Two June Festivals

~ Lincoln Spector

What could be scarier than another film festival starting less than a month after the San Francisco International festival closes? How about two film such festivals? And one of them sounds very scary, indeed.

Let’s start with the festival that won’t give you a fright (although judging from recent exit polls, it might scare people in West Virginia). The San Francisco Black Film Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary this year with 100 films made by and about Africans and those of African descent (American and otherwise). Among the films to be screened (none of which I’ve seen) are Footsteps In Africa–about Mali’s Tuareg/Kel Tamashek tribe, After 9–about a gay but closeted South African, and Hollywood Jerome–“the story of a 14-year old who is enthralled and bamboozled by pop-culture depictions of gang culture.” Another is called A Good Day to be Black and Sexy (is there a bad day?).  Documentaries explore such topics as Stanley Tookie Williams, male exotic dancers, and black Mormons. (As I write this, there are no film descriptions on the Festival’s web site that I can link to.)

The festival opens Wednesday, June 4 with the British comedy Shoot the Messenger, and runs through June 15, with a two-day break on the 9th and 10th. Venues include the Kabuki, Yoshi’s, and the Museum of the African Diaspora.

If the real world isn’t scary enough for you, you can spend hours sitting in the dark at IndieFest’s annual Another Hole in the Head Film Festival (as in, the Bay Area needs another film festival like it needs another hole in the head). Devoted to horror and sci-fi from around the world, Hole in the Head screens the sort of movies serious cinephiles are required to look down upon with contempt (20 years after the film’s release we’re allowed to acknowledge it as a masterpiece).  Among the promising (or at least horrifying) titles are The Machine Girl, Meter Maid Me Massacre, MindFLESH, and Mutant Vampire Zombies From The Hood–and that’s just the letter M.

The festival opens June 5 (the day after the Black Film Festival) with The Gene Generation, and runs through the 19th. The entire series is at the Roxie.

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Published by Lincoln Spector

Lincoln Spector writes about cinema, technology, and cinema technology. From 1986 through 2008, he wrote Gigglebytes, the first technology-oriented humor column. From 1977 through 2016, he wrote PC World's Answer Line column and blog.