When a young woman with a mystical, spiritual connection with nature—a healer—meets a young man who’s a Latin scholar and son of a glovemaker, the powerful bond of love is ignited in ways that are fated to resonate through history. There is a living authenticity to Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, MVFF43) and her exceptional cast’s imagining and rendering of this 16th-century story: Rooted in a deep sense of humanity and human experience, it speaks across time and does great justice to Maggie O’Farrell’s brilliant novel of the same title. Jessie Buckley (Women Talking, MVFF45) embodies Agnes with a powerful, elemental heart and humanity, a perfect foil to Paul Mescal (The Lost Daughter, MVFF44) as that scholar who was destined to write plays like, indeed, Hamlet (a spelling interchangeable with his son’s name, Hamnet.) Exquisitely filmed in rural England, this story of love and loss, parents and children, inspiration and creativity is profoundly moving. —Zoë Elton

OPENING NIGHT
THURSDAY, OCT. 2 | SEQUOIA CINEMA (Intro) + SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER (Conversation)
PLEASE NOTE: The Intro and On-Stage Conversation will happen take place respectively in Sequoia House 1 and Rafael House 1 and simulcast in the other theater houses.


SPOTLIGHT ON JESSIE BUCKLEY
FRIDAY, OCT. 3 • 3:00 | SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER
It has been less than 10 years since Irish actor Jessie Buckley achieved her breakthrough movie role as a young woman determined to make it to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in Wild Rose (2018), for which she was nominated for BAFTA and British Independent Film Awards. She was a Gotham Award nominee for her role in I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020) and received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar® nomination for The Lost Daughter(2021). She won the 2022 Best Actress in a Musical Oliver Award for her role as Sally Bowles in Cabaret.

Join us for this special evening during which Jessie will be presented with the MVFF Award.