The Bay Area supports several of what I can genre film festivals. There’s Noir City, Hole in the Head, Doc Fest, and two silent film festivals. (It also supports a lot of identity festivals—Jewish, Arab, Asian, LGBT, and so on--but that’s irrelevant to the current discussion.) It occurred to me recently that one important and … Continue reading Comedy Film Festival Coming to SF
Category: Festivals
Silent Film Festival Program Announced
The schedule for this year’s San Francisco Silent Film Festival is up. Running, as usual, at the Castro, the festival has been expanded from three days to four. Author, filmmaker, and archivist Kevin Brownlow will be in attendance, making this his second Bay Area festival appearance in a little over three years. As usual, all … Continue reading Silent Film Festival Program Announced
Yet Another Festival: Hola México
I somehow missed a whole other festival that’s opening tomorrow: Hola México. This six-day travelling festival has already played in LA, and will go to Miami when it’s done here. As the name implies, this is a festival of Mexican cinema. I know nothing about it except what’s on the web site.
SFIFF: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Stephin Merritt
I saw 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Stephin Merritt last night (Tuesday night). It will probably be my last event at this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival. What a disappointing way to end an otherwise enjoyable festival! Coincidentally, this was the third silent film event I’ve attended in the last two months where … Continue reading SFIFF: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Stephin Merritt
SFIFF: Marwencol
A Marwencol I saw three films at the Festival on Sunday, all documentaries. And two of them were about people living in fantasy worlds. Marwencol was the best of the three. Five men attacked Mark Hogancamp with such viciousness he lost his entire memory and considerable brain function. As a form of self-therapy, he has … Continue reading SFIFF: Marwencol
SFIFF: Presumed Guilty
A- Presumed Guilty In Mexico, the accused are guilty until proven innocent, and the courts really aren’t interested in who’s innocent. That José Antonio Zúñiga was arrested and convicted of murder with bad evidence against him and ignored evidence in his favor is hardly unique. What was unique is that lawyers-turned-documentary-filmmakers Roberto Hernández and Layda … Continue reading SFIFF: Presumed Guilty
SFIFF: Life 2.0
B+ Life 2.0 I came into Life 2.0 knowing nothing about Second Life, the online virtual world that’s the subject of Jason Spingarn-Koff’s documentary. I came out knowing a little bit about how it works, and a good deal about how it effects its more fanatical (one’s tempted to say “more addicted”) citizens. The film … Continue reading SFIFF: Life 2.0
SFIFF: Roger Ebert
I may have to tell some of my readers who James Schamus is, but Roger Ebert needs no introduction. First film critic to win a Pulitzer. Co-star of the longest-running, most successful film-related television show in history. Champion of independent, foreign, and classic cinema who never lost his deep appreciation of Hollywood entertainment. Victim of … Continue reading SFIFF: Roger Ebert
SFIFF: James Schamus
I only went to two events at the San Francisco International Film Festival on Saturday, but their combined runtime was about 8 hours. And that didn’t include getting from the Kabuki to the Castro via Muni. Each event was a tribute, complete with praise, questions (well, one of the events had questions), and a film. … Continue reading SFIFF: James Schamus
SFIFF: The Challenge of Film Festival Projection
The San Francisco International Film Festival presents as many as 26 features, talks, and short subject collections a day. How do they handle all those movies? Festival Technical Director Jeremy Stevermer was kind enough to sit down with me Thursday evening and explain how it’s done. I was particularly curious about the challenges of running … Continue reading SFIFF: The Challenge of Film Festival Projection
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