Arab Film Festival Executive Director Michel Shehadeh speaks to building an all-encompassing international space.
Arab Film Festival Executive Director Michel Shehadeh speaks to building an all-encompassing international space.
Arab Film Festival Executive Director Michel Shehadeh speaks to building an all-encompassing international space.
John Turturro shares his passion for the Neapolitan songbook.
John Turturro shares his passion for the Neapolitan songbook.
John Turturro shares his passion for the Neapolitan songbook.
Sentimental French film is no top-shelf vehicle, but Depardieu savors it as if it were the rarest vintage Bordeaux.
Sentimental French film is no top-shelf vehicle, but Depardieu savors it as if it were the rarest vintage Bordeaux.
Sentimental French film is no top-shelf vehicle, but Depardieu savors it as if it were the rarest vintage Bordeaux.
Celebrating the grand opening of the SF Film Society | New People Cinema, a state-of-the-art venue for art, independent and world cinema, San Francisco Film Society offers an open house reception and ribbon cutting with food, drink, musical performances and screenings in the theater itself throughout the night. More info at sffs.org.
Audience-engaging stories in a variety of genres highlight SFFS's inaugural Hong Kong Cinema weekend.
Audience-engaging stories in a variety of genres highlight SFFS's inaugural Hong Kong Cinema weekend.
Audience-engaging stories in a variety of genres highlight SFFS's inaugural Hong Kong Cinema weekend.
Sex-filled fictions dominate Toronto International Film Festival; eclectic docs inspire action.
Sex-filled fictions dominate Toronto International Film Festival; eclectic docs inspire action.
Sex-filled fictions dominate Toronto International Film Festival; eclectic docs inspire action.
Unhurried, character-driven story demonstrates the filmmaking finesse that’s brought Romanian cinema to the fore. Though it had made an occasional international impression before—notably with a long history of Cannes entries and prize winners—few could have anticipated the splash Romanian cinema would create in the last few years. Or that the attention paid it would bring a number of often long, difficult, obtuse movies out of their usual habitat (the festival circuit) into theaters around the world. The collapse of Communism and execution of Romania's quarter-century dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989 freed the filmmaking industry from strict governmental control and propagandic content. But it took until the middle...
Unhurried, character-driven story demonstrates the filmmaking finesse that’s brought Romanian cinema to the fore. Though it had made an occasional international impression before—notably with a long history of Cannes entries and prize winners—few could have anticipated the splash Romanian cinema would create in the last few years. Or that the attention paid it would bring a number of often long, difficult, obtuse movies out of their usual habitat (the festival circuit) into theaters around the world. The collapse of Communism and execution of Romania's quarter-century dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989 freed the filmmaking industry from strict governmental control and propagandic content. But it took until the middle...
North Bay world, independent showcase ready to screen wide range of films in early October.
North Bay world, independent showcase ready to screen wide range of films in early October.
North Bay world, independent showcase ready to screen wide range of films in early October.
North Bay world, independent showcase ready to screen wide range of films in early October.
North Bay world, independent showcase ready to screen wide range of films in early October.
North Bay world, independent showcase ready to screen wide range of films in early October.
Director, producer speak of challenges, inspirations behind a story of the urban Iranian underground.
Director, producer speak of challenges, inspirations behind a story of the urban Iranian underground.
Director, producer speak of challenges, inspirations behind a story of the urban Iranian underground.
Maria Onetto quietly dazzles in Argentine film about a midlife jigsaw puzzler.
Maria Onetto quietly dazzles in Argentine film about a midlife jigsaw puzzler.
Maria Onetto quietly dazzles in Argentine film about a midlife jigsaw puzzler.
Mona Achache's first feature relies heavily on an 11-year-old narrator, but it's 60- and 65-year-old actors who steal the show.
Mona Achache's first feature relies heavily on an 11-year-old narrator, but it's 60- and 65-year-old actors who steal the show.
Mona Achache's first feature relies heavily on an 11-year-old narrator, but it's 60- and 65-year-old actors who steal the show.
Priya Giri Desai documents matchmaking efforts for HIV-positives in India.
Priya Giri Desai documents matchmaking efforts for HIV-positives in India.
Priya Giri Desai documents matchmaking efforts for HIV-positives in India.
A collaborative project recounts the life and work of a German-born nun located outside Nairobi and the Sudanese Lost Girls she helped find.
A collaborative project recounts the life and work of a German-born nun located outside Nairobi and the Sudanese Lost Girls she helped find.
A collaborative project recounts the life and work of a German-born nun located outside Nairobi and the Sudanese Lost Girls she helped find.
Clio Barnard's ‘The Arbor’ takes a fascinating and unconventional look at Andrea Dunbar's brief, brilliant career.
Clio Barnard's ‘The Arbor’ takes a fascinating and unconventional look at Andrea Dunbar's brief, brilliant career.
Clio Barnard's ‘The Arbor’ takes a fascinating and unconventional look at Andrea Dunbar's brief, brilliant career.
