San Francisco International Film Festival

Rockwell the Inspiration for Duncan Jones' 'Moon'

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Rockwell the Inspiration for Duncan Jones' 'Moon' WHOA! This movie is a mind-blow. Let me start by saying that I am quite unfamiliar with the genre of science fiction. When I read about this movie I didn't think, 'Oh what a cool sci-fi this movie will be.' SO it was a surprise to me when during the Q&A at the West Coast premiere of the movie at the SFIFF Sunday night so many questions and answers had to do with the sci-fi genre (themes borrowed from other movies, etc...

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL BUCKS ECONOMIC TRENDS TO SET NEW RECORDS FOR REVENUE AND ATTENDANCE

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Longest-Running Film Festival in the Americas Enjoys a Spectacular 52nd Year with Superb Programming, Numerous Special Guests and Many Memorable Sold-out Events San Francisco, CA -- The San Francisco Film Society wrapped its 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival (April 23-May 7) with 272 screenings of 151 films from 55 countries, with 144 filmmakers and 54 industry guests from 25 countries in attendance, with an estimated 82,000 filmgoers. Over its packed 15 days the Festival set new...

'Age of Stupid' Finally, BOLDLY Shows Fate of Earth

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Last night 'Age of Stupid' had its North American premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and after watching I feel more called to action than I have in my 23 years on earth. "I hope you enjoy the film- well not enjoy exactly- it's not a feel good movie but a feel inspired movie," director Franny Armstrong said before the show. This is not your average documentary. Age of Stupid starts in the future- the year 2055 at a [computer generated] "digi...

Coppola, American Zoetrope Founders Thrill San Franciscans

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Forty years ago Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Carroll Ballard, and Walter Murch moved to San Francisco from Los Angeles, and founded the film company American Zoetrope.  Three years later Coppola made ‘The Godfather.’ Accompanied by their wives, last night the men sat around on stage at the world-renowned Castro Theatre, telling the story of how it all began.   Zoetrope was $30,000 in dept before Coppola did ‘The Godfather.’  Worried about the debt and knowing that C...

Everything Strange and New in San Francisco

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Last night I watched 'Everything Strange and New' - showing one last time tomorrow- Saturday, May 2nd at the Kabuki cinema for the San Francisco International Film Festival.  Two minutes in I wanted to skip back to the beginning because I was stopped in my tracks by the style of film making.   I wanted to watch it over so as to catch every detail.  This is a BLEAK movie.  And man, the filmmaking is incredible at illustrating bleakness.  Eerily slow zooms and dolly shots ...

European Film Talents Shine At San Francisco Film Festival

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 TROUBLED WATER  At mid point of the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival, the oldest in North America, films from European directors have been making the most impact. With its cosmopolitan air and its distinctive European ex-pat communities, San Francisco is not only a destination for European artists but also a place to sample the best of the new European cinema. Most of the European films on display are congregated in the World Cinema section. ...

The Story of A San Francisco Icon

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  In the beautiful city of San Francisco, history is never far away from the gleaming city by the bay that has been its modern identity. Yes, tech companies prosper and it is a financial and business hub. But the glories of San Francisco past is still very much in evidence. Some would say the glory years were the 1950s and 1960s, when San Francisco was the home to the beats and the  hippies, and had an international reputation for tolerance and forward thinking. It still has that ...

Robert Redford Considers His Career

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  The atmosphere was tinged with excitement in the glorious movie palace that is the Castro Theater. Eager audiences were assembled to worship at the feet of one of filmdom's true icons. Here, on this stage, was an actor who has made women swoon, made man envious and made his mark as one of the last true Hollywood stars. Robert Redford, with a face and physique that still makes heads turn, was being honored by the San Francisco International Film Festival with the Peter J. Owens Award f...

Robert Redford, Francis Ford Coppola to be Honored Live at SFIFF

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  Robert Redford will be honored in San Francisco tomorrow night as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival.   Redford will be receiving the Peter J. Owens award, named for the longtime San Francisco benefactor of arts and charitable organizations Peter J. Owens (1936-91), this award honors an actor whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity. The San Francisco Film Society notes about Redford... Such intention of purpose and unwave...

Coppola And Friends In San Francisco

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The San Francisco Film Society has announced a special program as part of the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival scheduled for next Friday, May 1. An Evening with Francis Ford Coppola & Friends, to be held at the historic Castro Theater, will honor the brilliant career of one of the seminal figures in American film. The event will take the form of a free-ranging onstage conversation between Coppola and his longtime colleagues and collaborators George Lucas, editor Walter...

