Another epic year at the MV Film Festival. This powerful…read moredocumentary, "Steal This Story, Please!" is a riveting exploration of fearless journalism and the ongoing pursuit of truth. Well chosen & powerful films are featured each year at the festival. The event is staffed well & quite organized.

Why it has taken till 2023 for me to get to the MVFF is a mystery. This year's festival runs Thu,…read moreOct 5, 2023 - Mon, Oct 16, 2023. It's exciting and convenient that we have an opportunity to participate in a small, navigable, regional film festival that includes thoughtful and innovative films, surprise appearances by directors, and hopefully (after the actors strike concludes) talented actors, all in own backyard. The film festival is organized by The California Film Institute, an arts nonprofit in San Rafael. MVFF provides a forum for introducing new films to West coast audiences well before theatrical release dates. This year I planned to see "Saltburn" by the brilliant Emerald Fennel, who previously won an Academy Award and BAFTA for "Promising Young Woman." What I wasn't expecting was an intimate Q&A (she spoke the day before, but opted to stay for the second showing) talking candidly about the motivation for her transgressive, lush and surprising film. Cord Jefferson's satire, "American Fiction" featured a supremely talented cast, including Jeffrey Wright and Issa Ray, and it's searing insights brought laughter, "aha's" and self-examination to a privileged Marin film audience. Many films show at the Christopher Smith Rafael Theatre (and also at other local sites), the festival is well run, organized and is attended by directors, journalists, critics and local cinephiles. Tickets are sold online (normal tickets prices, $16, or more if there will be a special guest Q&A) and the bigger films go to "Rush" quickly, meaning all advance tickets are sold out, but a handful of remaining tickets will be sold at the door. Don't miss it!

St. Anselm's Festival of Fun was a wonderful community event filled with laughter, great food,…read moreexciting games, and activities for all ages. Families and friends came together to enjoy the festive atmosphere, support the community, and create lasting memories. From the entertainment to the friendly volunteers, the festival showcased the spirit of togetherness that makes St. Anselm's such a special place. We can't wait for next year's Festival of Fun!

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ST. ANSELM'S FAIR????? When I was a kid, this was the real deal. Graviton, The…read moreZipper, Carnies...it was an event every kid in San Anselmo looked forward to every year. I went today with my nieces, and WHAT a disappointment!!!! This is no longer the fun fair I remember from my youth...they've replace the graviton with bouncy houses and the carnie-booths with homemade game stands manned by parents. What used to be a fair that entertained me and my friends for an entire weekend had my nieces (and me!!!) rolling our eyes and opting to leave and spend the afternoon dining at Comforts instead. I hope St. anselm's brings back the real St. anselm's Fair next year, otherwise I won't waste my time or money to attend. What an absolute and utter disappointing loss to the St. anselm's and San anselmo community.

This is a great annual event put on by the great folks at Rancho Compasion. It kicked off on…read moreSaturday with a fundraiser for the Rancho and their good works featuring a wonderful reception on the lawn of Dominican University followed by a screening of the "The Smell of Money". It was a wonderful evening of vegan food and fun with an opportunity to hear from a Kyoto Schindler and the filmmakers. Day two of the festival took place at the Marin Civic Center Auditorium. It featured, films, panels and amazing vegan food on the cutting (not bleeding) edge of the meatless food revolution. We really enjoyed the Nowadays chik'n nuggets made with pea protein and only six other ingredients. These were, by far, the best nuggets I've ever had. They were sooooo juicy! A few other products really grabbed our attention including Melibio's lab-created bee-free honey. There is essentially no way to tell it from bee honey. Hooray bacon was the best bacon substitute that I have tried to date. It was crispy and nicely bacon-y. Finally Kube' coconut based ice cream was incredibly creamy and satisfying. The key lime flavor really popped. We enjoyed the films, panels and shorts. See you there next year.

Where do I start? The instructors of MDT are nothing but passionate, caring and dedicated to the…read morelove of dance. Miss Vicki has been an amazing instructor. She is always creative with her curriculum! We are grateful to be part of this wonderful program!