Pacific Film Archive serves a full course of films by Marcel Pagnol.
Pacific Film Archive serves a full course of films by Marcel Pagnol.
Pacific Film Archive serves a full course of films by Marcel Pagnol.
Connie Field makes a radical shift to verité filmmaking, accompanied by an equally momentous switch in fundraising strategy with her latest project.
Connie Field makes a radical shift to verité filmmaking, accompanied by an equally momentous switch in fundraising strategy with her latest project.
Connie Field makes a radical shift to verité filmmaking, accompanied by an equally momentous switch in fundraising strategy with her latest project.
Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.
Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.
Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.
The filmmaker talks about time, life, storytelling and her new film, ‘The Future.’
The filmmaker talks about time, life, storytelling and her new film, ‘The Future.’
The filmmaker talks about time, life, storytelling and her new film, ‘The Future.’
Filmmakers take personal approach to Jewish cultural debates.
Filmmakers take personal approach to Jewish cultural debates.
Filmmakers take personal approach to Jewish cultural debates.
John Michael McDonagh's first feature echos the blackly comedic tenor of his ('In Bruges') brother Martin's oeuvre.
John Michael McDonagh's first feature echos the blackly comedic tenor of his ('In Bruges') brother Martin's oeuvre.
John Michael McDonagh's first feature echos the blackly comedic tenor of his ('In Bruges') brother Martin's oeuvre.
The best of the Bay Area's historical docs transform our understanding of previous eras, and, consequently, our own.
The best of the Bay Area's historical docs transform our understanding of previous eras, and, consequently, our own.
The best of the Bay Area's historical docs transform our understanding of previous eras, and, consequently, our own.
The planned "reversal" gives documentary filmmakers a means to build drama from otherwise anti-climactic moments.
The planned "reversal" gives documentary filmmakers a means to build drama from otherwise anti-climactic moments.
The planned "reversal" gives documentary filmmakers a means to build drama from otherwise anti-climactic moments.
Fassbinder's retro-chic, thought-provoking 'World on a Wire' finds the 'future' is now.
Fassbinder's retro-chic, thought-provoking 'World on a Wire' finds the 'future' is now.
Fassbinder's retro-chic, thought-provoking 'World on a Wire' finds the 'future' is now.
Fassbinder's retro-chic, thought-provoking 'World on a Wire' finds the 'future' is now.
Fassbinder's retro-chic, thought-provoking 'World on a Wire' finds the 'future' is now.
Filmmaker talks about Chicago, identity, music and the making of ‘Polish Bar.’
Filmmaker talks about Chicago, identity, music and the making of ‘Polish Bar.’
Filmmaker talks about Chicago, identity, music and the making of ‘Polish Bar.’
SFJFF covers broad geographic, political terrain.
SFJFF covers broad geographic, political terrain.
SFJFF covers broad geographic, political terrain.
Pacific Film Archive’s ‘Hands Up! Essential Skolimowski’ surveys the Polish director’s confounding oeuvre.
Pacific Film Archive’s ‘Hands Up! Essential Skolimowski’ surveys the Polish director’s confounding oeuvre.
Pacific Film Archive’s ‘Hands Up! Essential Skolimowski’ surveys the Polish director’s confounding oeuvre.
'A Better Life' succeeds as an L.A.-set remake of bleak Italian neorealist classic 'The Bicycle Thief.'
'A Better Life' succeeds as an L.A.-set remake of bleak Italian neorealist classic 'The Bicycle Thief.'
'A Better Life' succeeds as an L.A.-set remake of bleak Italian neorealist classic 'The Bicycle Thief.'
'A Better Life' succeeds as an L.A.-set remake of bleak Italian neorealist classic 'The Bicycle Thief.'
New series spotlights the fascination with Mexico in American noir.
New series spotlights the fascination with Mexico in American noir.
New series spotlights the fascination with Mexico in American noir.
Hong Sang-soo's latest leaves us with an awkward ambivalence that resonates long after the film is finished.
Hong Sang-soo's latest leaves us with an awkward ambivalence that resonates long after the film is finished.
Hong Sang-soo's latest leaves us with an awkward ambivalence that resonates long after the film is finished.
SFFS to offer daily, year-round programming, classes and events in dedicated state-of-the-art theater for the first time in its 54-year history. The San Francisco Film Society and New People today announced significant news for Bay Area filmgoers: the signing of a lease that brings the Film Society’s exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs and events to one primary theater on a daily, year-round basis, beginning in September. The San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema opens its doors in September in the state-of-the art...
SFFS to offer daily, year-round programming, classes and events in dedicated state-of-the-art theater for the first time in its 54-year history. The San Francisco Film Society and New People today announced significant news for Bay Area filmgoers: the signing of a lease that brings the Film Society’s exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs and events to one primary theater on a daily, year-round basis, beginning in September. The San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema opens its doors in September in the state-of-the art...
