CONTENTS - 54th San Francisco International Film Festival

Transcription

Contents
San Francisco International Film Festival
2011 Program Guide
Introductions
Live & Onstage
69
Mayor’s Welcome
26
From A to Zellner
70
Board Chair’s Welcome
26
New Skin for the Old Ceremony
71
Executive Director’s Welcome
28
Porchlight
72
SPONSORs
27, 29, 31, 33, 187, 189
State of Cinema Address: Christine Vachon
73
Tindersticks: Claire Denis Film Scores
1996–2009
74
new directors
77
WORLD CINEMA
107
DOCUMENTARIES
135
SHORTS
173
Awards and Tributes
George Gund III Award
35
Founder’s Directing Award
37
Peter J. Owens Award
39
Kanbar Award: Frank Pierson
40
Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award:
Matthew Barney
42
Mel Novikoff Award: Serge Bromberg
44
New Directors Prize
46
Golden Gate Awards
48
FIPRESCI Prize
51
highlights
53
Cinema by the Bay
53
Spotlight
54
Big Nights
53
Opening Night: Beginners
57
Midnight Awards
59
Film Society Awards Night
60
Centerpiece: Terri
61
Closing Night: On Tour
62
Tributes
63
Serge Bromberg: Retour de Flamme:
Rare and Restored Films in 3-D
64
Matthew Barney: Drawing Restraint 17
65
66
Owens Award
67
Frank Pierson: Dog Day Afternoon
68
Special Programs
Youth Education, SFIFF College Days
and Schools at the Festival
182
Conversations & Previews
184
Credits & Information
Golden Gate Awards Screeners
192
About Us
193
Board, Staff, Donors
194
Acknowledgments
198
Indexes
Advertiser Index
199
Causes & Impacts Index
200
Short Film Print Sources
202
Country Index
204
Filmmaker Index
206
Title Index
208
WELCOME
edwin m. lee
George Gund III
Mayor
City and County of
San Francisco
Chairman
Board of Directors
San Francisco
Film Society
On behalf of the City and County of San Francisco,
I am honored to welcome you to the 54th San Francisco
International Film Festival. The International continues to
shine a light on our beautiful City while simultaneously
reaffirming our citizens’ passion for the arts—and engaging
cinema, in particular.
On behalf of the San Francisco Film Society board of
directors, I invite you to join us at the 54th International
Film Festival. It is with enormous pride that I reflect on
our rich history at the same time as I look forward to the
organization’s vibrant future.
While the Festival continues to serve as a “window to
the world,” its ties to our Bay Area film community have
never been stronger. The Film Society has become
an essential part of the City’s artistic makeup for
both film lovers and filmmakers alike. Its education
program continues to contribute to the development of
film students of all ages, while its filmmaker services
program has supported hundreds of small productions
throughout the City.
San Francisco has long been a city known for its
warm embrace of artists and I am pleased to say that
this tradition continues to this day. In particular, the
Film Society’s collaboration with the Film Commission
has been a gratifying opportunity to renew our
commitment to the community of filmmakers who
call San Francisco home.
With 54 years of success, I salute the San Francisco
Film Society for its unwavering commitment to both local
and international filmmaking, in addition to solidifying our
City’s position as a world-class venue for cultural arts
and entertainment.
I offer my sincere gratitude to the board, staff and
volunteers of the Film Society and to all those who
have played a key role in this year’s wonderful Festival.
Enjoy the Festival!
With warmest regards,
In recent years the Film Society has grown exponentially,
expanding its cultural offerings to Bay Area audiences
through progressive year-round programs and events. I am
particularly proud of our dynamic education programs that
encourage students of all ages to better understand and
explore the fascinating medium of film, and our filmmaker
services, which foster the creativity and further the careers
of the many wonderful filmmakers in the Bay Area.
Through our Youth Education, Colleges & Universities
and Film Craft & Film Studies programs we reach 11,000
students each year. Filmmaker Services, in turn, helps
develop the projects of over 200 filmmakers annually and
will disburse over $700,000 through grants in 2011, and
more in coming years.
Even as we expand these exciting year-round programs,
the International remains the jewel in the Film Society’s
crown. As the oldest film festival in the Americas, the
International is a cultural treasure for Bay Area audiences
whose sophisticated tastes and warm embrace of diversity
extend naturally to the silver screen.
For me, one of the highlights of the Festival is its sense
of discovery. When it comes to cinematic innovation
and global perspective, the International goes unrivaled.
With representation from more than 40 countries and
30 languages, the Festival showcases an array of world
cinema that is not just illuminating; in this increasingly
globalized world, it’s essential.
We hope that over the next 15 days you, too, will revel in
this sense of discovery and—from the comforts of a darkly
lit cinema—find yourself somewhere new.
See you at the movies!
Edwin M. Lee
Mayor
City and County of San Francisco
George Gund III
Chairman, Board of Directors
San Francisco Film Society
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WELCOME
Graham Leggat
Executive director
san Francisco
Film Society
The marquee event of the San Francisco Film Society,
the International, brings together the finest films and
filmmakers from across the country and around the world
for the best two weeks of the year.
During this time, for those in the thick of it, it feels as
if the Bay Area, already the center of global business
innovation, is the spellbinding capital of film culture, that
worldwide republic of likeminded filmmakers, filmgoers
and industry professionals.
It’s as if, each year in late April, we find ourselves in
Brigadoon, the mysterious Scottish village that appears
for one magical night every hundred years. Why a
Scottish village, I don’t know. It probably has to do with
the liquor laws.
For mortal visitors to this enchanted place, time seems
to stand still—one night lasting a century. Their lives are
changed; they never leave. Also, they are forced to give
up the cash in their pockets. Brigadoon is a developing
region, with a lousy balance of trade.
Come to the International yourself, and see. Not the
fleecing part—you can keep your spare change. Instead,
come and see how your life can be changed, in large
or small part, by the experience of watching a film with
others.
Feel the lyrical larger-than-life cinematic imagery enter
you in the dark, the way a dream enters a sleeping body,
and become, if only for one magical night, an enchanted
being. You will never want to leave.
Happily, today, you don’t have to. Film is all around you;
film is everywhere. And the San Francisco Film Society—a
dream factory par excellence, a machine for the creation
of exploration, discovery and transformation—works
tirelessly and joyfully to celebrate film culture every day
of the year.
Not just through the International, our flagship offering, but
through a vibrant fall exhibition season, our SFFS Screen
programs and numerous special screenings and events;
through our Youth Education, Colleges & Universities,
Artist-in-Residency and Film Craft & Film Studies programs;
and through a range of filmmaker services that include
grants, residencies, fiscal sponsorship and production and
development assistance.
The Film Society’s year now expands far beyond the two-
week borders of the International, our annual Brigadoon, to
present daily programming that celebrates film and film
culture in all its glorious forms.
And how do we do this? Good question. The short answer is
total commitment: high work-rate and keen intelligence in the
service of timeless quality, exemplary standards and superb
performance in all areas.
The longer answer is that the Film Society is a) blessed
with a dedicated, engaged and exceptionally generous
board of directors; b) comprised of 35 superlative full-time
employees, more than 100 seasonal staff and several
hundred volunteers, all of whom would crawl over broken
glass to achieve the organization’s ambitious goals; c) teamed
up with more than 3,000 smart and loyal members with a
healthy appetite for adventurous filmgoing; d) uplifted by
legions of passionate supporters and industry professionals
who continually animate our efforts; and e) lucky enough to
be based in a region that is innovative, philanthropic, visionary
and collaborative far out of proportion to its small(ish)
population.
If you are reading this, then you are lucky enough to be part
of the wonderful world of film culture, too.
Now that you have found us, we hope you never leave.
Graham Leggat
Executive Director
28
a tribute to GeorGe Gund
GeorGe GuNd iii award
In 2011, to honor George Gund for more than 40
years of stalwart support, the San Francisco Film
Society is inaugurating the George Gund III Award,
which will be given on a periodic basis to members
of the filmmaking community for their outstanding
contributions to film culture.
George, on behalf of the Film Society board, staff
and everyone who has enjoyed the San Francisco
International Film Festival since you began to
support it in 1966, thank you!
Remembering his days at the San Francisco International
Film Festival, former Executive Director Claude Jarman
said that 1966 was my first year at the Film Society. It
was also the first year I met George Gund. George came
into the office one day and said, ‘I’m interested in the Film
Festival. I’d like to make a $1,000 contribution.’
“And I said, ‘That’s great. What can we do for you?’”
“Nothing,” replied George. “I just believe in the Festival.”
That’s George.
Longtime chairman of the board of directors, George
Gund III has been associated with the Film Society in one
capacity or another for more than 40 years. He has been a
donor, an advocate, a champion of world cinema.
Since the 1970s, Gund has been importing and
distributing Eastern European films and encouraging
independent film production in the US. He is a founder
of the Cleveland Cinematheque, a board member of the
Cleveland Film Festival and the Sundance Institute, and
has been chair of the San Francisco Film Society for more
than 30 years.
“George has been the lifeblood and patron saint of the
Film Society,” says Film Society Executive Director Graham
Leggat. “He is one of the most supportive and committed
arts patrons I have ever worked with.”
philanthropy, he is a trustee of the George Gund
Foundation, a Cleveland-based organization created by
his father in 1952 and known for its support of innovative
community and national programs. He is the cofounder
of the Lee and Gund Foundation, serves on the board of
a number of nationally recognized philanthropic and arts
organizations and is an avid art collector.
He has generously “ponied up” in support of the annual
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Nevada, as well
as the National Museum of the American Indian in
Washington DC.
A native of Cleveland and a longtime resident of San
Francisco, George has been a National Hockey League
owner more than 30 years, testifying to a lifetime of
enthusiasm for amateur and professional sports.
George Gund III has been an indispensible part of the San
Francisco International Film Festival. Jeannette Etheredge,
the owner of Tosca Café in North Beach, is a former board
member and longtime friend of Gund. “For so many years,
George would ride to the rescue of the Festival,” she says.
“Every time there was a crisis, George stepped up to the
plate.”
The Festival, and the Film Society, no longer need
rescuing, but George continues his steady, enlightened
support.
Gund’s enthusiasm and generosity extend beyond
film. Part of a family distinguished for its wide-ranging
35
walter salles at sfiff 2010
Founder’s DIRECTING AWARD
previous RECIPIENTS
2010 Walter Salles
2009 Francis Ford Coppola
2008 Mike Leigh
2007 Spike Lee
2006 Werner Herzog
2005 Taylor Hackford
The Film Society honors an outstanding director with the
Founder’s Directing Award. This award is given each year to
a master of world cinema in memory of Irving M. Levin, the
visionary founder of the San Francisco International Film Festival
in 1957. The evening will include a clip reel of career highlights
and an onstage interview with the director, followed by a film
screening.
Film Screening
The evening includes a special screening of a
representative film from the career of the honoree.
2004 Milos Forman
2003 Robert Altman
Previously Known as Akira Kurosawa Award
2002 Warren Beatty
2001 Clint Eastwood
2000 Abbas Kiarostami
1999 Arturo Ripstein
1998 Im Kwon-taek
1997 Francesco Rosi
1996 Arthur Penn
1995 Stanley Donen
1994 Manoel de Oliveira
1993 Ousmane Sembène
1992 Satyajit Ray
1991 Marcel Carné
1990 Jirí Menzel
1989 Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1988 Robert Bresson
1987 Michael Powell
1986 Akira Kurosawa
The Founder’s Directing Award is made possible by
Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston.
37
robert duvall at sfiff 2010
previous RECIPIENTS
2010 Robert Duvall
2009 Robert Redford
2008 Maria Bello
2007 Robin Williams
2006 Ed Harris
Named for the longtime San Francisco benefactor of arts
and charitable organizations, Peter J. Owens (1936–1991),
this award honors an actor whose work exemplifies brilliance,
independence and integrity. The evening will include a clip reel
of career highlights and an onstage interview with the artist,
followed by a film screening.
Film Screening
The evening includes a special screening of a
representative film from the career of the honoree.
2005 Joan Allen
2004 Chris Cooper
2003 Dustin Hoffman
2002 Kevin Spacey
2001 Stockard Channing
2000 Winona Ryder
1999 Sean Penn
1998 Nicolas Cage
1997 Annette Bening
1996 Harvey Keitel
Previously Known As Piper-Heidsieck Award
1995 Tim Roth
1994 Gérard Depardieu
1993 Danny Glover
1992 Geena Davis
1991 Anjelica Huston
The Peter J. Owens Award is made possible
by a grant from the Peter J. Owens Trust of The
San Francisco Foundation. Gary Shapiro and
Scott Owens, trustees.
39
Frank Pierson:
Screenwriting’s
Cool Hand
Kanbar AWARD
FRANK PIERSON
By Pam Grady
The Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting
acknowledges the crucial role that strong
screenwriting plays in the creation of great films.
The award is made possible through the generosity
of Film Society board member Maurice Kanbar.
FESTIVAL SCREENING
Dog Day Afternoon
previous RECIPIENTS
2010 James Schamus
2009 James Toback
2008 Robert Towne
2007 Peter Morgan
2006 Jean-Claude Carrière
2005 Paul Haggis
The breadth of Frank Pierson’s career can be suggested
by the contrast between two films and a single night in
March 1976. That was the evening he took home the
Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Sidney Lumet’s
tense, character-driven drama Dog Day Afternoon.
Presenter Gore Vidal accepted the statuette on his
behalf. The writer of the tough, violent story that Pauline
Kael hailed as “one of the most satisfying of all the
movies starring New York City” spent awards night in a
Phoenix parking lot directing scenes from his script of
an altogether softer and weepier film, Barbra Streisand’s
version of A Star Is Born.
That pair of movies may make unlikely twins, but what they
share is Pierson and his vision.
“What I do think I have,” he explained in a recent interview
for Inside Film Magazine, “is the ability to take a look at
a situation—whether it’s a real-life situation in Dog Day
or whether it’s a fictional one that expresses a kind of
emotional, psychological truth to me—and think through
what kind of a movie I would like to make that is new and
fresh and exists on its own level.”
A World War II combat veteran, Pierson was a Time
magazine correspondent before turning to scriptwriting. He
honed his craft in television, contributing to such shows as
40
Have Gun, Will Travel (for which he also served
as producer) and Naked City. He jumped to the big
screen with the comic musical Western Cat Ballou
(1965), sharing an Academy Award nomination for Best
Adapted Screenplay with cowriter Walter Newman.
Two years later, Pierson got another Oscar nod, this one
shared with Donn Pearce for their adaptation of Pearce’s
novel Cool Hand Luke. The drama starred Paul Newman
as a chain gang convict dedicated to flouting the rules and
eventual escape. It was set in a prison in the Deep South
but nonetheless captured the zeitgeist of an increasingly
fractured America, as the Vietnam War continued to
escalate, in a single line that did not appear in Pearce’s
book: “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.”
The dialogue was Pierson’s, coming to him as he labored
over the script on his Underwood typewriter.
After contributing to the screenplay for the 1967 mob/
hippie hybrid comedy The Happening, Pierson made his
feature-film directing debut in 1969 with his adaptation
of John le Carré’s spy thriller The Looking Glass War. In
1971, he created a television Western for James Garner,
Nichols, serving as writer and producer on the short-lived
series. That same year also marked his first collaboration
with Lumet, with Pierson penning the adaptation of
Lawrence Sanders’ crime drama The Anderson Tapes.
dog day afternoon
king of the gypsies
presumed innocent
the anderson tapes
cool hand luke
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
1990 Presumed Innocent
1989 In Country
1978 King of the Gypsies
1976 A Star Is Born
1975 Dog Day Afternoon
1971 The Anderson Tapes
1969 The Looking Glass War
1967 Cool Hand Luke
1967 The Happening
1965 Cat Ballou
A Star Is Born marked Pierson’s return to screenwriting
after his Dog Day Afternoon triumph. He was the seventh
writer and fourth director hired to work on a rock-and-roll
update of a story filmed twice before, in 1936 and 1954. It
was not a happy experience, as he revealed in a 1976
story he wrote for New West magazine, excoriating
Streisand and her then-partner and producer Jon Peters.
Pierson’s article is a peek behind the curtain at a troubled
shoot and a mercurial star, but it also provides insight
into his thinking as a writer, as he neatly sums up the
challenges in transforming a tale first told during the Great
Depression to the Watergate era. “The simple unvarnished
dialogues of 1936 are embarrassing today,” he wrote.
“We need to update a sentimental romantic story for an
audience that has become skeptical about sentiment and
almost derisive of romance.”
Pierson went on to write and direct King of the Gypsies
(1978) and collaborated on the teleplay adaptation of
Haywire (1980), Brooke Hayward’s memoir of life with her
troubled parents, actress Margaret Sullavan and producer/
agent Leland Hayward. After cowriting an adaptation
of Bobbie Ann Mason’s post-Vietnam novel In Country
(1989) and collaborating with Alan J. Pakula on the
screenplay of Scott Turow’s novel Presumed Innocent
(1990), Pierson concentrated more on directing and
producing for television, most recently sharing a Writer’s
Guild of America Drama Series award for his work as
consulting producer on season three of Mad Men.
Long active behind the scenes in Hollywood, Pierson has
twice served as president of the Writers Guild of America,
West, and from 2001 to 2005 as president of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where he is
currently a member of the board of governors. He is also
active in educating the next generation of screenwriters
and filmmakers. He has taught at the Sundance Institute
and is the artistic director of the American Film Institute
Conservatory.
Pierson is hard at work as ever. In addition to his teaching,
he recently served as a consulting producer on the
drama series The Good Wife and is currently writing the
screenplay for 17 Days of Winter, a 3-D Korean War
drama due for release in 2012. As he recently joked to
Variety, “By this time I thought I’d be playing golf, but I
never had time to learn.”
Pam Grady is a San Francisco–based critic and journalist
who contributes to Boxoffice, the San Francisco
Chronicle, FilmStew and other publications.
41
Golden Gate Persistence
of Vision Award
Matthew Barney
Matthew Barney:
between artist
and auteur
By Glen Helfand
Established in 1997, the Persistence of Vision
Award each year honors the achievement of a
filmmaker whose main body of work is outside
the realm of typical narrative feature filmmaking,
crafting documentaries, short films, television,
animated, experimental or multiplatform work.
FESTIVAL SCREENING
Drawing Restraint 17
previous RECIPIENTS
2010 Don Hertzfeldt
2009 Lourdes Portillo
2008 Errol Morris
2007 Heddy Honigmann
2006 Guy Maddin
2005 Adam Curtis
2004 Jon Else
2003 Pat O’Neill
2002 Fernando Birri
2001 Kenneth Anger
2000 Faith Hubley
1999 Johan van der Keuken
1998 Robert Frank
1997 Jan Svankmajer
“Film is a liberator for me,” Matthew Barney said in an
interview near the 2005 theatrical release of his enigmatic
epic, Drawing Restraint 9. It’s an ironic and perfectly
fitting term for an artist who makes video, sculpture and
full-fledged masterworks (that would be his notorious
Cremaster Cycle) dealing with notions of resistance,
control and release. Cinema sets him free to work on
an enlarged conceptual canvas, to inhabit a dynamic
role between artist and auteur and to pave the way for
subsequent generations of artists to push further the
boundaries of the medium. Film also helps to tap his
audience-building potential—he’s one of the best-known
artists of his generation, one with movie- and art-star
charisma.
Barney changes the way we look at and make film, from
conception to distribution. He’s hijacked film genres,
merged them with sculpture and physiological interests in
sports, then filtered them through a highly individualized
aesthetic. Like Andy Warhol, he has his own troupe of
“superstars” in front of and behind the camera—notably the
legless athlete Aimee Mullins and composer/collaborator
Jonathan Bepler. He’s lured an illustrious roster of cameos—
Norman Mailer, proto-Bond girl Ursula Andress, country
singer Patty Griffin—all of whom he cast for their cultural
mythologies.
Barney hit the art world in the early 1990s with his
Drawing Restraint series of sculptural objects, photos
42
and single-channel tapes—unforgettable and somewhat
perverse videos derived from endurance- and obstaclebased athletic actions. These were black-and-white or
lower-res color pieces that express an indebtedness to the
body-based art videos and 8mm and 16mm films of Bruce
Nauman (see Nauman’s fittingly testicular Bouncing Balls,
1969) and Vito Acconci. These artists also worked in color,
but Barney, being of another media generation—born in
1967 in San Francisco—evolved his focus on the corporeal
to infinitely more phantasmagorical proportions.
It seems he was as inspired by the expansive acid trip
surrealism of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain as
much as by more minimalistic gestures—and Barney had
the wherewithal to mobilize his widescreen vision. One of
Barney’s gifts is his ability to think big and long-term—an
attribute more akin to indie filmmakers aiming for general
release than to visual artists working at more intimate scale.
The five Cremasters, and their culmination in a massive
multimedia exhibition at the Guggenheim, took eight years
(1994–2002) to realize.
He started his Cremaster Cycle with Cremaster 4
because the 42-minute work included elements he could
leverage at the time. The film’s initial run at the Joseph
Papp Public Theater, in New York City, took place in
conjunction with an exhibition at Barbara Gladstone Gallery.
Merging sports spectacle, motorcycle cinema (those
peach-colored tires with testicles!), aerial photography,
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
2007 De Lama Lamina (short)
2005 Drawing Restraint 9
2002 Cremaster 3
1999 Cremaster 2
1998 March of the Anal Sadistic Warrior (short)
1997 Cremaster 5
1996 Cremaster 1
1995 Cremaster 4
Edith Head on-acid costumes, Vaseline-covered biological
narrative and the entire metaphor-laden Isle of Man as
back lot, it was art in uncharted territory.
While certainly there had been artists working in cinema
before (Robert Longo made Johnny Mnemonic in
1995, while Julian Schnabel debuted Basquiat in 1996),
Barney’s appropriation of feature film scale was unrivaled.
New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman, reviewing
Cremaster 4 in the film section, noted, “You can find
yourself thinking of Buñuel and Dalí. But you can also think
of The Fly and Alien, not to mention Ghostbusters when
Mr. Barney is slimed by goo.”
While Barney’s works more generally inhabit the world
of contemporary art, Kimmelman’s references are apt—
Barney has cited Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series and Steven
Spielberg’s Jaws as notable influences. Not that you’d ever
confuse a uniquely paced Barney film with a blockbuster—
Drawing Restraint 9, in which he costarred with Björk
aboard a Japanese whaling ship, pulled in just $225,000,
a figure that speaks to the fact that Barney is operating
on different terms in regard to box office figures. Barney
has carved his own path, distributing his work his own way.
The Cremasters are unavailable on DVD, sold instead like
editioned prints, with collectors owning a disk in sculptural
“jewel cases.” Barney reserves the right to periodically
screen the full cycle in cinemas, not unlike festivals of
Wagner’s entire Ring Cycle.
Barney remains a pioneer in his artistic experimentation as
well as in his channeling of a particularly American spirit of
vast landscapes and can-do attitude. With the Cremaster
films, which essentially make characters of football
stadiums, salt flats and the Chrysler Building, among other
iconic sites, he made the connection between epic cinema
and large-scale sculptures—similar to massive Earthworks
projects such as James Turrell’s decades-in-progress
Roden Crater. Now Barney is in the midst of staging a
series of seven massive performances, Ancient Evenings,
of which two have been produced. Even though they are
live presentations, they allude as much to performance
art history as to biblical epics and CSI TV shows. Barney
patiently operates in time frames that seemingly exist in
centuries, his influence likely to extend past the 21st.
Glen Helfand is a writer, educator and curator who
contributes to Artforum and other publications. Helfand
teaches in the graduate fine arts programs at California
College of the Arts and Mills College.
43
Mel Novikoff Award
SERGE BROMBERG
SERGE BROMBERG,
ALL AROUND WHIZ
By David Shepard
Named in honor of legendary San Francisco film
exhibitor Mel Novikoff (1922–87), this award
is given annually to an individual or institution
whose work has enhanced the filmgoing public’s
knowledge and appreciation of world cinema.
Although Serge Bromberg is based in Paris, France, he
is an international crusader for cinema. His enthusiasm
is bottomless, his energy even more so. He lives the
lives of four men, all of them passionate and amazingly
accomplished cinephiles.
FESTIVAL SCREENING
Serge began collecting Laurel and Hardy comedies as a
child and soon discovered that rare old films come to him
as flies come to honey. Serge will go to a butcher shop
to buy some chops and instead bring back a pile of 100year-old 35mm prints. I was in his office one day when
a kid rode up on a bicycle with a basket full of films. He
had found them in the milk house of a farm and wanted to
donate them because he thought they might be interesting
(they were). In another lucky find, Serge discovered 17
Méliès films that were previously unknown.
