Napa Valley Film Festival Announces Celebrity Lineup

Photo Credit: Napa Valley Film Festival

The Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) is just six short weeks away and this year, the event’s seventh, promises to be the biggest and best yet. “It’s gonna be epic this year,” Brenda Lhormer, the festival’s co-founder told Haute Living by the phone late last week. “We’re just getting bigger and crazier and adding more elements to make it even more of a special experience for everybody.”

The 2017 festival takes place November 8-12 at various locations throughout the Valley. Unofficially the event starts on Tuesday, November 7 with a pre-party at Blue Note Napa. “Dennis Quaid will be there that night at the party,” Lhormer says. “His band, Dennis Quaid & The Sharks is actually playing the night before on our sneak preview night at Blue Note in downtown Napa. We’ve been working with his team to keep him here for another day so he can be part of the red carpet festivities and the party on Wednesday night.”

Quaid is just one of a slew of celebrities lined up to appear at NVFF. Natalie Morales will host a special celebrity tribute ceremony that honors director Nancy Meyers, and actors Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Nikki Reed, and Ian Somerhalder. Will Ferrell will be honored at a separate Q&A and screening while six young stars will also be celebrated at a separate event, a first for the NVFF, the Rising Star Showcase. Newcomers Ana de Armas, Odeya Rush, Austin Stowell, Gregg Sulkin, and Alex Wolff will be featured at this panel, which takes place at Materra | Cunat Vineyards.

Other stars who plan to attend the festival? David Arquette, Zoey Deutch, Lou Diamond Phillips, Thomas Middleditch, Haley Joel Osment, Jim Rash, Eric Stoltz, Lea Thompson, Patty Jenkins, and Elijah Wood. The film lineup was also announced with The Shape of Water, The Upside, and Molly’s Game headlining. Other movies that are sure to draw big crowds are Call Me By Your Name, Chappaquiddick, I, Tonya, LA 92, and The Current War.