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Changes You Can Believe In at SF DocFest
Robert Avila
Oct 13, 2011
Nonfiction films offer view to revolutions. DocFest has a well-earned reputation for knocking the stuffiness out of a pretty sober word. The 10-year-old festival founded by IndieFest’s Jeff Ross has taken pride in equating “documentary” with the unconventional and idiosyncratic—fare that celebrates the offbeat, the weird, the wondrous. I’m thinking of wiener-dog races, yes, but that’s just the tip of the beast. This year’s festival (October 14–27), which opens at the Roxie with a profile of the creator of MDMA (Etienne Sauret’s Dirty Pictures) and ends with a look at a comic-book super-author (With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story), provides another...
October 14, 2011

Changes You Can Believe In at SF DocFest
Robert Avila
Oct 13, 2011
Nonfiction films offer view to revolutions. DocFest has a well-earned reputation for knocking the stuffiness out of a pretty sober word. The 10-year-old festival founded by IndieFest’s Jeff Ross has taken pride in equating “documentary” with the unconventional and idiosyncratic—fare that celebrates the offbeat, the weird, the wondrous. I’m thinking of wiener-dog races, yes, but that’s just the tip of the beast. This year’s festival (October 14–27), which opens at the Roxie with a profile of the creator of MDMA (Etienne Sauret’s Dirty Pictures) and ends with a look at a comic-book super-author (With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story), provides another...
August 4, 2011

Minott Tracks ‘Illness’ to Guam
Michael Fox
Aug 3, 2011
Berry Minott's work-in-progress travels to Guam seeking a cure, puzzling over scientific mystery.
Home

Minott Tracks ‘Illness’ to Guam
Michael Fox
Aug 3, 2011
Berry Minott's work-in-progress travels to Guam seeking a cure, puzzling over scientific mystery.
In Production

Minott Tracks ‘Illness’ to Guam
Michael Fox
Aug 3, 2011
Berry Minott's work-in-progress travels to Guam seeking a cure, puzzling over scientific mystery.
August 4, 2011

Minott Tracks ‘Illness’ to Guam
Michael Fox
Aug 3, 2011
Berry Minott's work-in-progress travels to Guam seeking a cure, puzzling over scientific mystery.
Home

Minott Tracks ‘Illness’ to Guam
Michael Fox
Aug 3, 2011
Berry Minott's work-in-progress travels to Guam seeking a cure, puzzling over scientific mystery.
In Production

Minott Tracks ‘Illness’ to Guam
Michael Fox
Aug 3, 2011
Berry Minott's work-in-progress travels to Guam seeking a cure, puzzling over scientific mystery.
Home

Essential SF: ‘North Beach,’ ‘Medicine For Melancholy’
Michael Fox
Jul 20, 2011
Two Bay Area location-based features that speak to the moment are poised to stand the test of time.
In Depth

Essential SF: ‘North Beach,’ ‘Medicine For Melancholy’
Michael Fox
Jul 20, 2011
Two Bay Area location-based features that speak to the moment are poised to stand the test of time.
July 21, 2011

Essential SF: ‘North Beach,’ ‘Medicine For Melancholy’
Michael Fox
Jul 20, 2011
Two Bay Area location-based features that speak to the moment are poised to stand the test of time.
Home

Torres Story Gains Focus
Kim Nunley
Jul 11, 2011
Chusy Jardine has set out to tell the Andres Torres ADHD-to-World Series glory story in a feature-length documentary.
July 14, 2011

Torres Story Gains Focus
Kim Nunley
Jul 11, 2011
Chusy Jardine has set out to tell the Andres Torres ADHD-to-World Series glory story in a feature-length documentary.
Q & A

Torres Story Gains Focus
Kim Nunley
Jul 11, 2011
Chusy Jardine has set out to tell the Andres Torres ADHD-to-World Series glory story in a feature-length documentary.
Home

Graham Leggat Steps Down as Executive Director of San Francisco Film Society
Jul 5, 2011
Film Society’s leader for more than five years resigns due to health issues.
July 7, 2011

Graham Leggat Steps Down as Executive Director of San Francisco Film Society
Jul 5, 2011
Film Society’s leader for more than five years resigns due to health issues.
News & Blogs

Graham Leggat Steps Down as Executive Director of San Francisco Film Society
Jul 5, 2011
Film Society’s leader for more than five years resigns due to health issues.
Home

