The Impact of Joe Berlinger's 'Crude'

Joe Berlinger speaks about the making of an environmental disaster in the Amazon, as seen in his new film, Crude.

Telles charts 'Storm' of Mexican Revolution

Ray Telles's ambitious two-hour film, The Storm that Swept Mexico, with a budget north of $1.2 million, reaches out to the world.

Richard Levien, from 'Immersion' to 'La Migra'

New Zealand transplant Richard Levien, a longstanding fixture of the San Francisco indie film community, breaks out of the editing room with Immersion.

Local Makers Line Up Next Shot after SFIFF

The 2009 SFIFF has been a launching pad for the numerous Bay Area filmmaker

SFIFF52 Blogs: Portillo's 'Al Más Allá'

Lourdes Portillo's partly autobiographical documentary Al Más Allá draws a laugh from the San Francisco International Film Festival crowd.

SFIFF52: Lourdes Portillo, Persistence of Vision Award Recipient

The San Francisco-based and internationally acclaimed documentarian Lourdes Portillo speaks about her work; she wins the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival Persistence of Vision Award.

SFIFF52: Peter Bratt's "La Mission"

Peter Bratt's La Mission focuses on conflict within a family and a neighborhood, exploring what happens when a single father named Che learns a secret about his son that tests his love for his family and his community's love for him.

Exhuming History with "The Judge and the General"

SF360.org asked Bay Area filmmaker Elizabeth Farnsworth about her film, which follows Judge Juan Guzmán as he investigates General Pinochet's crimes.

SFIFF51: Renee Tajima- Pe–a's trip down “Calavera Highway'

If making a movie about one’s family could be equated with a fire-walk in August, then making a documentary about one’s partner’s family might be akin to a midsummer sauna. Yet veteran L.A. filmmaker Renee Tajima-Pe–a (Who Killed Vincent Chin?) signed on to a road trip with her husband from L.A. to Washington state to Texas in search of "la verdad" about the father that abandoned Armando’s mother Rosa and his six brothers several decades ago. An intimate and elegantly crafted work of cinema verita, Calavera Highway encompasses universal familial tensions, Mexican-American identity, the responsibilities of fathers (and sons) and the psychic malleability of map-drawn borders.

Tajima-Pe–a, who’s an associate professor at UC Santa Cruz, will receive the Golden Gate Award for long-form television documentary at the S.F. International Film Festival, where Calavera Highway screens three times in early May. Via email, she talked about searching for "Calaveras" hidden in closets and elsewhere.

Review: "The Violin"

Francisco Vargas' first feature has won a pile of international awards to date, and might have garnered more had it arrived on the scene earlier.

Reviews: "Black Snake Moan"; "Cinemachismo"

risks ridiculousness in chasing down unpolished redemption, while de la Mora delivers essential reading in Mexican film, gender studies, and theories of queer spectatorship.

Reviews: "Family Law"; "Amazing Grace"

Daniel Burman's smartest play was casting Daniel Hendler as his onscreen alter ego. Michael Apted's worthy Grace, reminds that period pieces make effective message movies.

Mark Becker's Mission-Inspired "Romantico"

Hailed as one of the best films of 2005 without distribution, Becker's doc hits theaters nearly two years after it debuted at Sundance.

Sweet "Quinceañera" vs. MTV's greedy "My Super Sweet 16"

Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland's exploration of a teen's rite of passage is the warmhearted opposite of MTV's glorification of wasteful and selfish spending. 

A Documentary on Peru's Terror War

A conversation with Pamela Yates, director of State of Fear, on Peru's 20-year war on terror, which bears an unsettling resemblance to U.S. current events.

Screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga on the Weight of Words

Arriaga, who authored Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, discusses working in collaboration and across mediums.

2006 San Francisco International Arts Festival

The 2006 San Francisco International Arts Festival focuses on Latino culture across North and South America.

Nothing and Everything Sacred in Reygadas' Films

Filmmaker Carlos Reygadas discusses his life and work upon the release of his second film, Battle in Heaven.