Thank you to all patrons of the Mendocino Film Festival Virtual Cinema. You helped us raise essential funds that will allow the festival to continue to provide quality, enriching independent film.
If you missed any of the films, below you will find a list of all the titles featured in the cinema over the summer with information on where to stream the film.
The *asterisks* denote films that were originally selected by the programming team for the 15th Annual Mendocino Film Festival.
The Booksellers – D.W. Young’s elegant and absorbing documentary is a lively tour of New York’s book world, populated by an assortment of obsessives, intellects, eccentrics and dreamers, past and present: from the Park Avenue Armory’s annual Antiquarian Book Fair, where original editions can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars; to the Strand and Argosy bookstores, still standing against all odds; to the beautifully crammed apartments of collectors and buyers. The film, executive produced by Parker Posey, features a range of commentators, including Fran Lebowitz, Susan Orlean, Gay Talese, and a community of dedicated book dealers and collectors who strongly believe in the wonder of the object and what it holds within. 99 min. Trailer
The Booksellers is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to booksellersdocumentary.com.
CREEM: America’s Only Rock n’ Roll Magazine – Capturing the messy upheaval of the ’70s just as rock was re-inventing itself, the film explores CREEM Magazine’s humble beginnings in post-riot Detroit, follows its upward trajectory from underground paper to national powerhouse, then bears witness to its imminent demise following the tragic and untimely deaths of its visionary publisher, Barry Kramer, and its most famous alum and genius clown prince, Lester Bangs, a year later. Fifty years after publishing its first issue, “America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine” remains a seditious spirit in music and culture. 75 min.
CREEM is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to creammovie.com.
*Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy explores Diana’s vibrant, unconventional life, blending vérité with archival footage, photographs and interviews. Viewers accompany her in intimate settings at home cooking, gardening, and traveling to accept awards and speak to audiences. The film features interviews with notable chefs and friends including Alice Waters, José Andrés, Rick Bayless, and Gabriela Cámara, along with footage from Diana’s TLC cooking show, “The Art of Mexican Cooking.” Whether she is instructing chefs at her in famous “Boot Camp” cooking school, blazing her truck over the cobblestone roads of Zitácuaro or sunbathing with a scotch on her balcony, Diana is captivatingly bold, spirited, and unapologetically herself. 82 min. Trailer
Diana Kennedy is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to dianakennedymovie.com.
*The Dog Doc – As a pioneer of integrative medicine, veterinarian Dr. Marty Goldstein has been called everything from “maverick” to “miracle-worker.” Attracting four-legged patients from around the world, Dr. Goldstein’s practice, Smith Ridge Veterinary Center, provides holistic treatment for animals after other vets have given up hope. In THE DOG DOC, director Cindy Meehl (BUCK), goes behind the scenes at Smith Ridge to capture the full drama of “Dr. Marty” and his colleagues’ life-changing commitment to wellness and the astounding results they achieve. Filmed over a 2½ year period, Meehl’s unobtrusive camera highlights the vulnerability of her subjects – canine and human – while tracking each animal’s progress. THE DOG DOC combines the touching stories of families with the hard science of integrative care. By casting an intimate lens over this unique world, THE DOG DOC shows the healing powers of integrative wellness, compassion and hope. 101 min. Trailer.
The Dog Doc is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to filmrise.com.
*The Fight is an inspiring, emotional insider look at how important battles are fought and the legal gladiators on the front lines fighting them. When a mother is separated from her child, a soldier is threatened to lose his career, a young woman’s right to choose is imperiled at the pleasure of a government official, and the ability to exercise our basic right to vote is threatened, the consequences can be devastating to us and to future generations. The Fight celebrates the unsung heroes who fiercely work to protect our freedom. 97 min. Trailer.
The Fight is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to fightthefilm.com.
Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind is an exploration of the career, music and influence of legendary Canadian musical icon, Gordon Lightfoot. With unprecedented access to the artist, the film takes audiences from high school auditoriums in straight-laced, small town Ontario in the 50s to the coffee houses of Yorkville and Greenwich Village in the 60s, through Lightfoot’s turbulent, substance- fueled arena shows of the 70s, and finally to the artist in present day. 90 min. Trailer.
Gordon Lightfoot is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to gordonlightfootmovie.com.
