‘Hamnet’ to Open Mill Valley Film Festival With Star Jessie Buckley Set for Key Award (Exclusive)
Hamnet, which has already begun to generate awards buzz, is set to open the 48th Mill Valley Film Festival.
Director Chloé Zhao’s feature, which stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, will screen as the opening night title on Oct. 2, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned. Both Zhao and Buckley will participate in an onstage conversation following the film.
Hamnet will also screen during an encore presentation the next day, where Buckley will receive the Mill Valley Film Festival Award for her performance in the movie and her contributions to contemporary cinema. After the award presentation, MVFF program director Zoë Elton will moderate an onstage conversation between Zhao and Buckley.
The feature follows the love story behind William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, with Mescal as the famed playwright and Buckley as wife Agnes Shakespeare. Focus Features releases Hamnet in select theaters Nov. 27 before its wide release Dec. 12. Zhao helmed Hamnet from a script she co-wrote with Maggie O’Farrell that is based on O’Farrell’s acclaimed 2020 novel.
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“It was 2020, during the height of the pandemic, and I’ll never forget the excitement at the drive-in we created for that year’s Mill Valley Film Festival. One of the special programs at the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Marin County Civic Center featured Chloé Zhao’s then-new film, and the anticipation was palpable,” MVFF director and founder Mark Fishkin says in a statement. “It’s been five years since Nomadland went on to win three Academy Awards, including best picture. Now, five years later, Zhao returns with Hamnet, a film that exceeds those high expectations. Poignant and powerful, this adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel will captivate her readers and anyone unfamiliar with the story alike.”
Adds Elton, “I’m so excited to be opening this year’s MVFF with Hamnet. It’s like being in the company of great artists across time, from the imagined lives of Agnes Hathaway and William Shakespeare in 16th-century England via Maggie O’Farrell’s excellent book, to Chloé Zhao’s exquisite filmmaking and the extraordinary performances of Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, plus a wonderful ensemble. The story and characters feel remarkably contemporary, a testament to the power of the actor-director collaboration. From the woods of rural England to the boards of The Globe Theatre, it’s beautiful work!”
In her review of Hamnet for The Hollywood Reporter, critic Angie Han called the film “gorgeous and cathartic” and added that “it’s Buckley who really stuns.”
Zhao won the best director Oscar for 2020’s Nomadland and is also known for her features The Rider and Eternals. Buckley was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in The Lost Daughter and has also appeared in Fingernails, Women Talking and Men.
The 2025 Mill Valley Film Festival runs Oct. 2-12.