I've been taking Nancy Gallenson's class the past 4 years, starting as a beginner, and I absolutely…read morelove it! I've tried classes in several places in the Bay Area, and I have to say Nancy's instruction is by far the best you will ever find in Marin, if you want to learn classical ballet technique as an adult beginner. I have tried them all, classes in the city, other parts of Marin. Her teaching style is very approachable and down to earth. The class atmosphere is friendly and non-intimidating. Nancy offers clear instructions at every level from beginners to advanced. No dancer is left behind in the dust. She explains everything and corrects everyone. Her classes offer a good cardio workout, builds strength and gives you the "ballet body", lengthening and toning your muscles. You'll be sweating at the end of each class. Dress code, anything goes, as long as your feet and ankles are visible. If you like wearing the gear, you'll feel at home joining the Yumiko leotard brigade, in every color under the sun. But if you just want to wear whatever leggings and t-shirt, that is fine, too. There's no pressure. The drive up to the school off the freeway takes you past verdant pastures of cows and open countryside. The school is located in a stunning original 19th century cloistered campus, anchored by a beautiful chapel. The studios are varied, but beginners are usually in smaller studios (great for inspiring high grand jétés) and the intermediate to advanced are in the larger, airy studios, each with romantic views of the beautiful original architecture of St Vincent's campus and the green pastures beyond. It's no wonder your worries evaporate as soon as you are in class. I joined her beginner pointe classes recently, as a complete beginner en pointe. In her enthusiastic manner, Nancy gives very concise instruction and inspires confidence for those learning pointe work for the first time, starting in mid-life. The MDT Adult-Teen program is a great place for adults to learn the basics, as well as for more serious students who hope to graduate on to pointe for their very first time as a mature student. What a great find.

Love the Improv Marin classes. I've taken classes at other schools and this is the best. I'm…read moretaking the class to be more spontaneous and to have FUN! I love the way the teacher starts us off by simply pairing us up and talking to one person before we circle up with the whole group. This helps quiet the fear and let's face it we all have fear!

My friend and I took a class here recently and loved it! Drew, the instructor made us feel at…read morehome. I have no Improv experience, but right away I felt a part of what was going on. My friend, who is a bit shy, really started to blossom in the warm fun atmosphere. There are a lot of talented people of all different ages in the class, and Drew elevates everyone there. If you haven't been to an Improv class, this one is fantastic!

-----Adding to address Annie's comment below: Annie - if…read moreindeed you want to apply consistency across all performers, then when we fly in for the performance on Sunday we will join the show just like a number of other caucasian ensemble performers who had lower attendance and are still being allowed on stage. I plan to have my video on, so will record any interactions in which we're stopped from going on stage, and point to the caucasian students who have missed tech rehearsals this week yet still being allowed on stage. If paam is keeping our money, then we are performing on Sunday. Paam can also issue a refund and we'll be happy to go separate ways. But Paam does not get to take all our money and disallow us to be on stage yet allow others to be on stage who have lower attendance than our kids. Appreciate you doing the right thing. -----Original post: Our experience with the Performing Arts Academy of Marin (PAAM) has been deeply disappointing -- both in terms of fairness and the overall learning outcomes. The program feels heavily commercialized, prioritizing revenue over education or student experience. Tuition is extremely high for what ultimately amounts to very limited technical instruction, the pressure of buying vanity products aimed at parents who think their kids a star is everywhere, and the refund/credit policies are rigid to the point of being unreasonable. I've never written about race or discrimination in a review before, but I feel obligated to address it here because it has affected my daughters repeatedly. In the lyrical squad, choreography has been super simple and non-technical, yet cast placements have shown a clear pattern: the same Caucasian dancers are routinely placed front and center, while my older daughter -- who is a good dancer but not Caucasian -- is continually placed in the back or off to the far side. My younger daughter was once put in the front purely due to her small size in a formation, but it wasn't part of any fair or rotating system that would give all dancers a chance to shine. The final straw has been this: Multiple Caucasian dancers have been allowed to miss tech rehearsals and still participate in shows. Meanwhile, my daughters, who need to miss a single 24-hour window for a required ski team race and assessment (and for which we arranged to return early at significant cost of flying in, tickets already purchased), were told just 3 days before that they would not be allowed to perform once they fly in -- despite knowing their choreography thoroughly and being disciplined, capable dancers. The rigidity applied to them simply hasn't been applied to others. The pattern is painful to watch as a parent. It's demoralizing for kids who have worked hard and earned their place on stage. It's their right and not someone's at the front desk to strip them of who doesn't even see them. At the start of the year parents also receive an extremely one-sided agreement through DocuSign -- which I declined to sign because it was so imbalanced. I can't say I'm surprised. But it is disheartening to pay thousands of dollars for a program that delivers minimal instruction, selectively enforces rules for preferential kids, and ultimately allows discriminatory dynamics to persist. I wish our experience had been different, but based on what we've seen, I cannot recommend PAAM for families seeking a fair, inclusive, or educationally meaningful dance program.