*John Lewis: Good Trouble chronicles the life and career of the legendary civil rights activist and Democratic Representative from Georgia. Using interviews and rare archival footage, the documentary chronicles John Robert Lewis’ 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health-care reform and immigration. Using present-day interviews with Lewis, now 80 years old, Porter explores his childhood experiences, his inspiring family and his fateful meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957. In addition to her interviews with Lewis and his family, Porter’s primarily cinéma verité film also includes interviews with political leaders, Congressional colleagues, and other people who figure prominently in his life. 96 min. Trailer
John Lewis: Good Trouble is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to johnlewisgoodtrouble.com.
Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band is a confessional, cautionary, and occasionally humorous tale of Robertson’s young life and the creation of one of the most enduring groups in the history of popular music, The Band. The film is a moving story of Robertson’s personal journey, overcoming adversity and finding camaraderie alongside the four other men who would become his brothers in music, together making their mark on music history. 82 min. Trailer.
Once Were Brothers is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to oncewerebrothers.com.
*The Painter and the Thief – Desperate for answers about the theft of her 2 paintings, a Czech artist seeks out and befriends the career criminal who stole them. After inviting her thief to sit for a portrait, the two form an improbable relationship and an inextricable bond that will forever link these lonely souls. 102 min. Trailer.
The Painter and the Thief is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to neonrated.com.
*Runner follows marathoner Guor Maker’s journey from refugee to becoming South Sudan’s first Olympian. In his quest we witness what it took to get Maker there, learning the stories of his family and compatriots that ultimately propel him forward in his pursuit. Trailer.
Runner is available for rent for $12. For more information on where to watch this film, go to runner.vhx.tv.
Shirley – Renowned horror writer Shirley Jackson is on the precipice of writing her masterpiece when the arrival of newlyweds upends her meticulous routine and heightens tensions in her already tempestuous relationship with her philandering husband. The middle-aged couple, prone to ruthless barbs and copious afternoon cocktails, begins to toy mercilessly with the naïve young couple at their door. 107 min. Trailer.
Shirley is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to neonrated.com.
Slay the Dragon – A secretive, high-tech gerrymandering initiative launched 10 years ago threatens to undermine our democracy. Slay the Dragon follows everyday people as they fight to make their votes matter. Trailer.
Slay the Dragon is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to slaythedragonfilm.com.
*Spaceship Earth is the true, stranger-than-fiction, adventure of eight visionaries who in 1991 spent two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered replica of Earth’s ecosystem called BIOSPHERE 2. The experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life threatening ecological disaster and a growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult. The bizarre story is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially reimagine a new world. 113 min. Trailer.
Spaceship Earth is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to neonrated.com.
*Our Time Machine – Shaken by the news of his father’s dementia, artist Maleonn creates “Papa’s Time Machine,” a wondrous time-travel adventure performed on stage with life-size mechanical puppets. Through the play’s production, he confronts his own mortality. Maleonn finds grace and unexpected joy in this moving meditation on art, the agonies of love and loss, and the circle of life. 81 min. In Mandarin with English subtitles. Trailer.
Our Time Machine is available for streaming through PBS POV or for purchase. For more information go to timemachinefilm.com.
*Out Stealing Horses – November 1999: 67-year-old Trond (Stellan Skarsgård), lives in self-imposed isolation and looks forward to welcoming in the new millennium alone. As winter arrives he meets one of his few neighbors, Lars (Bjørn Floberg), and realizes he knew him back in the summer of 1948. 1948 – the year Trond turned 15. The summer Trond grew up. Out Stealing Horses is based on the bestselling novel by Norwegian author Per Petterson. Immediately following the film there will be a pre-recorded discussion between Stellan Skarsgard and director Hans Peter Moller. 122 min. Trailer.
Out Stealing Horses is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to outstealinghorses.com.
Driveways – Kathy (Golden Globe® Nominee Hong Chau), a single mother, travels with her shy eight-year-old son Cody (newcomer Lucas Jaye) to Kathy’s late sister’s house which they plan to clean and sell. As Kathy realizes how little she knew about her sister, Cody develops an unlikely friendship with Del (Golden Globe®, Tony® winner and acting legend Brian Dennehy), the Korean War vet and widower who lives next door. Over the course of a summer, and with Del’s encouragement, Cody develops the courage to come out of his shell and, along with his mother, finds a new place to call home. 83 min. Trailer.
Driveways is available for rent or purchase from multiple providers. For more information on where to watch this film, go to filmrise.com.