‘Kiss the Cook’ Sparks Weidlinger’s Appetite
Michael Fox
Jun 1, 2011
Tom Weidlinger creates a cooking show that offers surprises for the slow-foodie.
In Production

‘Kiss the Cook’ Sparks Weidlinger’s Appetite
Michael Fox
Jun 1, 2011
Tom Weidlinger creates a cooking show that offers surprises for the slow-foodie.
June 2, 2011

‘Kiss the Cook’ Sparks Weidlinger’s Appetite
Michael Fox
Jun 1, 2011
Tom Weidlinger creates a cooking show that offers surprises for the slow-foodie.
Home

Seely Treks Long Distances for Shorts
Michael Fox
Mar 16, 2011
Long story short: A filmmaker finds the right length for his South American health doc.
In Production

Seely Treks Long Distances for Shorts
Michael Fox
Mar 16, 2011
Long story short: A filmmaker finds the right length for his South American health doc.
March 17, 2011

Seely Treks Long Distances for Shorts
Michael Fox
Mar 16, 2011
Long story short: A filmmaker finds the right length for his South American health doc.
December 2, 2010

De Michiel and Constantinou Offer Food for Thought
Michael Fox
Dec 1, 2010
Filmmakers with deep roots in Bay Area cinema enter the brave new world of Web broadcasting with a series on food education for children.
Home

De Michiel and Constantinou Offer Food for Thought
Michael Fox
Dec 1, 2010
Filmmakers with deep roots in Bay Area cinema enter the brave new world of Web broadcasting with a series on food education for children.
In Production

De Michiel and Constantinou Offer Food for Thought
Michael Fox
Dec 1, 2010
Filmmakers with deep roots in Bay Area cinema enter the brave new world of Web broadcasting with a series on food education for children.
Festivals

The View from Here
Michael Fox
Nov 4, 2010
San Francisco Film Society's Cinema by the Bay festival puts the focus on locals.
Home

The View from Here
Michael Fox
Nov 4, 2010
San Francisco Film Society's Cinema by the Bay festival puts the focus on locals.
November 4, 2010

The View from Here
Michael Fox
Nov 4, 2010
San Francisco Film Society's Cinema by the Bay festival puts the focus on locals.
Festivals

Taiwan Film Days Returns
Adam Hartzell
Oct 21, 2010
New stories emerge from a storied cinema nation in the second year of the Taiwan Film Days showcase.
Home

Taiwan Film Days Returns
Adam Hartzell
Oct 21, 2010
New stories emerge from a storied cinema nation in the second year of the Taiwan Film Days showcase.
October 21, 2010

Taiwan Film Days Returns
Adam Hartzell
Oct 21, 2010
New stories emerge from a storied cinema nation in the second year of the Taiwan Film Days showcase.
september 29, 2010

'Fresh'
Oct 1, 2010
MacArthur "genius" grant recipient (2008) Will Allen is featured in this documentary about the building a healthier American food system, which also features 'Omnivore's Dilemma' author Michael Pollan. Director Ana Joanes will be present for an opening night Q&A at the San Francisco premiere of the film at the Red Vic Movie House.
08-12-10

Kirschenbaum’s ‘Looking’ Provides Alzheimer’s Patient P.O.V.
Michael Fox
Aug 11, 2010
Scott Kirschenbaum's 80-minute doc aims to convey the experience of Alzheimer’s from the patient’s point of view.
Home

Kirschenbaum’s ‘Looking’ Provides Alzheimer’s Patient P.O.V.
Michael Fox
Aug 11, 2010
Scott Kirschenbaum's 80-minute doc aims to convey the experience of Alzheimer’s from the patient’s point of view.
In Production

Kirschenbaum’s ‘Looking’ Provides Alzheimer’s Patient P.O.V.
Michael Fox
Aug 11, 2010
Scott Kirschenbaum's 80-minute doc aims to convey the experience of Alzheimer’s from the patient’s point of view.
Home

Perkins Places 'Trust' in Convicts and Parolees
Michael Fox
Jul 7, 2010
Tamara Perkins' The Trust is intended to provide a rare lens into the lives of incarcerated men and their families.
In Production

Perkins Places 'Trust' in Convicts and Parolees
Michael Fox
Jul 7, 2010
Tamara Perkins' The Trust is intended to provide a rare lens into the lives of incarcerated men and their families.
In Production

