With the opening of the 38th Mill Valley Film Festival on Oct. 8, the hordes of movie lovers coming to town will have plenty of fantastic art to enjoy as they wander around town before, after and in between films. The Mill Valley Arts Commission's First Tuesday Artwalk on October 6, 6–8pm at venues all over town boasts a diverse, bountiful slate of artists.

The biggest name among them is local favorite Tom Killion, who is showing off his "Tamalpais Walking" series of giclee prints of original woodcuts at the Community Center as part of this weekend's (Oct. 3-4) Celebrate Tam! event, where Killion will appear on Saturday night.

The Artwalk also features Kellyann Gilson Lyman, a mixed media artist who is showcasing her "2015 The Wonder of Love" abstract expressionism series throughout October at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center (85 Throckmorton Avenue, Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–4pm).

And Zener Schon Contemporary Art is celebrating its first anniversary in Mill Valley with an exhibit that includes 2wenty, Carly Ivan Garcia, Peter Gronquist, Ted Lawson, Benito Rangel de Maria, Dan Monteavaro and many more.

The First Tuesday Artwalk, Mill Valley's monthly celebration of local art, features a host of additional venues, including the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Seager Gray Gallery, the Mill Valley Public Library, the Depot Bookstore & Café, City Hall, Famous4, Alain Pinel Realtors, Ruby Livingdesign and the Throckmorton Theatre. Receptions at each venue are Tuesday from 6–8pm. 

First Tuesday Artwalk Guide with venues and a map.

When the Mill Valley Film Festival unveiled the robust lineup for its 38th edition earlier this month, it hastily mentioned that there would be a just-secured tribute to Sir Ian McKellen, the veteran Shakespearean actor who became an international star later in life with his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and as Magneto in the X-Men series.
MVFF38 organizers clarified last week that McKellen, who is already generating Academy Award buzz for his portrayal of an elderly Sherlock Holmes in the new film Mr. Holmes, will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award and tribute featuring clips from some of his 50 films. McKellen will also sit down for a Q&A. The tribute includes a companion piece called "Women I've Filmed With."
"Share in the passion and enthusiasm of this prolific actor as he recalls his favorite moments working with some of cinema’s most legendary actresses," festival organizers say. "From Ava Gardner and Meryl Streep to Mrs. Harold Pinter (Vivien Merchant) and Laura Linney, McKellan has worked with the best on-screen. McKellen proposed this presentation specifically for MVFF, a unique event, never to be repeated."
The event is set for Oct. 11 at 7:30pm at the Smith Rafael Film Center. A reception follows. Tickets range from $40 to $85. Information at mvff.com.

In 1986, Paula and Bob Reynolds moved into their first home in Mill Valley straight from New York City, completely sight unseen.

Fast forward nearly 30 years – and three kids (Peter, Julia and Charlie), successful careers and myriad honors, including Paula Reynolds’ 2015 Mill Valley Business Citizen of the Year Award, which she’ll receive Friday at the Bank of Marin’s Spirit of Marin Awards ceremony – and they remain in that home.

“It’s a good reminder not to sweat to small stuff,” Reynolds says.

A self-described “oil brat” who lived several years apiece in New Jersey, Japan, Australia and London as a kid, and as a intrepid world traveler, Paula Reynolds says she has no intention of leaving the town where she’s lived the bulk of her life.

“I plan to be carried out of Mill Valley in a box,” Reynolds says with a laugh.

But while Reynolds has no plans to move ever again, she has without a doubt been on the move over the past nearly three decades.

A cursory glance at her history of volunteering in Mill Valley will induce exhaustion in the faint of heart: Mill Valley School District Trustee, Throckmorton Theatre Board Chair, Chair of the successful $18.6 million School Bond in 1994, Marin Academy Board, worked on committees for both the Community Center and the Library, Business Advisory Board Chair, Mill Valley Chamber Board Chair, The Redwoods Board and most recently, in an effort to seize the momentum of building and sustaining a successful local Chamber of Commerce, Chamber Co-Director.

“Words are not adequate to describe Paula Reynolds,” says Elizabeth Suzuki, Mill Valley Chamber Board Chair. “She’s very erudite, but it’s her actions that are her hallmark. Whether it is tapping valuable talent to serve with her – and who can say no to Paula? – or knowing just who to approach to get something done, she’s always in motion, usually behind the scenes.”

In announcing its Spirit of Marin winners, Bank of Marin officials called Reynolds “a bright, energetic and dedicated force in the community” with “a history of stepping into challenging situations and making a lasting difference.” That history has allowed Reynolds to garner a number of awards previously, the City of Mill Valley’s Citizen of the Year, Marin County School Board Trustee of the Year (2009) and Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award from the Marin County School Administrators Association (1998).

Given the breadth of Reynolds’ involvement in the community, from schools to seniors and a plethora of things in between, she’s had an indelible impact on nearly every facet of life in the 94941, according to Linda Rosso, a former member of both the Business Advisory Board and the Chamber Board with Reynolds.

“Paula is one of the special people who make Mill Valley work for people of all ages,” she says. “In the 25 years I have known her, she has either been on the front lines or working behind the scenes to make things happen. The business community has a champion in Paula – and we’re seeing the results.”

Those results include revitalizing the Chamber board, leading the effort to adopt its first strategic plan, growing membership by 50 percent and collaborating with the City of Mill Valley on a multi-year Professional Services Agreement. Those results were the culmination of her work since 2010, when Councilwoman Stephanie Moulton-Peters asked her to chair the City-appointed Business Advisory Board to help revitalize the town’s local economy and make sure the business community had a “voice at the table” in policy decisions.

