"OAC patio now open to the public." That is the third item on the Mill Valley Film Festival's own short list of what is new for its 49th edition, which runs Thursday, Oct. 1 through Sunday, Oct. 11. It sits under the new artistic director, Rose Kuo, and a new CAFilm app for browsing, tickets and voting.
The other two items mostly matter to people with a pass. The patio matters to anyone who lives a few blocks from the Outdoor Art Club at 1 West Blithedale Avenue. The festival now describes the club as its hub and says it is open to everyone, with or without a badge. For a festival that has long meant lines on Throckmorton and lanyards around the plaza, this is a real change. For eleven days there is now a place at the center of MVFF where a Mill Valley resident with no ticket at all has a reason to stop by.
A Daily Clock Anyone Can Keep
The open-to-all part of the Outdoor Art Club follows a fixed schedule, and the hours are what make it useful in an ordinary day. The festival's Tickets page lists three public windows:
| What | Where at the OAC | Hours | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Festival help desk | Library | Daily, noon to 7 p.m. | Throughout the festival |
| Mill Valley Market lunch cart | Front patio | Daily, noon to 2 p.m. | Oct. 2 to Oct. 9 |
| Patio bar | Front patio | Daily, 4 to 6 p.m. | Oct. 2 to Oct. 10 |
Mill Valley Market is bringing sandwiches and drinks for sale to the club's front patio. The festival pitches it as a way to eat before an afternoon screening "so you don't end up eating a large popcorn for lunch again." The patio bar is a daily happy hour where, in the festival's words, "all are welcome," with drinks for sale.
The lunch cart hours have a small discrepancy. The detailed schedule on the Tickets page says noon to 2 p.m., while the summary on the How to Fest page says noon to 3 p.m. If you're coming after 2, check with the library desk first.
Put together, the hours trace a familiar downtown afternoon: lunch from the Market's cart, an errand or a walk, and a drink on the patio as the late shows start to fill. The festival has scheduled its public hours around the same stretch of the day when Lytton Square and Throckmorton are already busy.
Where the Open Door Stops
Some of the club is still behind a badge, and knowing which part keeps the patio from feeling like a half-invitation. The Festival Lounge in the OAC's sunroom and on its deck is separate from the public patio. Getting in requires a badge, ticket or day pass with an "L" designation. The lounge is open Oct. 2 to Oct. 10, noon to 8 p.m.
Several of the club's free programs also need a reservation. On Sunday, Oct. 4, the Mind the Gap Summit takes over the Outdoor Art Club with films, conversations, activities, a networking lunch and a happy hour. Two of its panels are free: "Staying Power: Film and Politics" at 10 a.m. and the Mind the Gap Directors Panel at 11 a.m. Both still require a ticket. In practice "free" means reserving a seat on the festival's site ahead of time.
The latest event at the club works the same way. "Lights, Camera, Celebrate! MVFF49 After Dark" runs Thursday, Oct. 8, from 8:30 to 11 p.m. at the Outdoor Art Club, with drinks and music. Its event page asks guests to get a ticket. The festival also lists nightly meetups around Marin from 9 to 11 p.m. as new this year. The venues haven't been published on the festival pages yet, so it's worth watching the CAFilm app for where they land.
From the Patio to a Seat at the Sequoia
The patio does more than offer a sandwich. It puts a resident without a pass about two blocks from the Sequoia Cinema at 25 Throckmorton Avenue, and the festival's standby system is built for people who decide late.
If a screening is marked "Standby" online, tickets aren't on sale at the moment. The festival releases more tickets every day at noon during the festival. For a sold-out screening, the sequence at the venue goes like this:
- Lines open one hour before the scheduled start. The festival suggests arriving at least 30 minutes early.
- Without a badge, you join the General line at the Sequoia. Standby tickets fill empty seats shortly before showtime.
- Standby tickets go on sale in person at the venue 15 minutes before showtime, first come, first served. The festival advises getting in the Standby Line early.
Ticket holders who show up late can lose their seats, since a regular ticket doesn't guarantee a seat after a certain point. The festival's pages don't give a standby price.
For a downtown resident, all of this fits around the patio clock. The noon ticket release lines up with the lunch cart opening. The 4 p.m. happy hour sits about an hour before many early-evening start times. Checking the app at the patio and then walking to the theater is the shortest version of the festival anyone in Mill Valley can have this year.
The Festival Grew, and Some of It Moved Next Door
The patio is one sign of a larger festival. In his welcome letter, festival founder and director Mark Fishkin calls this year's edition "bigger than ever." He describes it as a road map toward next year's 50th-anniversary festival. The program adds a New Directors section of 26 films, including Beth de Araújo's Sundance winner Josephine, which is set in San Francisco. The Mill Valley Chamber's lineup post also names Animation as a new section.
The larger program has also pushed more screenings to the Lark Theater at 549 Magnolia Avenue in Larkspur. Fishkin writes that the festival "expanded upon the number of screenings at the Lark Theater" to fit it. The four listed screening venues are the Sequoia, the Lark, the Smith Rafael Film Center at 1118 Fourth Street in San Rafael, and BAMPFA at 2155 Center Street in Berkeley. If a film you want is sold out at the Sequoia, it may have a second showing a short drive up Corte Madera Creek.
The three big-night films are:
- Thursday, Oct. 1, opening night: Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, starring Sam Rockwell, who will also receive a Tribute.
- Wednesday, Oct. 7, Centerpiece: I Play Rocky, with Anthony Ippolito as Sylvester Stallone.
- Sunday, Oct. 11, closing night: Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut, with Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti.
Getting Downtown Without a Festival Lot
The Sequoia, Sweetwater Music Hall and the Outdoor Art Club have no venue parking lot. The festival points visitors to three options: the Westpark Sunnyside lot behind the theater, two-hour metered street parking from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week, and four-hour metered parking behind Piazza D'Angelo. It also recommends ridesharing. The festival's How to Fest guide tells Sequoia visitors to plan extra time for street parking.
The two-hour meters line up awkwardly with the patio. Lunch at noon followed by a 2 p.m. screening runs past a two-hour meter, so the four-hour spaces behind Piazza D'Angelo are a better fit for that kind of afternoon. For anyone within walking distance of West Blithedale, walking is simplest. We haven't found any festival or city notice of downtown street closures or parking changes for this year.
Sunday, Oct. 11, When the Whole Club Opens
The festival's last day goes furthest in opening up to the public. Family Film Day runs Sunday, Oct. 11, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Sequoia Cinema and the Outdoor Art Club. The festival bills it as "free & open to the public." The plan is to catch a film or two at the Sequoia and then head to the OAC for face painting and glitter tattoos, balloon art, a hands-on optical toy and flipbook workshop, and local vendors selling crafts and treats. The individual films link to ticketing, so it's best to reserve those seats ahead even though the day is free.
It's also the most food-friendly Sunday downtown has had in a while. Two new places opened in August at Strawberry Village: Tartine, which formally opened Aug. 19, and Cholita Linda, which opened its first Marin location there and serves daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., according to the Marin Independent Journal. Either one makes an easy stop on the way home after Family Film Day, which ends at 4 p.m. Closing night's The Debut screens the same evening.
The full schedule, standby status and any late changes are on the festival's Browse page and in the new CAFilm app.
We live and work a few miles up the road in Larkspur, and October is one of our favorite months to spend in downtown Mill Valley. If you're thinking about what your own home near Throckmorton or West Blithedale is worth this fall, we're glad to talk it through, ideally over something from the patio bar. McArthur Love Team is here when you'd like to start that conversation. Contact Us.