Riffe's Raw Milk Germ
Michael Fox
Mar 23, 2010
There's so much about this product called milk that we think we know everything about, declares Jed Riffe with his usual blend of enthusiasm and amazement.
Q & A

Reed's Promise of Prodigal Sons
Michael Fox
Mar 3, 2010
If Kimberly Reed took a not particularly unique path into filmmaking, she certainly took an interesting road out of it.
In Production

Bay Area Narrative Filmmakers Thriving in Doc Capital
Michael Fox
Dec 23, 2009
Michael Fox shows independent filmmakers who are thriving in the Bay Area.
Reviews

Shamir's 'Defamation' a Vintage Documentary Dust-up
Michael Fox
Nov 19, 2009
Reminiscent of Marcel Ophuls' fearless provocations in Hotel Terminus (1988), Yoav Shamir breaks every rule of polite documentary filmmaking in Defamation.
Reviews

Yes Men Take On the World
Dennis Harvey
Oct 30, 2009
The documentary chronicles several large-scale pranks devised in the hopes of fooling corporate/government event attendees and/or the media.
In Production

Pete Nicks Impatient in 'Waiting Room'
Michael Fox
Aug 18, 2009
East Bay documentary producer Pete Nicks places interactive storytelling booths in hospital waiting rooms.
In Production

Nutritious eating on the cheap for Potash film
Michael Fox
Jun 9, 2009
Like most social-issue documentaries, Food Stamped sprang from an activist impulse for Shira and Yoav Potash.
Reviews

SFIFF52: Jim Granato's "D tour"
Dan Cowles
Apr 19, 2009
Local filmmaker Jim Granato, whose movie D tour follows the band Rogue Wave and its ailing drummer Pat Spurgeon, on tour and on dialysis, is competing for the San Francisco International Film Festival's Golden Gate Award in Documentary.
Q & A

SFIFF52: Light and Saraf's 'Empress Hotel'
David Winks Gray
Apr 13, 2009
Local filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf's latest film Empress Hotel delves into the lives of the residents at the titular building, a Tenderloin housing facility for the recently homeless. The film makes visible an area many city dwellers may only experience in the fringe of their consciousness and provides insight into the lives of the residents within.
Festivals

Sundance Blog: Urban Hiker's Guide
Susan Gerhard
Jan 20, 2009
Susan Gerhard reports on film and physique highlights at Sundance 2009.
Q & A

Documenting the Lyme Epidemic
Michael Fox
Oct 9, 2008
Andy Abrahams Wilson talks about Under Our Skin, his elegantly crafted film on the underreported epidemic of Lyme disease.
Festivals

Dead Channels 2008 Comes Alive
Dennis Harvey
Oct 3, 2008
Those inclined toward healthy doses of sleaze, gore, and retro-shlock can rejoice that it's time for the second annual edition of Dead Channels.
In Production

Straight and Not So Narrow 'Crooked Beauty' In Production
Michael Fox
Oct 1, 2008
In 'Crooked Beauty,' mental health is re-imagined and redefined.
Festivals

Mill Valley's 31st Program
Susan Gerhard
Sep 10, 2008
This year's Mill Valley Film Festival shows healthy signs of life for the independent film business.
Reviews

Critic's Notebook: Hole Head, Week One
Dennis Harvey
Jun 17, 2008
Dennis Harvey covers the first week of low-budget geeks, weirdos and gore on display at the Another Hole in the Head Festival.
Reviews

Travel Guide Through Another Hole in the Head Film Festival
Dennis Harvey
Jun 5, 2008
The Hole Head Festival takes audiences back to terrifying locales and dangerous situations that should be pleasantly familiar to horror aficionados.
Reviews

"Joy Division" on Screen
Dennis Harvey
Jan 15, 2008
Anton Corbijn's Control is a dramatization of the book written by the frontman's widow, chronicling their romance and marriage, his eventual infidelity, and his mental health issues.
Reviews

"SiCKO"-time
Susan Gerhard
Jun 28, 2007
Sicko's story of the mismanagement of U.S. healthcare takes Michael Moore from the U.S. to Canada to Europe, and most notably, to Cuba.
Reviews

Two Wheels, Five Films
Justin Juul
Sep 29, 2006
People-powered transportation propels the movies in the 2006 Bicycle Film Fest.
Festivals

Critic's Notebook, Frameline30
Dennis Harvey
Jun 22, 2006
S.F. International LGBT Film Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary as a forum for the LGBT community to celebrate its own hard-won survival and progress.

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