“Paula has identified the critical needs of the local business community and worked diligently to address those needs,” Moulton-Peters says. “Under her leadership, the Chamber has been a great partner with the City of Mill Valley. I'm delighted that Paula's many contributions to local businesses and to the larger Mill Valley community are being recognized as she is honored at the Spirit of Marin awards this year!”

"In Mill Valley, it's all about community,” Reynolds says of her work with the Chamber. “That's why I got involved and why nearly 300 of us have joined the Chamber – to keep Mill Valley a thriving economic and cultural hub. Mill Valley has come a long way since the devastating 2008 downturn and I am grateful to have been a small part of that recovery." 

Paula Belknap was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Her dad Norton Belknap worked for Standard Oil (later Exxon), and the family moved around the world with his jobs, allowing Paula to live some of her formative years in some of the most exciting cities on the planet, including Tokyo and London.

When she was 18, she went to Tufts University in Boston, then moved to Washington, D.C. to work for U.S. Rep. Jonathan Bingham (D, New York) as an aide on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She spent the next four years in D.C., and was set up on a blind date in the Senate dining room with Bob Reynolds, then an aide for Bingham’s political polar opposite (but fellow Yale University alum), U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R, Wyoming).

“Republicans are allowed to have fun, too!” Wallop told Bob of the setup.

Bob and Paula hit it off right away, and got married in 1980. They both decided to go to Stanford Business School, arriving a monthly early for the aptly named “poets program” for those “illiterate in math,” Reynolds says.

The couple then moved to New York City, where Bob worked as an investment banker at First Boston and Paul took a position in sales at AT&T International. Missing California, they moved back to the Bay Area, with Bob heading up First Boston’s San Francisco office and Paula getting ready to have their first child.

Within a year after having Peter, Reynolds wrote Bay Area Baby: The Essential Guide to Local Resources for Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenthood, which has since been published in multiple editions.

With so much going on, Reynolds kept thinking about the previous year when, in the midst of moving to the Bay Area with a newborn, she’d asked her boss in the sales division of AT&T if she could scale back her hours to spent time her son. The answer was a resounding no.

When Reynolds serendipitously met Marion McGovern, the pair bonded over the challenges faced by professional women looking to go back to work but while striking a work-life balance that allowed them to be with their children.

In 1988, with Reynolds seven months pregnant with her daughter Julia, she and McAuliffe created M Squared Consulting, which specialized in executive recruiting for a wide range of job types and structures. While running M Squared, Reynolds was the subject of a New York Times story that said: "Ms. Reynolds has resolved to her satisfaction the great quandary of the working Mom – how to balance the demands of her job with the tugging at her heart." In 2000, with the firm bringing in nearly $20 million a year in revenue, they sold the business, and Reynolds left M Squared in late 2007.

Although she held many of her board positions in Mill Valley while she was running M Squared and raising a family, Reynolds stepped her service to an even greater level when she left her business.

Those efforts have led to Reynolds being honored this week with a Spirit of Marin Award at the St. Vincent’s School for Boys in San Rafael, where she’ll be joined by fellow Mill Valley Chamber members and friends, as well as Claire McAuliffe, currently the Mayor of Belvedere and Reynolds’ longtime partner at M Squared.

‘It is only appropriate that the “Spirit of Mill Valley” be honored with a Spirit of Marin award!” says Dennis Fisco, former Mill Valley Mayor and leader of many of the campaigns Reynolds has worked on over the years. “From the schools to the City to the Chamber, Paula has always been about all things Mill Valley by not just thinking of better ways to perform but by leading as an example to us all on how to dive in and get things done. Well deserved!”

Given its dominance of Mill Valley's landscape and its seeming ubiquity among our recreational and artistic endeavors, we should celebrate Mount Tamalpais every day.

But in case we need a reminder, a nearly one-year-old coalition of organization is organizing a loaded lineup of events called "Celebrate Tam!" on the mountain and at the Mill Valley Community Center. The weekend-long celebration marks the past year of work by the Tamalpais Lands Collaborative, which includes MMWD, California State Parks and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, to restore the West Peak, among other projects.

The Celebrate Tam! weekend includes an array of hikes, yoga classes, photo workshops, history walks and volunteer restoration projects. It also features "An Evening of Art Celebrating Tam" event on Oct. 3 at 6pm at the Mill Valley Community Center headlined by two award-winning locals. The evening will feature a reading, Q&A and book signing by author Jane Hirshfield, an internationally acclaimed poet whose latest tome, The Beauty, a collection of original poems exploring the profundities and quirks of existence, made the 2015 National Book Award Longlist, Poetry.

Here's a rundown of the Celebrate Tam! events:

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3rd – 8am–4pm
EXPERIENCE MT. TAM & GET OUT IN NATURE
All activities are free, but space is limited and registration is required.   

