"Open to everyone, with or without a badge." That is how the Mill Valley Film Festival describes its home base this year. The home base is the Outdoor Art Club at 1 West Blithedale Avenue, the Bernard Maybeck clubhouse built in 1904, which sits directly across the street from Sequoia Cinema.
The 49th festival runs October 1 through 11. Screenings are spread across the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, the Lark Theater in Larkspur, BAMPFA in Berkeley and the Sequoia on Throckmorton. On Throckmorton and West Blithedale, though, the festival has settled into something steadier than a ten-day visitor. The organization behind it runs the downtown theater all year, and this year the most useful part of its Mill Valley footprint is a patio where nobody checks your ticket.
What's on the Patio, and When
This year the festival is bringing Mill Valley Market to the front patio of the Outdoor Art Club. Sandwiches and drinks are for sale there, and anyone can stop by. The festival's own pitch for the cart is that it lets you eat before an afternoon screening "so you don't end up eating a large popcorn for lunch again." That matters more than it sounds. Outside food and drinks aren't allowed in any festival venue, so whatever you eat between films has to come from somewhere nearby.
The full public schedule at the club looks like this:
- Mill Valley Market lunch cart, front patio: daily, noon to 2 p.m., October 2 through 9, open to all
- The Patio Bar, front patio: daily, 4 to 6 p.m., October 2 through 10, open to all
- Audience Services, in the club's library: daily, noon to 7 p.m., open to all, for questions and ticket help
- Festival Lounge, in the sunroom and on the deck: daily, noon to 8 p.m., for badgeholders with lounge access only
The Festival Caravans also park outside the Outdoor Art Club, and that is where badges get picked up during the festival. Like the box offices, they open an hour before the first screening of the day. So the main entry point is on West Blithedale, across from the theater. A sandwich, a drink at the 4 p.m. happy hour and a question for the library desk all happen on the same lawn as the paperwork, and none of it requires a badge.
Why the Festival Can Treat Downtown as Home
For a long stretch the Sequoia was a commercial theater that hosted the festival once a year. That changed recently. Cinemark's lease ended in September 2023, and the theater went dark that October. On May 20, 2024, it reopened as Sequoia Cinema under the California Film Institute, the nonprofit that produces the festival. The reopening came with upgraded projectors and sound and a refurbished lobby. The Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce traces the building back to its opening in February 1929, a $1 million renovation in 1999, and the 2008 purchase of the building by CFI and a group of investors.
That makes 2026 the festival's third October with its own organization running the Sequoia day to day. The rest of the year, the theater shows first-run independent, foreign-language and documentary films, often with filmmaker conversations. The festival's host on Throckmorton is the same nonprofit you can see a film with in February. Seen that way, a public patio across the street fits. It works like an open house for an institution that already lives downtown.
In 2022, CAFILM filed plans to expand the Sequoia from two auditoriums to four, adding a lower floor and a second story. By May 2024 its general manager couldn't say where the proposal stood. We found no newer public update on the plan. This year's festival schedule lists screenings in Sequoia 1 and Sequoia 2.
The Films on Throckmorton With a Marin Thread
Organizers have added two new program sections for 2026, New Directors and Animation. The opening-night film on October 1 was Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, and I Play Rocky is the centerpiece on October 7. A few titles have direct ties to the county, and these are the ones to know:
| Film | Where and when | The Marin connection |
|---|---|---|
| No Hands: The Wild Ride of the Schwinn Bicycle Company | Sequoia Cinema, Friday, Oct. 2, noon | Features the Marin County riders who helped put mountain biking on the map |
| The Debut | Sequoia Cinema, Sunday, Oct. 11, 5 p.m., on both screens | Closing-night film; cast includes Megumi Nakamura, who grew up in San Rafael |
| This Bright Light | Lark Theater, Larkspur, Saturday, Oct. 10 | Documentary about Marin County gymnast Tamarin Luchessa |
The Marin Independent Journal's critic also recommends two non-local titles playing at the Sequoia. Pedro Almodóvar's Bitter Christmas shows at 4 p.m. on October 9, and La bola negra shows at 1 p.m. on October 10.
Getting a Seat Without Planning in September
Most screenings cost $20, or $16 for CAFILM members. Students with ID and seniors pay $18, and youth tickets and shorts programs are $12. Opening night, closing night, tributes and other special events are priced separately. When a screening shows "Standby," that only means it's unavailable for now. Throughout the festival, a new batch of tickets is released online every day at noon.
If a show is still sold out, the festival sells standby tickets 15 minutes before showtime, in person at the venue only, first come, first served. Lines open an hour before the film starts, and saved seats aren't allowed, so your whole party needs to arrive together. This is where the patio pays off. You can walk down at lunch, get a sandwich from the Mill Valley Market cart and check the noon release on your phone. If it comes up empty, the standby line at the Sequoia is across the street.
The Same Downtown Keeps Programming After October 11
Some of the town's own calendar overlaps the festival's last weekend, and the rest fills the weeks after it. Most of it is free or close to free, and much of it happens outdoors on a few downtown blocks.
- First Tuesday ArtWalk, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., featuring Carla Roth at the Mill Valley Chamber, 85 Throckmorton Ave.
- The Great Closet Cleanout, Friday, Oct. 9, 4 to 7 p.m., at the Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto. The city lists free clothing and costume pickup, followed by an outdoor screening of Coco with Spanish subtitles from 7 to 9 p.m.
- October Maker's Market, Saturday, Oct. 10, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Mill Valley Lumber Yard, 129 Miller Ave., with 15 local makers and live music
- Mill Valley Philharmonic, Where Flowers Sing, Friday, Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m., pay what you will, and Sunday, Oct. 18 at 3 p.m., $25, at Mount Tamalpais United Methodist Church, 410 Sycamore Ave.
- HOWL-O-WEEN Dog Costume Contest, Sunday, Oct. 25, starting at 10:30 a.m. at the Lumber Yard. Listings disagree on the end time, so check before you go.
- Halloween at the Center, Friday, Oct. 30, at 180 Camino Alto, with Trunk or Treat from 4 to 6 p.m. and a magic show from 6:15 to 7 p.m.
Saturday, October 10 is the busiest day on that map. La bola negra starts at 1 p.m. at the Sequoia, the Maker's Market runs until 5 p.m. at the Lumber Yard on Miller Avenue, and the Outdoor Art Club patio bar pours from 4 to 6 p.m. on its last full day.
Festival week shows how much of Mill Valley's public life sits within a few blocks of the Sequoia. Kris Klein knows those blocks and how being near them figures into what a home is worth. If you're curious where your own address fits, request a home valuation and Kris will walk you through it.
