivan (Michael Fassbender) notices a woman on the train giving him flirty looks. A dramatic score builds up as she gets off the train at its next stop. We see a wedding ring on her finger but that does next stop him from chasing after her. He frantically looks all around the stop but she is nowhere in sight. In his mind, she was the one that “got away”.

At a glance Brandon seems to have everything going for him. He is a charming, handsome, and successful man. What you do not see the strong addiction he has to sex. He does not believe in marriage because he is incapable of emotionally connecting to people. The longest relationship he has ever had is four months and it was probably his longest by a landslide.

On any given night he brings a lady home from a bar, hires a prostitute or settles for internet pornography. He often watches pornography on his computer without pleasuring himself. It has gotten so bad that his work computer stopped working because of the amount of pornography and subsequently computer viruses that were on it.

He comes home one night to find music blaring in his apartment. Thinking he has walked in on some kind of criminal he quickly heads to the closest to get a bat. Then he bursts open the bathroom door only to find it is his sister, Sissy Sullivan (Carey Mulligan).

It would be just like Sissy to show up uninvited as that is the whimsical nature of her personality. She is a beautiful traveling singer but she is also not without her flaws. The first indication that she is suicidal is when she and Brandon are at the subway and she half-jokingly acts if she is going to step down to the tracks. Perhaps it was more of a reaction than a joke? The second time her suicidal tendencies comes up is at the dinner table when someone spots marks on her arms that she simply shrugs off by saying she was bored as a child.

Sissy just wants to stay in contact with her brother. She knows if she stops attempting to do so with him that she would never hear from him again. But he does not see it like that. Brandon looks at her as weight on his shoulders and a responsibility. She stands in his way of living the life he wishes to pursue.

Hinted along the way is the fact that their upbringing was rough, but it was never explained. It is not a bad thing that it was never explained as films often give out unnecessary details. Instead you will be thinking to yourself just exactly what it was that their parents did to thems growing up.

Michael Fassbender was simply stunning in his bravest and greatest performance to date. I agree with the many out there that say he was snubbed from an Oscar nomination, but it is not much of a mystery as to why. It had less to do with his performance in the film as it did with the rating of the film.

It is hard to believe that this marks only the second film that which Steve McQueen has directed. Shame was executed so well you think he would have been doing this his whole life. I have foolishly not seen his first film, Hunger, but after watching this one I will be sure to add it to my list.

The cinematography was very well done. In particular the scene where he is jogging down several blocks in downtown New York City. Shots of the city skyline are frequent throughout the film and a character in the film even says at one point, “Wow. I forget how beautiful this city is.” The colors in Shame are dark which works perfectly for its subject matter.

Ultimately, Shame is about the failure to connect emotionally with people. It is a passionate, perverse, and powerful film. But I suspect Steve McQueen knew this already. In the last scene of Shame the words powerful, thoughtful, and relevant appear clearly visible in the background. I do not think that was an accident.