When the46th Mill Valley Film Festivalgets underway on Thursday, Oct. 5, it will look a little different than in years past. With Hollywoodwriters and actors on strike, there will be fewer stars on the red carpet. But the films, many of which will be award contenders or have local ties, are as dazzling as ever and there are just as many tributes — only this year the director is the star.

Here are some of the films and events we are most anticipating:

‘The Day of the Fight’

A half century after his grandfather John limned the life of an aging boxer with “Fat City,” actor Jack Huston finds inspiration in the ring with his directorial debut, the festival’s opening night feature. Shot in luminous black and white, the film features Huston’s《大西洋帝国》co-star Michael Pitt as a pugilist seeking a comeback, his life unfolding in a single day. The film also starrs Ron Perlman and Joe Pesci.

Huston is expected to attend.

7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5. $40 film only. $70 party only. $105 film plus party. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael and Sequoia Theatre, 25 Throckmorton Drive, Mill Valley. Post-screening party at Marin Country Mart, 2257 Larkspur Landing, Larkspur.

‘Fast Charlie’

Pierce Brosnantakes the lead in this world premiere from director Phillip Noyce as Charlie, an aging mob fixer. When an associate’s hit doesn’t quite go as planned, the bodies start falling in a Deep South gang war with Charlie in the thick of it.

Fast, furious, and darkly funny, Noyce’s adaptation of Victor Gischler’s 2002 novel “Gun Monkeys” also stars the lateJames Caanin one of his last roles.

Noyce is expected to attend.

星期六晚上七点半,10月7日。史密斯拉斐尔;下午2点。米onday, Oct. 9. Sequoia. $8-16.50.

‘The Disappearance of Shere Hite’

Oscar-nominated Berkeley directorNicole Newnham(“Crip Camp”) brings the work of the titular sexologist to the forefront in an in-depth documentary that tells the woman’s story while delving into her groundbreaking 1976 bestseller, “The Hite Report: A National Study of Female Sexuality,” and the controversy surrounding it.

8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7. Sequoia; 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2155 Center St., Berkeley. $8-$16.50.

‘Cyborgian Rhapsody: Tribute to Lynn Hershman Leeson’

San Francisco filmmakerLynn Hershman Leesonhas long been at the forefront in the conversation on Artificial Intelligence. Four of her provocative shorts revolving around the subject will unreel during this afternoon, in which she will accept the festival’s “Mind the Gap” award and take part in an onstage conversation with the Chronicle’sTony Bravo.

4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8. $25 film only. $65 film plus party. Smith Rafael. Post-screening party at Il Davide, 901 A St., San Rafael.

‘Rustin: Spotlight on George C. Wolfe’

Film and theater director George C. Wolfe, a Tony Award winner for his direction of “Angels in America: Perestroika,” celebrates the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington with this enthralling drama focused on one of its main organizers, Martin Luther King Jr.’s friend and associate, Bayard Rustin, a gay man.

Colman Domingosoars in the title role in a film that portrays the backstage drama behind this pivotal moment in the Civil Rights movement.

米VFF will award its directing prize to Wolfe at a screening that will also include an onstage conversation.

6:45 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8. Smith Rafael. $30 film only. $55 film plus party. Post-screening party at Le Comptoir, 1301 Fourth St., San Rafael; 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10. Smith Rafael. $30.

‘The 9 Lives of Barbara Dane’

One East Bay legend pays homage to another as longtime documentarian Maureen Gosling looks at the life and career of Oakland blues singerBarbara Dane, who performed with Louis Armstrong, marched in civil rights and anti-Vietnam War demonstrations and made a comeback at age 90.

A tribute concert at Sweetwater Music Hall will follow the screening.

5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10. $8-$16.50 film only. $70 film plus concert. $60 concert only. Sequoia. Post-screening concert at Sweetwater Music Hall, 19 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley; 3:15 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. $8-$16.50. Lark Theater, 549 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur; Streaming Oct. 16-22. $8.

‘Carol Doda Topless at the Condor’

When she donned a monokini and took to the Condor Club stage as San Francisco’s first topless dancer,Carol Dodabecame as much a city institution as the Golden Gate Bridge. This documentary tells her fascinating story as it makes a case for how she changed not just nightlife on Broadway in North Beach but American culture.

8:45 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10. Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., S.F.; 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. Smith Rafael. $8-$16.50.

‘American Fiction: Centerpiece Spotlight on Cord Jefferson’

Television writer Cord Jefferson (“The Good Place”) makes his feature writing-directing debut with this adaptation of Percival Everett’s novel “Erasure.”

Jeffrey Wrightstars as a frustrated writer of serious, poor selling novels who writes a parody of Black bestsellers using a pen name, only to be brought up short when the book becomes a sensation and his barely literate, fugitive alter ego becomes the toast of the town.

米VFF awards its breakthrough directing award to Jefferson for his exuberant satire. A conversation will follow the Oct. 11 screening.

6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11. $40 film only. $65 film plus post-screening party. Sequoia. Post-screening part at Outdoor Art Club, 1 W. Blithedale Ave., Mill Valley; 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13. $8-$16.50. Smith Rafael.

‘Avenue of the Giants’

While the festival is also screening Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” (7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6 at the Smith Rafael), the Oscar-touted film depicting the everyday banality of evil at Auschwitz, Richmond filmmakerFinn Taylorcasts his lens at one of the camp’s survivors.

In this true story, Stephen Lang portrays San Rafael shopkeeperHerbert Hellerwho kept the horrors he endured during the Holocaust a secret, not even revealing the horrors to family. But then he meets a teen (Elsie Fisher) with trauma of her own, forming an unlikely friendship that changes his mind about keeping quiet.

7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11. Smith Rafael; 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12. Sequoia. $8-$16.50; Streaming Oct. 16-22. $8.

Correction:这篇文章的早期版本中拼错name of the San Rafael shopkeeper portrayed by Stephen Lang in the film “Avenues of the Giants.” It’s Herbert Heller.

Pam Grady is a freelance writer.