Retour de Flamme: Rare and Restored Films in 3-D
Mel Novikoff Award Previous Recipients
2010 Roger Ebert
2009 Bruce Goldstein
2008 J. Hoberman
2007 Kevin Brownlow
2005 Anita Monga
2004 Paolo Cherchi Usai
2003 Manny Farber
2002 David Francis
2001 Cahiers du Cinéma
San Francisco Cinematheque
2000 Donald Krim
David Shepard
1999 Enno Patalas
1998 Adrienne Mancia
1997 Film Arts Foundation
Judy Stone
1996 David Robinson
1995 Institut Lumière
1994 Naum Kleiman
1993 Andrew Sarris
1992 Jonas Mekas
1991 Pauline Kael
1990 Donald Richie
1989 USSR Filmmakers Association
1988 Daniel Talbot
44
Serge founded Lobster Films in Paris in 1984, when he
was barely out of his teens, with the hope of collecting,
preserving and sharing rare cinematic treasures. Today the
Lobster collection comprises some 40,000 reels. Standing
in Lobster’s vault and looking at the vast accumulation
of wonders stretching into the far distance, it is hard
to imagine that all this is the work of Serge Bromberg
and his self-effacing colleague Eric Lange. But Serge
is not a collector who gloats over his rare holdings; he
has deposited thousands of unique original negatives
and prints with pubic-benefit archives in Europe and the
United States, where they will be preserved and made
available for study.
Several times a year, Serge becomes a cinema evangelist
and takes to the road. Since 1992, he has presented
brilliant programs to the public, accompanying the silent
films on piano and providing all the films with high-energy
personal introductions. He calls these unique film concerts
“Retour de flamme” (flashback). Beginning with showings
at vintage music halls in Paris, at the Cannes Film Festival,
the Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre and in the Tuileries Garden,
he has performed them not only across France and Europe
but also in many US venues and in Mexico, India, South
America and heaven knows where else.
The films go even where he cannot. Through Lobster
Films, Serge organized a website, europafilmtreasures.eu,
on which hundreds of rare films from many archives are
streamed for the pleasure of anyone who wishes to watch
them. He has coproduced award-winning DVD sets
including Georges Méliès, First Wizard of Cinema,
whose 200 films comprise almost all of Méliès’ surviving
work; Chaplin at Keystone: An International
Collaboration, offering eye-opening restorations of all the
comedian’s surviving work from his first year in movies; and
the previously lost 1926 silent Bardelys the Magnificent,
directed by King Vidor and starring John Gilbert.
Animation is another of Serge Bromberg’s special
passions. Since 1999 he has been artistic director of
the International Festival of Animation, a world conclave
held annually in Annecy, France. For several years he
also produced and hosted a very popular daily children’s
the infernal boiling pot
henri-georges clouzot’s inferno
Mel Novikoff Award Committee 2011
Francis J. Rigney (chairman)
Helena R. Foster
George Gund III
Maurice Kanbar
Philip Kaufman
Tom Luddy
Gary Meyer
Anita Monga
Janis Plotkin
Rachel Rosen (ex officio)
Peter Scarlet
working for peanuts
television show called Cellulo, breeding a new generation
of cinephiles with the delightful short films he displayed.
Most of the profit from this venture he invested in firstclass 35mm preservation of unique films that document
the work of some worthy forgotten artist or some
fascinating, little-remembered event.
As the result of getting trapped in an elevator with the
widow of director Henri-Georges Clouzot, Serge won the
opportunity of shaping the unedited footage from Clouzot’s
unfinished film Inferno into a provocative new docudrama
which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won
for Serge ecstatic reviews as well as a 2010 César
(the French equivalent of an Academy Award) for Best
Documentary Feature. The film, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s
Inferno, was featured in last year’s SFIFF program and
has been released theatrically and on DVD in many
countries, including this one. Serge has also produced over
500 newsmagazines, corporate films, documentaries and
television programs, having organized Steamboat Films, a
production company, as an affiliate of Lobster.
in 2002 and, in 1997, was awarded the Prix Jean Mitry,
presented by the Province of Pordenone, Italy, for his
lifetime of work in conserving vintage cinema.
Beyond all of this, Serge has a fabulous sense of humor,
is an intensely loyal and encouraging friend, a devoted
husband and father to three terrific children. The only
mystery I’ve never been able to unravel about Serge is
how he does it all.
David Shepard is a film archivist and preservationist,
a film teacher, founder of Film Preservation Associates,
owner of the Blackhawk Films library and has been a
leading influence in the film preservation movement for
over four decades. He was the recipient of the Festival’s
Mel Novikoff Award in 2000.
This tornado of activity has not gone unnoticed. Serge is a
member of the board of directors of the GAN Foundation
for Cinema, the Cinematheque Française and the French
Muscular Dystrophy Association (organizer of the annual
telethon). He was honored for Inferno and his preservation
work by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association in 2011,
made a knight of the French Order of Arts and Letters
45
alamar, Pedro González-Rubio, mexico, 2010 Winner
NEW DIRECTORs
PRIZE
The New Directors Prize is awarded to the
director of a debut narrative feature that is an
Official Selection in the San Francisco International
Film Festival. It is accompanied by a $15,000 cash
award. Films selected to compete for the New
Directors Prize are first narrative features that
exhibit a unique artistic sensibility or vision.
An independent jury of film professionals from
various fields screens the international selections
during the Festival. The New Directors Prize will
be announced at the Golden Gate Awards on
Wednesday, May 4.
46
in support of
innovative filmmaking
New Directors prize Competition
OFFICIAL SELECTIONs
Autumn
Kinyarwanda
She Monkeys
Aamir Bashir
India
Alrick Brown
USA/Rwanda
Lisa Aschan
Sweden
Circumstance
My JoY
Tilva Rosh
Maryam Keshavarz
USA/France/Iran/Lebanon
Sergei Loznitsa
Germany/Ukraine/Netherlands
Nikola Lezaic
Serbia
The High Life
The Place in Between
Ulysses
Zhao Dayong
China
Sarah Bouyain
France/Burkina Faso
Oscar Godoy
Chile/Argentina
The Journals of Musan
The Salesman
Park Jung-bum
South Korea
Sébastian Pilote
Canada
past winners of the new directors prize
Alamar2010
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Pedro González-Rubio
Mexico
Miranda July
USA
SNOW2009
Squint Your Eyes
Aida Begic
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Andrzej Jakimowski
Poland
VASERMIL2008
The Man of the Year
Mushon Salmona
Israel
José Henrique Fonseca
Brazil
The Violin
2007
Francisco Vargas
Mexico
2005
2006
Ying Liang
China
2000
Alice Nellis
Czech Republic
2004
Xiao Wu
1999
Jia Zhangke
China
2003
Somersault in a Coffin
1998
Dervis Zaim
Turkey
The Wild Bees
2002
Bhodan Sláma
Brazil
Taking Father Home
Eeny Meeny
Honey and Ashes
1997
Andrzej Jakimowski
Poland
The Business of Strangers
2001
Patrick Stettner
USA
New Directors Prize jury
NICK JAMES
Nick James is the editor of Sight & Sound, one of
the world’s leading English language film magazines,
first published in 1932. As a freelance critic on
film, literature and art, James has contributed to
the Guardian, the Observer, the Independent,
Vogue, Time Out, the London Review of Books
and the Literary Review. In 1995 he was appointed
deputy editor of Sight & Sound and editor the
following year. In 2002 his book on Michael Mann’s
Heat was published, and he was the presenter of
the BBC documentary British Cinema: The End
of the Affair. He is currently working on a British
film criticism reader as well as other book and film
projects.
MARIE THERESE
GUIRGIS
Marie Therese Guirgis is a talent manager in New
York City who has represented film directors since
2008. She is a producer of the upcoming films The
Loneliest Planet, The Goodbye People and Keep
the Lights On, as well as a consultant for MPI/Dark
Sky Films. Previously she was senior vice president
of Wellspring, where she ran acquisitions and helped
launch the company’s theatrical releasing initiative.
DANIELA MICHEL
Daniela Michel is the founding director of the Morelia
International Film Festival, an annual event launched
in 2003 to support and promote a new generation of
Mexican filmmakers. The festival shares an ongoing
partnership with the Critics’ Week section of the
Cannes Film Festival. Michel has served as juror for
the Rockefeller Foundation’s Media Arts Fellowships,
the Fulbright García-Robles Film Fellowships
and the J. William Fulbright Prize for International
Understanding, as well as for festivals including
Sundance and IDFA. She has reported on film in
major Mexican media as a print journalist and
television presenter since 1994. Michel lives
in Mexico City.
47
last train home, Lixin Fan, canada/china, 2010 Winner, best investigative documentary feature
golden gate awards
The Golden Gate Awards were established to
augment the San Francisco International Film
Festival’s tradition of recognizing and promoting
excellence in independent and world cinema.
For more than five decades, the competition has
introduced Bay Area audiences to illustrious
filmmakers who have transformed the medium with
their award-winning documentary and narrative
features and animated, narrative, documentary,
experimental and youth-produced short films.
The Golden Gate Awards are one of many ways
in which the San Francisco Film Society fulfills an
essential Festival function: to increase attention and
resources given to independent filmmakers, and to
support the development of international cinema. This
year, there will be close to $100,000 awarded in cash
prizes, with $75,000 for feature-length documentary
and narrative works and $18,500 earmarked
specifically for Bay Area filmmakers.
Selected from a wide array of entries, these films truly
represent the best of the international filmmaking
community. Some past recipients of the Golden Gate
48
Award for feature film include Lixin Fan (Last Train
Home), Pedro González-Rubio (Alamar) and Anders
Østergaard (Burma VJ), while local luminaries such as
Marlon Riggs, Sam Green and Lourdes Portillo have
been awarded for their cinematic achievements.
The prestige of the Golden Gate Awards is distinguished
in large part due to the participation and expertise of
the members of our vital and dedicated Bay Area film
and video community. Each year, filmmakers, journalists,
exhibitors, curators and academics devote hours of
their valuable time to screen hundreds of entries. These
individuals evaluate each submission and recommend
films for Golden Gate Award competition. International
jurors view these works at the Festival and bestow
Golden Gate Awards upon narrative and documentary
features and short films.
Since 1957, the Golden Gate Awards have recognized
and honored filmmakers of the highest caliber, and
we are especially proud of this year’s world-class films
in competition.
golden gate awards
official selections
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Better This World (Bay Area)
Foreign Parts
The Pipe
Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway, USA
Véréna Paravel, J.P. Sniadecki, USA
Risteard Ó Domhnaill, Ireland
Cinema Komunisto
The Good Life
Position Among the Stars
Mila Turajlic, Serbia
Eva Mulvad, Denmark
Leonard Retel Helmrich, Netherlands
Crime After Crime (Bay Area)
The Green Wave
The Redemption of General Butt Naked
Yoav Potash, USA
Ali Samadi Ahadi, Germany/Iran
Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion, USA
Detroit Wild City
Marathon Boy
The Tiniest Place
Florent Tillon, France/USA
Gemma Atwal, England/USA/India
Tatiana Huezo, Mexico
The Home Front
Into the Middle of Nowhere
Library of Dust (Bay Area)
Phie Ambo, Denmark
Anna Frances Ewert, Scotland/England
Ondi Timoner, Robert James, USA
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
NARRATIVE SHORT
Aglaée
God of Love
The Strange Ones
Rudi Rosenberg, France
Luke Matheny, USA
Christopher Radcliff, Laurent Volkstein, USA/France
Bitch Rabbit
Machines of the Working Class
Guérin Van De Vorst, Belgium
James Dastoli, Robert Dastoli, USA
Young Dracula (Bay Area)
Alfred Seccombe, USA
Blokes
Noreen
Marialy Rivas, Chile
Domhnall Gleeson, Ireland
animated Short
Dromosphere
Get with the Program
Thorsten Fleisch, Germany
Jennifer Drummond Deutrom, USA
Patrick Jean, France
The External World
Once It Started It Could Not Be Otherwise
A Purpleman
David O’Reilly, Ireland
Kelly Sears, USA
Kim Tak-hoon, Yoo Jin-young, Ryu Jin-young,
Park Sung-ho, South Korea
All Flowers in Time
Coming Attractions
Jonathan Caouette, Canada/USA
Peter Tscherkassky, Austria
Self Portrait as a PowerPoint Proposal for an
Amusement Park Ride (Bay Area)
Chromatastic (Bay Area)
Kerry Laitala, USA
Lost Lake
Jonn Herschend, USA
Zackary Drucker, USA
Tourist Trap (Bay Area)
Pixels
NEW VISIONS
Skye Thorstenson, USA
YOUTH WORKS
Escape from Suburbia (Bay Area)
India Export (Bay Area)
2 AM
Mayana Bonapart, USA
Raphael Linden, USA/India
Joseph Procopio, Canada
Flags
The Math Test (Bay Area)
Mattan Cohen, USA
Sam Rubin, USA
Z-Man (Bay Area)
Nat Talbot, USA
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Play by Play (Bay Area)
Specky Four Eyes
William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg, USA
Carlos Baena, USA
Jean-Claude Rozec, France
works for kids and families
The Snowman (Bay Area)
Kelly Wilson, Neil Wrischnik, USA
49
golden gate awards
Juries
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE JURY
DAN KRAUSS
Dan Krauss is an Academy Award– and Emmy-nominated
documentary filmmaker whose work has won awards
from the Tribeca Film Festival, IDA and the San Francisco
International Film Festival. HBO acquired his first film, The
Death of Kevin Carter. He was director of photography for
the Academy Award–nominated documentary The Most
Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the
Pentagon Papers and Life 2.0 (SFIFF 2010).
MIKE MAGGIORE
Mike Maggiore, with director Karen Cooper, programs the
premieres for New York’s Film Forum. He has served on
the committees of Film Independent’s Truer than Fiction
Award and the Sundance Documentary Fund. Previously he
was assistant director of the film and video department of
Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and publicity manager for
the Museum of the Moving Image.
ESTHER ROBINSON
Esther Robinson is an award-winning filmmaker/producer
whose critically acclaimed directorial debut, A Walk into the
Sea: Danny Williams and The Warhol Factory, took top
prizes at the Berlin, Tribeca and Chicago film festivals and is
available domestically on the Sundance Channel, Netflix and
iTunes. Other producing projects include The Canal Street
Madam, Home Page and the 1999 digital satellite release
of The Last Broadcast.
shorts Jury
ANDY GILLET
Andy Gillet is a stage and screen actor. His first film was
Nouvelle Chance. He subsequently appeared in Eric
Rohmer’s The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (SFIFF
2008), Min Kyu-dong’s Antique and Philippe Terrier
Hermann’s The Rift. Gillet recently appeared as the Marquis
de St. Loup in an adaptation of Proust’s A la Recherche du
Temps Perdu, directed by Nina Companez.
MAX GOLDBERG
Max Goldberg is a film critic for San Francisco Bay
Guardian, where he writes primarily about alternative
cinemas. His work also appears in Cinema Scope, SF360.
org, MUBI Notebook and on his blog, Text of Light. He
received his master’s degree in Cinema Studies from San
Francisco State University.
KIM YUTANI
Kim Yutani is a film programmer for the Sundance Film
Festival. She is also the director of programming for
Outfest: The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival,
and oversees Fusion: The Los Angeles LGBT People of
Color Film Festival and the Outfest Screenwriting Lab. She
has served on juries at the Toronto and Berlin international
film festivals and the Palm Springs International ShortFest.
SFIFF 2010 Golden Gate Award winners
Best Documentary Feature
Documentary Short
Pianomania
The Shutdown
Release
Lilian Franck, Robert Cibis (Austria/Germany)
Adam Stafford (Scotland)
Bill Morrison (USA)
INVESTIGATIVE Documentary
Feature
Bay Area Short, first prize
Work for Kids And Families
Embrace of the Irrational
Leonardo
Last Train Home
Jonn Herschend (USA)
Jim Capobianco (USA)
Bay Area Short, SECOND prize
Work for Kids And Families,
Honorable mention
New Visions
Lixin Fan (Canada/China)
Bay Area Documentary Feature
Presumed Guilty
Leonardo
Jim Capobianco (USA)
Roberto Hernández, Geoffrey Smith (Mexico)
new directors prize
Alamar
narrative Short
The Armoire
Youth Work
Jamie Travis (Canada)
Moon Shoes
Pedro González-Rubio (Mexico)
FIPRESCI PRIZE
Frontier Blues
Babak Jalali (Iran/England/Italy)
The Mouse That Soared
Kyle Bell (USA)
Joel Vanzeventer (USA)
Animated Short
Tussilago
Jonas Odell (Sweden)
Youth Work,
honorable mention
Alisha
Daniel Citron (USA)
50
frontier blues, Babak Jalali,
Iran/England/Italy,
2010 FIPRESCI PRIZE WINNER
THE PURPOSE OF FIPRESCI IS
TO SUPPORT CINEMA AS ART
By Klaus Eder
Festivals offer an exciting opportunity to become
acquainted with world cinema. As film critics, it is our
interest and often our pleasure to support national
cinema in all its forms and diversity, considering it
an important part of national culture and identity.
We do this by writing and talking about cinema in
newspapers or specialized magazines, on radio and
television or the Internet. And we do it by awarding
the best of them (from our point of view) the
International Critics Prize (FIPRESCI Prize). This
prize is established at international film festivals,
and its aim is to promote film art and to particularly
encourage new and young cinema. We hope (and
sometimes we know) that this prize can help films to
get better distribution, or distribution at all, and to win
greater public attention. FIPRESCI, the International
Federation of Film Critics, has been in existence
for more than 65 years. The basic purpose of the
organization, which now has members in over 60
countries all over the world (among them, of course,
in the US, the National Society of Film Critics), is
to support cinema as an art and as an outstanding
and autonomous means of expression. We do
this for cultural, not political, reasons: Our interest
is focused only on cinema itself and its artistic
development. FIPRESCI also organizes conferences
and seminars and is increasingly playing a part
in a number of cultural activities designed to
protect and encourage independent filmmaking
and national cinemas. We are cooperating with the
European Film Academy and are deciding, within
the framework of the European Film Awards, a
“Felix of the Critics.” It is with pleasure that we come
to the San Francisco International Film Festival.
We are excited to participate in this event with its
precious tradition of more than half a century.
Klaus Eder is the general secretary of FIPRESCI,
which can be found on the Web at fipresci.org.
Previous Recipients
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
Frontier Blues
Everything Strange and New
Ballast
A Parting Shot
Half Nelson
Private
The Story of the Weeping Camel
FIPRESCI JurY
ADAM NAYMAN
Adam Nayman is a film critic based in Toronto, Canada.
He writes regularly for Eye Weekly and Cinema Scope,
and has contributed articles to Montage, POV, The Walrus
and Elle Canada. He has a Master’s degree in Cinema
Studies from the University of Toronto and he lectures on
cinema for the Toronto Jewish Film Society. He is currently
writing a chapter for an upcoming critical anthology on
Claire Denis and has written essays for books on Michael
Winterbottom and Ron Mann.
ULRIK ERIKSEN
Ulrik Eriksen is a Norwegian freelance writer working
out of New York City. He is the senior film critic for the
Norwegian newspaper Morgenbladet and also writes for
several other Norwegian publications including Dagbladet,
Film&Kino and Dagens Naeringsliv.
BARBARA LOREY
DE LACHARRIÈRE
Barbara Lorey de Lacharrière is a Paris-based freelance
writer and journalist for German newspapers and periodicals,
specializing in cultural reporting and film criticism. She has
curated film and photo exhibitions in Europe and the US and
is a program consultant for various international film festivals.
Recently appointed director of FIPRESCI Awards Promotion,
she is currently organizing special film programs for festivals
and art house cinemas.
51
THe selliNG, eMily lou, usa, 2011
CineMa by tHe bay
feaTured filMs
American Teacher
Better This World
The Cap (s)
Chromatastic (s)
Come to the Table (s)
Crime After Crime
The D Train (s)
Escape from Suburbia (s)
Fire Bad (s)
Independence in Sight (s)
India Export (s)
Library of Dust (s)
The Math Test (s)
Miss Representation
Play by Play (s)
Self Portrait as a Powerpoint Proposal for
An Amusement Park Ride (s)
The Selling
A celebration of the passion, innovation and
diversity of Bay Area filmmaking, the intelligence
and probing spirit of local directors and the
incredible depth and breadth of America’s film
and media frontier, Cinema by the Bay designates
work produced in or about the San Francisco
Bay Area and provides a window into Bay Area
film culture and practice at its best. This program
section includes features, shorts, narratives and
documentaries from well-known and emerging local
talent. The San Francisco Film Society has long
celebrated films produced in the creative heart of
the West, recently expanding Cinema by the Bay
to include a film series in the fall. In 2010, SF360.
org, the Film Society’s daily online magazine,
inaugurated Essential SF, an ongoing compendium
of the Bay Area film community’s most vital figures
and institutions.
The Snowman (s)
Something Ventured
Tourist Trap (s)
!Women Art Revolution
Young Dracula (s)
Z-Man (s)
(s) = Short
53
cave of forgotten dreams
World Cinema Spotlight
Painting with
Light
By David D’Arcy
Supported by the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences, the Festival’s World
Cinema Spotlight calls attention to a current
trend in international filmmaking, bringing
to light hot topics, reinvigorated genres,
underappreciated filmmakers and national
cinemas. This year’s Spotlight gathers three
excellent examples of a thematic trend in
filmmaking: bringing paintings and their
creators alive through film.
FESTIVAL SCREENING
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
The Mill and the Cross
Nainsukh
It’s taken film long enough to earn its legitimacy. In the
early days of cinema (and photography), filmmakers
sought respectability by choosing “respectable” subjects.
These days films aren’t trying to look like paintings, but
they’re still trying to probe the mysteries of painting.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog leaps
30,000 years—from the mysterious creation of the recently
discovered cave drawings at Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc in the
Ardeche region of southern France to the 3-D technology
that Herzog’s skeleton crew uses to document a brief visit.
Back to the future once again?
Until now, the public could only see official still photographs
of the cave, which was found in 1994. For once, the word
“revelation” means something here.
We don’t know who the Chauvet “artists” were or why
they made those drawings. The charcoal images of
animals on the undulating cave walls—horses, mammoths,
lions, panthers, bears, even rhinos—blend a remarkable
naturalism with a thrilling gestural drama. Herzog’s title
54
comes right out of the cabinet of eeriness, but we can
assume that these images are anything but mere dreams.
How could the artists have drawn animals that they hadn’t
seen? How did they learn to draw them so well?
Herzog’s 3-D depiction of the magical realm where
the images are preserved amid magically sculptural
stalactites and stalagmites is as eloquent an argument
for the 3-D filmmaking as you’re likely to see. Another
reason to see Cave of Forgotten Dreams is that it’s the
only way you’ll ever be able to enter this unique but fragile
archaeological monument. The only way to preserve the
cave was to seal it.
In Nainsukh, which looks back—only a few centuries—
at Nainsukh (1710-1778), one of the great Mughal
painters of the 18th century, director Amit Dutta is not
building on the element of surprise. His film opens in
the Kashmir landscape, and it reconstructs the miniature
paintings of Nainsukh’s time that probably won’t make it to
Art Basel Miami Beach.
the mill and the cross
Shifting among ruins, Paradjanov-style live action and
lingering observations of nature, Dutta familiarizes you
with Nainsukh’s palette and his characters. He also
works against our expectations of moving pictures,
especially those moving pictures that find their way
into art galleries. His camera stays with the scenes
that found (and find) their way into paintings. If you’re
accustomed to today’s drive-by art, you need to
readjust as you look at the weathered stone of the
palace of Jasrota. Finding the right rhythm is part of
how you find your way into Nainsukh. Your eyes begin
to redefine the notion of site-specific work.
The Mill and the Cross shares some of the same
ambition. Lech Majewski, no stranger to the world of
art, invites you to enter a painting. His broad canvas is
inspired by The Way to Calvary, the 1564 panorama
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (at the Kunsthistorisches
Museum in Vienna).
NAINSUKH
At the center of the image, soldiers on horseback take
Christ to the cross. Yet throughout the landscape,
as tends to happen with Bruegel, life goes on in all
its richness, bawdiness and banality. The camera
navigates its way into the human drama as your eye
might wander through the painting. Bruegel (played
by Dutchman Rutger Hauer) conceived of society as
a web of activity. It’s a thick web. His paintings are
densely human.
The Mill and the Cross is about more than the
Passion of Christ in a human landscape without a
center. Bruegel painted The Way to Calvary as
occupying Spanish troops pillaged and burned their
way through his native Flanders. The painting inside
the film becomes much more than a novelty when you
see women accused of heresy buried alive (with a
priest in attendance) and a man martyred on a wheel
atop a high pole, where he’s eaten by crows. Bruegel
was nothing if not tactile. In retouching a masterpiece,
The Mill and the Cross is nothing if not ambitious.
A filmmaker isn’t going to top Pieter Bruegel the
Elder, Nainsukh or the extraordinary observers of the
wildlife near the caves of Chauvet 30,000 years ago.
But the camera can sharpen our eyes to a painting’s
secrets and to its magic, preserving the Old Masters
by preserving our interest in them. Even better—in
the cases in which the French government hasn’t
barricaded entry to all but Werner Herzog and a few
specialists—the camera can lead you back to the
paintings themselves.
