Bay Area Doc-makers of SFIFF54 Map Future

The San Francisco International Film Festival may be an unmitigated highlight of a hometown filmmaker’s release—actually, there’s no “maybe” about it—but ultimately it is one stop on a long journey. Here’s a road map of what’s around the next bend for the Bay Area feature documentary makers represented in this year’s SFIFF.

Lynn Hershman Leeson’s !Women Art Revolution opens June 1 at IFC Center (the New York premiere was held at the Museum of Modern Art in March) and June 17 at Laemmle’s Music Hall (following the Los Angeles premiere at the Hammer Museum on June 14). The distributor, Zeitgeist Films, has booked some 25 screenings at art museums and arthouse cinemas across the country between now and the film’s theatrical opening in the Bay Area on August 26.

MOMA and the Hammer are pretty impressive digs, and wholly befitting a key theme of !Women Art Revolution, namely the disrespect traditionally heaped on female-created art. Yoav Potash’s Crime After Crime (with SFIFF remaining screenings April 27 and May 2) also has a stunningly appropriate venue on the horizon: The Los Angeles Film Festival will present a free outdoor screening June 25 at the 3,000-seat Grand Performances site, a block from the downtown office of Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, the film’s putative villain.

Potash is self-distributing Crime After Crime, and launches its theatrical run July 1 at IFC Center. He anticipates lining up bookings in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Washington, DC and Chicago, among other cities. Potash’s busy summer and fall culminates with the doc’s October broadcast on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega’s Better This World (with final SFIFF screening April 29) has several imminent festival stops, including Minneapolis-St. Paul (site of the 2008 Republican National Convention, and where crucial events in the film took place). Another highlight is Hot Docs (Toronto), with lively screenings anticipated at fests in Boston and Baltimore. The television premiere is scheduled for September 6 as part of the PBS’ POV series' 10-years-after-September 11 coverage.

Jennifer Seibel Newsom’s Miss Representation (remaining SFIFF screening May 4) continues its run on the festival circuit with upcoming trips to Newport Beach, Atlanta and the Berkshires. More playdates are certain to be confirmed. The Oprah Winfrey Network has acquired Seibel Newsom’s documentary as well, with the television premiere planned for later this year.

Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s Something Ventured plays one last time at SFIFF (May 1) then goes to the Seattle International Film Festival in late May, followed by festival screenings in Great Neck (New York), Mendocino and Santa Rosa. With Zeitgeist Films handling distribution, more dates will certainly be added along with select theatrical bookings. Perhaps a free outdoor screening a block from Wall Street?

Notes from the Underground
Julie Rubio’s Too Perfect opens this Friday, April 29 at the Orinda Theatre with the director and actors present for a Q&A afterward....Jesse Hawthorne Ficks presents a Midnite For Maniacs benefit show at (and for) the Red Vic Saturday, April 30, with vintage trailers, a memorabilia auction and a surprise 1970s-era feature....Justine Shapiro’s Our Summer in Tehran airs May 4 at 11 p.m. on KQED.