Double Woods Honored In San Francisco

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  Actors Evan Rachel Wood and Elijah Wood (no relation) have been chosen to receive this year’s Midnight Awards at the San Francisco International Film Festival tomorrow evening. The Awards have been designed to honor a dynamic young American actor and actress who have made outstanding contributions to independent and Hollywood cinema. The Awards ceremony and after-hours cocktail reception is one of the Festival’s hottest tickets. This year, the actors will be interviewed in a rel...

A New Mexican Talent To Watch

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  With all the headlines emerging from Mexico about drug cartels and gang wars, the zeitgeist culture of America's neighbor to the south is undeniably dramatic and more than a bit terrifying. Out of this cultural conflict often emerges great art and artists, and Mexico has been for the past decade a prime resource of exceptional film talent. Add to the list that includes Del Toro, Cuaron and Innaritu, the name of writer/director Fernando Eimbcke, whose film LAKE TAHOE is premiering at t...

Robert Redford To Receive Owens Award

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  Robert Redford has won many hats in his nearly 50 year career: leading man, Oscar-winning director (ORDINARY PEOPLE), social activist and founder of the Sundance Film Institute. However, it is his acting that will be honored next week at the San Francisco International Film Festival, where he will receive the Peter J. Owens Award at the Festival’s Tribute Gala. In addition, the notoriously publicity-shy Redford will appear at a public onstage tribute at the Castro Theatre in a ...

LA MISSION To Open San Francisco FF

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  San Francisco, April 18-------The 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival (23 April – 7 May) will open with local director Peter Bratt’s LA MISSION, a powerful story about the ties of family and responsibility set in the city’s Mexican-American community. The film, which stars Benjamin Bratt, Erika Alexander and Jeremy Ray Valdez, had its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and was made, in part, with monies from the Scene in San Francisco financial rebate pro...

SFIFF52 Lineup Announced

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The full schedule for the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival, April 23-May 7, is now available at fest09.sffs.org. Keep an eye out for new films by masters like Claire Denis (35 Shots of Rum), John Boorman (The Tiger's Tail) and Hirokazu Kore-eda (Still Walking); brilliant documentaries by Heddy Honigmann (Oblivion), Joe Berlinger (Crude) and Anne Aghion (My Neighbor, My Killer); and remarkable feature debuts from Benjamin Gilmour (Son of a Lion), Aida Begic (Snow) an...

State of Cinema Address in San Francisco

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Sunday morning in San Francisco, Kevin Kelly, founding editor of Wired magazine, delivered the State of Cinema address. Kelly has worked in digital technology since his founding role with The Well, in 1985, one of the first "true" online communtities. So he had a lot to say about what the future, inevitably and obviously digital all the way, will look like for motion pictures. He opened his talk with a little factoid about life today: the amount of screens everywhere. "Anywhe...

51st San Francisco International Film Festival Winners Announced at Golden Gate Awards Ceremony Wednesday, May 7, 2008

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courtesy of http://fest08sffs.org 51st SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALWINNERS ANNOUNCED AT GOLDEN GATE AWARDS CEREMONY WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2008 New Directors Award: Vasermil, Mushon Salmona (Israel, 2007)New Directors Special Jury Mention: Wonderful Town, Aditya Assarat (Thailand, 2007)FIPRESCI Prize: Ballast, Lance Hammer (USA, 2007)FIPRESCI Special Jury Mention: Glasses, Naoko Ogigami (Japan, 2007)Chris Holte...

SFIFF: 1000 Journals

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 Documentary 1000 Journals showed at the San Francisco International Film Festival this week.  Director Andrea Kreuzhage and also the main subject of the film, Someguy, were in attendance for a Q and A after a screening Wednesday.  1000 Journals is the directing debut for Kreuzhage, who has worked in the film industry since 1986 with companies Beyond Films and Sony Classics, on films like Strictly Ballroom (1992) and Bookies (2003), to name a few. In the summer of 2000, a man living in San Fr...

The Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund meets the San Francisco Festival

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The San Francisco Film Society today announced the creation of the Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund endowed by SFFS board member Penelope Wong and her husband, Tim Kochis, to honor the memory of Penelope's mother, Nellie Wong (1917-2007), who was an avid filmgoer and cinephile. The Magic of Movies Education Fund has been developed to support the year-round efforts of the SFFS Education Program, with the particular aims of cultivating students' imaginations, enhancing their critical thi...

UK Director Mike Leigh To Be Honored In San Francisco

 Wednesday, March 19------Acclaimed UK director Mike Leigh will be honored with inaugural Founder's Directing Award at the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival (24 April-8 May). The Founder's Award will be presented to Leigh at the Film Society Awards Night, the annual benefit gala, on Thursday, 1 May at the Westin St. Francis Hotel.The Founder's Directing Award is presented each year to one of the masters of world cinema and is given in memory of Irving M. Levin, who founded the San ...

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