David D’Arcy writes about film for Screen
International and other publications. He has written
about art for The Art Newspaper since its founding
in 1990.
55
BIG NIGHTS
Special Gala Screenings and Events
58
Opening Night
Beginners
59
Midnight Awards
60
Film Society Awards Night
61Centerpiece
Terri
62
Closing Night
On Tour
57
Big Nights
Beginners
OPENING NIGHT
THURSDAY, APRIL 21
FILM
7:00 PM
CASTRO THEATRE
429 CASTRO STREET (NEAR MARKET)
PARTY
USA
2010
104 min
DIR Mike Mills
PROD Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Miranda de
Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy
SCR Mike Mills
CAM Kasper Tuxen
ED Olivier Bugge Coutté
MUS Roger Neill, Dave Palmer, Brian Reitzell
WITH Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer,
Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic
PRINT SOURCE Focus Features, 100 Universal
City Plaza, Universal City CA 91608. EMAIL: kyle.
[email protected].
Seventy-five-year-old Hal has found love with a man half his
age, and is overjoyed to be dancing to house music at the
club. Oliver, his 38-year-old graphic artist son, is not so lucky.
He’s the permanently brokenhearted veteran of short-lived
affairs who is afraid to be happy even when he’s met the
woman of his dreams. Thumbsucker director Mike Mills
charms with this autobiographical tale inspired by his own
father’s decision to come out late in life. Ewan McGregor is the
son confused by, but supportive of, his father’s new lifestyle.
Christopher Plummer, giving one of his finest performances, is
a man determined to finally be true to himself and live life to
the fullest, even in the wake of a cancer diagnosis. The story
jumps nimbly back and forth through time as Oliver navigates
a promising new relationship, recalls his parents’ passionless
marriage and wonders at Hal’s later life as a bon vivant senior
citizen refusing to give in to illness. Excellent supporting turns
from Goran Visnjic and Inglourious Basterds’ Mélanie
Laurent (as father and son’s respective love interests) and
a “talking” Jack Russell terrier make up the lively ensemble.
Stylish direction and Mills’ witty, intelligent script add to the
film’s delights. This is a moving and layered work with lots of
laughs and all the poignancy of a son’s love letter to his father.
—Pam Grady
58
9:30 PM–1:00 AM
TERRA GALLERY
511 HARRISON STREET (NEAR FIRST)
Kick off the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival with
a world-class cinematic event and a festive celebration with
live entertainment, dancing, fabulous food and delicious drinks.
You must be 21+ to attend the party.
Mike Mills
Berkeley native Mike Mills (b. 1966) graduated from Cooper
Union in 1999. An artist, graphic artist and filmmaker, his
varied career has ranged from designing CD covers, clothing
graphics, skateboards and books to directing commercials
and music videos. He began filmmaking with documentary
shorts Deformer (2000) and Paperboys (2001) and fantasy
short Architecture of Reassurance (2001) before making
his narrative feature debut with Thumbsucker (2005). A
documentary feature, Does Your Soul Have a Cold?, followed
in 2007. Beginners (2010) is his second narrative feature.
BIG NIGHTS
midnight awards
SATURDAY, APRIL 23
10:30 PM
W SAN FRANCISCO
181 THIRD STREET (AT HOWARD)
The Midnight Awards honor a dynamic young American
actor and actress who have made outstanding
contributions to independent and mainstream cinema
and who bring striking intelligence, exemplary talent
and extraordinary depth of character to their roles. This
late-night cocktail reception is one of the Festival’s most
sought-after special events and a key happening for the
city’s most discerning filmgoers. The Midnight Awards
takes the shape of a late-night talk show featuring a
special guest host who will interview the two young actors,
show film clips of their work and present their awards.
Enjoy this unique opportunity to interact with top-level
talent in an intimate setting. Cocktails and light hors
d’oeuvres will be served, accompanied by live musical
entertainment. Must be 21+ to attend.
PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS
2009 Evan Rachel Wood
Elijah Wood
2008 Rose McGowan
Jason Lee
2007 Rosario Dawson
Sam Rockwell
59
Big Nights
FILM SOCIeTY AWARDs NIGHT
awards night
THURSDAY, APRIL 28
Melanie and Lawrence Blum, chairs
6:00 PM VIP cocktail reception with
celebrity guests
7:00 PM SHARP Dinner and awards program
Frank Pierson, kanbar award
george gund III,
george gund iii award
This star-studded occasion honors this year’s
directing, acting and screenwriting award recipients
with a glamorous evening featuring onstage celebrity
appearances, dinner and entertainment.
In 2011, to honor George Gund for more than 40 years
of stalwart support, the San Francisco Film Society is
inaugurating the George Gund III Award, which will be
given on a periodic basis to members of the filmmaking
community for their outstanding contributions to film
culture.
BENEFITS san francisco FILM SOCIETY
YOUTH EDUCATION
Pictured above: SFIFF 2010 award recipients Walter
Salles, Robert Duvall and James Schamus.
Bimbo’s 365 Club
1025 columbus avenue (at chestnut)
TABLES $5,000/$10,000/$15,000/$25,000
TICKETS $500/$1,000/$1,500
The Peter J. Owens Award is made possible by a grant from
the Peter J. Owens Trust at The San Francisco Foundation.
Gary Shapiro and Scott Owens, trustees.
The Founder’s Directing Award is given in memory of Irving M.
Levin, the visionary founder of the San Francisco International
Film Festival in 1957. Made possible by Fred M. Levin and
Nancy Livingston.
The Kanbar Award is made possible by San Francisco Film
Society board member Maurice Kanbar.
For Awards Night tickets and information, call 415-561-5049.
For all other ticket information, visit sffs.org/tickets.
No cameras please.
Black tie optional/Supper club chic
60
BIG NIGHTS
Terri
CENTERPIECE
SATURDAY, april 30
FILM
terri
7:30 PM SUNDANCE KABUKI CINEMAS
USA
With wit and affection, director Azazel Jacobs’ follow-up to
2011
his lauded film Momma’s Man (2008) surveys the myriad
ways one might find oneself a struggling misfit. Terri is a
heavy, shambling, pajama-wearing junior-high student, the
physical incarnation of all the insecurity and awkwardness
that accompany adolescence. We get to know the taciturn
Terri as he cares for his ailing uncle (a man at turns gentle
and derisive), conducts solitary experiments in zoology
and pines for a girl just out of reach. When vice principal
Fitzgerald (played with superb clarity and humor by John C.
Reilly) tags Terri as an at-risk student, Terri joins the ranks
of “official” oddballs and fears his school days are numbered.
Instead, a charmingly disjointed friendship forms between
two outcasts, one young and one old. Awakened by Mr.
Fitzgerald’s openness about his own past and his oddly direct,
often corny conversations, Terri begins to empathize with
the plight of those around him. Patrick deWitt’s screenplay
depicts with precision and compassion a hilariously touching,
deeply humane tale of youth in transition. What is especially
101 min
DIR Azazel Jacobs
PROD Alison Dickey, Hunter Gray, Lynette Howell,
Alex Orlovsky
SCR Patrick deWitt
CAM Tobias Datum
ED Darrin Navarro
MUS Mandy Hoffman
WITH Jacob Wysocki, John C. Reilly, Creed
Bratton, Olivia Crocicchia, Bridger Zadina
PRINT SOURCE IDP (a Samuel Goldwyn Films &
ATO Pictures Company), 1133 Broadway, Suite
1120, New York NY 10010. FAX: 212-3670853. EMAIL: [email protected].
remarkable about Terri is that it manages to bridge a
potentially vast gulf between its deeply awkward outcasts and
the audience. We end up walking with them every shambling
step of the way.
—Sean Uyehara
1881 POST STREET (AT FILLMORE)
PARTY
9:30 pm–1:00 am
clift, Velvet Room
495 Geary street (at taylor)
At the center of this year’s Festival is an extraordinary event
that features an edgy new film by a celebrated director
followed by a chic lounge party at one of San Francisco’s
hottest nightspots. Party with a sophisticated crowd in the
CLIFT’s Velvet Room, featuring elegant velvet curtains
and hand-blown Murano glass. Indulge in cool cocktails,
delicious hors d’oeuvres and the latest beats. No-host valet
parking available. You must be 21+ to attend the party.
Azazel Jacobs
Azazel Jacobs, son of avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs, was
born in 1972 and raised in Lower Manhattan. He attended
Purchase College, State University of New York as an
undergraduate, and received his MFA from the American Film
Institute in 2002. Terri is Jacobs’ fourth feature-length film.
His other features include The Good Times Kid (2005), a
charming ultra-low budget film about chance encounters and
quirky love, and Momma’s Man (2008), a tale of redemption
and parenting that was one of the more notable independent
films of 2008.
61
Big Nights
CLOSING NIGHT
On Tour
THURSDAY, MAY 5
Tournée
FILM
on tour
7:00 pm Castro Theatre
429 Castro Street (near Market)
France/Germany
112 min
Acclaimed French actor Mathieu Amalric directs and stars in
this unsentimental homage to the burlesque show and outsized
female personalities barely contained by the proscenium stage.
This chatty, bawdy entertainment reminds us that women have
real bodies—and they want to run the show. All the women in
DIR Mathieu Amalric
On Tour—winner of last year’s jury award for Best Director
PROD Yael Fogiel, Laetitia Gonzalez
and the FIPRESCI prize at the Cannes Film Festival—are
authentic American performers of what is dubbed the New
Burlesque. Their acts are not only comic, theatric and erotic
but also hypnotic, draped knowingly in feather boas, in a wink
to audiences who think they’re watching just a striptease.
Keeping the acts and the narrative flowing is the troupe’s
manager, Joachim (played by Amalric, in a performance that
recalls his lovable alienated misfits in Arnaud Desplechin’s
films). A former French TV producer who left France for the
United States after some untold disgraces, Joachim has
found renewed purpose with a bevy of burlesque queens. He
accompanies them to France for a tour of the countryside
that will be either a journey of redemption or an utter failure.
For the sassy brassy ladies, it’s a different story. They’ve been
promised Paris, but they are willing to give their all in the seedy
theaters Joachim books for them in backwater towns along
France’s west coast. They are pros after all and, in the end, the
show must go on.
2010
SCR Mathieu Amalric, Philippe di Folco,
Marcelo Novalis Teles, Raphaëlle Valbrune
CAM Christophe Beaucarne
ED Annette Dutertre
WITH Mathieu Amalric, Miranda Colclasure,
Suzanne Ramsey, Linda Marraccini, Julie Ann
Muiz, Angela de Lorenzo, Alexander Craven
PRINT SOURCE Le Pacte, 5 rue Darcet, 75017
Paris, France. EMAIL: [email protected].
WEB: tournee-lefilm.com.
Presented with support from TV5Monde, the
French American Cultural Society and the
Consulate General of France, San Francisco.
—Beverly Berning
62
PARTY
9:30 pm–12:30 am
the factory
525 Harrison Street (near First)
Attend a fabulous new film and enjoy a party with special
guests to celebrate the wrap of another great Festival at a
fabulous SOMA party space. Dance the night away to music
inspired by the Closing Night movie On Tour and indulge in
delicious hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. You must be 21+ to
attend the party.
Mathieu Amalric
As an actor, Mathieu Amalric is best known for collaborations
with director Arnaud Desplechin in such films as A Christmas
Tale (French Cinema Now 2008) and Kings and Queen
(SFIFF 2005). Amalric gained international fame as stroke
victim Jean-Dominique Bauby in Julian Schnabel’s The Diving
Bell and the Butterfly (2007) and as Bond villain Dominic
Greene in Quantum of Solace (2008). Amalric has cowritten
and/or directed a number of films to date, including Le stade
de Wimbledon (2001) and a forthcoming television adaptation
of Pierre Corneille’s L’illusion comique. On Tour won him
Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival.
tributes
Big Awards, Big Talents, Big Statements
64
Mel Novikoff Award
Serge Bromberg
Retour de Flamme: Rare and Restored Films
in 3-D
65
Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award
Matthew Barney
66
67
68
Kanbar Award
Frank Pierson
Dog Day Afternoon
63
tributes
the infernal boiling pot
Retour de Flamme:
Rare and Restored Films in 3-D
AN afternoon WITH
serge bromberg
sunday, may 1
5:00 pm Castro theatre
429 castro street (near market)
Total running time 150 min.
Attempts at three-dimensional motion picture presentation
began almost at the same time as the invention of movies
themselves. This special program hosted by 2011 Novikoff
Award recipient Serge Bromberg presents some of the
earliest examples of 3-D motion pictures as well as some
contemporary gems. The inimitable Bromberg not only
discovers rare treasures like the ones described above
but also restores, preserves, archives and tirelessly roams
the world screening them to astonished and delighted
audiences. Bromberg, in his showman persona, also
accompanies the films on the piano and sometimes even
sings along! In addition to Lumière brothers’ 3-D work
and other rarities by Georges Méliès, Norman McLaren,
Charley Bowers, Chuck Jones and the Disney Studios,
Bromberg unveils films from the Soviet Union and
contemporary shorts by Matthew O’Callaghan and Pixar’s
John Lasseter.
Films include Musical Memories (Dave Fleischer, USA
1953, 7 min), Working for Peanuts (Jack Hannah, USA
1953), Motor Rhythm (John Norling, USA 1940, 15
min), Arrival of a Train and other shorts (1935, Auguste
Lumière, Louis Lumière), Lumber Jack-Rabbit (Chuck
Jones, USA 1954, 7 min), 3-D Experiments by René
Bunzli (France 1900), Melody (Ward Kimball, USA 1953,
10 min), Falling in Love Again (Munro Ferguson, Canada
2003, 4 min), Knick Knack (John Lasseter, USA 1989,
4 min), The Infernal Boiling Pot (George Méliès, France
1903, 2 min), The Oracle of Delphi (George Méliès,
France 1903, 2 min), Parafargamus the Alchemist
(George Méliès, France 1903, 2 min), Fur of Flying
(Matthew O’Callaghan, USA 2010, 3 min) and Coyote
Falls (Matthew O’Callaghan, USA 2010, 3 min).
64
This year’s recipient of the Mel Novikoff Award—bestowed
upon an individual or institution whose work has enhanced
the filmgoing public’s appreciation of world cinema—is the
tireless Serge Bromberg, an indispensible force for film
restoration and preservation as well as a film programmer,
filmmaker and first-rate showman to boot. Bromberg will
engage in an onstage interview at the Castro Theatre
followed by the screening of a selection of rare and new
3-D films.
A complete article with biographical information on
Serge Bromberg can be found on page 44.
tributes
AN afternoon WITH
matthew barney
SATURDAY, april 30
5:00 pm Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
1881 Post Street (at Fillmore)
North American Premiere
Switzerland
2010
32 min
DIR Matthew Barney
PROD Matthew Barney, Schaulager/Laurenz
Foundation
CAM Peter Strietmann
ED Matthew Barney, Chris Seguine
WITH Emily Harrington
PRINT SOURCE Gladstone Gallery, 515 W. 24th
Street, New York NY 10011. EMAIL: rosalie@
gladstonegallery.com.
Multimedia artist Matthew Barney’s Drawing Restraint
series—perhaps best known to filmgoers for the featurelength Drawing Restraint 9, which costarred Björk and
a Japanese whaling ship—is an ongoing project of more
than 20 years’ duration inspired by Barney’s early life as
an athlete. Premised on the notion that form arises in the
attempt to overcome barriers to action, the project uses
video, film, sculpture, drawing and performance to create
art born of restraint. The latest work in this series, the
stunning Drawing Restraint 17, merges sculpture, aweinspiring athleticism and fascinatingly cryptic symbolism
into a silent metaphysical meditation on art-making and
physical exertion. The video atmospherically glides through
an elusive narrative rich in metaphor. As he has in other
works, Barney casts notable works of architecture—in
this case, in and around Basel, Switzerland—as key
players. Split-screen sequences visually interrogate the
expressionistic concrete edifice of the Goetheanum, a
center for the study of “spiritual science” designed in the
1920s by architect/thinker Rudolf Steiner, and Herzog &
de Meuron’s more recent and angular Schaulager Museum
(for which this piece was produced). In the museum,
Barney portrays an artist supervising the construction of
a sculpture made from rotting wood beams, while on the
fecund bucolic grounds of the exurban Goetheanum, a
blonde woman tills worm-rich soil before embarking on a
picturesque tram ride to the museum, where she engages
in a dizzying interaction. The site, like DR17 itself, becomes
a wormhole leading to an otherworldly zone only Barney
could conjure.
The Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award this year
goes to internationally celebrated multimedia artist and
filmmaker Matthew Barney. Best known for his Cremaster
Cycle (1994–2002) of experimental films and related art
works, Barney has changed the way we look at and make
film. Among the best-known artists of his generation,
Barney joins the Festival for an onstage conversation
ahead of a screening of his latest cinematic creation.
A complete article with biographical information on
Matthew Barney can be found on page 42.
—Glen Helfand
65
tributes
walter salles at sfiff 2010
Wednesday, April 27
The Film Society honors an outstanding director with the Founder’s Directing Award.
This award is given each year to a master of world cinema, in memory of Irving M. Levin,
the visionary founder of the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1957.
The event includes an onstage interview and a special screening of a representative film
from the career of the honoree.
The Founder’s Directing Award is made possible by Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston.
Film Screening
The evening includes a special screening of a representative film from the career of the
honoree.
66
tributes
robert duvall at sfiff 2010
peter j. owens award
Friday, april 29
7:30 pm castro theatre
429 castro street (near market)
Join the Festival for a very special award night celebrating the career of one of cinema’s
great acting talents. Named for the longtime San Francisco benefactor of arts and
charitable organizations Peter J. Owens (1936–1991), this award honors an actor
whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity.
The evening will include a clip reel of career highlights and an onstage interview with
the artist, followed by a special screening of a representative film from the career of the
honoree.
The Peter J. Owens Award is made possible by a grant from the Peter J. Owens trust at
The San Francisco Foundation. Gary Shapiro and Scott Owens, trustees.
Film Screening
The evening includes a special screening of a representative film from the career of the
honoree.
67
tributes
Dog Day Afternoon
AN AFTERNOON WITH
frank pierson
SATURDAY, april 30
USA
1975
125 min
DIR Sidney Lumet
PROD Martin Bregman, Martin Elfand
SCR Frank Pierson
CAM Victor J. Kemper
ED Dede Allen
WITH Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning,
Chris Sarandon
PRINT SOURCE Warner Bros.
The bank heist movie to end all bank heist movies, Dog
Day Afternoon leaves the hardened action criminals
behind and gives us Sonny (Al Pacino in one of his
greatest roles), a neurotic yet sensitive first-time crook
who holds up a Brooklyn bank for unexpected reasons of
his own. As hordes of police, reporters and riotous masses
convene around the bank, the heist becomes a media
sensation, with everyone from bystanders to the hostages
themselves vying for their 15 minutes of fame. Epitomizing
the political atmosphere of 1970s social discontent
(Sonny’s “Attica! Attica!” rant referencing the 1971 prison
massacre is legendary), the film also gives us access to
multilayered characters: As negotiations heat up outside,
Sonny and partner-in-crime Sal (played by Pacino’s
Godfather costar John Cazale) establish a strange rapport
with their hostages. Screenwriter Frank Pierson (this
year’s Kanbar Award recipient) took inspiration from a Life
magazine article in creating a complex masterpiece as
nuanced as it is gripping, in which the nature of Sonny’s
crime and the audience’s allegiances are continually
challenged. Pierson and director Sidney Lumet treat their
characters seriously but allow an absurdist humor to erupt
naturally out of the palpable air of midsummer desperation.
Nominated for six Oscars (including Al Pacino for Best
Actor) and winner of Best Original Screenplay for Pierson,
Dog Day Afternoon is a defining film in American cinema.
—Jenni Rowland
68
The Film Society is proud to present the 2011 Kanbar
Award for excellence in screenwriting to a living legend,
Frank Pierson, the voice behind some of the freshest and
most enduring films in the canon of American cinema. Join
the Festival in honoring Pierson with an onstage interview
prior to a screening of the iconic 1975 film that won him
an Academy Award, Dog Day Afternoon.
sidney lumet
Sidney Lumet began his career directing Off-Broadway
productions and made his film debut in 1957 with the instant
classic 12 Angry Men. Over the course of a career that spans
nearly 50 years, Lumet has directed such celebrated films as
Network (1976), The Verdict (1982) and Before the Devil
Knows You’re Dead (2007). Known for making rock-solid
social dramas and his ability to draw strong performances out
of his actors, Lumet received an Academy Award for lfetime
achievement in 2005.
LIVE & ONSTAGE
FILMS, Music, Performances
70
From A to Zellner
71
72Porchlight
State of Cinema Address
73
Christine Vachon
74
Tindersticks: Claire Denis Film Scores
1996–2009
69
Live & onstage
From A to Zellner
DIR David Zellner, Nathan Zellner
PRINT SOURCE Zellner Bros., PO Box 49554,
Austin TX 78765. EMAIL: [email protected].
Meet the inimitable Zellner Bros.! David and Nathan, the
Austin-based filmmaking duo, makers of last year’s giddily
eye-popping treat Fiddlestixx (SFIFF 2010), will be at the
Festival to present more selections from their considerable
oeuvre of short films, the newest of which is an
unprecedented look into the mysteries of nature entitled
Sasquatch Birth Journal 2. The Zellners write, direct,
produce, shoot, edit and often act in their films, which
run the gamut from heartfelt and touching to raucous
and absurd, usually moment by moment. Characters with
accents Welsh/Australian/Southern-US and unknown
abound. Interactions with animals of various stripes are
not uncommon. Characters with serious blind spots for
their very troubling character deficiencies are the norm.
In this special program, we will have the rare opportunity
to interact at length with the Zellners about their process,
their heritage and their deepest-seated desires. Looking
back on their decade of filmmaking, certain questions
arise. Just how real are these seemingly obviously fake
movies? Were the brothers really attacked by a shark? Is
it really true that one of them is circumcised and the other
isn’t? Who was that sasquatch, really? From the twisted
tale of a good deed gone wrong in Quasar Hernandez
to the emasculating failure of reaching for “closure” on a
broken relationship in Rummy, the Zellners will cover all
the bases from A to you know where.
David Zellner
Nathan Zellner
David and Nathan Zellner are filmmaker siblings based out of
Austin, Texas. Their first exposure to the magic of cinema took
place as children while serving as featured extras in Pasolini’s
Salò. Their feature film Goliath premiered at the Sundance Film
Festival in 2008 and was distributed by IFC Films. They’ve made
numerous award-winning short films and music videos that have
screened internationally.
—Sean Uyehara
SUN
70
APR 24
9:45
KABUKI
leonard cohen
live & onstage
who by fire
Leonard Cohen has enthralled us with his writing and
music for over 50 years. This three-part evening features
films and music produced in response to the profound
beauty and unexpected humor of Cohen’s work. Cohen’s
1974 album New Skin for the Old Ceremony is
the source for 11 new short films, each by a different
director, each set to a different track from the album.
The project was developed and first presented at the
Hammer Museum in Los Angeles by curators Lorca
Cohen (Leonard Cohen’s daughter) and Darin Klein. The
films will be projected uninterrupted with the album as a
soundtrack. The eclectic selection includes shorts by a
number of fine artists, musicians and animators, including
Theo Angell, Kelly Sears, Brent Green and Lucky Dragons.
To accompany this new compilation, we present a classic
documentary focusing on Cohen’s literary work and public
persona in the late ’60s, Ladies and Gentlemen . . . Mr.
Leonard Cohen (Donald Brittain, Don Owen, Canada
1967, 45 min). This wonderful film reveals Cohen at
work and with friends, and the multifaceted nature of his
popularity. At turns reserved and brash, self-deprecating
and self-assured, the young Cohen is a complicated and
intriguing subject. Finally, we present live renditions of
several Cohen songs, in performances anchored by local
songsmith and Sub Pop artist Kelley Stoltz and beloved
duo Pale Hoarse.
—Sean Uyehara
TUE
APR 26
9:00
KABUKI
71
Live & onstage
Director Kaspar Astrup Schroeder at SFIFF 2010
Porchlight
San Fracisco’s beloved nonfiction storytelling series makes
another highly anticipated appearance at the Festival for
a special night of film industry–themed stories. The rules
for telling a story at Porchlight are deceptively simple:
Tell a true ten-minute tale to an audience of strangers
as if you were telling it to a good friend. The results vary
wildly (as some of you may remember from last year’s
SFIFF) but are uniformly unforgettable. Arline Klatte and
Beth Lisick, the show’s cofounders and hosts, move the
night along with grace, charm and wit. The program will
feature six storytellers, each accompanied by a video clip
as supporting material. As of press time there are three
storytellers confirmed, including Lisick herself, who’ll be
telling her first Porchlight story since cofounding the series
11 years ago! (This writer happens to know that Lisick was
once asked to play a “hip mother” who utters slam-style
poetry in a banking commercial. Thank you, advertising
world.) Jonn Herschend, whose film Self Portrait as a
PowerPoint Presentation for an Amusement Park Ride
screens in the Get with the Program shorts program, will
discuss his escapades, most recently a fake marketing
video for the gallery Den Frie in Copenhagen. Alan Black,
literary maven and proprietor of local haunt Edinburgh
Castle, will reprise a story about a film shoot in his bar
that brought the house down on its first telling. Visit the
fest11.sffs.org for updates on other guests expected to
participate in this informal bean-spilling session.
