Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-75) had an iconoclastic career as a gay Italian film director, poet, novelist, journalist, actor, playwright, political figure, philosopher, and intellectual.

"The Ground Beneath My Feet" is a minutely observed drama about the downside of success in Austria.

The 2019 Mill Valley Film Festival more than fulfills its duty of showcasing the best of the year's award-worthy films.

One of the most moving scenes in "Judy," the new biopic now playing in theaters, finds Garland meeting two of her gay fans in London.

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.

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

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.

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."