Saturday, October 3
One Tam Cruise for Views Trail Run 
8 - 10 am
REGISTER HERE 
Move Your Asana - Powerful Fitness Yoga & Mantra Meditation - Old Mill Park (intermediate to advanced)
8:30 am - 10 am
REGISTER HERE 
Free Hikes With Healthy Parks, Healthy People - Mill Valley Community Center
9 am - 10:30 am
REGISTER HERE 
Maintaining and Repairing Watershed Trails Volunteer Program - Bolinas Ridge
9 am - 2 pm
REGISTER HERE 
Celebrate Tam Walk at Bothin Marsh
9 am - Noon
REGISTER HERE 
Bootjack History Walk
9:30 am - Noon
REGISTER HERE 
Ranger-led Dog Walk in Baltimore Canyon
10 am - Noon
REGISTER HERE
Volunteer Habitat Restoration at Muir Beach
10 am - 1 pm
REGISTER HERE 
First Ever Tamalpais Hawkwatch - Ballou Point
11 am - 2 pm
REGISTER HERE 
Gravity Car Barn: How the Railroad Encouraged Hiking on Tam
1 pm - 1:30 pm
REGISTER HERE 
Move Your Asana - Gentle Soul Mantra & Yoga (beginner to intermediate) - Old Mill Park
1 pm - 2:30 pm
REGISTER HERE 
Mt. Tam: A (West) Peak Experience
1 pm - 4 pm
REGISTER HERE 
Wildlife Picture Index Project and Wildlife Walk - Sky Oaks
1 pm - 3:30 pm
REGISTER HERE 
Free Hikes With Healthy Parks, Healthy People - Mill Valley Community Center
2 pm - 3:30 pm
REGISTER HERE 
Gravity Car Barn: How the Railroad Encouraged Hiking on Tam
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
REGISTER HERE

AN EVENING OF ART AT THE CENTER
Our "Preview and Poetry Night" will feature two fabulous local artists whose work has been inspired by the mountain and the natural environment.
This event kicks off the month-long exhibit of Tom Killion'sartwork and will feature a reading, Q&A and book signing by Internationally acclaimed poet, Jane Hirshfield. 
The Depot Bookstore will be onsite selling Hirshfield's books.
Jane Hirshfield is a National Book Award longlist poet and Mill Valley resident. In addition to her poetry, her book of essays on the "mind of poetry", her collection and translations of other poets have become classics in their fields. 
Registration is required for this free event and spaces are limited. 

Sunday, October 4
TAM DAY AT THE CENTER  – 10am–2pm
Come for a day of family-friendly fun and activities at the Mill Valley Community Center
The Center's Kid Zone is the perfect place for your toddler through middle schooler to test their jumbo Jenga skills at the Tower of Tam, work off some extra energy in our bouncy houses, get creative with face-painting, temporary tattoos, and a variety of arts and crafts for all ages. Some samples of activities include bird nest making, dot art, bag decoration, jewelry making and more! 
You'll also enjoy food trucks, live music by Jill and Steven Pierce (2/3 of the band Orange Sherbet), and the chance to interact in fun ways with the amazing organizations listed below that are working to care for Mt. Tam.

TAM TALK AT THE CENTER, 2pm–5pm
Join the leadership of the five Tamalpais Lands Collaborative (TLC) partner organizations at the Mill Valley Community Center for an interactive and engaging dialogue about the TLC and its One Tam initiative, what the collaborative has undertaken in its first year, and plans for the year ahead 
This event is open to the public, and registration is not required. Download agenda here

For most of the last century, entry-level jobs were plentiful, and college was an affordable path to a fulfilling career. That world no longer exists. The documentary Most Likely to Succeed, examines the history of education, revealing the growing shortcomings of our school model and offers a plan to empower our children to succeed in our increasingly demanding and innovative 21st century world.

Speak to Me and Kiddo! have teamed up to show the film at Park School on Thursday, October 1 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. All proceeds go to Kiddo!

Education Week magazine named Most Likely to Succeed “among the best edu-documentaries ever produced."

The 411: Most Likely to Succeed screens at Park School, 360 East Blithedale Ave., at 7:30pm (doors open at 7:15pm); Tickets $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Meet and learn more from featured thought leader Dr. Yong Zhao at Speak To Me's February 23rd event. More info and buy advance tickets.

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You don’t need to look too hard to learn the history of Whole Foods Market in Mill Valley. As the saying goes, it’s written on the walls – quite literally, in the case of the Miller Avenue store, which recently celebrated its 23rd birthday with a comprehensive update of its interior design, laden with its core values and guiding principles, as well as a new store graphic.
Those design elements rely on the mountain that so heavily dominates Mill Valley’s landscape, as well as the ocean, bay, lanes and creeks that surround us.

“It was time for an update,” says Miller Ave. Store Manager Clarke Pomeroy. “We tried to capture the essence of Mill Valley and remind customers of our deep ties to this community, and our connection to the environment around us.”

The result is a store whose walls, aisles and checkout areas tell the story of Whole Foods itself, utilizing reclaimed wood and design touches to put a fresh face on one of the company’s oldest stores.

In 1991, marketing and sales consultant and organic food devotee Walter Robb, who previously created a health food store in Trinity County called Mountain Marketplace, was looking to open his own store in Mill Valley. He’d signed a lease for 414 Miller Avenue, a 14,000-square-foot, quonset hut-style building that was previously home to butcher shop Jerry's Meats and some smaller businesses. As Robb prepared to remodel the space, John Mackey, his longtime friend and the founder of Whole Foods, convinced him to swap the lease of his new store for equity in Whole Foods and sign on as store manager.

Within a short period of time, the Whole Foods on Miller Ave. that opened in July 1992 boasted the highest sales-per-square-foot of any Whole Foods in Northern California, and Robb was the company's president of the Northern Pacific region. In 2010, just weeks before Whole Foods opened its second store in Mill Valley – the nearly 30,000-square-foot space on East Blithedale – Robb became the Whole Foods’ co-CEO with Mackey.