SFFS to offer daily, year-round programming, classes and events in dedicated state-of-the-art theater for the first time in its 54-year history. The San Francisco Film Society and New People today announced significant news for Bay Area filmgoers: the signing of a lease that brings the Film Society’s exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs and events to one primary theater on a daily, year-round basis, beginning in September. The San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema opens its doors in September in the state-of-the art...
YBCA digs a delightfully disturbing live Kinski document from the archives.
YBCA digs a delightfully disturbing live Kinski document from the archives.
The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival delivers internationally as well as locally made films of every identity and genre stripe.
The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival delivers internationally as well as locally made films of every identity and genre stripe.
The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival delivers internationally as well as locally made films of every identity and genre stripe.
An SF Chronicle editor speaks about his third feature, a Texas-set sex comedy making its debut at Frameline35.
An SF Chronicle editor speaks about his third feature, a Texas-set sex comedy making its debut at Frameline35.
An SF Chronicle editor speaks about his third feature, a Texas-set sex comedy making its debut at Frameline35.
An historical-romantic novel in screen form, 'Bride Flight' offers all the pleasures (some guilty ones) of a film made half a century ago.
An historical-romantic novel in screen form, 'Bride Flight' offers all the pleasures (some guilty ones) of a film made half a century ago.
An historical-romantic novel in screen form, 'Bride Flight' offers all the pleasures (some guilty ones) of a film made half a century ago.
San Francisco Film Society commemorates 20 years of education programs in 2011. Since 1991, the San Francisco Film Society has been educating youth in film, but it’s not all elementary, or middle, or high school-oriented: What began as a K–12 Schools at the Festival program that brought students and international cinema together has, 20 years later, grown into year-round educational programming that serves not just under-18s, but lifelong learners, professional and novice filmmakers and university students.
San Francisco Film Society commemorates 20 years of education programs in 2011. Since 1991, the San Francisco Film Society has been educating youth in film, but it’s not all elementary, or middle, or high school-oriented: What began as a K–12 Schools at the Festival program that brought students and international cinema together has, 20 years later, grown into year-round educational programming that serves not just under-18s, but lifelong learners, professional and novice filmmakers and university students.
San Francisco Film Society commemorates 20 years of education programs in 2011. Since 1991, the San Francisco Film Society has been educating youth in film, but it’s not all elementary, or middle, or high school-oriented: What began as a K–12 Schools at the Festival program that brought students and international cinema together has, 20 years later, grown into year-round educational programming that serves not just under-18s, but lifelong learners, professional and novice filmmakers and university students.
A filmmaker finds the rigors of circus life match the rigors of growing up in poverty in Brazil.
A filmmaker finds the rigors of circus life match the rigors of growing up in poverty in Brazil.
A filmmaker finds the rigors of circus life match the rigors of growing up in poverty in Brazil.
The Roxie's new leaders offer notes on their unique vision for the rep house.
The Roxie's new leaders offer notes on their unique vision for the rep house.
The Roxie's new leaders offer notes on their unique vision for the rep house.
Danish filmmaker/artist Michael Madsen turns questions around a European nuclear-waste project into an operatic doc.
Danish filmmaker/artist Michael Madsen turns questions around a European nuclear-waste project into an operatic doc.
Danish filmmaker/artist Michael Madsen turns questions around a European nuclear-waste project into an operatic doc.
S. Smith Patrick shares purpose with the children she films.
S. Smith Patrick shares purpose with the children she films.
S. Smith Patrick shares purpose with the children she films.
Leanne Pooley's Topp Twins documentary views world politics through the prism of two eccentric lesbian performers from New Zealand.
Leanne Pooley's Topp Twins documentary views world politics through the prism of two eccentric lesbian performers from New Zealand.
Leanne Pooley's Topp Twins documentary views world politics through the prism of two eccentric lesbian performers from New Zealand.
John Antonelli finds good news, bad news and plenty of drama in African environmental stories.
John Antonelli finds good news, bad news and plenty of drama in African environmental stories.
The director of South Korean film 'The Journals of Musan,' a prize winner at SFIFF54, speaks about bringing cinematic light to social darkness.
The director of South Korean film 'The Journals of Musan,' a prize winner at SFIFF54, speaks about bringing cinematic light to social darkness.
The director of South Korean film 'The Journals of Musan,' a prize winner at SFIFF54, speaks about bringing cinematic light to social darkness.
Cabaret New Burlesque gets the French art-house treatment with ‘On Tour.’
Cabaret New Burlesque gets the French art-house treatment with ‘On Tour.’
Cabaret New Burlesque gets the French art-house treatment with ‘On Tour.’
A soundtrack staple in the Denis oeuvre, Tindersticks play their beautifully brooding music live to clips at SFIFF54.
A soundtrack staple in the Denis oeuvre, Tindersticks play their beautifully brooding music live to clips at SFIFF54.
A soundtrack staple in the Denis oeuvre, Tindersticks play their beautifully brooding music live to clips at SFIFF54.
Zoe Saldana and Clifton Collins, Jr., share candid thoughts with a raucous audience.
