Frech Film Selection at the 2026 Mill Valley Film Festival

Villa Albertine San Francisco is proud to support the 49^th annual Mill Valley Festival, featuring a dynamic lineup of films, including In Waves by former Villa Albertine resident Phuong Mai Nguyen. 

This year’s Mill Valley Film Festival offers Bay Area audiences an opportunity to encounter a range of approaches to visual storytelling and dynamic narratives through a selection of French and French-language productions, including former Villa Albertine San Francisco resident Phuong Mai Nguyen’s In Waves.  

Based on AJ Dungo’s graphic novel, In Waves follows two young people whose relationship unfolds against the worlds of surfing and skateboarding, exploring love, loss, and friendship through an interplay of vibrant contemporary imagery, hand-drawn animation, and references to the Hawaiian origins and cultural history of surfing. During her Villa Albertine residency, Nguyen spent time in San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles, and Hawaii, meeting historians, oceanographers, artists, musicians, and others whose knowledge of surfing, Hawaiian history and culture, and the landscapes of the West Coast informed her approach to the film. 

 The festival also presents Minotaur, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s French-Latvian-German drama, La Gradiva, Marine Atlan’s French-Italian coming-of-age feature, Iron Boy, Louis Clichy’s French-Belgian animated film, and All of a Sudden, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s French-Japanese-Belgian-German production. Together, these films reflect the range of contemporary filmmaking—from animation and coming-of-age cinema to psychological drama and formally ambitious international co-productions—while demonstrating craftsmanship and intellectual curiosity that continue to characterize French cinema and its collaborations across borders.  

Now in its 49th edition, the Mill Valley Film Festival has developed into an internationally recognized Bay Area gathering for new cinema, presenting American independent and international films alongside award contenders, filmmaker conversations, and other programs in a collaborative and convivial setting. 

See the complete selection of French films screening at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and reserve your tickets here.