The Decendants has the honor of opening the festival. Nothing like a little taste of Hollywood... the film stars Academy Award-winner George Clooney as a father who tries to reconnect with his daughters after his wife suffers a boating accident.

If you're planning a spook night, open your favorite bottle of wine, hold onto a loved one, turn off the lights and let yourself descend into madness.

Olsen delivers an effortless performance, showing terrific range in a story that requires her to be humiliated, sodomized, chased, controlled. Many are talking Oscar nomination, and it's not a far-fetched proposition.

Sri Lanka will be a special focus for the 9th annual edition of the film festival.

"She's a once-in-a-lifetime movie star," director Simon Curtis tells Loni before the screening. "Above all, she was a sensational beauty."

Here's strong evidence that the West African cinematic tradition has an important place in the world of film, one that is adept at incorporating new wave influence.

Can art inspire change, and elevate the soul of a neighborhood?

"Independent film is a movie that almost doesn't get made. They're called independent because they're not formula." -- Glenn Close, Mill Valley Film Festival.

30th Anniversary: Raiders of the Lost Ark - the Spielberg blockbuster that reinvented the serial and created a lifetime of famous quotes and catchphrases - receives a special screening.

The acting is gritty and raw, none of the surreal gloss that covers big budget Hollywood numbers.