Given the Miller Avenue store’s role as a keystone in the history of Whole Foods, it’s no surprise that its management team has continued to innovate. They’ve bolstered their catering service significantly, recently drawing rave reviews at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce’s September Mixer at O’Hanlon Center for the Arts.

They’ve also just launched a Personal Shopper Program, allowing busy customers or those planning large events to order ingredients and products via email and either pick them up at the store or have them delivered for a small fee. IN doing so, they can connect with "Chef Jerry," a longtime chef at the store who can walk customers through a custom shopping experience.

"You can basically walk the entire store while shopping and get a real feel for what we are passionate about and what we think our shoppers want as well," says Brownlie Raffaini, the store's marketing team leader. "We're excited for this next chapter of the store."

Speak to Me, the six-year-old, by-women, for-women series of "intelligent, inspiring events" featuring dynamic speakers and gourmet food receptions, has unveiled its 2015-16 lineup, and as usual, it features some buzz-worthy guests. 

Founded by Jenny Terry and Tracy Barsotti’s project, Speak to Me's events are designed around a specific theme of wide interest to women, with plenty of time built-in for mingling, nibbling and wine-tasting before and after the speakers. 

The 2015-16 lineup includes Christin Powell, chief product innovator at EVER Skincare and co-founder of Juice Beauty; world renowned thought leader and educational expert Yong Zhao, Ph.D; and Jennifer Dulski, president and COO of Change.org, among others. Here's the slate:

Inspiring Entrepreneurs: Passionate Advocates for Healthy Living
Oct 27, 2015 6:30 pm-9:00 pm
Mill Valley Community Center
Christin Powell | Chief Product Innovator, EVER Skincare. Co-founded Juice Beauty. Helping women feel and look beautiful through products that work and are good for you.
Pamela Marcus | Co-founder, LifeFactory. Passionate about healthy, environmentally friendly products for families.
Pamela Giusto-Sorrells | President, Pamela’s Products. Pioneer in natural and gluten-free foods for over 25 years.
Wendy Wallbridge | Strategic advisor/coach of Fortune 100 companies and author. Dedicated to engaging and empowering women to become leaders and agents of change.
BUY NOW

The Savor Secret: Surprising Ways To Get What You Want Out of Life
Jan 26, 2016 6:30 pm-9:00 pm
Mill Valley Community Center
Angela Jia Kim | Founder & CEO of The Savor Lifestyle Brands - Savor Spa, Om Aroma & Co. and Savor the Success, a women entrepreneur network. Her Savor Schools and productivity tools help thousands of women manifest their dreams while savoring lives they love.
BUY NOW

The New Face of American Education: 
Cultivating Creative, Entrepreneurial and Global Talents
Feb 23, 2016 6:30 pm-9:00 pm
Mill Valley Community Center
Yong Zhao, Ph.D. | Thought leader and scholar, educational expert and award-winning author of 20 books including "World Class Learners" and "Catching Up or Leading The Way.” Named one of the 10 most influential people in educational technology. 
BUY NOW

Empowering Change: Using Your Talents for Good
May 3, 2016 6:30 pm-9:00 pm
Mill Valley Community Center
Jennifer Dulski | President & COO of Change.org, the world’s largest social change platform with more than 100 million users in 196 countries. Successful entrepreneur and businesswoman integral to the growth of both Yahoo! and Google. First female entrepreneur to sell a company to Google and hailed as an "instigator of change" by Forbes.
BUY NOW

LUNCH & LEARN SERIES
Nutrition for a Healthy, Vibrant, Beautiful You
Nov 19, 2015 11:30 am-1:30 pm
Piatti Restaurant, Mill Valley, CA
Sonya Angelone, MS, RDN, CLT | Nutritional consultant, LEAP therapist and certified lifestyle counselor. Expert in helping people use good nutrition as a powerful tool to better health and well-being.
BUY NOW

Integrative Health: Treating Your Mind, Body & Soul
Apr 7, 2016 11:30 am-1:30 pm
Piatti Restaurant, Mill Valley, CA
Corliss Chan BS, MBA | Certified practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu and acupressure. Meditation and guided relaxation instructor. Dedicated to empowering others to develop their own self-healing skills to create better health.
Pamela Riggs, MS, RDN | Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. Expert in helping people optimize health and well-being through good nutrition and an active lifestyle.
BUY NOW

Most Likely to Succeed – to benefit KIDDO! in Mill Valley
Oct 1, 2015 7:30 pm-9:00 pm
Park School Auditorium, Mill Valley
Most Likely to Succeed |
BUY NOW

The 411: Speak to Me's 2015-16 event series kicks off Oct. 27. Go here for more info and to buy advance tickets, or to buy tickets for the whole series.

The 59th edition of the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival, one of our community's iconic events, drew thousands to Old Mill Park on Sept. 19-20 for some fantastic art from more than 140 artists, great live music and children's entertainment and, on one of the hottest days of the year, some precious shade in the park's gorgeous redwood grove. 

The festival also brought a few firsts: the Dipsea Race Foundation's new Finish Line Bar and Café, a shaded and secluded seating area featuring a cocktails and wines and a small plate menu, as well as the inaugural Art Lovers Save Discount Program, which gave thousands of festival attendees a chance to get discounts at merchants and restaurants all over town by presenting their "Art Lovers Save" sticker. More than 45 Mill Valley Chamber Member businesses stepped up to offer discounts.