—Sean Uyehara
TUE
72
MAY 3
9:30
KABUKI
live & onstage
State of Cinema Address
christine vachon
Each year, the Film Society invites an industry
leader to ruminate on the intersecting worlds
of contemporary cinema, culture and society.
This year, indie film maverick Christine Vachon
discusses her remarkable career as a producer
of often controversial films such as Kids (Larry
Clark, 1995), I Shot Andy Warhol (Mary Harron,
1996), Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998), Boys
Don’t Cry (Kimberly Peirce, 1999), Hedwig and
the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell, 2001)
and Cairo Time (Ruba Nadda, SFIFF 2010),
as well as all of Todd Haynes’s films including
Poison (1991), Safe (1995), I’m Not There
(2007) and the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce
(2011). One of indie film’s most formidable and
well-respected figures, Vachon’s take on the State
of Cinema promises to enlighten and provoke.
PREVIOUS ADDRESSES
2010 Walter Murch
2009 Mary Ellen Mark
2008 Kevin Kelly
2007 Peter Sellars
2006 Tilda Swinton
2005 Brad Bird
2004 B. Ruby Rich
2003 Michael Ciment
The Killer Producer
By Jason Berger
In 1973, while growing up in New York City, ten-year-old
Christine Vachon wandered into an Upper West Side
movie theater, hoping to catch a horror film. With no
knowledge of the films except for their titles, she picked
one that sounded like the best bet to deliver the scares
she was looking for. That film turned out to be Ingmar
Bergman’s classic Cries and Whispers.
“It certainly was a horror film,” said Vachon in an interview
with NPR, “but not in the way that I had thought. It was
a stunning experience. I walked out of there like ‘I didn’t
know film could do that.’”
In her 25 years as a producer, as cofounder of Killer Films,
and as the author of two books on film production, Vachon
has greatly expanded the parameters and possibilities of
independent film. She has shepherded unique characters
and distinct artistic visions to the screen, helping to move
them beyond the New York art houses and into nationwide
multiplexes. With films such as Boys Don’t Cry and
Kids, she has given voice to the type of gritty, emotionally
extreme stories previously relegated to the fringes,
placing them front and center in our artistic and cultural
discussions. And, perhaps most radically, Vachon has
never lost sight of what drew her as a ten-year-old to that
theater in the first place, before she unknowingly walked
into another cinematic world: Her films, no matter how high
their artistic aspirations, still manage to entertain.
being shown at the Collection of Living Cinema, which
were essentially like watching paint dry, or you were
making Hollywood movies.”
Vachon’s savvy combination of art and entertainment has
brought us such characters as the titular transvestiteturned-rock star in Hedwig and the Angry Inch and
Dylan Baker’s amiable pedophile-next-door in Happiness.
And through her longtime creative partnership with
acclaimed filmmaker Todd Haynes, Vachon has produced
some of the era’s most distinctive films, such as the
glam-rock epic Velvet Goldmine, the Bob Dylan mosaic
I’m Not There and the Douglas Sirk–inspired Far
from Heaven, all of which received Academy Award
nominations.
In this year’s State of Cinema address, Vachon will discus
the ways in which the independent film industry has
changed and how it must adapt in this era of new forms of
media and film presentation in order to stay relevant—how
the types of films she loves to make can continue to open
our eyes, shift our perspective and, yes, even entertain us.
Jason Berger is a journalist and editor based in San
Francisco.
“[When I started] in New York there were really two types
of films being made,” Vachon recalled in an interview with
Steven Priggé. “You were either making movies that were
SUN APR 25 4:00 KABUKI STAT25K
73
Live & onstage
tinDerStiCkS: Claire DeniS Film SCOreS
1996–2009
Dir Claire Denis
Special support for this program generously
provided by Visionary Circle members Nion
McEvoy and Leslie Berriman, and by Robert
Mailer Anderson and Nicola Miner.
For the past 15 years, world-renowned French filmmaker
Claire Denis and composer Stuart Staples—best known
as the primary singer and songwriter for groundbreaking
British chamber-rock band Tindersticks—have engaged
in an inspired and fruitful collaboration, pushing the
boundaries of their fields to produce art of profound
and charmed beauty. The Film Society is honored to
present Tindersticks in what will be an unforgettable live
performance, as the band accompanies a meticulously
prepared montage of scenes from six Denis films scored
by Staples and his band mates. Technicians have scoured
archives to collect the original elements and assemble
strikingly sensual and alternately meditative and shocking
clips from Nénette et Boni, Trouble Every Day, Friday
Night, The Intruder, 35 Shots of Rum and White
Material (the 2009 stunner featuring Isabelle Huppert).
Viewed—and heard—anew, Denis’s singular images will
soar as the band’s live music envelops the majestic
Castro Theatre. For this special event, fellow Tindersticks
members David Boulter, Neil Fraser, Dan KcKinna and Earl
Harvin join Staples, augmented by additional musicians
on strings and brass. The full ensemble will do dramatic
justice to Denis’s visionary cinema through gorgeously
dark-hued music that blends subtle guitar strumming and
delicate violin arpeggios with otherworldly percussion
and atmospheric washes of symphonic color over which
Staples croons in his inimitable baritone. “Working with
Claire makes us shift our vision,” Staples has said. “We
come out the other end of it and we always feel kind of
changed.”
Claire DeniS
Born in Paris and raised in French West Africa, Claire Denis
has created a sensual, empathetic body of work that is as
intellectually satisfying as it is emotionally immediate. Denis’s
cinema explores the experience of outsiders in French society
while astutely documenting the legacy of colonialism. Her films
include Chocolat (1988), I Can’t Sleep (SFIFF 1995), Nénette
et Boni (SFIFF 1997), Beau Travail (SFIFF 2000), Trouble
Every Day (2001), Friday Night (SFIFF 2003), The Intruder
(SFIFF 2005), 35 Shots of Rum (SFIFF 2009) and White
Material (SFIFF 2010), among others.
—Steven Jenkins, Sean Uyehara
MON MAY 2
74
8:30
cASTrO
NEW DIRECTORS
First- and Second-Time Directors
Emerging on the International Scene
In Competition for
NEW DIRECTORS PRIZE
80
82
87
89
91
94
96
98
99
101
102
Autumn
Circumstance
The High Life
Kinyarwanda
My Joy
The Salesman
She Monkeys
Tilva Rosh
Ulysses
OUT OF COMPETITION
78 At Ellen’s Age
79 Attenberg
81 A Cat in Paris
83 The Colors of the Mountain
84 The Dish & the Spoon
85 End of Animal
86 The Future
88 Jean Gentil
90 The Joy
92 Living on Love Alone
93Microphone
95Nainsukh
97 Le Quattro Volte
100 Sound of Noise
103 A Useful Life
104 The Whistleblower
105 Year Without a Summer
77
At Ellen’s Age
Im alter von Ellen
new directors
Germany
2010
95 min
DIR Pia Marais
PROD Claudia Steffen, Christoph Friedel
SCR Horst Markgraf, Pia Marais
CAM Hélène Louvart
ED Mona Bräuer
MUS Horst Markgraf, Yoyo Röhm
WITH Jeanne Balibar, Stefan Stern, Georg
Friedrich, Julia Hummer, Alexander Sheer
PRINT SOURCE The Match Factory,
Balthasarstrasse 79-81, 50670 Cologne,
Germany. FAX: 49-221-539-709-10.
EMAIL: [email protected]. WEB: ellen.
pandorafilm.com.
In German, French and English with subtitles.
provided by the Consulate General of the
Federal Republic of Germany–San Francisco.
“Promise me not to go all mad, OK?” Ellen’s boyfriend
Florian asks her before revealing that he’s going to have
a child with another woman. But go a bit mad she does,
ditching both home and her longtime flight attendant job
and setting forth on an uncertain trajectory. Pia Marais’s
modern fable of dislocation takes us down the rabbit
hole, dropping into a variety of unnerving, oddly humorous
and slightly surreal situations as Ellen searches for
grounding in a rootless world. Adrift, broke and unused
to being alone, Ellen attaches herself to a daisy chain
of acquaintances and complete strangers. Her need to
be with others results in some undignified hotel-room
mornings before she falls in with a group of militant
animal rights activists. Ellen is attracted to their passion,
and perhaps to their endless discussion of rules, but it’s
unclear whether they can provide the sense of purpose
she’s seeking. Moving from anonymous hotel rooms,
airports and lobbies to the chaotic warmth of a Frankfurt
commune, where sleeping bodies lie in a jumble among
semi-domesticated animals, At Ellen’s Age is filled
with striking images: the red caps of a gaggle of airline
attendants, a cheetah strolling regally across an airport
tarmac, the otherworldly glow of a swarm of white lab
rats running on black asphalt at night. Jeanne Balibar’s
ethereal beauty and controlled performance accentuate
Ellen’s standing as a perpetual stranger in a strange world,
adding a distinctive center to a character and a film as
mysterious and unpredictable as modern life.
Pia Marais
Born in Johannesburg, Pia Marais experienced her own share
of globetrotting, growing up in South Africa, Sweden and Spain.
Prior to becoming a filmmaker, she studied photography and
sculpture at art academies throughout Europe. After making
several short films and spending time as both a casting
director and assistant director, she made her first feature, The
Unpolished, which won various prizes in 2007. At Ellen’s Age
is her second feature.
—Rachel Rosen
SUNAPR 24
WEDAPR 27
FRIAPR 29
78
6:15 KABUKI
3:30 KABUKI
7:00PFA
Attenberg
2010
95 min
DIR Athina Rachel Tsangari
PROD Maria Hatzakou, Yorgos Lanthimos,
Iraklis Mavroidis, Athina Rachel Tsangari,
Angelos Venetis
SCR Athina Rachel Tsangari
CAM Thimios Bakatakis
ED Sandrine Cheyrol, Matt Johnson
WITH Ariane Labed, Vangelis Mourikis,
Evangelia Randou, Yorgos Lanthimos
Germany. FAX: 49-221-539-709-10.
EMAIL: [email protected].
As an architect suffering from cancer prepares for his
impending death, his daughter, Marina, attempts an
awkward flight into adulthood. Emotionally stilted at
23, Marina seeks the counsel of her best friend—the
promiscuous and instructive Bella—who bluntly guides
her through the clumsy physicality of sex. Marina, who
prefers to watch the mating rituals of animals on David
Attenborough documentaries than to experience them
herself, wades through uncomfortable territory for the first
time. We glimpse her terse experiments, her fumbles and
frank inquiries as she tries to figure out how these things
called relationships work. All the while, she shuttles her
father to and from the hospital, witnessing his own body
deflate. The daily machinations of Marina and Bella unfold
against the backdrop of a crumbling mill town wrought
firmly in the industrial imagination. Once conceived to
be a paradise of production, the town is now a hollow
landscape of steel skeletons, deserted construction sites
and crumbling ’60s mod homes—a decrepit utopia that
Marina’s father helped to create. But things still emerge in
the wasteland. Director Athina Rachel Tsangari constructs
a world that is at once sobering and playful, strained and
delightful, drawing out the life ripening amid the industrial
clutter. Tsangari imbues her characters and landscape
with an inchoate beauty; everything, everyone is a workin-progress. She applies a wry lens, scrutinizing her
characters’ bizarre behavior with the rigor of an observing
biologist, exposing their follies under searing lights. But, by
doing so, their absurdity becomes accessible and intensely
intimate. She makes us feel close.
new directors
Greece
Athina Rachel Tsangari
Attenberg is Greek-born Athina Rachel Tsangari’s remarkably
accomplished second feature. Prior to Attenberg, Tsangari
directed The Slow Business of Going (2000), produced
Kinetta (2005) and was the associate producer of the Academy
Award–nominated Dogtooth (Best Foreign Film nominee,
2011). Tsangari studied film and theater at New York University
and received her MFA in film production from the University
of Texas at Austin. She also cofounded the Cinematexas
International Short Film Festival in Austin.
—Sara Dosa
FRIAPR 22
WEDAPR 27
FRIAPR 29
7:00
8:45
3:15
KABUKI
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
79
Autumn
Harud
new directors
India
2010
99 min
DIR Aamir Bashir
PROD Aamir Bashir, Shanker Raman
SCR Aamir Bashir, Shanker Raman,
Mahmood Farooqui
CAM Shanker Raman
ED Shan Mohammed
MUS Naren Chandavarkar, Suhaas Ahuja,
Benedict Taylor
WITH Reza Naji, Shahnawaz Bhat, Shamim
Basharat, Mudassir Khan, Salma Ashai
PRINT SOURCE Chasing Tales, B-504
Panchtantra 2, Panch Marg, Off Yari Road,
Versova, Andhere West, 400061 Mumbai
Maharashtra, India. EMAIL: info@chasingtales.
net. WEB: harudthefilm.com.
New Directors Prize Contender
In Urdu with subtitles.
After an unsuccessful attempt to cross into Pakistan,
young Rafiq returns home to a desolate existence with
his parents. The family is mourning the loss of Rafiq’s
older brother, Tauqir, one of the tens of thousands of
young men who have disappeared since the insurgency
in Kashmir began in 1989. His mother remains vaguely
delusional about the chances of Tauqir’s eventual return
as she attends rallies by the Association of Parents of
Disappeared Persons; his father, a traffic cop, meanwhile
begins to show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder
from the years of violence he has witnessed. Rafiq
spends much of his time sleeping or staring blankly, all
emotion evacuated from his large brown eyes. When Rafiq
discovers Tauqir’s old camera with a roll of undeveloped
film inside it, he is briefly emboldened by this tangible
connection to his brother and the possibilities it might hold
for his own future. Filmed on location in the Kashmir valley
with either nonprofessional or first-time Kashmiri actors,
Autumn is a powerful depiction of the loss and decay
caused by 20 years of violent conflict. At the same time,
it stands as a moving tribute to those who have struggled
throughout to maintain their dignity and humanity.
Aamir Bashir
Born in Srinagar, Kashmir, Aamir Bashir worked as a television
news correspondent and travel show host before moving to
Mumbai to pursue a career in acting. He has appeared in several
independent Hindi films including Clever and Lonely (2002),
The Great Indian Butterfly (2007), A Wednesday (2008) and
the award-winning Frozen (SFIFF 2008). Bashir spent four
years developing the story and screenplay for Autumn, his first
film as a writer, director and producer.
—Joanne Parsont
SATAPR 23
MONAPR 25
SATAPR 30
80
6:15PFA
6:45 KABUKI
9:15 KABUKI
A Cat in Paris
Une vie de chat
2010
65 min
DIR Alain Gagnol, Jean-Loup Felicioli
PROD Jacques-Rémy Girerd
SCR Alain Gagnol, Jacques-Rémy Girerd
CAM Izu Troin
ED Hervé Guichard
MUS Serge Besset
WITH Mark Irons, Sara Vertongen, Jerry Killick,
Jasmine Avlonitis-Perrin
PRINT SOURCE GKIDS, 225 Broadway, Suite
In English.
Recommended for children eight and up.
provided by Visionary Circle member Caroline
Crawford.
An enchanting fable about looking past appearances
and cultivating unlikely loyalties in times of need, A Cat
in Paris is the first feature-length collaboration by the
creative team of Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli.
Impressive 2-D animation turns the streets of Paris into
a delicate watercolor study, as cat burglar Nico and cat
Dino leap nimbly across rooftops and slip silently into
open windows in search of loot. Unbeknownst to Nico,
Dino actually leads a double life: By day he is the constant
companion of seven-year-old Zoe, the daughter of an
overextended, widowed police commissioner, Jeanne. Zoe
hasn’t spoken since gang boss Victor Costa murdered her
father. Her mother, determined to bring Costa to justice,
is unable to give her much attention, leaving her instead
in the care of her nanny Claudine, who herself leads a
double life as Costa’s gal pal. A criminal in job description
only, nice guy Nico finds himself protecting Zoe against
Costa’s gang after she inadvertently stumbles on a plot
to steal the so-called Colossus of Nairobi while following
Dino on his mysterious rounds. To bring Costa to justice
and rescue Zoe, Jeanne is forced to place her faith in a
man she knows to be an outlaw. Children of all ages will
root for the undercats in this droll thriller, while the moody
cityscape and a cool retro jazz soundtrack will appeal to
their hip elders.
new directors
France/Belgium/Netherlands/
Switzerland
Alain Gagnol
Jean-Loup Felicioli
Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felcioli have been collaborating
on animated shorts since 1996 at the Folimage animation
studio. A graduate of the Emile Cohl School of Design in Lyon,
screenwriter Alain Gagnol’s first ambition was to create comic
books, while graphics designer Jean-Loup Felcioli originally
studied painting and fine arts in Annecy, Strasbourg, Perpignan
and Valence. A Cat in Paris is their first feature-length
collaboration.
Specky Four Eyes
Arnaud’s eyesight is atrocious. But when the doctor prescribes
a new pair of glasses, everything suddenly looks a lot less
interesting than it did before. (Jean-Claude Rozec, France
2010, 9 min) In GGA Competition.
—Nicole Gluckstern
SUNAPR 24
SUNMAY 1
12:30
12:30
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
81
Circumstance
France/USA/Iran/Lebanon
new directors
2011
105 min
DIR Maryam Keshavarz
PROD Karin Chien, Maryam Keshavarz,
Melissa M. Lee
SCR Maryam Keshavarz
CAM Brian Rigney Hubbard
ED Andrea Chignoli
MUS Gingger Shankar
WITH Nikohl Boosheri, Sarah Kazemy, Reza Sixo
Safai, Soheil Parsa, Nasrin Pakkho
PRINT SOURCE Roadside Attractions, 7920
Sunset Boulevard, Suite 402, Los Angeles CA
90046. FAX: 323-882-8493. EMAIL: eddied@
roadsideattractions.com.
In Farsi with subtitles.
Support for this program generously provided by
the Kenneth Rainin Foundation.
Maryam Keshavarz’s debut feature is a riveting political
drama and love story. This Sundance Film Festival
Audience Award winner focuses on the fraught allegiances
and desires of a single family in Tehran. Atafeh, the
privileged daughter of an educated, well-to-do family and
her new friend, Shireen, share in an underground culture
of nightclubs and parties that are banned in Iran. As the
young women move about the city without male escorts
and remove their headscarves in public, they defy the
morality police—exhilarating but dangerous activities. Their
friendship deepens and they fall into a sweet, forbidden
love affair, further driving the wedge between their public
and private selves. When Atafeh’s brother, Mehran, returns
home, newly fundamentalist in his views, the home itself
becomes a dangerous web of surveillance and intrigue.
Mehran, with direct access to powerful conservative forces
in Tehran, uses his newfound prestige to rule over the
daily activities of his sister and parents. Thus, the family
becomes a microcosm of the political and social problems
of Iran overall, where neighbors insist on their own moral
superiority and pleasure takes place behind closed
doors. Keshavarz fashions a sexy, engaging narrative
that captures the paranoiac secrecy and repression that
accompanies authoritarian rule, while revealing that politics
truly do begin at home.
Maryam Keshavarz
In 2002, Maryam Keshavarz won a Steve Tisch fellowship
to pursue an MFA in film directing at New York University.
Keshavarz’s first feature was the documentary The Color of
Love, an intimate portrait of the changing landscape of love
and politics in Iran. Keshavarz next returned to Argentina, where
she had studied at the University of Buenos Aires, to direct the
visual essay The Day I Died, about an adolescent love triangle.
Kehsavarz participated in the 2007 Sundance Screenwriters and
Directors Lab, Tribeca All Access and FIND’s Producer’s Lab
while developing Circumstance, which also received a major
grant from the San Francisco Film Society and Kenneth Rainin
Foundation.
—Sean Uyehara
SUNMAY 1
TUEMAY 3
82
6:00
6:15
KABUKI
KABUKI
The Colors of the Mountain
Los colores de la montaña
88 min
DIR Carlos César Arbeláez
PROD Juan Pablo Tamayo
SCR Carlos César Arbeláez
CAM Oscar Jiménez
ED Felipe Aljure, Andrés Durán
MUS Camilo Montilla
WITH Hernán Mauricio Ocampo, Nolberto
Sánchez, Genaro Aristizábal, Natalia Cuellar,
Hernán Méndez
PRINT SOURCE Film Movement, 109 W. 27th
Street, Suite 9B, New York NY 10001. FAX:
212-941-7812. EMAIL: rebeca@filmmovement.
com.
provided by Visionary Circle member Fred
Phillips.
An endearing, motley crew of young boys in the mountains
of Colombia lives only for one passion: soccer. Their
field of dreams is not quite level and has no markings,
but means everything to them. Manuel gets a new
soccer ball for his ninth birthday and is so excited that
he sleeps with the ball in his arms at night. But early into
this warmhearted story of innocent youth creep signs
of uneasiness. Their schoolteacher disappears. Guerrilla
slogans appear on the walls of the schoolhouse. Then
the right-wing paramilitary militias pass through town.
Ominous rumors spread that some boys in a neighboring
village have been killed for sympathizing with the guerrillas.
Even this dreadful news cannot dim the passion the boys
have for fútbol. One day, their ball rolls from the soccer
pitch into a field planted with land mines, and they are
forbidden to retrieve it. The paramilitaries tighten their
noose on the village, sending the adults into a downward
spiral of helplessness and fear. Still, nothing can darken
the boys’ dreams. As the village becomes the center of
a tug-of-war between the paramilitary groups and the
guerrillas, the idea of a rescue attempt for their precious
ball is too tempting to resist. With a simple filmic language
reminiscent of contemporary Iranian cinema, first-time
director Carlos César Arbeláez tells a suspenseful political
tale about people who are as apolitical as can be.
new directors
Colombia/Panama
2010
Carlos César Arbeláez
Carlos César Arbeláez studied at the International School of
Cinema at San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba and at the National
School of Cinematic Experimentation and Production in
Argentina. He has directed more than a dozen documentaries for
Colombian television. The Colors of the Mountain is his feature
film debut, and won the Best New Director prize at the San
Sebastian International Film Festival in 2010. His new project is
titled Eso que llaman amor.
—Miguel Pendás
SATAPR 23
SUNAPR 24
1:00
6:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
83
The Dish & the Spoon
new directors
USA
2011
92 min
DIR Alison Bagnall
PROD Alison Bagnall, Peter Gilbert,
Amy Seimetz
SCR Alison Bagnall, Andrew Lewis
CAM Mark Schwartzbard
ED Darrin Navarro
MUS Anthony La Marca
WITH Greta Gerwig, Olly Alexander,
Eléonore Hendricks, Amy Seimetz
PRINT SOURCE Humble Pictures LLC, 32
Westview Street, Philadelphia PA 19119.
Emotionally unhinged after leaving her cheating husband,
Rose runs off to drink away her sorrow in an abandoned
lighthouse, where she stumbles on a similarly jilted and
listless English boy. The two wounded souls fall in with
each other, taking shelter in a deserted beach house.
There they revert to childlike states in an effort to escape
their adult anguish. The two shirk responsibilities in favor
of binge-drinking, aimless wandering and playacting while
conspiring to find and take revenge upon the woman
who slept with Rose’s husband. In the process, they play
a game in which they act out the roles of a happy couple.
But the game may mean different things to Rose and her
new friend. Under the moody gray skies of off-season
coastal Delaware, indie star Greta Gerwig (Greenberg)
delivers a fearlessly unrestrained performance, with an
endearing vulnerability that matches her paroxysms of
grief. In contrast, newcomer Olly Alexander—looking like
a Don’t Look Back–era Bob Dylan—bears his character’s
suffering more quietly, hinting at his torment through ironic
distance. Together, the unlikely pair creates a stirring
portrayal of young adults still learning to cope with the
heartbreak that stems from being betrayed by the ones
you love the most. Alison Bagnall, who most recently acted
in two films by Joe Swanberg, employs a similarly low-key
directing style while taking an emotionally direct approach
that’s all her own. The Dish & the Spoon is a quirky
and potent story of the unavoidable perils of emotional
dependency.
Alison Bagnall
Alison Bagnall graduated from the American Film Institute
before making several acclaimed short films and cowriting
Buffalo ’66 (SFIFF 1998) with Vincent Gallo. She made her
first feature, Piggie, in 2003, before acting in Nights and
Weekends (2008) and Alexander the Last (2009). The Dish
& the Spoon is her second feature.
