Blithe Spirit will screen at a couple of upcoming film festival in America. The film will receive its world premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival later this week.

Isla also took part in a press day for the film yesterday so we should be getting new interviews released in the coming weeks.

Montclair Film Festival

Montclair Film has announced its full slate of films and events for the 9th annual Montclair Film Festival (MFF), presented by Investors Bank, taking place October 16-25, in Montclair, NJ. The program features over 100 films, conversations, and special events, from drive-in screenings at Montclair Film’s Carpool Cinema to screenings on Montclair Film’s new Virtual Cinema platform, powered by Eventive. Programs in today’s announcement join the previously announced Opening, Closing, and Centerpiece films, as well as the Storyteller Series, presented by Audible. Passes and individual tickets are available beginning October 5 for Montclair Film Members, and October 8 for the public. To become a member or purchase tickets, please visit montclairfilm.org.

Each film in the MFF’s Virtual Cinema will have a unique set of screening availabilities, with some being available only to residents of New Jersey, others to the entire United States, some scheduled for a certain date and time, others available on demand throughout the festival. Patrons will find a full set of information for each film at montclairfilm.org and are urged to check their availability and viewing location prior to purchasing tickets.

Carpool Theater
Including the previously announced Opening Night (NOMADLAND), Closing Night (ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI…), Fiction Centerpiece (AMMONITE), and Documentary Centerpiece (IN & OF ITSELF), the full schedule of MFF’s Carpool Theater drive-in screenings, located at 3 Cherry Lane in West Orange, NJ, is:

BLITHE SPIRIT
Director: Edward Hall
Producers: James Spring, Meg Leonard, Nick Moorcroft, Hilary Bevan Jones, Peter Snell, Tuni Pinnous
Cast: Dan Stevens, Judi Dench, Isla Fisher, Leslie Mann, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Emilia Fox
UK/95 min

In this light-hearted comedy, best-selling crime novelist Charles (Dan Stevens) suffers from terrible writer’s block and is struggling to finish his first screenplay. His picture-perfect new wife Ruth (Isla Fisher) is doing her best to keep him focused, so they can fulfill her dream of leaving London for Hollywood. Charles’s quest for inspiration leads him to invite the eccentric mystic Madame Acarti (Judi Dench) to perform a séance in his home. He gets more than he bargained for when Madame Acarti inadvertently summons the spirit of his first wife: the brilliant and fiery Elvira (Leslie Mann).

Friday, October 23, 6:30 PM

(Awards Daily / MontClairFilm.org)

Continue reading “Blithe Spirit” screening at two more film festivals

‘Blithe Spirit’ drive-in screening opens 2020 Mill Valley Film Festival

When’s the last time a big film made it’s world premiere at a drive-in?

“Blithe Spirit,” a new adaptation of Noel Coward’s 1941 play starring Judi Dench, Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher and Dan Stevens, is slated to open the 43rd Mill Valley Film Festival, which is ready to roll despite the coronavirus pandemic.

“Blithe Spirit,” an IFC Films release, kicks off 10 nights of drive-in screenings at a specially constructed, studio-grade facility at the Lagoon Park-Marin Center in San Rafael, the California Film Institute announced Thursday, Sept. 10.

The event runs through Oct. 8-18, and opening night includes five films screening virtually. MVFF43 will run in tandem with CFI’s DocLands Documentary Film Festival, which was postponed from May because of the pandemic.

“Although MVFF43 will not look the same as in previous years, what initially seemed like a challenge now feels like an opportunity to bring us together in an unexpected way, during an unprecedented time,” Mark Fishkin, Mill Valley Film Festival director and founder said in a statement. “We will continue to boast the year’s best films from all corners of the globe.”

Films screening virtually on opening night are “Sweet Thing,” the latest from longtime American indie director Alexandre Rockwell (“In the Soup”); “The Heist of the Century (El Robo Del Siglo),” about one of the most notorious bank heists in Argentina; “Veins of the World,” in which a young Mongolian boy turns grief into a source of power after the death of his father; Bay Area filmmaker Judith Erlich’s documentary of anti-Vietnam War activism, “The Boys Who Said No!”; and “Public Trust,” the DocLands opening night film about conflict over public lands in the United States.

The full schedule will be announced at a later date.

Tickets can be purchased online only starting at noon Sept. 23, for California Film Institute members, and noon Sept. 27 for the general public.

The 43rd annual Mill Valley Film Festival: Oct.8-18. Virtual screening tickets are $10 general admission, $8.50 California Film Institute members. Drive-in tickets are $40 per vehicle, $35 members. www.mvff.com

(sfchronicle.com)