• Home
  
  

  Essential SF: Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman

  Michael Fox
  Nov 3, 2011

  With riveting characters, cascading revelations and momentous breakthroughs, Epstein and Friedman’s work paved the way for contemporary documentary practice.

  
• In Depth
  
  

  Essential SF: Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman

  Michael Fox
  Nov 3, 2011

  With riveting characters, cascading revelations and momentous breakthroughs, Epstein and Friedman’s work paved the way for contemporary documentary practice.

  
• November 3, 2011
  
  

  Essential SF: Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman

  Michael Fox
  Nov 3, 2011

  With riveting characters, cascading revelations and momentous breakthroughs, Epstein and Friedman’s work paved the way for contemporary documentary practice.

  
• News & Blogs
  
  

  SFFS Announces Winners of Documentary Film Fund Awards

  Sep 21, 2011

  Press release: The San Francisco Film Society today announced the three winners of the inaugural SFFS Documentary Film Fund grants. The Fund was created to support the postproduction of singular feature-length nonfiction film work that is distinguished by compelling stories, intriguing characters and an innovative visual approach. Each year from 2011 to 2013, a total of $100,000 will be disbursed to further new work by documentary filmmakers nationwide. Winners are: Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, An American Promise, $25,000; Priya Desai and Ann Kim, Match +, $25,000; Zachary Heinzerling, Cutie & the Boxe, $50,000. For more information go to: sffs.org/filmmaker-services.

  
• Home
  
  

  Identifying Your Documentary’s Signature Style

  Karen Everett
  Sep 20, 2011

  Developing a style that sets your film apart is key to capturing audience attention in nonfiction.

  
• september 22 2011
  
  

  Identifying Your Documentary’s Signature Style

  Karen Everett
  Sep 20, 2011

  Developing a style that sets your film apart is key to capturing audience attention in nonfiction.

  
• Story Structure
  
  

  Identifying Your Documentary’s Signature Style

  Karen Everett
  Sep 20, 2011

  Developing a style that sets your film apart is key to capturing audience attention in nonfiction.

  
• News & Blogs
  
  

  San Francisco Film Society Announces New $300,000 Documentary Film Fund

  Apr 22, 2011

  Press Release: The San Francisco Film Society announced the new SFFS Documentary Film Fund, which over the next three years will disburse a series of annual grants totaling $300,000 to support feature-length documentaries in postproduction. The SFFS Documentary Film Fund is created to support singular nonfiction film work that is distinguished by compelling stories, intriguing characters and an innovative visual approach. The first grant cycle application period opens June 17; the first winners will be announced September 30. More at sffs.org.

  
• april 22 2011
  
  

  SFIFF54 Finds Life Among the Ruins

  Matt Sussman
  Apr 21, 2011

  As the San Francisco International Film Festival opens, key films consider the value of place.

  
• Home
  
  

  SFIFF54 Finds Life Among the Ruins

  Matt Sussman
  Apr 21, 2011

  As the San Francisco International Film Festival opens, key films consider the value of place.

  
• Reviews
  
  

  SFIFF54 Finds Life Among the Ruins

  Matt Sussman
  Apr 21, 2011

  As the San Francisco International Film Festival opens, key films consider the value of place.

  
• March 22, 2011
  
  

  First Person Rural: The New Nonfiction

  Mar 26, 2011

  Lisandro Alonso’s 2001 ‘La Libertad’ is the first film in Pacific Film Archive’s First Person Rural: The New Nonfiction series, which presents works that utilize documentary filmmaking techniques in fictional storytelling. More at bampfa.berkeley.edu.

  
• Home
  
  

  Nonfiction's Future Lies in Optimism

  Karen Everett
  Mar 15, 2011

  A new crop of filmmakers are building audiences by showing nonfiction doesn’t have to be depressing to reveal hard truths.

  
• March 17, 2011
  
  

  Nonfiction's Future Lies in Optimism

  Karen Everett
  Mar 15, 2011

  A new crop of filmmakers are building audiences by showing nonfiction doesn’t have to be depressing to reveal hard truths.

  
• Story Structure
  
  

  Nonfiction's Future Lies in Optimism

  Karen Everett
  Mar 15, 2011

  A new crop of filmmakers are building audiences by showing nonfiction doesn’t have to be depressing to reveal hard truths.

  
• Home
  
  

  Patrick Marks Takes a Green Eye to Noir

  Adam Hartzell
  Jan 17, 2011

  Notable Noir City enthusiast Patrick Marks, owner of the Green Arcade, offers thoughts on the genre as well as festival's 2011 selections.

  
• January 20, 2011
  
  

  Patrick Marks Takes a Green Eye to Noir

  Adam Hartzell
  Jan 17, 2011

  Notable Noir City enthusiast Patrick Marks, owner of the Green Arcade, offers thoughts on the genre as well as festival's 2011 selections.

  
• Q & A
  
  

  Patrick Marks Takes a Green Eye to Noir

  Adam Hartzell
  Jan 17, 2011

  Notable Noir City enthusiast Patrick Marks, owner of the Green Arcade, offers thoughts on the genre as well as festival's 2011 selections.

  
• Home
  
  

  Retro Ethics Fuel 'The Social Network'

  Dennis Harvey
  Oct 1, 2010

  Friends, enemies, Facebook: 'The Social Network' dramatizes the making of a Web phenomenon.