I've sent my daughter here for the Holiday Spectacular one year and she loved it. However, I signed…read moreher up again and she didn't want to go again a year later and was scared to go. I'm not sure why but she said it was scary and wouldn't enter the studio. The holiday spectacular, while adorable-but can be very intense for smaller children. The (little) girls are all expected to wear makeup; such as mascara, rouge and lipstick, which some people may not want their kids to wear under a certain age. The performances are cute, but about 50 kids on stage. Pros: Nice facilities, clean, on trend dance classes (I.e Taylor Swift or Wicked/what's on broadway). Sweet teachers. Cons: Lots of marketing pressure to sign up for classes or your kid won't get into their dance class. Pressure to sign up when is opens or not in. $40 fee just to change a class even if you made a mistake. Their refund policy is not family friendly. I really tried to get my daughter (6) to go into dance class, but she was having anxiety about going. She was scared about going to a new class with new people and just wouldn't go in. This particular performance has about 50 little 6 year olds tap dancing or doing hip hop on stage and a wait list. So, it was a very popular class. However they don't offer refunds. The cost for a semester (Jan-May) is about $700 for a weekly lesson + performance. I think it's just something you should be aware of when signing up to send your kid here is that you may not get any funds back if they can't go for any reason. (Anxiety, injury, work/childcare issues etc.) So, perhaps think about this before you sign up. Recommendation: don't pressure parents so much on sign up day to get into the classes and then don't offer refunds. Offer more "try before you buy" options or options for little girls who might be more hesitant to try new things.

Our family has participated in shows with Katia and Company for the last three years, and we have…read moremany more years ahead of us. Done right, performing builds confidence, teamwork, timing, problem solving, and resilience. We've recognized all of these qualities developing in our boys, and they have an absolute blast on stage. My husband and I really appreciate Katia's whole-child approach to this work. She has long-term relationships with former cast mates who are now staff working with young thespians. We also attend the teen productions which have been stellar. If your child is curious about theatre, I suggest starting by attending a show and then participating in a week-long summer camp. I suspect they'll be hooked!

My daughter was just in their production of Frozen jr and she loved it! She gained so much…read moreconfidence and I loved seeing her light up on stage. The show itself was fantastic. The parents aren't really involved in the process so I had no expectations going into it but it was amazing! The older kids were outstanding. We will be back!

Think twice before signing your child up for her summer program. It's all about favorites and a…read morelittle nepotism. You'll pay extra for four costume changes, the t-shirt, photos, and the dvd.

I am a professional actor living in Los Angeles doing theater, film, television and commercials and…read moreI want to step right up and say that Marilyn Izdebski is probably the root cause and inspiration for my success. I grew up performing in plays under Marilyn's direction and tutelage and cannot stress how incredible she is. She is extremely gifted as an educator, which allows her to impart valuable life lessons while simultaneously creating vibrant theater. I went from playing chorus parts with Marilyn to playing lead roles and I can easily say that my years working with her have helped me immensely in my work as a professional actor. Regardless of the size of the role, Marilyn strives to work with every member of the ensemble and she was really the first person to ever tell me that if I wanted something badly enough, it would be mine. For anyone considering a Marilyn Izdebski Production, do it. It could change your life.