—Jesse Dubus
THUAPR 28
FRIAPR 29
SUNMAY 1
84
8:45PFA
6:30 KABUKI
3:30 KABUKI
End of Animal
Jimseung ui kkut
South Korea
2010
114 min
DIR Jo Sung-hee
PROD Heo Eun-kyong
SCR Jo Sung-hee
CAM Baek Moon-su
ED Jo Sung-hee
WITH Lee Min-ji, Park Hae-il, Yoo Sung-mok,
Park Sae-jong, Kim Yeong-ho
PRINT SOURCE CJ Entertainment, 17th Floor,
CJ E&M Center, 1606 Sangam-dong, Mayo-gu,
121-270 Seoul, South Korea. FAX: 82-2-3716340. EMAIL: [email protected].
Pregnant teenager Soon-young, leaving Seoul in the
backseat of a taxi to give birth at her mother’s house, looks
up to find the driver welcoming another passenger. The
arrogant young man, without even turning to look at her,
acts strangely and disconcertingly, revealing private details
from the lives of both the driver and Soon-young. Even
more disturbingly, he starts counting down to the precise
moment when, he says, “the angels will descend”—a
countdown that terminates in a blinding white flash. Soonyoung regains consciousness in a motionless car with a
dead cell phone and, against everybody’s advice, begins
to wander through a mysterious new world. “Trouble starts
the moment you leave the front door,” our heroine is
warned, but she can’t help trying to make sense of what’s
happened to the life she thought she knew. Behind her
lie broken dreams represented by cigarette lighters and
Louis Vuitton bags (gifts from the boyfriend who jilted her),
while the path ahead she negotiates with dubious guides
that include other lost wanderers like herself. Cinematic
clues that you’re in one genre will steer you wrong time
and again, as this gripping and deeply unsettling debut by
newcomer Jo Sung-hee unwinds its small, personal tale of
apocalypse with menace and dark humor.
new directors
US Premiere
Jo Sung -hee
Born in 1979, Jo Sung-hee wrote and directed the horror short
Don’t Step Out of the House! for the compilation film Nice
Shorts (2009). It won awards at Cannes, Dubai and Jeonju. A
graduate grant from the Korean Academy of Film Arts financed
End of Animal, which is his first feature.
—Frako Loden
THUAPR 28
SATAPR 30
TUEMAY 3
9:15
9:00
4:15
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
KABUKI
85
The Future
new directors
Germany/USA
2011
91 min
DIR Miranda July
PROD Gina Kwon, Roman Paul, Gerhard Meixner
SCR Miranda July
CAM Nikolai von Graevenitz
ED Andrew Bird
MUS Jon Brion
WITH Hamish Linklater, Miranda July, David
Warshofsky, Isabella Acres, Joe Putterlik
PRINT SOURCE Roadside Attractions, 7920
Sunset Boulevard, Suite 402, Los Angeles CA
90046. FAX: 323-882-8493. EMAIL: eddied@
roadsideattractions.com.
Miranda July’s (Me and You and Everyone We Know,
SFIFF 2005) highly anticipated, darkly humorous second
feature burrows its way into the lives of a couple (July
and Hamish Linklater) contemplating cat adoption. As the
rudderless protagonists face the impending responsibility
of pet ownership, they see it as a deadline for living their
lives fully. Their new outlook exposes foreign desires and
unforeseen opportunities as they each face a pair of basic,
ultimately terrifying questions: What do you want your
life to be? And how does one get there? Using a number
of disparate elements—voiceover narration by a cat, an
ambulatory shirt, varying degrees of dance instruction,
gold chains, ecology, time travel and poetry—the film’s
myriad approaches belie a singular concern with our
relationship to time. July investigates the metaphysics
of decisionmaking and what it means to be stuck. In this
world, making decisions too lightly or too gravely can have
dire consequences not only for our loved ones but also for
cats awaiting adoption. The Future confirms her status as
a master—in film, performance and writing—of the revealing
detail, ever capable of making audiences surprised by their
everyday worlds. With great originality in narrative form
and visual design, The Future unfolds in unexpected and
satisfying ways.
Miranda July
Miranda July is a filmmaker, artist and writer. Her videos,
performances and web-based projects have been presented
at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and
in two Whitney Biennials. July wrote, directed and starred in
her first feature film, Me and You and Everyone We Know
(SFIFF 2005), which won four prizes at the Cannes Film
Festival including the Camera d’Or. Her collection of stories,
No One Belongs Here More Than You (2007), won the
Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. Her interactive
sculpture garden, Eleven Heavy Things, was on view in New
York’s Union Square in 2010. Raised in Berkeley, California, July
lives in Los Angeles.
—Sean Uyehara
SATAPR 23
SUNAPR 24
86
6:15
9:15
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
The High Life
Xun huan zuo le
China
2010
96 min
DIR Zhao Dayong
PROD David Bandurski, Zhao Dayong
SCR Zhao Dayong, Li Qing
CAM Xue Gang
ED Zhao Dayong, Wei Chunyi
MUS Wei Chunyi
WITH Qiu Hong, Liu Yanfei, Shen Shaoqiu,
Su Qingyi, Diao Lei
PRINT SOURCE Lantern Films China Co. Ltd.,
Lun Fung Court 11A, 363 Des Voeux Road W.,
Hong Kong. EMAIL: dbandurski@lanternfilms.
com.hk.
In Mandarin and Cantonese with subtitles.
With the independent documentaries Street Life
(2006) and Ghost Town (2008), Zhao Dayong
established himself as a sharp-eyed chronicler of cultural
displacement, of people cast adrift or left behind by
China’s urbanization. Zhao’s first fiction feature, The High
Life, is set in similar thematic territory: the shabby outskirts
of ever-expanding Guangzhou, where everyone seems
to be either coming or going but nobody seems to be
getting anywhere. The film focuses at first on small-time
hustler Jian Ming, who uses a sidewalk “employment
agency” to relieve migrant job seekers of their savings.
Jian Ming forms an unexpected, fragile bond with Xiao
Ya, a young woman recently arrived from the provinces,
and we might expect the movie to follow their developing
story. Instead, it abandons them entirely, using a failed
pyramid scheme (“Urban Hunters of Success!”) as an
excuse to move the plot into a local prison where a guard
forces inmates to recite his incendiary verse. (The guard,
played by Shen Shaoqiu, is a real-life policeman and
underground “trash poet.”) In shifting from street realism
to the surreal environment of the jail, The High Life
reveals an allegorical impulse, highlighting the falsity of
distinctions between control and powerlessness, freedom
and entrapment, reality and art. Asked about the film’s
unconventional, pointedly unresolved narrative structure,
Zhao said, “Life is just like this, absurd, disordered and
without reason.” The High Life won the FIPRESCI Prize
and the Silver Digital Award at the 2010 Hong Kong Film
Festival.
new directors
US Premiere
Zhao Dayong
Trained as a painter, Zhao Dayong worked in advertising
and design before turning to digital filmmaking. He has won
international recognition for his documentaries Street Life
(2006), a portrait of scavengers living along Shanghai’s
Nanjing Road, and Ghost Town (2008), about a village largely
abandoned in China’s rush toward urban prosperity. His newest
work, My Father’s House (2011), is a study of the African
immigrant community in Guangzhou.
—Juliet Clark
SATAPR 23
SATAPR 30
MONMAY 2
8:40PFA
3:30 NEW PEOPLE
8:45 NEW PEOPLE
87
Jean Gentil
new directors
Dominican Republic/Mexico/Germany
2010
84 min
DIR Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas
PROD Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas,
Pablo Cruz, Bärbel Mauch
SCR Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas
CAM Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas
ED Israel Cárdenas
WITH Jean Remy Genty, Yanmarco King
Encarncíon, Nadal Walcott, Paul Henri Presumé,
Lys Ambroise
PRINT SOURCE Aurora Dominicana, Respaldo
Flérida de Nolasco 29B, Arroyo Hondo, 10510
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. EMAIL:
[email protected]. WEB: jeangentil.com.
In Spanish and Haitian Creole with subtitles.
Jean Remy is worse off than his composed, mildmannered looks suggest. An educated Haitian man
who used to teach French, Jean struggles to find
decent employment in the Dominican Republic. A
devout Christian, Jean’s biggest virtue is his remarkably
genteel and dignified attitude in the face of rejection and
discrimination. But everyone has their breaking point,
and before the harsh unforgiving urban bustle of Santo
Domingo devours his faith, Jean leaves for the beautifully
lush climate of the country, only to be continually tested
and fall into a deeper solitude. Imbued with a naturalistic
grace, this quietly desperate and deeply sympathetic
portrait speaks volumes about the trials of humanity.
Strikingly honest and poignant scenes transform the
thin and frail Jean into a saint of sorts, an apostle whose
despair lingers on the brink of consuming him. Shot
on location in Santo Domingo and the surrounding
countryside, the filmmakers apply their naturalistic style
and intuitive eye to the island in its devastated state
following the January 2010 earthquake. The duo who
made their 2007 debut with Cochochi (SFIFF 2008) once
again display confident skill in directing a nonprofessional
cast. Despite the dire predicament of the struggling
immigrant narrative, the film eschews a condemnatory or
melodramatic approach, instead respectfully and wisely
focusing on the innate qualities of its subject. You’ll find
yourself frustrated and saddened by Jean’s plight, but his
steadfast dignity ultimately inspires.
Laura Amelia Guzmán
Israel Cárdenas
Dominican Laura Amelia Guzmán and Mexican Israel Cárdenas
made a splash in 2007 with their debut hybrid documentary
narrative Cochochi (SFIFF 2008), for which they share script,
photography, production and direction credits. Cochochi won
the Discovery Award at the Toronto Film Festival and went on to
screen in several major international festivals. Based in Mexico,
the young filmmaking duo jointly run their company, Aurora
Dominicana.
—Christine Davila
FRIAPR 22
SUNAPR 24
TUEAPR 26
88
8:40PFA
1:00 KABUKI
6:00 KABUKI
Musan il-gy
127 min
DIR Park Jung-bum
PROD Park Jung-bum
SCR Park Jung-bum
CAM Kim Jong-sun
ED Jo Hyun-joo
WITH Park Jung-bum, Jin Yong-uk,
Kang Eun-jin, Park Young-deok
PRINT SOURCE Finecut, 4th Floor, Incline
Building, 891-37 Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu,
135-280 Seoul, South Korea. EMAIL: yura@
finecut.co.kr.
Jeong Seung-chul lives at the edge of a demolition pit in
the sprawling outskirts of Seoul. Recently emerged from
a resettlement program, the number “125” on his identity
card brands him to employers and the authorities as a
North Korean refugee—unwanted in South Korea. Winter,
grim and gray, covers Seoul, and the only work he finds
is poster-pasting for a sleazy promoter—a dangerous
living beset by gangs and turf violence. Seung-chul’s bowl
haircut and defensive posture stand in sharp contrast
to his roommate, the cocksure Kyung-chul, whose easy
adjustment to capitalism embraces Nikes, speeches for
cash and money-transfer deals at steep commissions.
“Through Seung-chul I wanted to show what a person
needs to do to survive in this society,” says director
Park Jung-bum, who plays the lead in his debut feature.
Powerful visuals of gritty streets, yawning urban chasms
and neon shopping malls underscore Seung-chul’s
marginalization and his precarious struggle to survive
with decency intact. A starkly rendered moment in which
he protects a stray white puppy mirrors his own sincerity
and bewilderment when attacked. Seung-chul finds
comfort in a local church and is drawn to a pretty choir
member, Sook-young. They work together in her family’s
karaoke bar, his incapacity for cynicism ignites trouble with
customers and with Sook-young. Park’s ethical protagonist
leads us to reflect on the complex world of modern Korea
and pushes us to examine our own modern lives.
new directors
South Korea
2010
Park Jung -bum
Park Jung-bum served as assistant director to Lee Chang-dong
on Poetry (2010). His distinguished short films have long been
welcomed on the international festival circuit. His short 125 Jeon
Seung-chul (2008) was based on the life of a North Korean
friend and laid the foundation for The Journals of Musan, his
debut feature. With Journals, Park received the New Currents
Award and the FIPRESCI Award at the Pusan International Film
Festival, the Golden Star at the Marrakech Film Festival and the
Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
—Kathleen Denny
FRIAPR 29
SUNMAY 1
MONMAY 2
9:15
8:30
1:00
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
KABUKI
89
The Joy
A alegria
new directors
Brazil
2010
106 min
DIR Marina Meliande, Felipe Bragança
PROD Felipe Bragança, Marina Meliande,
Lara Frigotto
SCR Felipe Bragança
CAM Andrea Capella
ED Marina Meliande
MUS Lucas Marcier
WITH Tainá Medina, Flora Dias, Rikle Miranda,
Junior Moura
PRINT SOURCE Duas Mariola, Rua Pinheiro
Machado 57/403-B, 22231-090 Rio De
Janeiro, Brazil. EMAIL: felipe_braganca@yahoo.
com.br. WEB: aalegriafilm.com.
The harsh realities of life in Rio de Janeiro can’t extinguish
the fire in the heart of 16-year-old Luiza, a young student
with a fondness for inventing fairy tales and games of
fantasy with her friends. After her cousin João is shot in
an attack by military police, his ghost appears in Luiza’s
apartment seeking sanctuary. There he is embraced
and celebrated by Luiza and her cohorts, then mourned
when he leaves. “I have decided I am going to be brave
and joyful,” Luiza announces to a world readying itself
for the apocalypse. Her imagination and spirit carry her
beyond the confines of the unhappy world created by
adults. The teens, while not shying away from the hard
demands of life in Rio, also create their own reality and
find their own way through the turmoil. Directors Felipe
Bragança and Marina Meliande carefully selected a cast of
nonprofessionals after a year of auditions in Rio. Searching
for teen superheroes, they happened upon 15-year-old
Tainá Medina, who as Luiza embodies joyful enthusiasm,
playfulness and a wellspring of determined strength. The
Joy is the directors’ second film in a trilogy on modern
youth, focusing on the courage and indomitable spirit of
today’s young people. As they courageously venture forth
into an uncertain future amid a large and dangerous city,
the teen protagonists demonstrate the transformative
power of magical realism and show that whatever may
happen in the external world, reality is the story we tell
ourselves.
Marina Meliande
Felipe Bragança
Young Brazilian directors Felipe Bragança and Marina Meliande
have collaborated since their time in film school, codirecting
two award-winning shorts before embarking in 2008 on the
trilogy Hearts on Fire about modern youth. The trilogy includes
The Escape of the Monkey Woman (2009), an experimental
digital no-budget musical, The Joy (2010) and Neverquiet, a
collective film by ten Brazilian filmmakers that is currently in
postproduction.
—Gustavus Kundahl
SUNMAY 1
TUEMAY 3
WEDMAY 4
90
9:15
1:15
6:00
KABUKI
KABUKI
KABUKI
Kinyarwanda
100 min
DIR Alrick Brown
PROD Tommy Oliver, Darren Dean, Alrick Brown
SCR Alrick Brown
CAM Danny Vecchione
ED Tovah Leibowitz
MUS John Jennings Boyd
WITH Cassandra Freeman, Cleophas Kabasita,
Edouard Bamporiki
PRINT SOURCE Traction Media, 9665 Wilshire
Boulevard, Suite 500, Beverly Hills CA 90212.
FAX: 310-385-0771. EMAIL: [email protected].
In English and Kinyarwanda with subtitles.
provided by Visionary Circle member
Rudi Dundas.
As spring turned to summer in 1994, a cross section
of Rwanda’s Hutu ethnic majority murdered nearly one
million minority Tutsis. Alrick Brown’s unconventional and
surprisingly uplifting debut feature takes its name from
the common language shared by both ethnic groups, and
tells the tale of the Rwandan genocide and subsequent
reconciliation process through a series of parallel and
overlapping narratives from a variety of Tutsi and Hutu
perspectives. Together, these stories—based on true
accounts—form a resonant portrait of human resilience
during those horrible days. The spiritual leader of Muslims
in Rwanda issued a fatwa forbidding violence and opened
the gates of the Grand Mosque of Kigali to all comers,
be they Tutsi, Hutu, Christian or Muslim. This heretofore
little-known act of courage and compassion anchors
Brown’s compelling narrative, which follows a variety of
ordinary Rwandans during the rampage as they make
their way toward the safety of the mosque. Brown’s deeply
felt portraits of a soldier, a small child, a pair of teenage
sweethearts, a Tutsi/Hutu couple, a priest and an imam
give Kinyarwanda an element of emotional complexity
that other films on the Rwandan genocide have lacked.
Conceived and produced by Rwandans, it also tells the
story of the aftermath, when victims and perpetrators
traversed the thorny path of reconciliation in neighborhood
Gacaca courts to sit, discuss, mediate, confess and often
forgive. Kinyarwanda plumbs the depths of terror to offer
a testament to the human spirit’s capacity for love, healing
and transcendence.
new directors
USA/Rwanda
2011
Alrick Brown
Born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in New Jersey, Alrick
Brown served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ivory
Coast before earning his MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the
Arts and embarking on a filmmaking career devoted to, in his
words, “giving a voice to the voiceless and telling stories that
otherwise would not be told.” His work has screened in over 40
national and international film festivals, and received numerous
awards. Kinyarwanda, which garnered the World Cinema
Audience Award: Dramatic at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival,
marks Brown’s feature film directorial debut.
—Michael Read
SUNMAY 1
TUEMAY 3
THUMAY 5
12:30
9:00
6:00
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
KABUKI
91
Living on Love Alone
D’amour et d’eau fraîche
new directors
France
2010
89 min
DIR Isabelle Czajka
PROD Patrick Sobelman
SCR Isabelle Czajka
CAM Crystel Fournier
ED Isabelle Manquillet
MUS Éric Neveux
WITH Anaïs Demoustier, Pio Marmai,
Laurent Poitrenaux, Jean-Louis Coullo’ch
PRINT SOURCE BAC Films, 88 rue de la Folie
Méricourt, 75011 Paris, France. FAX: 33-15353-0670. EMAIL: [email protected].
The French title of Isabelle Czajka’s impressive second
feature, which translates literally as “living on love and
fresh water,” is a common French saying that evokes the
idea that love—and a little water—is all you need to survive.
The romantic idealism of that timeworn message gets a
satirical reassessment in this complexly woven story about
a 23-year-old French woman trying to make it on her own.
Julie is pretty, tough, independent and yet floundering in
the cold, hard business world of Paris. Her attempts to
keep a job fail. There is something reckless about Julie,
and something sad about the way she seems to give
up believing in anything. The love story that eventually
develops is part of that recklessness, but it’s not hard
to understand why Julie would follow a charming young
man of dubious employment to the South of France. It
is the land of Pierrot le Fou after all, and the gloomy
predicament of a lonely, disaffected young woman
suddenly transforms into the exciting misadventures of
a girl, a guy and a gun. Anaïs Demoustier, who starred in
Czajka’s debut feature L’année suivante, is extraordinary
as Julie. She conveys a complicated mixture of vulnerability
and hardened cynicism, passivity and aggressiveness,
which makes the film all the more intriguing in its
exploration of love and power. Is Living on Love Alone
a cautionary tale or a tragic love story? Its ambiguous
ending only begs the question further—and will leave you
overwhelmed.
Isabelle Czajka
Born in Paris, France in 1962, Isabelle Czajka began her career
in film as a director of photography, eventually turning to writing
and directing her own films in 2002 with the short La cible. Her
first feature L’année suivante (2006) won the Golden Leopard
at the Locarno Film Festival. Living on Love Alone is her
second feature.
—Beverly Berning
SATAPR 23
WEDAPR 27
FRIAPR 29
92
9:30 KABUKI
6:45 NEW PEOPLE
9:00PFA
Microphone
2010
120 min
DIR Ahmad Abdalla
PROD Mohamed Hefzy
SCR Ahmad Abdalla
CAM Tarek Hefny
ED Hisham Saqr
WITH Khaled Abol Naga, Menna Shalabi, Yosra
El Lozy, Hany Adel, Ahmad Magdy, Atef Yousef
PRINT SOURCE Film Clinic, 141(a) Cornish El
Nile, El Maadi, 9th Floor, Cairo, Egypt. EMAIL:
[email protected]. WEB: microphone-film.
com.
Ahmad Abdalla’s thrilling second feature is a tribute to
Egyptian underground art, especially music, but also
graffiti, independent film and really any kind of creative
expression. It’s both a love and hate letter to Alexandria
and its thriving youth movement. The film follows a number
of local scenesters but focuses mainly on Khaled, an
engineer recently back in Alexandria after several years
in America. He’s finding the transition tough: His former
girlfriend has moved on, and his job can’t keep his interest.
He is a music fan, however, and his dream of putting on a
concert leads him to a world of DIY musicians, artists and
filmmakers. This crew provides the film’s backbone—and
soundtrack. Great music courses through from the opening
credits— mainly hip-hop but also metal, pop and other
genres. Meanwhile, there’s a constant tension between
the artists and the state. Each band vies for government
funding and a spot on a government-sponsored showcase,
but each is told their music is too obscene or too critical of
the state. It’s impossible not to watch all this in the context
of post-Mubarak Egypt, and while this film was made well
before recent events (and is very much an Alexandria
story), the elements of a young people’s revolution are all
here. They’re fed up, and frustration feeds their art. Abdalla
interweaves elements of cinema verité, and the film feels
like a potent slice of Alexandrian life in all its vibrancy and
frustration.
new directors
Egypt
Ahmad Abdalla
Ahmad Abdalla was born in Cairo in 1978, studied classical
music and the viola, and has been working in film since
1999. He’s edited several projects and directed his first
feature, Heliopolis, in 2009. Abdalla is currently starting a
new independent film company with other young Egyptian
filmmakers.
—Benjamin Friedland
FRIAPR 22
SUNAPR 24
WEDAPR 27
9:15
2:00
1:30
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
KABUKI
93
My Joy
Schastye moye
new directors
Germany/Ukraine/Netherlands
2010
127 min
DIR Sergei Loznitsa
PROD Heino Deckert, Oleg Kokhan
SCR Sergei Loznitsa
CAM Oleg Mutu
ED Danielius Kokanauskis
WITH Viktor Nemets, Vlad Ivanov, Maria Varsami,
Olga Shuvalova
PRINT SOURCE Kino Lorber Inc., 333 W. 39th
Street, Suite 503, New York NY 10018. FAX:
212-714-0871. EMAIL: [email protected].
In Russian with subtitles.
Can you judge a country by its roads? Russia perhaps,
with its botched byways, ominous turn-offs and implacable
thoroughfares—all patrolled by rogue cops terrorizing
the traffic. First-time Belarusian director Sergei Loznitsa
throws his taciturn truck driver, Georgy (Viktor Nemets),
onto the pitted asphalt for a journey into darkness. Not
your typical road movie, in which travelers find their true
selves as the vistas of possibility open before them,
Loznitsa’s Slavic sortie finds the road ahead narrowing
to nil. Georgy’s picaresque passage takes him into the
Russian countryside where he encounters peculiar folk:
an old man still plagued by the Great War, a teenage
prostitute who shuns kindness, a trio of tramps who
wander the wasteland like an unholy trinity; each becomes
a cul-de-sac of curiosity. Captured with dark authenticity,
My Joy’s episodes are drawn from Loznitsa’s story trove,
gathered from years of documentary work in the former
republics. His clear-eyed fascination with a land in disarray
is evident in his unvarnished style, rendered in grim
coloration by the great Romanian cinematographer Oleg
Mutu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks
and 2 Days). The allegorical journey of My Joy—from
indifferent city to the village, with its rustic suspicions,
and farther still to the wilds where order seems to end—
parallels the devolution of Georgy from fair-faced citizen
to bearded madman. Loznitsa’s gripping guignol about a
Russia in decline doesn’t keep to the well-trod path. After
all, “It’s not a road. It’s a direction.”
Sergei Loznitsa
Award-winning documentarian Sergei Loznitsa was born in
1964 in Baranovitchi, Belarus, though he grew up in Ukraine.
He began producing his sociopolitical nonfiction films at the
Documentary Films Studio in St. Petersburg before relocating
to Germany in 2001. Loznitsa has made three full-length
documentaries and eight shorter works, winning awards at
Oberhausen, Leipzig, Tel Aviv, Karlovy Vary, Krakow and other
international festivals. My Joy is his first dramatic feature.
—Steve Seid
SATAPR 30
TUEMAY 3
94
5:45
9:00
KABUKI
KABUKI
Nainsukh
India/Switzerland
2010
82 min
DIR Amit Dutta
PROD Eberhard Fischer
SCR Amit Dutta, Eberhard Fischer,
Ayswarya Sankaranarayanan
CAM Mrinal Desai
ED Amit Dutta, Eberhard Fischer
WITH Manish Soni, Nitin Goel, Srinivas Joshi
PRINT SOURCE Museum Rietberg, Gablerstrasse
15, 8002 Zurich, Switzerland.
In Hindi and Punjabi with subtitles.
This is a World Cinema Spotlight film.
Nainsukh (circa 1710–1778) came from a family of
painters that settled in Guler in the northern hills of India.