Zoe Saldana and Clifton Collins, Jr., share candid thoughts with a raucous audience.
Zoe Saldana and Clifton Collins, Jr., share candid thoughts with a raucous audience.
Mike Mills and Ewan McGregor lit up the Castro on San Francisco International's opening night.
Mike Mills and Ewan McGregor lit up the Castro on San Francisco International's opening night.
Mike Mills and Ewan McGregor lit up the Castro on San Francisco International's opening night.
As the San Francisco International Film Festival opens, key films consider the value of place.
As the San Francisco International Film Festival opens, key films consider the value of place.
As the San Francisco International Film Festival opens, key films consider the value of place.
Christine Vachon examines her varied indie successes while offering notes on the world of change engulfing cinema.
Christine Vachon examines her varied indie successes while offering notes on the world of change engulfing cinema.
Christine Vachon examines her varied indie successes while offering notes on the world of change engulfing cinema.
Films in the 54th SFIFF immerse viewers in distant times, unique places.
Films in the 54th SFIFF immerse viewers in distant times, unique places.
Films in the 54th SFIFF immerse viewers in distant times, unique places.
Films in the 54th SFIFF immerse viewers in distant times, unique places.
A grad student brings a rare screening of silent classic 'Braza Dormida' to the PFA, with live jazz accompaniment.
A grad student brings a rare screening of silent classic 'Braza Dormida' to the PFA, with live jazz accompaniment.
A grad student brings a rare screening of silent classic 'Braza Dormida' to the PFA, with live jazz accompaniment.
A South Korean gem, Lee Chang-dong’s ‘Poetry’ inspires.
A South Korean gem, Lee Chang-dong’s ‘Poetry’ inspires.
A South Korean gem, Lee Chang-dong’s ‘Poetry’ inspires.
Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.
Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.
Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.
SF International's 54th wide-ranging program is announced.
SF International's 54th wide-ranging program is announced.
SF International's 54th wide-ranging program is announced.
Kiarostami’s ‘Certified Copy’ is a puzzling provocation that gets better with multiple viewings.
Kiarostami’s ‘Certified Copy’ is a puzzling provocation that gets better with multiple viewings.
Kiarostami’s ‘Certified Copy’ is a puzzling provocation that gets better with multiple viewings.
YBCA rallies behind Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof with its ‘Iran Beyond Censorship’ series.
YBCA rallies behind Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof with its ‘Iran Beyond Censorship’ series.
YBCA rallies behind Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof with its ‘Iran Beyond Censorship’ series.
At nearly 30, SF Int’l Asian American Film Festival fulfills a multifacted programming mission. The 29th edition of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival stretches across the Bay Area, from San Francisco to Berkeley to San Jose March 10–20, bringing “Stories to Light” as the Center for Asian American Media's new tagline says. Indeed, both the stories and their potential audiences would be left in the dark without the solid efforts of new festival steward Misashi Niwano and Christine Kwon (festival director and managing director, respectively). In a city privileged with a vast...
At nearly 30, SF Int’l Asian American Film Festival fulfills a multifacted programming mission. The 29th edition of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival stretches across the Bay Area, from San Francisco to Berkeley to San Jose March 10–20, bringing “Stories to Light” as the Center for Asian American Media's new tagline says. Indeed, both the stories and their potential audiences would be left in the dark without the solid efforts of new festival steward Misashi Niwano and Christine Kwon (festival director and managing director, respectively). In a city privileged with a vast...
Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'
Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'
Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'
Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'
After her own Assange story broke big, a Bay Area filmmaker followed another lead...to Iceland.
After her own Assange story broke big, a Bay Area filmmaker followed another lead...to Iceland.
After her own Assange story broke big, a Bay Area filmmaker followed another lead...to Iceland.
SFFS Artist in Residence speaks on cities, Siberia, family and life in the Middle East.
SFFS Artist in Residence speaks on cities, Siberia, family and life in the Middle East.
SFFS Artist in Residence speaks on cities, Siberia, family and life in the Middle East.
SFFS Screen's 'How I Ended This Summer' is a taut drama set in the Arctic.
SFFS Screen's 'How I Ended This Summer' is a taut drama set in the Arctic.
Neither tragedy nor grand romance, 'Come Undone' captures an evocative everyday mess.
Neither tragedy nor grand romance, 'Come Undone' captures an evocative everyday mess.
A South Korean classic is re-envisioned.
A South Korean classic is re-envisioned.
A South Korean classic is re-envisioned.
Australian films comprise fully a third of the Mostly British Film Festival lineup.
Australian films comprise fully a third of the Mostly British Film Festival lineup.
Australian films comprise fully a third of the Mostly British Film Festival lineup.
Elia Suleiman’s 'The Time That Remains' recalls his parents’ Nazareth.
Elia Suleiman’s 'The Time That Remains' recalls his parents’ Nazareth.
Elia Suleiman’s 'The Time That Remains' recalls his parents’ Nazareth.
Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.
Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.
Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.
Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.
Reality bursts through daydreams; labors of love pay off in 2011's edition of the Sundance Film Festival.
