There's a remarkable queer accent to the Mill Valley Film Festival, playing Oct. 3-13 at venues in Mill Valley, San Rafael, Larkspur and Berkeley.

In "The Castle on Sunset — Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont," Shawn Levy breathlessly relates the fascinating history of a unique property.

With "The Woman Who Loves Giraffes," openly lesbian filmmaker Alison Reid creates a uniquely captivating hybrid of a movie.

"Downton Abbey," a BBC-TV import that ran for six hit seasons on PBS, makes the tricky transition to a stand-alone for a movie audience.

"There is no merit in being first," is an incredible understatement by Alice Guy-Blache, the subject of the new comprehensive Blu-ray documentary "Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache, the First Female Filmmaker."

What's the secret to creating a hit bio-pic about a person we feel we already know too well? Do as Renée Zellweger does in her moving homage to one of the last great entertainers, Judy Garland.

If you come away liking "The Goldfinch," a lavishly mounted art thriller adapted from Donna Tartt's 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, as I did, thank the casting gods.

In director Justin Chon's melancholy but moving drama "Ms. Purple," a young Korean-American woman's world comes unraveled.

That women are more than capable of directing feature films, including blockbuster hits — think Patty Jenkins and "Wonder Woman" — is not in doubt, but they're offered far fewer opportunities to do so than men.

The Castro Theatre goes mostly British in the final weeks of September as the theatre plays host to the big-screen version of "Downton Abbey."

In an age when virtually no one sees anything coming, film artists — gay, lesbian, straight, bi, trans, queer and decline-to-state — are among the most reliable tea-leaf readers.

Heading into the Fall awards season, film critics and fans alike have to scramble not only to locate the choicest viewing fare, but also to decide just how many film and video portals they must purchase to get the "good stuff."

Director Daniel Schechter's witty social comedy "Safe Spaces" had the Castro Theatre rocking with laughter at this year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

"Love, Antosha" presents a deeply moving portrait of the extraordinary life and death of Russian-American film actor Anton Yelchin.