The free Movies in the Park series, which kicked off its second season with a screening of Maleficent in August, continues in Old Mill Park this Friday (Sept. 25) with a free screening of the Academy Award-winning blockbuster Big Hero 6.

The 2014 3D animated superhero comedy from Disney that tells the story of a young robotics prodigy named Hiro Hamada who forms a superhero team to combat a masked villain. The film won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature.

The Movies in the Park series is a collaboration between the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce, the City of Mill Valley’s Recreation Department and the California Film Institute.

The 2015 edition of the series concludes on Friday, October 16 with a screening of the legendary classic Wizard of Oz.

The free film screenings are set in the redwood grove adjacent to the playground in Old Mill Park. Seating is general admission, and attendees are encouraged to bring a blanket and/or low beach chair. The main feature begins at sunset at approximately 7:15pm.

Here's the trailer for Big Hero 6:

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The aforementioned road repairs, as well as the City’s fire prevention-focused Vegetation Management Program, are funded by the City’s Municipal Services Tax (MST). The $145 per parcel tax was first approved by voters in 1987 for 10 years, and was renewed in 1997 at $145 per parcel and 2006 at a maximum of $195 per parcel. The MST generates $1.2 million in revenue annually. Along with the $300,000 budget for the Vegetation Management Program, the MST also funds $900,000 in street maintenance and road repair. The MST is up for renewal in 2016.

The City remains in the midst of a lengthy process to change its Multi-Family Residential Development Standards and create new design guidelines for multi-family and mixed-use development projects, and the Council affirmed the City’s course on that effort earlier this month. The expanded review process is largely an effort to address concerns from residents of the “Downtown Multi-Family Residential” area that includes Downtown and its immediately peripheral streets. 
“The goal of this is to give some predictability to what these projects should look like and what is possible,” Wachtel said.
Smith added that while updates to the Commercial Zoning regulations are on the to-do list, that effort will likely take place in 2016.
More info.

Mill Valley resident Gibson Thomas, the publisher and editor-in-chief of Edible Marin & Wine Country magazine, is moderating an upcoming Commonwealth Club panel that examines the pros and cons of eating meat and restaurants' role in our thinking about meat, among other meat-related subjects.

The panel, aptly dubbed "Where's the Beef? Our Changing Ideas About Meat," is set for Thursday, Oct. 1 at 7pm at the Outdoor Art Club at 1 West Blithedale Avenue. The event features renowned chef, restaurateur, food critic and author Patricia Unterman (SF's Hayes Street Grill, SF Chronicle, SF Examiner) and Nicolette Hahn Niman, mother, environmental lawyer, vegetarian, cattle rancher and the author of Righteous Porkchop and the recently published Defending Beef: The Case for Sustainable Meat Production (and wife of famed rancher and founder of Niman Ranch, Bill Niman). The event ponders a variety of questions, including: Is eating meat bad or good? Are cows ruining the planet? Are restaurants leading or following when it comes to our thinking about meat? Can you be a vegetarian and still love bacon? 

Advance registration required for tickets, which include hors d'oeuvres, cash bar and seating. No tickets available at the door. More info and tickets.

Annual adventure and environmental documentary festival flips its opening and closing night films and lands director, producer and actor for Q&A sessions. Four-day event kicks off with screening of The Diplomat, a portrait of former U.S. ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and concludes Sunday with Meru, which chronicles three men's attempt to ascend Meru (also known as Shark's Fin), a formidably jagged peak in India.

Adrenaline junkies, outdoor lovers and documentary film buffs now have four thrill-seeking days headed their way starting this Thursday Sept. 17 and running through Sept. 20 in the form of the Throckmorton Theatre's 4rd Annual MountainFilm adventure and environmental documentary festival.

The event, which features more than 55 films plus guest speakers and discussion panels, kicks off with a special screening of The Diplomat, filmmaker (and MountainFilm festival director) David Holbrooke's portrait of his father, former U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who helped broker the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia in 1995. 

The festival features a number of films that are garnering considerable buzz, namely Unbranded (see trailer below), which documents a young Texas horseman's plan to prove the worth of wild horses and raise awareness about their plight by adopting, training and riding wild horses 3,000 miles from the Mexican border to Canada through some of the American West’s wildest terrain. Unbranded producer Dennis Aig is appearing at the screening and taking part in a Q&A session afterward as well as a meet-and-greet at the Opening Night Party at Piazza D'Angelo. 

On Saturday night, Academy Award-winning director Louie Psihoyos (2008's The Cove) will appear at a screening of his new film Racing Extinction and sit down for a Q&A. The festival concludes Sunday night with a screening of Meru, which chronicles three men's attempt to ascend Meru (also known as Shark's Fin), a formidably jagged peak in India (see trailer below).

Click here for the full festival schedule. Three-day festival passes are on sale now.

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Actors Sir Ian McKellen, Carey Mulligan, Sarah Silverman and Brie Larson are set to appear and receive tributes, while directors Tom Hooper, Tom McCarthy, Catherine Hardwicke and Cary Fukunaga will be on hand at MVFF38, set for Oct. 8-18, to show off their latest Academy Award contenders.

Now in its 38th year, the Mill Valley Film Festival has long since established its place in the global landscape of film festivals, with a consistent slate of Academy Award contenders, star-studded events featuring both Hollywood legends and emerging talents and a laser-like focus on putting independent films – and the small town that bears its name – on the map.