Reality bursts through daydreams; labors of love pay off in 2011's edition of the Sundance Film Festival.
Reality bursts through daydreams; labors of love pay off in 2011's edition of the Sundance Film Festival.
Reality bursts through daydreams; labors of love pay off in 2011's edition of the Sundance Film Festival.
A Portuguese filmmaker builds a rich visual landscape from French singer Jeanne Balibar's vocal practice.
A Portuguese filmmaker builds a rich visual landscape from French singer Jeanne Balibar's vocal practice.
A Portuguese filmmaker builds a rich visual landscape from French singer Jeanne Balibar's vocal practice.
Filmmakers make plans, stay calm, hone their messages for Park City audiences in days before festival opens.
Filmmakers make plans, stay calm, hone their messages for Park City audiences in days before festival opens.
Filmmakers make plans, stay calm, hone their messages for Park City audiences in days before festival opens.
Filmmakers make plans, stay calm, hone their messages for Park City audiences in days before festival opens.
Pacific Film Archive Theater offers the World Cinema Foundation: Safeguarding Cinematic Treasures series, highlighting WCF's preservation efforts. It opens with Edward Yang's 1991 ‘A Brighter Summer Day’. More at bampfa.berkeley.edu.
A filmmaker’s trip to Luanda with a State Department program brings insight on the growth of a young national cinema.
A filmmaker’s trip to Luanda with a State Department program brings insight on the growth of a young national cinema.
A filmmaker’s trip to Luanda with a State Department program brings insight on the growth of a young national cinema.
'The Strange Case of Angelica' finds Manoel de Oliveira, at 102 years old, in fine form.
'The Strange Case of Angelica' finds Manoel de Oliveira, at 102 years old, in fine form.
'The Strange Case of Angelica' finds Manoel de Oliveira, at 102 years old, in fine form.
Sundance announces its competition class of 2011, which includes Bay Area projects by Tiffany Shlain, Yoav Potash, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and David Weissman.
Sundance announces its competition class of 2011, which includes Bay Area projects by Tiffany Shlain, Yoav Potash, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and David Weissman.
Sundance announces its competition class of 2011, which includes Bay Area projects by Tiffany Shlain, Yoav Potash, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and David Weissman.
Sundance announces its competition class of 2011, which includes Bay Area projects by Tiffany Shlain, Yoav Potash, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and David Weissman.
'When in Rome,' or outside it: NIC offers fresh voices, new locations.
'When in Rome,' or outside it: NIC offers fresh voices, new locations.
'When in Rome,' or outside it: NIC offers fresh voices, new locations.
'When in Rome,' or outside it: NIC offers fresh voices, new locations.
A pair of expert heist films top Berlin & Beyond.
A pair of expert heist films top Berlin & Beyond.
A pair of expert heist films top Berlin & Beyond.
Appearances deceive in Lyès Salem’s 'Masquerades,' at the Arab Film Festival.
Appearances deceive in Lyès Salem’s 'Masquerades,' at the Arab Film Festival.
Appearances deceive in Lyès Salem’s 'Masquerades,' at the Arab Film Festival.
Two critics offer opposing views on an audience-dividing arthouse buzz-magnet, Gaspar Noé's 'Enter the Void.'
Two critics offer opposing views on an audience-dividing arthouse buzz-magnet, Gaspar Noé's 'Enter the Void.'
Mill Valley brings an eclectic collection of indies and world cinema to audiences.
Mill Valley brings an eclectic collection of indies and world cinema to audiences.
Mill Valley brings an eclectic collection of indies and world cinema to audiences.
Mill Valley brings an eclectic collection of indies and world cinema to audiences.
Mill Valley brings an eclectic collection of indies and world cinema to audiences.
Mill Valley brings an eclectic collection of indies and world cinema to audiences.
Ondine finds Neil Jordan back on personal terra firma with a story (his own, in conception and screenplay) that sits exactly on the thin line separating reality and fantasy.
It s not a laugh-out-loud film, but Looking for Eric can be considered a comedy…in comparison to just about any other Ken Loach movie you could name.
Bay Area filmmakers report back from film festivals far (Cannes) and wide (Marfa).
Former San Franciscan Jack Stevenson returns from Denmark to promote the U.S. publication of Scandinavian Blue: The Erotic Cinema of Sweden and Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s.
Cash prizes totaling nearly $300,000 for filmmakers highlighted the San Francisco International Film Festival s Golden Gate Awards Wednesday night.
Films about our species enduring capacity to be inhumane toward its own are perennials at festivals, and will be so as long as wars are waged.
Few would argue that a good movie often starts with a good story. Yet it has been the screenwriter s lot to be underappreciated.
The documentary Simonal: No One Knows How Tough it Was explores the polemic surrounding a man considered by many to be the greatest singer in Brazilian history.
Don t let Hollywood crow about The Hurt Locker and the year of the woman until more filmmakers of the sort featured at this year s festival benefit.
You know someone is well liked when they re used as the standard by which you fall short.