  
• October 7, 2010
  
  

  Retro Ethics Fuel 'The Social Network'

  Dennis Harvey
  Oct 1, 2010

  Friends, enemies, Facebook: 'The Social Network' dramatizes the making of a Web phenomenon.

  
• Reviews
  
  

  Retro Ethics Fuel 'The Social Network'

  Dennis Harvey
  Oct 1, 2010

  Friends, enemies, Facebook: 'The Social Network' dramatizes the making of a Web phenomenon.

  
• Home
  
  

  Essential SF: 'Times of Harvey Milk,' 'Crumb,' 'Cockettes'

  Michael Fox
  Jul 23, 2010

  Three films document essential chunks of San Francisco's tragic and mythic past, told in empathetic but non-hagiographic testimony.

  
• In Depth
  
  

  Essential SF: 'Times of Harvey Milk,' 'Crumb,' 'Cockettes'

  Michael Fox
  Jul 23, 2010

  Three films document essential chunks of San Francisco's tragic and mythic past, told in empathetic but non-hagiographic testimony.

  
• Reviews
  
  

  Independent Inuit Films at YBCA

  Dennis Harvey
  Apr 8, 2010

  Inuit peoples—the indigenous cultures rooted in Arctic regions from Alaska to Greenland—have an honored place in film history, dating to Flaherty's Nanook of the North.

  
• Reviews
  
  

  The Greatest Finds of My Generation

  Susan Gerhard
  Jan 26, 2010

  The harsh glare of the spotlight that brought Howl mixed reviews from critics on opening night of Sundance had melted into a warm glow by Saturday.

  
• In Production
  
  

  Sam Green's Utopian Experiment

  Michael Fox
  Mar 18, 2009

  Sam Green talks about his latest project, an experimental documentary where the stories tease out, in more of an emotional way, ideas about hope and imagination of the future

  
• Popular
  
  

  Sam Green's Utopian Experiment

  Michael Fox
  Mar 18, 2009

  Sam Green talks about his latest project, an experimental documentary where the stories tease out, in more of an emotional way, ideas about hope and imagination of the future

  
• Reviews
  
  

  Autobio-Animation and the Horrors of War

  Dennis Harvey
  Jan 6, 2009

  Waltz with Bashir is another animated feature that embraces a more grown-up story and audience than anything in the long history of "cartoons."

  
• Festivals
  
  

  Carnival of Nonfiction Filmmaking

  Dennis Harvey
  Oct 16, 2008

  The extreme, the strange, the silly and surreal all have big seats at the SF DocFest table.

  
• Festivals
  
  

  Cinemania at the SF International

  Susan Gerhard
  May 5, 2008

  The Jules Feiffer quote at the bottom of festival superfan Sue Jean Halvorsen's email reads, "Movies are better than real life."

  
• Reviews
  
  

  Review: "Taxi to the Dark Side"

  Dennis Harvey
  Feb 5, 2008

  Praise any god you like for Alex Gibney, who has quietly risen from stellar PBS series to a run of exceptional theatrical-release docs.

  
• Reviews
  
  

  The Short Films of Big Ugly Review

  Susan Gerhard
  Nov 16, 2007

  The List: We take the opportunity to link you to four short films from the Big Ugly Review, an online publication that includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and more.

  
• Reviews
  
  

  A Sean Penn Top 10

  Susan Gerhard
  Sep 28, 2007

  Let SF360 count the ways Penn can take on the President, the paparazzi, and the possibilities for peace in our time.

  
• Reviews
  
  

  "Crossing the Line" and "Death at a Funeral"

  Dennis Harvey and Kristi Mitsuda
  Aug 14, 2007

  One film takes us from the American South to the Korean North, another to Frank Oz's last gasp.

  
• Q & A
  
  

  Michael Winterbottom's "A Mighty Heart"

  SF360.org
  Jun 18, 2007

  The prolific British director, known for a large and eclectic body of work, has done something very unusual in the past half decade.

  
• Q & A
  
  

  Grace Lee on the Zombie in You and Me

  Miljenko Skoknic
  Mar 23, 2007

  Director Grace Lee talks about the personal horror movie genre in American Zombie and the ethical dilemmas documentary filmmakers face.

  
• Q & A
  
  

  Adrian Belic and Just Think Youth Media Educators

  Susan Gerhard
  Jul 26, 2006

  Belic helped a group of youths learn about documentary filmmaking in a program designed to offer media skills to under-served Bay Area high schoolers.

  
• Reviews
  
  

  Zack Bazzi, War Correspondent

  Susan Gerhard
  Jun 28, 2006

  In The War Tapes, Deborah Scranton exposes war as an industry - for those who fight it and for those who don't.

  
• Festivals
  
  

  Docfest: Not to Be Believed?

  Susan Gerhard
  May 11, 2006

  Docfest founder Jeff Ross explains the S.F. Indie empire's definition of reality filmmaking.

  
• Festivals
  
  

  The Revolution Will Be Digitized?

  Susan Gerhard
  Apr 28, 2006

  The revolution will not be televised, but it may be digitized, run through Final Cut Pro, and projected on the screen near you.