Growing up in an atmosphere of bold experimentation,
Nainsukh enthusiastically took to the fluent naturalism
of Mughal painting, notably setting his own artwork apart
from the idealized approach to portraiture adopted by other
Indian miniaturists of his time. Around 1740, he entered
the service of Raja Balwant Dev Singh of Jasrota and
was given rare entrée into the prince’s life, which included
horse riding in the countryside, enjoying performances by
court musicians, smoking a hookah, hunting and carnal
pleasures. During this period, through the coming together
of a sophisticated patron and a greatly gifted painter, a
compelling body of work emerged, rendered in a very
individual, delicate way and imbued with heart-warming
humanity. Amit Dutta painstakingly recreates Nainsukh’s
brilliant miniatures through sumptuous compositions
set amid the ruins of the Jasrota palace as well as the
splendid hilly surroundings. By harmoniously juxtaposing
the gorgeous visuals with outstanding sound design, the
filmmaker produces a unique work of art—a living painting
itself—that stands on its own. He breathes new life into the
old creations by accentuating their timelessness, reviving
the intimacy of the grand worlds of the past through the
time-defying medium of cinema.
new directors
Amit Dutta
Born in 1977, Amit Dutta graduated from the Film and Television
Institute of India and is now regarded as one of the most
promising and successful experimental filmmakers in his country.
He was introduced to European audiences after his short film
Kramasha won the FIPRESCI Award at the Oberhausen short
film festival in 2007. His first feature film, The Man’s Woman
and Other Stories, won the jury’s special mention prize
(Orizzonti) at the Venice Film Festival in 2009. Nainsukh is
Dutta’s second feature film.
—Galina Stoletneya
FRIAPR 22
SUNAPR 24
SUNMAY 1
9:15 NEW PEOPLE
2:30 KABUKI
7:00PFA
95
Notre étrangère
new directors
France/Burkina Faso
2010
82 min
DIR Sarah Bouyain
PROD Sophie Salbot
SCR Sarah Bouyain, Gaëlle Macé
CAM Nicolas Gaurin
ED Valérie Loiseleux, Pascale Chavance
MUS Sylvain Chauveau
WITH Dorylia Calmel, Assita Ouédraogo,
Nathalie Richard, Blandine Yaméogo,
Nadine Kambou Yéri
PRINT SOURCE Claude Nouchi, Colifilms
Diffusion, 17 rue de Cheroy, 75017 Paris,
France. FAX: 33-1-4294-1705. EMAIL: claude.
[email protected].
In French and Dioula with subtitles.
Exploring dilemmas of culture and race, Sarah Bouyain’s
debut feature tells dovetailing stories of African women
living in France. Amy is a young biracial woman whose
mother is from Burkina Faso. At the age of eight, she
was “reclaimed” by her father and went to live with him in
France. His death 20 or so years later prompts a desire
to visit her birthplace and reconnect with her other parent.
In a parallel story, a middle-aged white woman is learning
Dioula, a West African language spoken in Burkina Faso,
from a taciturn woman named Mariam. In carefully precise
scenes, Bouyain explores the displacement that both
Mariam and Amy face in a country that is familiar but not
quite home. In Burkina Faso, Amy tries to fit in by buying a
brightly patterned dress, but locals call her “white lady” and
she’s unable to converse with her aunt in order to discover
her mother’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, Mariam tries to
accustom herself to the bustle of Paris, where traditions
and personal relationships are different from what she is
used to. Through these two narratives, an affecting portrait
of the African diaspora emerges. Over the course of the
film, these two self-possessed women may not definitively
discover the place where they belong, but what they do
find is a significantly stronger sense of self.
Sarah Bouyain
Sarah Bouyain was born in France and studied film at Louis
Lumière College. In 1997, she codirected the film Niararaye
and in 2000 made Les enfants du blanc, a documentary about
her biracial grandmother. In 2003, she wrote Métisse façon, a
fictional work about biracial children in Burkina Faso. The Place
in Between is Bouyain’s first narrative feature.
—Rod Armstrong
FRIAPR 22
SUNMAY 1
THUMAY 5
96
2:00
3:45
8:45
KABUKI
KABUKI
KABUKI
Le Quattro Volte
2010
88 min
DIR Michelangelo Frammartino
PROD Susanne Marian, Philippe Bober,
Gabriella Manfré, Andres Pfaeffli
SCR Michelangelo Frammartino
CAM Andrea Locatelli
ED Benni Atria, Maurizio Grillo
WITH Giuseppe Fuda, Bruno Timpano,
Nazareno Timpano
Street, Suite 503, New York NY 10018.
FAX: 212-714-0871. EMAIL: contact@kino.
com. WEB: lequattrovolte.it.
provided by Karen and John Diefenbach.
To every thing there is a season in Michelangelo
Frammartino’s surprisingly humorous and moving
meditation on the revolving cycles of life in a quiet
medieval hilltop hamlet in Calabria, Italy. Amidst the
dulcet tones of church bells and chirping birds, we meet
all manner of peacefully coexisting inhabitants—twolegged, four-pawed and molluscan—as they go about their
quotidian routines and ages-old traditions both sacred
and secular, pausing on occasion to witness a scrappy
passion play, climb a giant fir tree or, in the case of a
scene-stealing dog, set in motion slapstick spills that
throw the fortress-walled burg into picturesque disarray.
Meanwhile, an elderly goat herder treats his persistent
cough with a hallowed dose of dust from the local church
floor, a goat kid is born (its struggle to stand upright
following the shock of birth will have viewers rooting for
success of the most elemental sort) and coalmen build
an Andy Goldsworthy–like structure of straw and clay
in which time and temperature turn wood into charcoal.
Small events accumulate and the titular quartet plays out
in patiently observed takes under drifting clouds. Souls
may transmogrify from human to animal to vegetable to
mineral in this quiet village, or perhaps life and death are
linked merely by happenstance. Frammartino’s disarmingly
lovely second feature treats the nature of metaphysics—
and vice versa—with a delicate, perhaps uniquely Italian,
touch, and his subtle couching of fictive elements within
authentic settings makes for a fresh blend of documentary
observation and narrative storytelling.
new directors
Italy/Germany/Switzerland
Michelangelo Frammartino
Born in Milan in 1968, Michelangelo Frammartino studied
architecture at the Politecnico di Milano and discovered a
fascination for the myriad ways in which physical spaces can be
rendered through still and moving images. Following a number
of short films and video installations, in 2003 Frammartino
wrote and directed his feature-length debut, Il Dono (The Gift).
Le Quattro Volte is his second feature. Both films have won
awards at international film festivals.
—Steven Jenkins
SATAPR 23
WEDAPR 27
6:45
6:15
KABUKI
KABUKI
97
The Salesman
Le vendeur
new directors
Canada
2011
107 min
DIR Sébastien Pilote
PROD Marc Daigle, Bernadette Payeur
SCR Sébastien Pilote
CAM Michel La Veaux
ED Michel Arcand
MUS Pierre Lapointe, Philippe Brault
WITH Gilbert Sicotte, Nathalie Cavezzal,
Jérémy Tessier
PRINT SOURCE Seville Pictures, 400 De
Maisonneuve Boulevard W., Suite 1120, H3A
1L4 Montreal, Canada. FAX: 514-841-8030.
In French with subtitles.
provided by Visionary Circle members Camilla
and George Smith.
At a small-town car dealership in Quebec, 67-year-old
Marcel Lévesque (Gilbert Sicotte) is top salesman for the
month of December, as he has been in so many months
over the preceding years. His daughter, Maryse (Nathalie
Cavezzali), a hairdresser and single mother, thinks it’s
time he consider retirement. But Marcel relishes the work
and his mastery of its small rituals and strategies, happily
recording his sales pitches to “learn where he went wrong”
and ordering 10,000 new business cards embossed
with totemic gold foil. He’s a widower, and other than his
devotion to Maryse and her hockey-playing son, Antoine
(Jeremy Tessier), Marcel is his job. Meanwhile, the local
paper mill has been closed for eight months and counting,
possibly for good, as the whole town holds its breath; not
the best circumstances for selling cars. In his remarkably
assured debut feature, writer/director Sébastien Pilote
and cinematographer Michel La Veaux build the film’s
emotional and visual language from a quiet, natural poetry
of quotidian detail: the resigned work of clearing fresh
snow, the tight dimensions of Marcel’s award-covered
office, the ritual ka-thunk of daily sodas from the shop’s
vending machine. It’s in this sense of circumscribed routine
that we feel the maximum weight of the events that
unfold beyond Marcel’s control, testing not only his sense
of identity but also life’s meaning at the deepest level.
Sicotte is riveting in a performance that feels nothing like
performance, and the film’s persuasive realism gives it the
relevance of a great documentary, as crafted by a master
storyteller.
Sébastien Pilote
Director/screenwriter Sébastien Pilote was born in 1973 and
grew up in Saint-Ambroise, Quebec before moving to Chicoutimi.
After earning a degree in art and film from the Université du
Québec à Chicoutimi, he worked as a programmer for the
Regard sur le Court Métrage short-film festival in Saguenay
and as a director of television news. In 2007, Pilote directed the
short, Dust Bowl Ha! Ha!, which was shown in competition at
international festivals and won several awards. The Salesman is
his first feature.
—Steve Mockus
SUNMAY 1
TUEMAY 3
THUMAY 5
98
6:15 KABUKI
8:50PFA
2:00 KABUKI
She Monkeys
Apflickorna
2011
84 min
DIR Lisa Aschan
PROD Helene Lindholm
SCR Lisa Aschan, Josefine Adolfsson
CAM Linda Wassberg
ED Kristofer Nordin
MUS Sami Sanpakkila
WITH Mathilda Paradeiser, Linda Molin,
Isabella Lindquist
PRINT SOURCE Swedish Film Institute, Box
27126 / Borgvaegen 1-5, SE-102 52,
Stockholm, Sweden. EMAIL: [email protected].
WEB: atmo.se/film-and-tv/shemonkeys.
provided by Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein, and
by the Consulate General of Sweden,
San Francisco.
Immersed in the world of competitive equestrian vaulting,
introverted Emma (Mathilda Paradeiser) and icily selfassured Cassandra (Linda Molin) find themselves drawn
to each other—first as friends, then as rivals—as they
train for a spot on the local team. Cassandra seems by
far the stronger-willed, and at her behest Emma engages
in increasingly reckless activities, until she discovers
her own strength and begins to push back. Locked in
a psychological battle for the upper hand, their uneasy
relationship circumnavigates the boundaries of teenage
sexuality, violence and control, culminating in a ruthless
act of primitive justice. Meanwhile, Emma’s preternaturally
mature kid sister tests out her own understanding of
sexual power and control as she attempts to seduce her
cousin and babysitter. The effects of isolation reverberate
through the unanchored actions of the three young
protagonists as they attempt to connect to anything,
or anyone, without giving too much of themselves
away in return. Set in a rural Swedish village filled with
more tumbleweeds than cars, with crisp, tightly wound
performances and subdued, naturalistic camera work, not a
single frame is wasted in this strikingly lean first feature by
Lisa Aschan, who developed She Monkeys through the
Rookie Film initiative of Sweden, which provides funding to
young directors working outside the mainstream.
new directors
Sweden
Lisa Aschan
Born in Ängelholm, Sweden in 1978, Lisa Aschan graduated
from the National Film School of Denmark in 2005. After gaining
notoriety in 2004 with her faux advertising campaign for rapistrepelling spiked tampons, she directed the short films In Transit
(2005) and Goodbye Bluebird (2007). Her first feature, She
Monkeys won the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the
Göteborg International Film Festival.
—Nicole Gluckstern
MONAPR 25
TUEAPR 26
7:15
8:45
KABUKI
KABUKI
99
Sound of Noise
new directors
Sweden/France/Denmark
2010
98 min
DIR Ola Simonsson, Johannes Stjärne Nilsson
PROD Jim Bermant, Guy Péchard,
Christophe Audeguis, Oliver Guerpillon
SCR Johannes Stjärne Nilsson, Ola Simonsson
CAM Charlotta Tengroth
ED Stefan Sundlöf, Andreas Johnsson Hay
MUS Fred Avril, Magnus Börjeson, Six Drummers
WITH Bengt Nilsson, Sanna Persson Halapi,
Magnus Börjeson
PRINT SOURCE Magnolia Pictures, 115 W. 27th
Street, 8th Floor, New York NY 10001.
provided by Katie and Todd Traina.
The sound-and-image anarchists behind Music for One
Apartment and Six Drummers, the 2001 cult short
film, successfully transfer to a larger arena in Sound
of Noise, a delightful comic cocktail mixing a modern
urban symphony, a police procedural and a love story.
The up-tempo feature debut of Swedish directors Ola
Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson boasts the most
complex and wacky musical numbers since Marc Caro
and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Delicatessen, hitting notes
alternately silly, raucous and rhapsodic. The narrative
revolves around police officer Amadeus Warnebring
(an engaging Bengt Nilsson), tone-deaf scion of a
distinguished musical family, and his attempts to track
down a group of six guerrilla percussionists whose public
performances are terrorizing the city. The drumming
set pieces correspond to an avant-garde score in four
movements: “Doctor, Doctor, Gimme Gas (In My Ass),”
“Money 4 U, Honey,” “Fuck the Music Kill! Kill!” and
“Electric Love.” Where the short film had the six drummers
imaginatively using standard apartment furnishings as
their instruments, the feature unleashes them on an
unspecified city’s civic and cultural institutions. “Doctor,
Doctor” plays out in a hospital operating room, literally
removing the sound from a windbag patient; staged
like a robbery, “Money” makes beautiful music from a
bank’s paraphernalia; the classical music establishment
comes under attack from heavy machinery in “Music;”
and daredevil “Love” unfurls in midair on the city’s electric
lines. There is even an amusing backstory for each of the
soberly dressed drummers and investigator Warnebring,
their music-hating nemesis.
Ola Simonsson
Johannes Stjärne Nilsson
Johannes Stjärne Nilsson (a graphic designer and cartoonist)
and Ola Simonsson (a musician and composer) were both born
in 1969 in Lund, Sweden and have been friends since they
were seven years old. Together they have directed a number
of shorts and documentaries including Nowhere Man (1996),
Sweden (2000), Hotel Rienne (2002), You Were There with
Your Friend Frank (2004), Way of the Flounder (2005) and
Woman and Gramophone (2006). Music for One Apartment
and Six Drummers (2001) received over 30 international
awards. Sound of Noise is their first feature.
—Alissa Simon
THUAPR 28
FRIAPR 29
100
3:45
9:00
KABUKI
KABUKI
Tilva Rosh
Tilva ros
2010
102 min
DIR Nikola Lezaic
PROD Mina Djukic, Nikola Lezaic, Uros Tomic
SCR Nikola Lezaic
CAM Milos Jacimovic
ED Nikola Lezaic
WITH Marko Todorovic, Stefan Djordjevic,
Dunja Kovacevic, Marko Milenkovic
PRINT SOURCE Visit Films, 89 Fifth Avenue,
Suite 806, New York NY 10003. FAX: 718362-4865. EMAIL: [email protected].
WEB: kiselodete.com.
Bor, in eastern Serbia, was once home to the largest
copper mine in Europe. Now it’s just the biggest hole. Jobs
are hard to find and the local populace feels overlooked.
Full of unarticulated energy, best friends Toda and
Stefan spend their first summer after graduating from
high school skateboarding in the abandoned mine and
making Jackass-like videos. Stefan is headed to Belgrade
University in the fall, while Toda disdainfully claims he
wouldn’t apply for higher education even if he had the
money. When Dunja, a friend who has returned from
France for her summer holiday, arrives on the scene, the
boys launch a quiet battle for her attention and affection.
Caught up in a strange relationship of dying friendship
and rivalry, they try to get ahead of each other. In the
meantime, union protests in town gain momentum and
the boys find themselves thrust back together under a
common cause. First-time feature director Nikola Lezaic
says Tilva Rosh “is about waking the consciousness
you don’t want to wake, finding out about injustices you
don’t care about, assuming social roles when you don’t
want to participate and about helpless struggle to save
that carefree teenage world from any changes.” The
international jury of the Sarajevo Film Festival, where Tilva
Rosh had its world premiere in 2010, handed this astutely
observed coming-of-age film the first of many international
awards, including Best Film.
new directors
Serbia
Nikola Lezaic
Nikola Lezaic was born in 1981 in Bor, Serbia, where he finished
high school before going on to study film directing at the
Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. He was a cofounder of the
comedy group SMOG and a cofounder of one of the first literary
movements of the 21st century, Metasynchrism. Tilva Rosh, his
feature debut, earned the Best Film and Best Actor awards at
the Sarajevo Film Festival.
—Alissa Simon
THUAPR 28
FRIAPR 29
MONMAY 2
9:00
9:15
3:15
KABUKI
KABUKI
KABUKI
101
Ulysses
Ulíses
new directors
World Premiere
Chile/Argentina
2011
85 min
DIR Oscar Godoy
PROD Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín,
Hernán Musaluppi
SCR Oscar Godoy, Daniel Laguna
CAM Inti Briones
ED Sebastián Sepúlveda, Nicolás Goldbart
MUS Roberto Espinoza
WITH Jorge Román, Francisca Gavilán
PRINT SOURCE Fabula, Holanda 3017, Ñuñoa,
7770057 Santiago, Región Metropolitana Anexo
111, Chile. FAX: 56-2-344-0908.
Julio is a Peruvian immigrant in Santiago, Chile, a former
history teacher now reduced to working at a series
of menial jobs well below his capacities. His Peruvian
background, instantly recognized if not necessarily looked
down on, makes him an oddity, someone unable to hide or
completely blend in. His innate intelligence and ambition
allow him to gradually advance; he is always trying to get a
better job, obtain legal residency status, send more money
back home. He begins quietly confident, taking satisfaction
in his accomplishments. A ray of hope comes into his life
when a young woman in a music store takes a liking to
him. But as time goes on, it begins to dawn on him that the
difficulties he faces are not as easily resolved as finding
a better job, a place to live or a girlfriend. These matters
are difficulties of the heart, for the life of an immigrant is
one of overwhelming loneliness. Julio’s only lifeline is the
occasional call to his mother from a public phone booth.
Just as Homer’s Ulysses lived for one thing—to get back
home to his beloved Penelope—Julio lives to help his
mother back home in Peru. In this nuanced psychological
study, director Oscar Godoy examines the life of an
immigrant worker with as much of a sense of importance
as if he were the subject of timeless myth. In a modern
world constantly being reshaped by immigration and evergrowing economic dislocation, this is a story for our times.
Oscar Godoy
Oscar Godoy worked as assistant director on Pablo Trapero’s
Born and Bred (SFIFF 2007). He wrote the screenplay for
the feature film That Bolero Is Mine, winner of a Corfo award
in Chile. He has directed the documentaries Marichi Alpha,
in Venezuela, and The Years of No-Do, a TV series in Spain.
Ulysses is his first feature, a coproduction between film
companies Fabula (Chile) and Rizoma (Argentina).
—Miguel Pendás
TUEAPR 26
MONMAY 2
WEDMAY 4
102
4:00 KABUKI
6:45 KABUKI
6:30PFA
A Useful Life
La vida útil
2010
67 min
DIR Federico Veiroj
PROD Federico Veiroj
SCR Inés Bortagaray, Arauco Hernández,
Gonzalo Delgado, Federico Veiroj
CAM Arauco Hernández
ED Arauco Hernández, Federico Veiroj
MUS Leo Masliah and Macunaíma,
Eduardo Fabini
WITH Jorge Jellinek, Manuel Martínez Carril,
Paola Venditto
PRINT SOURCE Global Film Initiative, 145 Ninth
Street, #105, San Francisco CA 94103. FAX:
415-934-9501. EMAIL: santhosh@globalfilm.
org.
This gentle black-and-white ode to a life lived among the
reels was one of the discoveries of the 2010 Toronto
International Film Festival. Forty-five and saddled with a
fashion sense as outdated as the videotapes he hides
his keys in, Jorge (played by Uruguayan film critic Jorge
Jellinek) has worked his entire adult life at Montevideo’s
Cinemateca Uruguaya. His routine has remained the same
for years: projecting films, greeting the same six or seven
audience members in line for every show, chatting with
colleagues over possible series (“You take the Fridrick
Thor Fridricksson”) and deciding what to repair next (the
projectors or the seats?). But his days devoted to cinema,
and those of his boss (played by the former head of the
Cinemateca, Manuel Martínez Carril), might be coming
to a sudden and life-changing end with the threatened
closure of the economically unviable institution. A deadpan
comedy of cinema and obsolescence, A Useful Life
frames Jorge (and the archive) within a succession of
outmoded technologies: faxes, telegrams, videotapes,
reel-to-reel recorders and pay phones. At the same time, a
flirtation with a female patron suggests a course of action.
For a life spent working in film may end, but a life spent
living with cinema? Not only useful but filled with hope,
romance and dreams.
new directors
Uruguay
Federico Veiroj
No stranger to the world of film archives, Federico Veiroj, born
in Montevideo in 1976, previously worked at the Cinemateca
Uruguaya and the Spanish Film Library. His first feature, Acne
(2008), premiered at Cannes Director’s Fortnight and in 2009
was nominated for a Goya Award as the Best Hispano-American
Film.
Protoparticles
“The experiment was almost a success,” notes the
spacesuit-clad narrator of this creative Spanish science
fiction short, which won a special mention at Sundance.
Back from the future, this mystery man putters about,
watering flowers and doing other tasks for his neighbors,
unable to share “the biggest secret in the universe.”
(Chema García Ibarra, Spain, 7 min)
—Jason Sanders
SUNAPR 24 NOON NEW PEOPLE
MONAPR 25
7:00PFA
SATAPR 30
3:45 KABUKI
103
The Whistleblower
new directors
Canada/Germany
2010
118 min
DIR Larysa Kondracki
PROD Christina Piovesan, Celine Rattray
SCR Eilis Kirwan, Larysa Kondracki
CAM Kieran McGuigan
ED Julian Clarke
MUS Mychael Danna
WITH Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave, David
Strathairn, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Monica Bellucci
PRINT SOURCE IDP (a Samuel Goldwyn Films &
ATO Pictures Company), 1133 Broadway, Suite
In English, Ukrainian, Russian and Bosnian with
subtitles.
The brutal world of sex trafficking may seem an unlikely
basis for a well-oiled international thriller, yet first-time
director Larysa Kondracki, with the help of a stellar
cast led by Academy Award–winner Rachel Weisz (The
Constant Gardener), has accomplished just that, using
the slick format of a police procedural to treat a dire
social issue. Kathryn Bolkovac is a single mom in the
mid-1990s seeking a transfer from her police department
in Nebraska to be closer to her children, who are moving
away with their father. Unable to secure anything nearby,
she decides to accept a well-paid six-month posting in
Sarajevo with a private peacekeeping contractor. Despite
her unlikely background for such a position, she takes to
the job immediately, quickly learning to maneuver around
the organization’s boy’s club atmosphere and the cultural
complexities of overseeing a corrupt local police force
rife with sexism and still-simmering ethnic feuds. But she
soon finds herself embroiled in a far-reaching United
Nations cover-up of a sex-trafficking scandal. Undeterred
by attempts from higher-ups to thwart her investigation,
and faced with threats on her life, she fights to uncover
the truth. Weisz’s portrayal of the real-life Bolkovac
deftly balances her steely determination with sensitivity
and vulnerability. Her equally impressive supporting
cast includes Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci and
David Strathairn, while director Kondracki tempers the
unflinching treatment of her harrowing subject with a
propulsive forward momentum. The Whistleblower is a
stirring tale of courage in the face of the most depraved
corruption.
Larysa Kondracki
Born in Toronto of Ukrainian descent, Larysa Kondracki studied
English and theater at McGill University before receiving her
MFA from Columbia University’s film directing program. She
spent two years in Europe researching sex trafficking and writing
the screenplay for The Whistleblower, her debut feature film.
—Jesse Dubus
TUEAPR 26
THUAPR 28
104
9:15
9:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
Year Without a Summer
Berkelana
Malaysia
2010
87 min
DIR Tan Chui Mui
PROD Liew Seng Tat
SCR Tan Chui Mui
CAM Teoh Gay Hian
ED Tan Chui Mui
MUS Azmyl Yunor
WITH Nam Ron, Azman Hassan,
Mislina Mustaffa
PRINT SOURCE Da Huang Pictures, 4, Lrg.
SS1/20A, Kg. Tunku, 47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia. FAX: 603-78778014.
WEB: summer.dahuangpictures.com.
Director Tan Chui Mui returned to her birthplace, a quiet
and remote Malaysian fishing village, to film Year Without
a Summer, a story of boyhood friends who reunite after
a long separation. Steeped in the rhythms of the sea, their
story develops slowly and mysteriously, in a meditative
tone that illuminates the poetry and emotion of their
lives. Beginning with the arrival of Azam, now an adult
on the tail end of a successful singing career in Kuala
Lumpur, the film weaves together flashbacks to reveal the
circumstances of their relationship, as Ali and his wife take
Azam on a nighttime boat trip to an uninhabited island.
Immersed in the hypnotic natural beauty of his formative
years, Azam lets his melancholy slowly rise to the surface.