Through most of its history, the Festival has featured revivals of restored classics and little-known gems. This year s selections run an unusually wide gamut.
Through most of its history, the Festival has featured revivals of restored classics and little-known gems. This year s selections run an unusually wide gamut.
Ch‚ Sandoval of Chile, Kaspar Astrup Schroder of Denmark, Pedro Gonzal‚z-Rubio of Mexico, John Herschend and Claudia Gonson don t have much in common except stories to tell.
How many foreign stars do U.S. moviegoers know? Not many, alas. My favorite living French actor, André Dussollier, appears prominently in two high-profile festival films.
First-time filmmaker Christina Yao is soft-spoken and exceedingly polite, but it s apparent that very little intimidates her.
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.
When television first became a dire threat, Hollywood fought the small screen by making the big one really big with vast spectacles worth leaving home for.
With opening night approaching, Rachel Rosen talked about her L.A. Rolodex, the function of festivals in a broadband world and her favorites in the festival.
YBCA s month-long, six-part Human Rights and Film series closes with two documentaries on the Arab-Israeli conflict made 35 years apart.
One of the heroes of South Korean cinema's recent renaissance wisely sticks to home terrain with his follow-up to The Host.
Deann Borshay Liem's 1999 doc First Person Plural recounted her experience as an orphaned Korean adoptee raised in an East Bay suburb.
The Center for Asian American Media, formerly known as NAATA and founded to nurture Asian American filmmakers as well as counter ethnic stereotypes, has accomplished that and more.
There will probably never be a theatrical release for James Benning's landscape movies. Amazingly, Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor have scored distribution and made a splash.
From his modest start as a staff writer at 20th Century Fox, Sid Ganis has built an uncommonly long and successful career in Hollywood.
The moving arrow anoints a new hot spot of contemporary cinema every few years, and then moves on. Yet Germany never makes the cool list.
Wasn't it just yesterday that Cinequest was the scrappy upstart amongst Bay Area festivals? Apparently not: San Jose's annual cinematic blowout is entering its third decade.
Stephen Talbot left PBS s Frontline World to create and develop original media properties, including a globe-trotting TV series about world music.
Riding the crest of the Tati tsunami hitting our shores is The Magnificent Tati by Michael House, who lived in S.F. for 12 years before moving to Paris.
In Michael Haneke's masterful film, everyone lives in fear and suspicion.
You could make a case for Tati as the last great silent comedian even if he didn't begin making features until two decades into the sound era.
Once known primarily as the co-founder and bassist of the influential punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees, Steven Severin now follows his muse in many directions.
Jennifer Phang has experienced more than enough culture shocks in her life to empathize with the identity challenges of the characters in her debut feature.
Nani Sahra Walker went to Nepal for seven months, and returned with a one-hour documentary. OK, a rough cut. No big deal? Enlightenment guaranteed, indeed.
The silver lining to a decade that saw traditional critics in conventional media dwindle? The explosion of socially networked citizen critics.
While the U.S. moved from rebuilding decimated skyscrapers to the rebuilding of an entire economy, film moved from the multiplex to the mailbox to the mobile.
The release of Avatar puts a fitting capstone on a frenzied campaign by studios to reintroduce stereoscopic 3-D to audiences in 2009.
On Sept. 13, 2001, I stood in a Toronto park and spoke to Canadian television: Movies wouldn't be the same. I was wrong.
Catherine Galasso talks about her performance piece Lightning Never Strikes the Same Place Twice, which features dance, theater and projected video.
Frederick Wiseman documents the frantic routine of choreographers for the Paris Opera Ballet as Frazer Bradshaw gives a more familiar portrayal of workplace satisfaction.
In town for the premiere of Wasteland Utopias, the artist, curator and administrative director of Canyon Cinema gives us the scoop on Wilhelm Reich and other shadowy figures.
Dennis Harvey weighs in on the upcoming films of the holiday season.
Two films from Oakland filmmakers, Dhana & Indra and Family 2469, illuminate the changing face of the country as the 21st Century unfolds.
Boston Phoenix film critic Gerald Peary's film tours the rise, fall and reorientation of film criticism in the United States.
This little no-budget film has picked up a slew of festival prizes for its character depth, unpredictable storytelling, humor and warmth.
The 13th New Italian Cinema festival finds the political and personal mixing more frequently than you'd find in any assortment of U.S. narrative films.
For three days, the SFFS offers a chance to see contemporary Taiwanese cinema beyond the work of the usual Taiwanese film masters.
Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is being revived as part of San Francisco Film Society’s second annual French Cinema Now festival, which runs the week of October 29 through November 4 at the city’s Clay Theatre.
The program offers a surprisingly potent mainstream industry presence, with tributes to A-list types more frequently seen at the multiplex than at the art house.
With the Netherlands-based filmmaker's latest portrait in resilience, Oblivion, opening Friday, it's a good time to celebrate one of documentary's most engaging storytellers.
Tangier has created an identity as a great fount of stories and light, complete with an independent cinema that opened in 2007.