MVFF38, set for October 8–18 in Mill Valley, San Rafael and venues across Marin, looks to maintain and grow that reputation. The California Film Institute has unveiled the full MVFF38 lineup, including opening and closing night films that will surely garner a bevy of Oscar nominations, with an array of events featuring appearances by both legendary and emerging actors and directors, a nine-day run of live music at the Sweetwater Music Hall and "Mind the Gap – Women, Work and Film," a festival-wide focus on inspiring women in film.

Here's a rundown of the major events, including trailers:

OPENING NIGHT | Spotlight and The Danish Girl 
For Opening Night, the Mill Valley Film Festival presents the Bay Area premieres of Tom McCarthy’s investigative drama Spotlight, starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams, and Tom Hooper’s (The King’s Speech, MVFF 2010)
transgender drama The Danish Girl, which stars Academy Awardâ Winner Eddie Redmayne (MVFF 2014 with The Theory of Everything) and Alicia Vikander. Both directors will be present for their respective screenings.
Spotlight Screens Thursday, October 8 at 7 & 7:15PM at the Cinéarts Sequoia
The Danish Girl screens Thursday, October 8 at 7 & 7:15PM at the Century Larkspur 
Screenings followed by Opening Night Gala at 9PM at Marin Country Mart in Larkspur

Heart Like a Hand Grenade
Also featured on the first night of MVFF38 is the World Premiere of director John Roecker's an intimate look at Bay Area based rock group Green Day recording their album American Idiot, their Grammy Award-winning punk rock opera.

SPOTLIGHT | Sarah Silverman & I Smile Back
MVFF38 honors actress/comedian/writer Sarah Silverman with a Spotlight presentation. The event features a screening of her latest film I Smile Back and will be followed by a live on-stage conversation and presentation of the MVFF Award. In the film, Silverman gives a career-defining performance as a woman in a downward spiral of reckless hedonism seeking a chance for redemption.
Friday, October 9 at 7PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center 
Spotlight followed by Reception at 9PM at Pizza Antica

MVFF Music | Nine Nights of Live Music at the Sweetwater Music Hall 
New to MVFF this year will be nine nights of live music exclusively curated for the Mill Valley Film Festival at the landmark Sweetwater Music Hall. Rock, pop, roots, folk, swing and much more will provide a soundtrack for MVFF38 in the heart of Mill Valley.
Friday, October 9 – Saturday, October 17 at Sweetwater Music Hall 

TRIBUTE | Catherine Hardwicke  
Director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Thirteen, Tank Girl) will be honored with a Tribute which includes a special screening of her latest film Miss You Already, starring Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette as two life long friends who are put to the test when one starts a family as the other falls ill. Following the screening will be a live on-stage conversation with Catherine Hardwicke and presentation of the MVFF Award.
Saturday, October 10 at 7:30PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center 
Tribute followed by Reception at 9:30PM at Tiburon Tavern

CENTERPIECE | Barbet Schroeder
For the Centerpiece Presentation, acclaimed Iranian-born, Swiss based filmmaker Barbet Schroeder will be in attendance for his latest film Amnesia. A protégé of French New Wave masters Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette, Schroeder’s latest film follows a young music composer who travels from Berlin to Ibiza in the hopes of becoming a DJ at a nightclub. While there, he befriends an older German woman living on the island in solitude.
Tuesday, October 13 at 7PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center 
Centerpiece followed by Reception at 9PM at Il Davide

SPOTLIGHT | Brie Larson 
MVFF38 presents the California Premiere of Room, which will be accompanied by a Spotlight on star Brie Larson, and a presentation of the MVFF Award. Larson has built an impressive career as a versatile young actress with her work in such films as Short Term 12, Trainwreck, The Gambler, The Spectacular Now, 21 Jump Street and Rampart. In Room, Larson stars as Ma, a mother who has raised her son in a single room his entire life.
Wednesday, October 14 at 7PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center 
Spotlight followed by Reception at 9PM at Green Chile Kitchen

Beasts of No Nation | Cary Fukunaga
The Netflix original film Beasts of No Nation directed by Cary Fukanaga (True Detective, Jane Eyre) follows the young Agu who is forced to join a group of rebel fighters in an unnamed African country led by Commandant (Idris Elba). Based on Uzodinma Iweala’s book of the same title. Oakland native Fukunaga will be in attendance.

TRIBUTE | Marcel Ophuls
Oscarâ Winning Documentary filmmaker Marcel Ophuls will receive a special Tribute at the festival in recognition of his 60 plus years in the film industry. His documentary Hotel Terminus: The Life And Times Of Klaus Barbie won an Academy Awardâ for Best Documentary Feature. As part of the Tribute, the festival will screen his Oscarâ nominated documentary The Sorrow and The Pity and his filmed autobiography Ain’t Misbehavin’.
Thursday, October 15 at 7PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center 
Tribute followed by Reception at 9PM at Il Davide

SPOTLIGHT | Carey Mulligan 
Academy Awardâ Nominated actress Carey Mulligan will be presented with a Spotlight program which will feature an on-stage conversation, a clip reel of her many film roles (An Education, Drive, Never Let Me Go, Shame, The Great Gatsby), clips from her latest film Suffragette, and the presentation of the MVFF Award.
Saturday, October 17 at 6PM at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center  
Spotlight followed by a reception at 9PM at Frantoio Restaurant