From where comes the great sense of despair and longing
that haunts him? A wonderful fisherman’s myth about
why crabs sift through sand one grain at a time provides
an allegorical clue. A humorous story about a reversed
mermaid—head of a fish and legs of a woman—plays a role.
An absent mother and father, a taciturn grandfather, an
inherited natural restlessness—all could have contributed.
But these memories arise and vanish like ripples, and
though they leave emotional traces, no real cause can be
found. The true origin and meaning of Azam’s sorrow are
as enigmatic as the ocean tides, and like the fisherman in
his myth, he longs to return to the deep heartbeat of the
beautiful and mysterious sea.
new directors
Tan Chui Mui
Born of Taiwanese descent in a small fishing village in
Kuantan, Malaysia in 1978, director Tan Chui Mui created
many prize-winning short films before making her first feature
Love Conquers All (2006), which also won several awards at
international film festivals. Considered a key participant in the
recent Malaysian New Wave, she cofounded Da Huang Pictures
in 2005 to create and promote Malaysian independent film
projects.
—Gustavus Kundahl
SATAPR 23
MONAPR 25
SUNMAY 1
3:00 KABUKI
9:15 NEW PEOPLE
5:00PFA
105
WORLD CINEMA
Acclaimed International Directors With Unique Visions
108 Asleep in the Sun
109Aurora
110 Black Bread
111 Blessed Events
112Chantrapas
113 The City Below
114 La Dolce Vita
115Hahaha
116 Hands Up
117Hospitalité
118 I’m Glad My Mother Is Alive
119Incendies
120 Letters from the Big Man
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
Life, Above All
The Light Thief
Love in a Puff
Meek’s Cutoff
Mysteries of Lisbon
Silent Souls
The Sleeping Beauty
The Stool Pigeon
13 Assassins
The Trip
Walking Too Fast
World on a Wire
107
Asleep in the Sun
Dormir al sol
Argentina
2010
83 min
DIR Alejandro Chomski
PROD Javier del Pino
world cinema
SCR Alejandro Chomski
CAM Sol Lopatin
ED Alejandro Brodersohn
MUS Ruy Folguera
WITH Luis Machín, Esther Goris, Carlos Belloso,
Florencia Peña, Enrique Piñeyro
PRINT SOURCE Musa Films, Arroyo 804 10 “A”,
1007 Buenos Aires, Argentina. FAX: 541143938681. EMAIL: alejandrochomski@fibertel.
com.ar.
Every dog has his day in Argentine filmmaker Alejandro
Chomski’s beguiling metaphysical mystery, a wildly
inventive mix of Kafkaesque nightmare and political
allegory that digs soul-deep into the surreal psyche of
man’s best friend. At first, all seems tranquilo in 1950s
Buenos Aires, where hapless family man Lucio (a
wonderfully hangdog Luis Machín) bides his time as an
unemployed watchmaker in the picturesque neighborhood
of Parque Chas, laid out in a circular system of labyrinthine
streets that, like the film’s twisting narrative strands,
repeatedly turn in on themselves and offer no clear means
of escape. Lucio’s neurasthenic wife, Diana (Esther Goris,
deftly transitioning from happy-homemaker acquiescence
to whacked-out puppy love), seeks solace from her
nervous disorders at the local pet shop, where she stares
for hours at preternaturally self-possessed pooches who
return her gaze with uncanny understanding. Concerned
that Diane is slipping too far into dog-dominated
daydreams, Lucio commits her to a phrenopathic institute
overseen by the sinister pseudoscientist Dr. Samaniego.
Upon her release from the cloistered sanitarium, Diana
isn’t quite the same; for one thing, the formerly demure
esposa has a sudden hankering for oral sex. Has a Body
Snatchers–style switcheroo taken place? Brilliantly
directed and lensed, with every 1950s period detail
art-directed to perfection (characters, clothing and even
wallpaper are carefully color-coordinated), Chomski’s
singularly bizarre identity-theft thriller also plays as a
critique of totalitarian brainwashing: At whose command
does Fido fetch so willingly? With dry humor and wry
horror, Asleep In the Sun awakens audiences from
passive viewing.
Alejandro Chomski
Born in Buenos Aires in 1968, Alejandro Chomski received an
MFA in directing from the American Film Institute and made
his feature-length debut in 2003 with Today and Tomorrow.
The film screened at major festivals and garnered the attention
of Jennifer Lopez, whose production company commissioned
Chomski to direct Feel the Noise (2007), a reggaeton-driven
narrative set among the Puerto Rican community of the South
Bronx. A Beautiful Life followed in 2008. Asleep in the Sun
is Chomski’s fourth feature. He currently is in preproduction on
an adaptation of Paul Auster’s acclaimed sci-fi novel, In the
Country of Last Things.
—Steven Jenkins
SUN
THU
SAT
108
APR 24
APR 28
APR 30
8:45
3:30
6:15
KABUKI
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
Aurora
Romania/France/Germany/Switzerland
2010
181 min
DIR Cristi Puiu
PROD Anca Puiu, Bobby Paunescu
CAM Viorel Sergovici
ED Joachim Stroe
WITH Cristi Puiu, Clara Voda, Valeria Seciu,
Luminita Gheorghiu, Catrinel Dumitrescu,
Gelu Colceag, Valentin Popescu, Ileana Puiu
PRINT SOURCE The Cinema Guild, 115 W.
30th Street, Suite 800, New York NY 10001.
FAX: 212-685-4717. EMAIL: rkrivoshey@
cinemaguild.com.
world cinema
SCR Cristi Puiu
Viorel doesn’t have much to say. He negotiates daily
life in bleak wintertime Bucharest with dispassion and
an obscure anger. But when it becomes apparent he is
planning a shooting, his stale and predictable world gets
recast in a new and mysterious light. Romanian filmmaker
Cristi Puiu destroys all notions of crime as entertainment
in this painstakingly realistic anatomy of a murder,
delivering a chilling character study of an ordinary person
driven to kill. Puiu’s post-Communist Bucharest is a city
on the edge in a suddenly capitalist country where people
dream of self-sufficiency while fearing a deep plunge into
poverty. Amid the unstable economy, relationships are
fractured. At the heart of Viorel’s discontent lie a failed
marriage and his increasingly distant relationship with
his two daughters. Playing protagonist Viorel himself,
Puiu presents an intelligent, literate and penetrating
reinvention of the traditional murder drama. Meanwhile,
as in his acclaimed The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005),
black comedy creeps into unlikely places: Intending to
clean and test his gun, Viorel instead weathers a crew
of redecorators, a neighboring dysfunctional family and
the unannounced intrusion of his own mother and her
new partner, a man Viorel despises. A onetime student of
classic film noir, Puiu’s realist noir subtracts the romance
and keeps the doom. The result is an unflinching and
haunting investigation of what compels a person to commit
the ultimate act.
Cristi Puiu
Born in Bucharest in 1967, Cristi Puiu began his career as a
painter before making several short films and documentaries.
His first feature film, Stuff and Dough (2001), was an awardwinning road movie shot with a handheld camera. His widely
acclaimed black comedy, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005),
was the first part of his Six Stories from the Outskirts
of Bucharest series exploring life in contemporary postCommunist Romania.
—Gustavus Kundahl
SAT APR 30
WED MAY 4
THU MAY 5
8:30
8:00
7:00
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
PFA
109
Black Bread
Pa negre
Spain
2010
108 min
DIR Agustí Villaronga
PROD Isona Passola
world cinema
SCR Agustí Villaronga
CAM Antonio Riestra
ED Raúl Román
MUS José Manuel Pagán
WITH Francesc Colomer, Marina Comas,
Nora Navas, Roger Casamajor, Lluïsa Castell
PRINT SOURCE Beta Film GmbH, Gruenwalder
Weg 28 d, D-82041 Oberhaching, Germany.
FAX: 49-89-67-34-69-888. EMAIL: delphine.
[email protected]. WEB: panegre.com.
In Catalan with subtitles.
In the dark days following the Spanish Civil War, a young
boy, Andreu, witnesses the murder of another boy and his
father in a Catalan forest by a mysterious hooded figure.
His trauma is complete when his own father, Farriol, is
accused of the crime. An air of vengeful politics lurks
behind the accusation, since the village officials are the
victorious fascists and Andreu’s parents vanquished
Republicans. Farriol goes underground to hide from the
police, forcing the boy’s exhausted mother, Florència, to
work extra hours in a run-down factory just so they can
survive. Andreu is sent to live with relatives, his whole
life turned upside down. With his cousin Núria, he sets
out to find the real killers. But the dark forests of Spain
hide many secrets, and the truths he uncovers are far
from comforting. Andreu, struggling with a reality that is
in contradiction with his deepest beliefs and emotions,
turns into someone he never wanted to be. This story of
moral contradictions and imperfect heroes triumphed at
the 2010 Goya Awards, walking away with nine prizes
including top film and director. Nora Navas, who plays
Andreu’s mother, took the best actress honor and the
two child actors, Francesc Colomer (Andreu) and Marina
Comas (Núria), won for most promising performances. It
is the first Catalonian film to win so much acclaim, and no
film has so richly explored this twisted gothic underworld
since Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006).
Agustí Villaronga
Born in 1953 in Majorca, Agustí Villaronga has directed 11 films
since1976. His film El niño de la luna was an official selection
at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. He codirected the faux
documentary Aro Tolbukhin: In the Mind of a Killer (2002),
Mexico’s official submission for the Academy Award for Best
Foreign Language Film. In 2011, he won the Goya Award for
Best Director for Black Bread.
—Miguel Pendás
FRI
APR 29
MON MAY 2
WED MAY 4
110
3:00
6:00
9:15
KABUKI
KABUKI
KABUKI
Blessed Events
Glückliche fügung
US Premiere
Germany
2010
91 min
PROD Sigrid Hoerner, Anne Leppin
SCR Anke Stellin, Isabelle Stever
CAM Bernhard Keller
ED Bettina Boehler
MUS Yoyo Röhm, Jupiter Moll, Louis Mariot
WITH Annika Kuhl, Stefan Rudolf, Arno Frisch
PRINT SOURCE Media Luna New Films,
Aachener Strasse 24, Cologne, Germany.
FAX: 49-221-5109-1899. EMAIL: info@
medialuna.biz. WEB: medialuna.biz/films/
descr_blessed-events.html.
provided by the Goethe-Institut San Francisco
and the Consulate General of the Federal
Republic of Germany–San Francisco.
world cinema
DIR Isabelle Stever
The first “blessed event” in Isabelle Stever’s intriguing
film is clear enough: Simone, a depressed woman in her
30s, goes out for a night of listless drinking and dancing
on New Years Eve, wakes up in a stranger’s car after
a one-night-stand and discovers afterwards that she’s
pregnant. The second blessed event is Simone’s chance
second meeting with the father, Hannes, a handsome,
compassionate nurse who seems delighted with the
prospect of fatherhood and plunges into a serious
relationship with her. They find a charming home in a
rural area, set up housekeeping together, prepare for
parenthood—and Simone begins to suspect it’s all too
good to be true. As her belly swells and her discomfort and
suspicion grow, the questions begin to pile up. Is Hannes
a liar with ulterior motives? Is Simone suffering from a
combination of raging hormones and bad memories of
the ex-boyfriend who appears to be stalking her? Or is
she merely a self-destructive person about to sabotage
a phenomenal stroke of luck? As Simone, Annika Kuhl
delivers a subtle but intense performance that steadily
ups the emotional ante, while Stever’s direction reflects
its main character’s possibly skewed view of the world
with dissonant settings and odd camera angles. Based
on a short story by Anke Stelling, who helped write the
screenplay, Blessed Events is a fascinating puzzle of
a film that captures the overwhelming uncertainty of
someone who has come to a crossroads in her life and is
terrified of making the wrong decision.
Isabelle Stever
Born in Munich in 1963, Isabelle Stever studied mathematics
before entering the German Film and Television Academy
to study film directing. Her 2002 film, Portrait of a Married
Couple, won Germany’s First Step Award for best feature film,
and her 2005 film, Gisela, won the Crossing Europe Award.
—Pamela Troy
SAT APR 30
MON MAY 2
TUE MAY 3
6:15
9:15
3:15
KABUKI
KABUKI
KABUKI
111
Chantrapas
Chantrapas
US Premiere
France/Georgia
2010
122 min
world cinema
DIR Otar Iosseliani
PROD Martine Marignac
SCR Otar Iosseliani
CAM Lionel Cousin, Julie Grünebaum
ED Otar Iosseliani, Emmanuelle Legendre
MUS Djardji Balantchivadze
WITH Dato Tarielashvili, Tamuna Karumidze,
Fanny Gonin, Bulle Ogier, Bogdan Stupka
PRINT SOURCE Les Films du Losange, 22
avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie, 75116 Paris,
France. FAX: 33-1-49-52-06-40.
In French and Georgian with subtitles.
provided by Melanie and Lawrence Blum in
tribute to George Gund III for his lifetime of
enthusiasm and support for the Bay Area
film, sports and arts worlds and his dedicated
commitment to the Film Society as chairman of
the board of directors for over 40 years.
A filmmaker finds creative freedom far more elusive
than he imagined in this affectionately ironic comedy/
drama from Festival favorite Otar Iosseliani (Brigands,
Chapter VII, SFIFF 1997; Gardens in Autumn, SFIFF
2007). Loosely based on the experiences of Iosseliani
and his fellow Soviet Georgian filmmakers during the
1950s and ’60s, the film follows young, idealistic Niko
as he struggles to get his film made in the USSR in the
face of state crackdowns and government interference.
Fleeing to every young man’s promised land (France, of
course), Niko merely finds more of the same only here
the creative interference is based on economics, rather
than politics. What’s worse, he barely has time for film,
as he’s forced into an immigrant’s life of cultural isolation
and odd jobs (street sweeper, zookeeper) to survive.
“Chantrapas is the portrait of a collection of filmmakers,”
notes Iosseliani, those who refused to collaborate with
the Soviet dictatorship and were banned or exiled as a
result (Iosseliani himself fled to Paris after making several
now-legendary films in Georgia). Chantrapas is also a
song to cinema itself, its scripts, sets, 35mm editing rooms,
its dreamers, strivers and constant liars, all brought to life
through Ioselliani’s affectionate, picaresque storytelling.
“Cinema is a charming fair,” he says. “There’s everything:
merchants, drunkards, serious people, functionaries.
The filmmaker is in the middle.” A tribute to an era of
Eastern European and Soviet filmmaking that was both
extraordinarily difficult and powerful, Chantrapas is a
warm, charming satire on creativity and the forces that
inhibit it.
Otar Iosseliani
Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1934, writer/director Otar Iosseliani
won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his first
feature November (1966), but saw his films repeatedly banned
in the USSR. After his 1976 film Pastorale (SFIFF 1983) met
with success at the 1982 Berlin International Film Festival
following censorship in the Soviet Union, Iosseliani emigrated to
France. There he made Favorites of the Moon (SFIFF 1985),
which won a prize at 1984’s Venice International Film Festival.
His subsequent films, including Brigands, Chapter VII (SFIFF
1997) and Monday Morning (SFIFF 2003), have also won
prizes and acclaim internationally.
SUN
TUE
FRI
112
APR 24
APR 26
APR 29
6:15
6:00
9:00
PFA
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
The City Below
Unter dir die Stadt
Germany
2010
110 min
DIR Christoph Hochhäusler
PROD Bettina Brokemper
CAM Bernhard Keller
ED Stephan Stabenow
MUS Benedikt Schiefer
WITH Nicolette Krebitz, Robert Hunger-Bühler,
Mark Waschke, Corinna Kirchhoff
Germany. FAX: 49-221-539-709-10.
provided by the Goethe-Institut San Francisco.
world cinema
SCR Ulrich Peltzer, Christoph Hochhäusler
A high-flying corporate bigwig meets his match in
Christoph Hochhäusler’s tense drama set in the upper
echelons of Frankfurt’s banking sector. It’s a malevolent
world of high finance and corporate malfeasance, in which
dour men sit around gargantuan tables in penthouse
boardrooms plotting the takeover of rival firms. The
dourest of all is the reptilian Roland Cordes (Robert
Hunger-Büehler) who, at the outset of the film, seems
to have lost some of his appetite for conquest. A chance
encounter with the wife of an underling reignites the fire in
his belly, and soon it’s business as usual for Roland, except
that now his machinations play out in the bedroom instead
of the boardroom. His enigmatic paramour Svenja Steve
(Nicolette Krebitz) is no shrinking violet, as Roland quickly
discovers, and before long he finds himself embroiled in
some of the most delicate negotiations of his career. But
what laws of attraction could possibly explain Roland’s
allure for Svenja, a sensuous young woman with a doting
husband? As it turns out, the two share some unsavory
proclivities and secret pasts, which they can only reveal
to each other. Their illicit affair is tested when Svenja
discovers Roland has orchestrated the transfer of her
husband to a precarious position in Jakarta, but even that
betrayal may not sever their dark bond. Evocatively filmed
and impressively acted, Hochhäusler’s solemn tour de
force is an utterly fascinating excavation of nihilism and
late capitalism on the wane.
Christoph Hochhäusler
Christoph Hochhäusler (whose name means “skyscraper” in
German) studied architecture in Berlin before embarking on a
filmmaking career that has to date produced three feature films.
His previous work, This Very Moment (2003), premiered in
competition at the Berlinale, while Low Profile (2005) premiered
at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. He is the founder
of the film journal Revolver. The City Below is inspired by
the biblical story of David and Bathsheba. “This is what I found
interesting: How power affects the longing for what we call
love,” Hochhäusler has written. “Power transcends (or corrupts)
ideology, beliefs, bonds.”
—Michael Read
FRI
APR 22
MON APR 25
FRI
APR 29
9:30
4:00
6:00
KABUKI
KABUKI
KABUKI
113
La Dolce Vita
Italy/France
1960
174 min
DIR Federico Fellini
PROD Giuseppe Amato, Angelo Rizzoli
world cinema
SCR Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli,
in collaboration with Brunello Rondi and
Pier Paolo Pasolini
CAM Otello Martelli
ED Leo Catozzo
MUS Nino Rota
WITH Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg,
Anouk Aimée
PRINT SOURCE Paramount Archives, 5555
Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90038
Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at
L’Immagine Ritrovata in association with The
Film Foundation, Centro Sperimentale di
Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale, Pathé,
Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, MediasetMedusa, Paramount Pictures and Cinecittà Luce.
Restoration funding provided by Gucci and The
Film Foundation.
Presented as part of the Italian Cinema
Visionaries Program by Gucci and The Film
Foundation.
Considered revolutionary at the time of its release,
Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita changed the landscape
of international filmmaking. Being condemned by the
Catholic Church in Italy as “immoral” naturally led to its
breaking all box-office records there. In the United States
it is still one of the most-seen foreign films of all time. The
film chronicles seven nights and the dawns that follow
as journalist Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) pursues
“the sweet life” in postwar Rome, floating between the
decadent high society lifestyle he seeks with his rich lover
and a Swedish bombshell, and the stifling domesticity
offered by his suicidal girlfriend. The film’s iconic images—
the statue of Christ being flown over Rome, Anita Ekberg
frolicking in the Trevi Fountain in her evening gown—have
become unforgettable snapshots of a society in glamorous
decay. Fellini brilliantly conducts Otello Martelli’s
sparkling black-and-white cinematography—restored
to pristine condition in this gorgeous new print—as well
as Nino Rota’s jazzy score and one of Mastroianni’s
finest performances, all in a work that encapsulates the
filmmaker’s many gifts to cinema. Here in a rousing, moody
and unforgettable masterpiece, Fellini offers us life in all
its tragedy and beauty, absurdity and magic. Originally
scheduled to be shown as the Opening Night film at the
1960 SFIFF (the film was pulled at the last minute by the
distributor), the Festival finally, proudly presents La Dolce
Vita.
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (1920–1993) is one of the towering figures
of 20th-century cinema. He strove to put his own dreams and
subconscious experiences on the screen, ushering in a modern
cinema that blends realism with surrealistic whimsy and brims
with striking images and unforgettable characters. In 1956, at
the Italian Film Festival organized by SFIFF founder Irving M.
Levin, La Strada received the first Golden Gate Award for Best
Film and Fellini was named Best Director. La Strada, Nights
of Cabiria (SFIFF 1980), 8½ (1963) and Amarcord (1973)
all won Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film. In 1993, Fellini
received the honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.
provided by Max and David Glynn.
SUN
114
MAY 1
12:30
CASTRO
Hahaha
South Korea
2010
116 min
DIR Hong Sang-soo
PROD Kim Kyoung-hee
CAM Park Hong-yeol
ED Hahm Sung-won
MUS Jeong Yong-jin
WITH Kim Sang-kyung, Yu Jun-sang, Moon Sori
PRINT SOURCE Finecut, 4th Floor, Incline
Building, 891-37 Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu,
135-280 Seoul, South Korea. EMAIL: yura@
finecut.co.kr.
world cinema
SCR Hong Sang-soo
Synonymous with the explosion of vital South Korean
cinema, iconoclast Hong Sang-soo’s growing body of
playful, pleasantly challenging work has earned the
auteur a favored place in the lexicon of modern film.
Often employing protagonists who are filmmakers and
professors (inviting autobiographical comparisons), and
spiked with a healthy dose of drunkenness and alienation,
Hong’s explorations of memory, desire and self-interest
make a lasting impression the world over. In this latest
feature, which took top prize in last year’s Cannes Film
Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, a filmmaker meets
up with a close friend for farewell drinks before departing
from Korea. Upon discovering they both recently returned
from the same spiritual seaside town, the two men agree
to swap fond memories for each sip. As the simple stories
unfold in flashback, only the audience can realize that
their accounts take place at the same time, and with the
same people. Fans of the auteur’s usual cynicism and
concealed layers of meaning may be pleasantly surprised
by the refreshing air of sweetness that quietly percolates
here among his favorite preoccupations. With composed
irreverence and a delicate but potent swirl of chance
encounters, nostalgia, heartbreak and grace, Hong delivers
his most sincere work.
Hong Sang -soo
One of Korea’s most highly regarded contemporary directors,
Hong Sang-soo remains a fixture on the international festival
circuit. His award-winning work includes The Day a Pig Fell into
the Well (1996), The Power of Kangwon Province (SFIFF
1999), The Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (SFIFF
2001), Turning Gate (2002), Woman Is the Future of Man
(2004), Tale of Cinema (2005), Woman on the Beach (2006),
Night and Day (2008), Like You Know It All (2009) and Oki’s
Movie (2010).
—Landon Zakheim
FRI
APR 22
MON APR 25
TUE APR 26
6:15
9:00
3:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
KABUKI
115
Hands Up
Les mains en l’air
France
2010
90 min
DIR Romain Goupil
PROD Margaret Ménégoz
world cinema
SCR Romain Goupil
CAM Irina Lubtchansky
ED Laurence Briaud
WITH Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Linda Doudaeva,
Jules Ritmanic, Louna Klanit, Louka Masset,
Jérémie Yousaf
PRINT SOURCE Les Films du Losange, 22
avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie, 75116 Paris,
France. FAX: 33-1-49-52-06-40. EMAIL:
[email protected].
From its opening scene, time-stamped in the year 2067,
Hands Up might be mistaken for a futuristic narrative.
Reminiscing on an event in her childhood some 60 years
earlier, Milana marvels at the archaic nature of classroom
teaching in 2009 and can’t even recall who was president
of France that year (a not-so-subtle clue to the filmmaker’s
contempt for Nicolas Sarkozy). But this is very much a
story of the present—and the past—when certain classes
of French society suffer the consequences of government
policy. For Milana at age 11, it is the threat of deportation
for her and her family of undocumented Chechen
immigrants living in Paris. Milana is one of thousands of
children affected by current immigration policy—a source
of fierce political debate and protest within the community.
When Youssef, one of her tight-knit gang of friends, is
suddenly deported with his family, the group of children
fear Milana will be next. Brother and sister Blaise and Alice
convince their earnest, left-leaning mother (a free-spirited
but stressed-out Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, who, ironically,
took this role just prior to becoming Sarkozy’s sister-inlaw) to take Milana into their home to try to protect her.
But when the perceived dangers continue to escalate,
the kids hatch a meticulous plan to go into hiding, where
they can insure Milana’s safety (and eat and do whatever
they like). For days, their disappearance becomes a cause
célèbre in the media, compelling the adult world to sit up,
take notice and reconsider their priorities.
Romain Goupil
Born in 1951, Romain Goupil took an early interest in both film
and leftist politics, producing his first short films at the age of
16 and participating in the student protests of May 1968. An
assistant director for Chantal Akerman, Roman Polanski and
Jean-Luc Godard, he went on to direct his first documentary
feature, Half a Life (SFIFF 1983), winning the Camera d’Or
in Cannes and a César for Best First Film. He continues to
write, direct and act in shorts, features, documentaries and TV
programs with predominantly political themes.