A study in contrasts, Everyman and intellectual, Roy Andersson speaks about his career and new film, You, the Living.
Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling's documentary-in-progress, tentatively titled No Mouse Music! The Story of Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records, pays tribute to an underappreciated artist.
Franny Armstrong talks about the moral imperative of her films, the importance of Hopenhagen, and the unexpected magnitude of her success.
The Toronto International Film Festival has always allowed a generosity of pursuits to co-exist, rewarding the adventurous and satiating the lazy, all without judgment.
The movies of William Klein are suffused with the same impudence, social commentary and aesthetic surprise found in his photos.
A mini-retrospective of the work of Kim Longinotto plays during the Women Make Movies Film Festival at the Roxie.
The release of Woodstock provides an opportunity to look back on Ang Lee and Schamus's very impressive, diverse screen resume.
Flame & Citron, one of the most expensive Danish films ever made, is an historical drama that plays like an espionage thriller.
This fanboy-anticipated New Zealand-produced film set in South Africa, with gang activity, theft, riots, and ever-mounting interspecies hostility, is a summer breakout.
Josef von Sternberg's The Salvation Hunters caused a small sensation within the industry when it appeared, and is visually assured time capsule of urban poverty.
Seiji Horibuchi, founder and chairman of VIZ Media, speaks about VIZ Cinema, a built-from-scratch venue located in the New People building in Japantown.
Vampires are still the It Ghoul of our cultural moment and South Korean film Thirst is as precisely crafted as it is gleefully over-the-top in content both carnal and carnivorous.
The Desert of the Tartars is a story in which the grim certainty that "Nothing will ever happen" is a slow poison that drives men to madness, suicide or other inglorious ends.
Veteran filmmakers Pablo Trapero and Jia Zhang-ke complicate their genres with Lion's Den and 24 City.
Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell's documnetary, Until the Light Takes Us examines the dark intersection of local Norwegian history and Death Metal.
Director Armando Iannucci's razor-sharp satire is about how the politics of spin can determine critical decisions on both sides of the Atlantic.
Lucrecia Martel's films, including La Ciénaga and The Headless Woman feature what have come to be known as her primary concerns: classism, decay and femininity.
Tilda Swinton's edge of riskiness is on ample display in Julia, a new film by French director Erick Zonca.
Douglas Fairbanks in The Gaucho is one of the many highlights on screen during the three-day San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
Turkey may be lonely, but it is indeed beautiful in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Three Monkeys.
A festival full of drama finds no more emotional screening than the homophobia-in-sports double bill of Training Rules and Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial.
In this year's Frameline Fest, as so often in life, it's all about the one(s) that got away.
Katyn is a sizable period saga about a tragic, still-controversial chapter in Poland's 20th-century history, one with particular resonance for Andrzej Wadja.
A dose of self-affirmation arrives with Frameline33 (or, if you prefer, the multiple-breath-intake-requiring San Francisco International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Film Festival.)
Blood-soaked, darkly comic All About Evil has writer-director Joshua Grannell and editor Rick LeCompte on an express-train schedule rare for an independent feature.
Blood-soaked, darkly comic All About Evil has writer-director Joshua Grannell and editor Rick LeCompte on an express-train schedule rare for an independent feature.
One can't help but think about the concept of cinematic language, as well as spoken language, when talking with Munyurangabo filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung.
Wild man of Italian cinema, Marco Ferreri left many films in need of rediscovery (or simply discovery) since his death in 1997.
Oshima's output grazed on familiar genres, such as the youth-gone-wild and domestic drama, while freely incorporating elements from avant-garde and documentary filmmaking.
Fados, about a Portuguese musical genre, reveals Carlos Saura as an effortless master at weaving together disparate performances.
Berkeley hosts Karel Vachek: Poet Provocateur, the first-ever full U.S. retrospective for this unclassifiable Czech filmmaker.
Iranian filmmaker Cyrus Omoomian documents post-Pinochet Chile in work-in-progress Pushing Towards Democracy.
Michael Fox interviews Igor Sinyak, founder of Subtitles & Subtleties, about his dinner and a movie discussion forum.
Bruce Goldstein recalls his adventures in film land as he prepares to host the Con Film Festival at the Film Forum in New York.
Bruce Goldstein recalls his adventures in film land as he prepares to host the Con Film Festival at the Film Forum in New York.
Once Upon a Time in the West is grand, cynical, lavish and above all huge, Sergio Leone's penchant for the iconically gargantuan (perhaps at the willing expense of relatable human detail) expressed in ultimate form.
The Professionals an ambitious array of panels, case studies and discussions, makes its debut as a forum for encouraging Bay Area moviemakers to engage with guests and colleagues.
The eight films in the San Francisco International Film Festival's Lightness of Being spotlight are Laila's Birthday, Small Crime, Mid-August Lunch, Every Little Step, (Untitled), In the Loop, Our Beloved Month of August and Still Walking.