CLOSING NIGHT | Suffragette 
For its Closing Night Film, the 38th Mill Valley Film Festival has chosen Suffragette, the story of the women who were foot soldiers in the fight for the right to vote in the early 20th century, ordinary women who risked their jobs, homes, children and even their lives. The film stars MVFF Spotlight Awardee and Academy Awardâ Nominated actress Carey Mulligan, former MVFF Tributee Academy Awardâ Nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter and MULTIPLE Academy Awardâ WINNER actress Meryl Streep.
Sunday, October 18 at 5PM at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center
Sunday, October 18 at 5PM and 5:15PM at Cinéarts Sequoia
Screenings followed by Closing Night Party at 7PM at Terrapin Crossroads

Here are more programs @ MVFF38:

Mind the Gap – Women, Work and Film | MVFF’s Women’s Initiative 
MVFF takes its longstanding commitment to women filmmakers one step further in a festival-wide focus on inspiring women in film. Screenings and onstage conversations with directors, producers and actors; big nights (Spotlights on Sarah Silverman, Brie Larson and Carey Mulligan, Tribute to Catherine Hardwicke); stories driven by female characters (including an inter-generational classic, The Wizard of Oz); docs addressing inequalities and issues (CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap; La Prenda/The Pawn); panels (Dr. Stacy Smith of USC’s Annenberg School returns to MVFF38 to report on her newest research) and educational screenings are all being curated with a view to raising awareness and celebrating women’s work.

The Saga of Ingrid Bergman | An Exhibition Honoring the Centennial of Her Birth 
An exclusive exhibition from Sweden will celebrate the magnificent, three-time Oscarâ winning actress Ingrid Bergman on the centennial of her birth. Consisting of 30 photographic prints and a multimedia installation, the exhibition chronicles the path of Bergman’s remarkable career. After its exhibition at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, D.C., the Mill Valley Film Festival will host its sole additional presentation in the United States prior to its return to Europe.
Friday, October 9 – Thursday, October 22 at 1020 B Street in San Rafael 

Children’s FilmFest 
Families are encouraged to tour the world at the MVFF Children’s FilmFest. Now in its 21st year, the festival will showcase the finest family films from around the world.

Additional Highlights for MVFF38 include:

• Sexual repression and supernatural entities make uneasy bedfellows for Constance Barton (Jena Malone) in Angelica (US Premiere), a playfully twisted period drama, which had its world premiere at Berlinale. It’s not that Constance doesn’t want to make love with her husband Joseph (Ed Stoppard); it’s that she’s been forbidden to after the difficult birth of their daughter Angelica. Overwrought by this enforced physical separation, the young mother sees nightmarish visions that threaten her and her child, so she turns to a formidable spirit hunter named Mrs. Montague (Janet McTeer) for assistance. Star Jena Malone and director Mitchell Lichtenstein will be in attendance in support of the film.
• Orange is the New Black star Taryn Manning delivers an emotional performance as a woman struggling to stabilize her bipolar disorder in A Light Beneath Their Feet (World Premiere), a coming-of-age drama which sets itself apart in its bold exploration of mental illness. Director Valerie Weiss assuredly elicits strong performances from the entire cast, especially the young female lead, Madison Davenport, whose performance has firmly established her as a rising star to watch. Star Taryn Manning and director Valerie Weiss will be in attendance in support of the film.
• Following the screenings of Angelica and A Light Beneath Their Feet and the Tribute to Catherine Hardwicke, MVFF will host a special party for filmmaker guests and patrons at the Tiburon Tavern celebrating the combined work of all attendees.
• Academy Awardâ winners Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford play 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes and journalist Dan Rather in Truth, a riveting account of the 2004 television scandal that erupted after Rather’s report alleging George W. Bush received preferential treatment that allowed him to dodge the Vietnam War.
• Yosemite (California Premiere), based on short stories by James Franco, is the feature directorial debut from Gabrielle Demeestere. Set in suburban Palo Alto and starring a talented cast of Bay Area locals, this nostalgic ode to boyhood weaves together the intertwined tales of three fifth-graders precariously navigating the shifting emotional grounds of their young lives in the fall of 1985.
• Academy Awardâ winning director Paolo Sorrentino’s second English language film Youth will screen at the festival. The film stars Michael Caine as a retired orchestra conductor on holiday in the Alps who receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Phillip’s birthday. Harvey Keitel, Paul Dano, Rachel Weisz and Jane Fonda round out the cast.
  
