Today, October 4, is the first day of the local Mill Valley Film Festival, celebrating its 35th anniversary with a wide range of high profile films and guests. With 11 days of films, over 40,000 tickets sold and more than 200 films shown each October, the MVFF is certainly the biggest event of the month.

The festival is run by the California Film Institute, which was founded in 1978 and operates out of San Rafael. The festival takes over their own Rafael Film Center, CineArts at Sequoia, Century Cinema and the Throckmorton Theater.

Today the festival opens with screenings of “On the Road” and “The Silver Linings Playbook,” the latter of which will have in attendance Oscar-nominated director David O. Russell and star Bradley Cooper. The rest of the week will feature other big films including “Argo,” “Seven Psychopaths” and “Life of Pi.” Other guests include Dustin Hoffman, Ben Affleck, Sam Rockwell, Billy Bob Thorton, John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, and more.

The festival will run until next Sunday night, where its closing film “Life of Pi” will play, its Oscar-winning director Ang Lee in attendance.