Ramin Bahrani's Goodbye Solo prompted Roger Ebert to pronounce him "the new great American directorâ" a couple weeks ago. The film is definitely the writer-helmer's most accessible work to date, one that might very well provide him with an arthouse breakthrough.
This year, the festival feels like it has truly arrived as an internationally recognized platform for cross-Pacific cinematic exchange, in this disparate cross-section of films from home, abroad and places in between.
Co-directors Senain Kheshgi and Geeta V. Patel, two American friends with family ties to opposite sides of the conflict, went to Kashmir together to see what they could learn–and what the rest of us could.
His personal curiosity on family histories and some actual events, are behind this movie about complex families Ñthose in Mexican gangs and those traveling immigrants looking for a better life in the U.S.
Troell keeps everything emotionally intimate in this lovely film full of grace moments, that chronicles the early 20th-century travails of the Larsson family.
The retrospective offers fascinating, if not always exemplary, viewing of what could be called a cinema of disaster: characters face the worst, or are living in its aftermath, and like the audience, they are provided with no easy answers.
Like the strictest kind of verite doc, Gomorrah simply presents activity, without "introducing" characters or spelling out their circumstances or motivations.
Carlos Reygadas' third film is an unmistakably serious work, emblematic of the kind of brooding, large-canvas filmmaking which has become a rarity.
Twenty years after its founding, Strand Releasing remains an active, irreplaceable and distinctive presence on the U.S. distribution scene.
The throughline of Micha Peled's film is a farmer in a village in Vibharba, in central India's cotton belt, over a farming season.
A title like this is its own disclaimer, hinting there will be nothing "normal," or very loving, about this story.
Davies' latest film recalls his earlier autobiographical narratives, but is also unlike anything he has done before, being nonfiction.
In this fable-like movie, an indomitable young orphan finds friendship with a lonely flight attendant and a teen-age caretaker of elephants.
The PFA's series of "essay films," a collection of diverse work, offers the viewer an opportunity to adapt to the peculiar tone of these films.
Oscar-nominated cinematographer César Charlone recently codirected his first theatrical feature film, a darkly comic farce about Pope John Paul II.
SF360.org spoke with Eddie Muller, who launched Noir City, an annual noir festival that has attracted an avid following in the Bay Area and beyond.
Wenders, one of the stellar directors of "New German Cinema," is this year's honoree at the 14th annual Berlin & Beyond festival.
Steven Soderbergh's fascinating portrait of legendary revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara is willfully disinterested in the conventions of mainstream movies.
Waltz with Bashir is another animated feature that embraces a more grown-up story and audience than anything in the long history of "cartoons."
Québec's thriving regional cinema is showcased in San Francisco Film Society's latest mini-festival addition to the annual Bay Area movie calendar.
The Pacific Film Archive shows Discovering Teuvo Tulio, a four-film retrospective of works from Finland's master of over-the-top melodrama in the 1930s and '40s.
Global Film Initiative's Global Lens series offers a regular spot in your home theater for edgy world-cinema narratives don't often get a place at local multiplexes.
The controversial Cargo 200, a take-down of the Soviet era, makes its U.S. theatrical debut at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
If, in the ol' days, they were called "'toons," these days, some heavy-duty words are required to express the strength and breadth of contemporary animation.
A newly restored print of Bergman's Monika, which deals with underage, guiltlessly unfaithful femininity, plays the Red Vic.
Based on John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel, Let the Right One In is a poignant, nuanced, original addition to the cinematic vampire canon.
Film historian and essayist David Thomson talks to SF360 about his new book, Have You Seen . . . ? A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films.
Veteran Burkina Faso director S. Pierre Yameogo's new film shows an isolated society still vulnerable to superstition.
The PFA senior curator talks about her cinematic influences, curating in Canada and the U.S., and recent additions to the world of film.
Every year, people grumble. Every year, someone points out how much worse it is than before. And every year, there are films that pull everyone out of the doldrums and guarantee it all continues. Welcome to this season’s Toronto International Film Festival.
A Telluride veteran gives a festival overview, and explains why film lovers and filmmakers travel to a remote corner of Colorado on blind faith.
SF360.org talks to the senior director of original programming at Link TV, which provides an antidote to the standard television news mix.
A Listener's Tale is a lovely if unclassifiable mixture of ethnography and poetic reverie which screened at last winter's Rotterdam Film Festival.
Dennis Harvey reviews Sergei Bodrov's Mongol, a distinctive look at the early life of the conqueror.
Founded in 1968, San Francisco-based Newsreel is the oldest nonprofit, social-issue documentary film center in the U.S.
An impressive PFA series runs alongside an exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum of Kiarostami's striking photographic work.
Robert Avila reviews A Zen Life: D.T. Suzuki and The Situation.
The 1959 reworking of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is a bossa nova adventure through Brazilian Carnival, with actor Breno Mello as the black Orpheus.
Ozon's Time to Leave demonstrates how central he's become to European cinema, and reminds us that he's among gay world cinema's most accomplished writer/directors.