• John Crowley’s Brooklyn follows Eilis Lacey’s (Saoirse Ronan) journey from Ireland to America in the search for a home in the early 1950’s.
• Winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Prix, Son of Saul is a debut film from Hungarian director László Nemes. A prisoner of Auschwitz in 1944 is forced to burn the corpses at the concentration camp, and finds among them the body of a boy he takes for his son.  
• Winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or, Dheepan is the latest film from celebrated director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust & Bone). Featuring novelist, and former Tamil Tiger child soldier Antonythasan Jesuthasan in a leading role, the story focuses on three Tamil refugees that have fled war-ravaged Sri Lanka in the hope of reconstructing their lives in France.
• Todd Haynes’ (Poison, Safe, Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven) British-American romantic drama Carol stars Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara (tied for Best Actress at Cannes) and Kyle Chandler. This captivating, sensuous and richly observed film tells the story of a young shopgirl in the early 1950’s who falls for an older, married woman.
• Winner of the Best Director Prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Hou Hsiao Hsien’s The Assassin is set during the Tang Dynasty in China and follows a young woman who is ordered to kill the man she loves, or break definitively with the “order of Assassins”.
• Director Pablo Larrain’s follow up to his Oscarâ nominated No, The Club follows a crisis counselor who is sent by the Catholic Church to a small Chilean beach town where disgraced priests and nuns, suspected of crimes ranging from child abuse to baby-snatching from unwed mothers, live in seclusion after an incident occurs.
• In 45 Years, a couple receives an unexpected letter, which contains potentially life-changing news the week leading up to their 45th wedding anniversary. Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay won Best Actress and Actor at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival for their roles in Andrew Haigh’s film.   
• Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2015 Berlinale, Jafar Panahi’s Taxi is a look at a day with Panahi as a taxi driver chauffeuring passengers through the streets of Teheran. The acclaimed Iranian director has been banned from making films and is restricted from leaving his country. 
• A dramatic thriller set against the backdrop of historical events and directed by Steven Spielberg, Bridge of Spies centers on Brooklyn Lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) who is thrust into the center of the Cold War when the CIA sends him to negotiate the release of a captured American U-2 pilot. 
• Filmmakers including Wes Anderson, Olivier Assayas, Peter Bogdanovich, David Fincher and Richard Linklater discuss how Francois Truffaut’s 1966 Book “Cinema According to Hitchcock” influenced their work in Kent Jones’ documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut.
• Justin Kurzel’s dynamic rendition of Shakespeare’s classic Macbeth will have its U.S. Premiere at the festival. The film stars Michael Fassbender as Macbeth and Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth.
• Sembene! tells the story of the father of African film, dockworker and fifth-grade dropout Ousmane Sembene. His life unfolds through archival footage and interviews in this compelling tribute to his genius.  
• The fascinating Tikkun depicts the gradual untethering of a young ultra-orthodox scholar in Jerusalem. The film won the top prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival this past year.
  

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“There is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

So wrote British writer Kenneth Grahame in his classic children’s book The Wind in the Willows.

For the better part of two decades, Steve Faber has been living Grahame’s creed, writing about nautical journeys for a wide variety of publications and connecting clients with boating adventures across the world as a specialist for CruiseOne.

Based in San Rafael after living in Mill Valley for many years, Faber specializes in unique and exotic sailing trips: adventures, expedition, river cruises, travel on freighters and cargo ships, European barge trips and yacht charters, as well as traditional cruises.

“If it floats, we can make it happen,” Faber says.

Born and raised in Chicago, Faber moved to Los Angeles for college, attending Occidental College before moving over to the then-fledgling UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, a program that produced the likes of Francis Ford Coppola. After a few years in the film industry, Faber began copywriting for the direct marketing industry, plying his craft for nearly 20 years.

Faber says he’s had the travel bug since early childhood as his parents were intrepid travelers. But it was on a cruise with his wife in 1996 that the seed was planted for a career change. He met a woman who was on assignment Life magazine and was also a regular contributor to National Geographic magazine. He was fascinated by the idea of travel writing as a profession and knew he could make the transition.

“It’s all about painting word pictures,” he says.

Faber did just that, writing for publications like MSNBC, Miami Herald, Cruise Travel Magazine, a number of guidebooks and CruiseCritic, where nearly 200 of his stories and reviews continue to live on.

During this time, Faber decided to “take my travel advocacy to the next level, actually booking people on vacations I like,” and joining up with CruiseOne. He quickly found his niche.

“People might not even be aware of the types of trips that are out there,” Faber says, pointing to yacht charters, small ship cruises, naturalist-led expedition cruises, barge trips and coastal cargo vessels that serve another function – combination passenger and cargo ships, for example. Some of those trip options are completely different than the traditional one port per day cruise trips, an option which often appeals to people looking to cover more ground on their trips.

“These working ships sometimes do 30-40 ports in a week,” says Faber, a self-described foodie whose wife “hasn’t had to cook a meal in 40 years” and a collector of Haitian art. “Those are the kind of niche trips we love to do.”

On his personal adventures with his wife, Faber is partial to the Caribbean, having owned a sailboat in the British Virgin Isles for many years.

“It’s a home away from home for me,” he says. “There is still nothing like going to a place where you have a network of friends whose homes are open to you on the ground at the destination. You get involved in day to day life and you meet real people.”

More info on Steve Faber and CruiseOne.

In an effort to encourage its thousands of attendees to eat, drink, shop and save at local retailers and restaurants, the organizers of the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival have teamed up with the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center to launch the inaugural Art Lovers Save Discount Program.

The 59th edition of the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival, one of our community's iconic events, is set for Sept. 19-20, 10am–5pm, in the gorgeous redwood grove of Old Mill Park. More than 140 artists will be exhibiting, and a full slate of live music and entertainment is happening throughout the weekend. 

The Art Lovers Save Discount Program gives thousands of Festival attendees a chance to get discounts at merchants and restaurants all over town by presenting their "Art Lovers Save" sticker (at right) – given to them upon their paid entry into the Festival. More than 45 Mill Valley Chamber Member businesses have stepped up to offer discounts.

Don't miss this chance to eat, drink, shop AND SAVE during or after your Festival experience!  Discounts good for Sept. 19-20 only.

GO HERE TO SEE THE DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR THE ART LOVERS SAVE PROGRAM.