—Joanne Parsont
SUN MAY 1
TUE MAY 3
WED MAY 4
116
1:00
3:30
6:15
KABUKI
KABUKI
KABUKI
Hospitalité
Kantai
Japan
2010
95 min
DIR Koji Fukada
PROD Koji Fukada, Kiki Sugino
CAM Kenichi Negishi
ED Koji Fukada
MUS Kumuko Yabu
WITH Kiki Sugino, Kenji Yamauchi,
Kanji Furutachi
PRINT SOURCE RamondaParis, 91 rue de
Ménilmontant, 75020 Paris, France. EMAIL:
[email protected].
world cinema
SCR Koji Fukada
Home invasion was never so droll as in this black comedy
from writer/director Koji Fukada, which pokes a stick
in the eye of xenophobia. Into the lives of a too-mildmannered Tokyo printer, his very young wife and their
family comes a man with a story—actually a couple of
stories, take your pick. With one foot in the door, the
stranger is hired on as a live-in printer. The ancestral
family home is tiny and crowded, tucked away behind the
printing machines, so when this man of admittedly bizarre
affect moves in with his Brazilian wife, the strain is on.
Still, the polite printer and his wife say nothing. Meanwhile,
the unofficial neighborhood watch committee can’t help
noticing that the Brazilian likes to stand in the window
naked—as if playing on their fears of the homeless,
criminals and foreigners, she seems to be all three. If the
strange couple are pulling a scam, however, their motive is
unclear; if they are liars, it turns out that their hosts have
much to hide as well. Through the strangers’ machinations,
all that is inside comes out, and all that is outside comes
in, like so many Gullivers into this Lilliputian home. A fine
ensemble cast plays brilliantly to an everyday tension in
Japanese life, between a culture of hospitality and the fear
of intruders.
Koji Fukada
Koji Fukada was born in 1980 in Tokyo. His first film, The Chair,
was released in Tokyo in 2004. He joined Theatre Company
Seinendan, which is led by Oriza Hirata, in 2005. He wrote and
directed the animation film La Grenadière (2006) and received
the Soleil d’Or Award at the Third Kinotayo Film Festival. His
feature film Human Comedy in Tokyo screened at the Rome
International Film Festival in 2009.
—Judy Bloch
SAT
THU
SAT
APR 23
APR 28
APR 30
9:00
6:30
8:15
NEW PEOPLE
NEW PEOPLE
PFA
117
I’m Glad My Mother Is Alive
Je suis heureux que ma mère soit vivante
France
2009
91 min
DIR Claude Miller, Nathan Miller
PROD Jean-Louis Livi
world cinema
SCR Claude Miller, Nathan Miller
CAM Aurélien Devaux
ED Morgane Spacagna
MUS Vincent Segal
WITH Vincent Rottiers, Sophie Cattani,
Christine Citti, Yves Verhoeven, Maxime Renard,
Gabin Lefebure, Olivier Guéritée, Ludo Harlay
PRINT SOURCE Strand Releasing, 6140
W. Washington Boulevard, Culver City CA
90232. FAX: 310-836-7510. EMAIL: david@
strandreleasing.com.
Claude and Nathan Miller’s nuanced and provocative film,
based loosely on real events treated in an article by writer
and filmmaker Emmanuel Carrère, depicts the troubled life
of an adopted boy. Twelve-year-old Thomas lives with his
younger brother and kindhearted adoptive parents. He has
dim memories of the mother who gave the two boys up at
a young age, and the perceived betrayal still affects him
deeply. Frequent scraps with classmates result in Thomas
being sent to boarding school, where he manages to track
down his birth mother, a woman named Julie Martino,
but doesn’t speak to her. Eight years later, Thomas, now
a taciturn garage mechanic, decides to visit Julie, now
the mother of another young son. This encounter, and
the subsequent relationship that develops between them,
is fraught with tense emotion as it builds to a surprising
conclusion. Claude Miller, an expert director of actors,
draws multilayered, moving performances from Vincent
Rottier as the older Thomas and Sophie Cattani as Julie.
I’m Glad My Mother Is Alive doesn’t make any grand
statements about adoption but rather presents a particular
character portrait about regrets and bottled-up feelings.
After more than 30 years in the business, Miller—working
here with his son, Nathan—adds another impeccably
crafted drama to his impressive roster.
Claude Miller
Nathan Miller
Claude Miller worked for many French New Wave icons,
including Godard and Truffaut, before beginning his own feature
film career with The Best Way (SFIFF 1976), starring Patrick
Dewaere. Since then, he’s made over 15 films, often focusing
on children and young adults. His 1998 film Class Trip won the
Jury Prize at Cannes, and he has been nominated numerous
times for France’s César award, winning Best Screenplay in
1981 for Garde à vue.
Nathan Miller, son of Claude Miller, has worked as assistant
director with his father and other directors, including Jacky
Cukier, Jean-Loup Hubert and Bernard Stora. In 2000, he wrote
and directed the short film La Tartine and in 2004 he served as
cinematographer for a documentary about Jean-Paul Gaultier.
On I’m Glad My Mother Is Alive he serves as cowriter and
codirector.
—Rod Armstrong
FRI
APR 22
MON APR 25
118
6:45
9:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
Incendies
Canada/France
2010
130 min
DIR Denis Villeneuve
PROD Luc Déry, Kim McCraw
CAM André Turpin
ED Monique Dartonne
MUS Grégoire Hetzel
WITH Lubna Azabal, Mélissa DésormeauxPoulin, Maxim Gaudette, Rémy Girard
PRINT SOURCE Sony Pictures Classics, 550
Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York NY
10022. FAX: 212-833-8844. EMAIL: sony_
[email protected]. WEB: incendiesmovie.
com.
provided by Thomas and Janet McKinley.
world cinema
SCR Denis Villeneuve
Upon the reading of their late mother’s will, Canadian
twins Jeanne and Simon Marwan are shocked to learn
that their father is still alive and they have a brother they
didn’t know existed. They are given sealed envelopes to
deliver to each and told to travel to their mother’s unnamed
native country in the Middle East—which she fled during
wartime—to find them. Simon is initially dismissive and
refuses, resentful of his mother’s former unreliability and
emotional distance. But Jeanne makes the journey and her
startling discoveries soon lure Simon into joining her. Bit
by bit they uncover the deep scars left on their mother’s
life by the war and come to understand the sources of her
strange behavior, ultimately discovering an unthinkable
secret. Nominated this year for an Academy Award for
Best Foreign Language Film, Incendies is viscerally
cinematic and immensely satisfying as it spins a complex
narrative across two continents and several decades.
Director Denis Villeneuve, adapting Wajdi Mouawad’s
award-winning play, powerfully evokes the tragedy and
complexity of the Middle East’s conflicts. Never didactic,
the film’s focus remains on the lasting damage left behind.
From its uniformly brilliant cast to its stunning, sun-soaked
photography and profound emotional range, Incendies
is bravura filmmaking. Villeneuve has created a haunting
masterpiece that gradually reveals its mysteries through
sharply attuned performances and rich storytelling.
Denis Villeneuve
Denis Villeneuve is considered one of Canada’s greatest
filmmakers. His four feature films have played at Cannes, Berlin,
Toronto, Telluride and Sundance and have won dozens of
international awards. His most recent short, Next Floor, played
at SFIFF in 2009.
—Jesse Dubus
MON MAY 2
THU MAY 5
6:30
8:00
KABUKI
KABUKI
119
Letters from the Big Man
USA
2011
105 min
DIR Christopher Munch
PROD Christopher Munch
world cinema
SCR Christopher Munch
CAM Rob Sweeney
ED Christopher Munch
MUS Traditional music by Ensemble Galilei.
WITH Lily Rabe, Jason Butler Harner, Isaac C.
Singleton Jr., Jim Cody Williams, Fiona Dourif,
Karen Black
PRINT SOURCE Submarine Entertainment, 525
Broadway, #601, New York NY 10012. FAX:
It is too rare a thing that we mark the occasion of a
new film by Christopher Munch. One of the true auteurs
of independent cinema, Munch’s style is consistently
beautiful and strange in its earnestness, an attribute
that sets his work in stark contrast to a steady stream
of ironic and wry looks at popular culture. And given a
story about the deepening relationship between a young
woman and a sasquatch, earnestness itself now becomes
a central tension. What does it mean for a film to embark
on an exploration of Bigfoot without irony, without winks,
completely in good faith? What can we learn from this?
We follow Sarah, an artist and hydrologist, as she surveys
the old growth forests of the Klamath wilderness (captured
majestically by cinematographer Rob Sweeney) for the
Oregon forest service. She is embroiled in a number
of intrigues: the politics of deforestation, a break up, a
burgeoning love, metaphysical communication with a
missing link. Viewers expecting a campy romp through
cryptozoology will come away puzzled, and the better for it.
In fact, the film doesn’t even begin to address the gulf of
doubt that surrounds its premise. Instead, it focuses on the
deep, ancient and spiritual beauty of a region and “people”
unaffected by the last ice age, and what we might gain by
their example.
Christopher Munch
Christopher Munch is a producer/writer/director whose films
include the features Harry and Max (2004), about two brothers
who are both pop idols, The Sleepy Time Gal (2001), about
a dying mother’s search for a daughter put up for adoption
at birth, Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day (1996), about a
young man’s efforts to save a doomed short-line railroad in
the 1940s and The Hours and Times (1992), based on the
friendship of Brian Epstein and John Lennon. Munch has been
a Guggenheim Fellow and has been featured in two Whitney
Biennial exhibitions.
—Sean Uyehara
FRI
TUE
THU
120
APR 29
MAY 3
MAY 5
4:15
6:00
7:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
Life, Above All
South Africa/Germany
2010
106 min
DIR Oliver Schmitz
PROD Oliver Stoltz
CAM Bernhard Jasper
ED Dirk Grau
MUS Ali N. Askin
WITH Khomotso Manyaka, Lerato Mvelase,
Harriet Manamela
PRINT SOURCE Sony Pictures Classics, 550
Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York NY
10022. FAX: 212-833-8844. EMAIL: sony_
[email protected]. WEB: lifeaboveallmovie.
com.
In Pedi with subtitles.
provided by Cecilia and Jim Herbert.
world cinema
SCR Dennis Foon, Oliver Schmitz
Chanda is a South African preteen dealing with a number
of difficult situations. Her mother, Lillian, is very ill, her
stepfather is a drunk, her newborn sister has just died and
her two living siblings need to be fed, clothed and taken to
school. The grace and intelligence this youngster brings to
bear on all these crises transforms the hard reality in Oliver
Schmitz’s Life, Above All into an inspiring coming-of-age
story. At the same time, the film examines the prejudice
and problems accompanying poverty and widespread HIV
infection in the small township where Chanda lives. When
locals start whispering that Lillian has the dreaded “bug,”
a nosy neighbor (memorably played by Harriet Manamela)
intervenes in a misguided attempt to shield Chanda and
her family. As the problems mount, so does the girl’s
resolve, as she stands up to other residents and causes
them to reevaluate their preconceptions. Newcomer
Khomotso Manyaka brings maturity and intention to her
portrait of Chanda, while screenwriter Dennis Foon’s
intimate narrative demonstrates the wider devastation
suffered by a country due to poverty, fear and disease.
Against a tragically preventable backdrop of teenage
prostitution, alcoholism, infant mortality and the AIDS
epidemic, the film seeks a hopeful future for a damaged
community in one heartbreakingly resilient child.
Oliver Schmitz
Oliver Schmitz was born in Cape Town, South Africa and has
worked in television and film in South Africa and Germany.
His first film, Mapantsula (1987), debuted at the Cannes Film
Festival and went on to receive numerous awards. His other
films include Hijack Stories (2000) and one of the segments in
Paris je t’aime (2003).
—Rod Armstrong
SAT
THU
APR 23
APR 28
4:00
6:00
KABUKI
KABUKI
121
The Light Thief
Svet-ake
Kyrgyzstan/Germany/France/
Netherlands
2010
80 min
DIR Aktan Arym Kubat
world cinema
PROD Altynai Koichumanova, Cedomir Kolar,
Thanassis Karathanos, Marc Baschet,
Karl Baumgartner, Denis Vaslin
SCR Talip Ibraimov, Aktan Arym Kubat
CAM Hassan Kydyraliyev
ED Petar Markovic
MUS Andre Matthias
WITH Aktan Arym Kubat, Taalaikan Abazova,
Askat Sulaimanov, Asan Amanov, Stanbek
Toichubaev
PRINT SOURCE Global Film Initiative, 145 Ninth
Street, #105, San Francisco CA 94103. FAX:
415-934-9501. EMAIL: santhosh@globalfilm.
org.
On the steppe in Kyrgyzstan, a simple electrician
affectionately known as Mr. Light (director/cowriter Aktan
Arym Kubat) finds himself caught in a difficult position
when an ambitious politician embraces his dream of
generating wind energy for his tiny impoverished town.
Mr. Light is modest and altruistic through and through, but
his unlikely partner seems motivated more by greed than
hopes of community development. In the meantime, Mr.
Light helps out the best he can, tampering with the meters
of those too poor to pay for electricity, which raises the
ire of the authorities. He also strains to keep his wife—a
tough, smart woman frustrated by her husband’s naïveté—
happy. The Light Thief elegantly dramatizes the complex
challenges of a developing economy with its heartfelt story
about the unglamorous yet very real struggles of life in
post-Soviet Central Asia. Some of the villagers here have
already given up, leaving to seek out easier lives in Russia
and Italy. Those who remain must also look to the outside
world to raise capital, as evidenced by a group of Chinese
investors who are considering funding the wind farm.
Director Kubat sets his narrative against the backdrop of
the 2005 Tulip Revolution, when a disputed election led
to a popular revolt against the government. Although the
brief glimpses of political unrest in capital Bishkek seem
a world away from Mr. Light’s sleepy town, Kubat slyly
illustrates the same governmental failings on a local level,
as his humble protagonist faces the greatest social issues,
plugging away against injustice and tyranny.
Aktan Arym Kubat
Born in 1957, Aktan Arym Kubat is Kyrgyzstan’s leading
filmmaker. He began his career as a production designer after
studying film in Bishkek, then gained international recognition
and multiple awards at the Locarno Film Festival for his films
The Swing (1993) and The Adopted Son (SFIFF 1999). His
five feature films have screened across the globe, documenting
the tumultuous contemporary history and everyday life of his
native country.
—Jesse Dubus
SAT APR 23
MON APR 25
SUN MAY 1
122
7:15
9:15
8:45
KABUKI
KABUKI
PFA
Love in a Puff
Chi ming yu chun giu
Hong Kong
2010
103 min
DIR Pang Ho-cheung
PROD Pang Ho-cheung, Subi Liang
CAM Jason Kwan
ED Wenders Li
MUS Alan Wong, Janet Yung
WITH Miriam Yeung, Shawn Yue, Cheung
Tat-ming
PRINT SOURCE Media Asia Films,
world cinema
SCR Pang Ho-cheung, Heiward Mak
Boy meets girl during a cigarette break, unaware that his
loose-lipped colleagues have just shared the details of his
recent, embarrassing split from his girlfriend with his crew
of fellow smokers. They all feign ignorance when ad man
Jimmy (Shawn Yue) arrives and offers a light to cosmetics
saleswoman Cherie (Miriam Yeung). “You’re Jimmy?” she
asks knowingly. A connection is made, and a hip, Hong
Kong–style modern romance ensues. Although Cherie is
a few years older and already has a boyfriend (albeit an
unappreciative one), her fledgling courtship with Jimmy is
given an opportunity to grow when a friend’s social media
blunder and an intercepted text message abruptly bring
her existing relationship to an end. Not quite prepared for
what comes next, Jimmy and Cherie willingly move forward
into an uncertain future. Despite its nicotine-centric plot,
liberal use of Cantonese profanity and focus on a fasttracked relationship that takes place against the backdrop
of a sometimes gritty urban setting, there is a distinctly
innocent feel to Love in a Puff. Director Pang Hocheung keeps this romantic comedy lighthearted and the
interactions between Jimmy and Cherie simple and sweet.
Interspersed throughout the film and credits are a series
of humorous mini-interviews with both lead and supporting
characters, à la When Harry Met Sally, shot with a shaky
handheld camera and an occasional boom microphone in
the frame. The characters talk about love and each other,
demonstrating that when it comes to human emotions, no
translation is required.
Pang Ho - cheung
Hong Kong native Pang Ho-cheung began making films as
a teenager. After graduating from high school, he studied
in Taiwan and returned to make his professional start as a
television scriptwriter. Since then, he has expanded his creative
roles to include actor, producer and director. Pang’s first feature
film was You Shoot, I Shoot in 2001. His subsequent films,
including 2004’s Beyond Our Ken (SFIFF 2005), have been
official selections at numerous international film festivals. Love
in a Puff is one of two films Pang made in 2010, the other being
Dream Home.
—Monique Montibon
THU
SAT
APR 28
APR 30
8:45
1:15
KABUKI
KABUKI
123
Meek’s Cutoff
USA
2010
104 min
DIR Kelly Reichardt
PROD Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani,
world cinema
Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia
SCR Jon Raymond
CAM Christopher Blauvelt
ED Kelly Reichardt
MUS Jeff Grace
WITH Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood,
Will Patton, Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano,
Shirley Henderson
PRINT SOURCE Oscilloscope Laboratories, 511
Canal Street, #5E, New York NY 10013. FAX:
provided by Visionary Circle members
David and Charlotte Winton.
Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams (Blue
Valentine) stars in this eagerly anticipated new feature
from Kelly Reichardt (River of Grass, SFIFF 1994; Old
Joy, 2006) characterized by the filmmaker’s innate ability
to locate emotional truth in the smallest of gestures
and rituals. If tackling a period Western might seem like
a departure, Reichardt approaches the subject matter
with masterful ease, elegantly exposing the desperation,
hard struggles and simple desires of her working-class
protagonists. In 1845, during the earliest days of the
Oregon Trail, three families undertake a perilous journey
to begin life anew. Boastful rogue Stephen Meek,
whom they have employed to guide them safely through
uncharted danger, seems to have led them astray. They
are running out of water and uncertain of survival. When
they capture an Indian scout who has been tracking
them, the group must wrestle with where to place its
trust. Led by the adroit Williams (Wendy and Lucy),
Reichardt’s powerhouse ensemble vanishes effortlessly
into their respective roles, contributing to a dissection
of compassion, instinct and human dignity amid literal
life-or-death stakes. With a finely tuned attention to detail,
Meek’s Cutoff courageously and resonantly strips away
the grandeur of the Old West.
Kelly Reichardt
One of the most exhilarating American directors working today,
Kelly Reichardt has achieved recognition all over the world
for her distinct work. Known for a sparse, minimalist style, and
favoring themes involving man interacting with nature, her
award-winning and critically acclaimed body of work includes
River of Grass (SFIFF 1994), Old Joy (2006) and Wendy and
Lucy (2008).
—Landon Zakheim
FRI
APR 22
MON APR 25
124
9:00
4:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
Poland/Sweden
2010
97 min
DIR Lech Majewski
PROD Lech Majewski, Freddy Olsson
CAM Lech Majewski, Adam Sikora
ED Eliot Ems, Norbert Rudzik
MUS Lech Majewski, Jozef Skrzek
WITH Rutger Hauer, Michael York,
Charlotte Rampling, Joanna Litwin, Dorota Lis
Street, Suite 503, New York NY 10018. FAX:
WEB: themillandthecross.com.
In English and Flemish with subtitles.
Diane B. Wilsey.
This is a World Cinema Spotlight Film.
world cinema
SCR Lech Majewski, Michael Francis Gibson
A miracle of technology in the service of the artistic
imagination, Lech Majewski’s brilliant film transports its
viewers into the living, breathing world of Pieter Bruegel’s
dense frieze of Christ’s passion, The Way to Calvary. And
live and breathe it does. Though carefully organized along
symbolic axes, Bruegel’s 1564 painting sets the drama
of the crucifixion within a rustic Flanders scene teeming
with everyday life. (“About suffering they were never
wrong, the Old Masters,” wrote W.H. Auden. “How well
they understood / Its human position; how it takes place /
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just
walking dully along.”) Likewise Majewski—using computergenerated blue-screen compositing, new 3-D technology,
just-so location shooting in Poland, Austria and New
Zealand and a massive backdrop he painted by hand—tells
the story of the painting largely through closely observed
secular rituals of 16th-century Flemish daily life, in all its
earth-toned grubbiness, with occasional scenes revealing
Bruegel’s artistic choices and the politics of the day.
Windmilling, calf-hauling, bread-peddling, villagers dancing
and children horsing around take up the better part of the
narrative, while cameos by Rutger Hauer (as Bruegel),
Michael York (as his patron and friend) and Charlotte
Rampling (as a limpid Virgin Mary) give historical context
and symbolic depth. But the narrative is not the point—the
extraordinary imagery is. The painting literally comes to life
in this spellbinding film, its wondrous scenes entering the
viewer like a dream enters a sleeping body.
Lech Majewski
Polish-born Lech Majewski is an internationally prominent
US-based artist, filmmaker, poet and stage director. His film
and video work received a major mid-career retrospective at the
New York Museum of Modern Art in 2006. His 2007 film Glass
Lips, which took the form of an experimental set of meditations,
was originally presented as 33 short films. The Washington
Post’s Philip Kennicott has called Majewski “a brilliant filmmaker
whose haunting aesthetic is processed through a lively mind and
idiosyncratic imagination, chastened and tempered by history,
and captured on screen with the rigor and perfectionism of an
artist who might also carve castles out of toothpicks. Throughout
his films, the great categories of our existence . . . are not
bounded at all, but constantly dissolve into one another.”
—Graham Leggat
SAT APR 23
WED APR 27
12:30SFMOMA
9:00 KABUKI
125
Mysteries of Lisbon
Mistérios de Lisboa
Portugal/France
2010
256 min
DIR Raúl Ruiz
PROD Paulo Branco
world cinema
SCR Carlos Saboga
CAM André Szankowski
ED Carlos Madaleno, Valeria Sarmiento
MUS Jorge Arriagada, Luis Freitas Branco
WITH Adriano Luz, Maria João Bastos,
Ricardo Pereira, Clotilde Hesme, Léa Seydoux
PRINT SOURCE Music Box Films, 942 W. Lake
Street, Chicago IL 60607. EMAIL: earentz@
musicboxfilms.com.
In Portuguese and French with subtitles.
There will be a 15-minute intermission.
The noble and the damned are interchangeable and
identical in Raúl Ruiz’s magisterial new gambit on the
art of storytelling, based on Camilo Castelo Branco’s
19th-century Portuguese novel yet more mind-bending
and radical than any contemporary tale. A young boy in
a Lisbon orphanage wonders who he is, but soon each
and every identity comes into question, especially as
flashbacks, flash-forwards and tales within tales begin
to spiral forth. A priest may be a fighter, a wealthy man
a highway robber and a noblewoman a nun. “But who
are you?” asks someone. It all may depend on the story
you’re in, and who is telling the tale. What remains
constant is the sumptuous setting: a decadent Old World
Portugal of crumbling estates, extravagant ballrooms
and fog-bound dueling fields. No stranger to epic novel
adaptations (his Time Regained (SFIFF 2000) adapted
Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past with similar
flair), Ruiz treats his material with consummate respect
and a baroque, Borgesian grandeur, constantly framing
shots within shots and actions within actions. A tale of
tales, of orphans, counts and duels, this costume metadrama is Dickens filtered through a surrealist’s gaze, and
a fitting summation of Ruiz’s artistry. Originally made as
a miniseries for Portuguese television (this four-hour
theatrical version was cut from the six-hour original),
Mysteries of Lisbon is said by the director to be his
final film.
Raúl Ruiz
Born in Chile, the prolific, ever-surprising Raúl Ruiz began
his filmmaking career with Three Sad Tigers (1968), which
won Locarno’s Golden Leopard. Forced to flee Chile after
the Pinochet coup in 1973, Ruiz settled in France, where he
continued to refine an aesthetic of surrealist, baroque filmmaking
seemingly inspired in equal parts by Jorge Luis Borges, classic
19th-century novels, philosophy and American B movies. He has
created over 50 films including City of Pirates (1983), Three
Lives and Only One Death (1996), Genealogies of a Crime
(SFIFF 1997), Time Regained (SFIFF 2000) and Klimt (2006).
—Jason Sanders
SAT
126
APR 23
12:15
KABUKI
Silent Souls
Ovsyanki
Russia
2010
75 min
DIR Aleksei Fedorchenko
PROD Igor Mishin, Mary Nazari
CAM Mikhail Krichman
ED Sergei Ivanov
MUS Andrei Karasyov
WITH Igor Sergeyev, Yuri Tsurilo, Yuliya Aug,
Ivan Tushin
PRINT SOURCE Shadow Distribution, PO Box
1246, Waterville ME 04903. EMAIL: shadow@
prexar.com. WEB: ovsyanki.ru/site.
world cinema
SCR Denis Osokin
The rites and rituals of the Merja people—an ethnic
minority of Finno-Urgric extraction originally from the
Volga region of Russia—form the backbone of this lyrical,
sensual and dreamlike film about love and loss. After
beloved wife Tanja dies, pulp factory CEO Miron calls on
his best friend, the photographer (and the film’s narrator)
Aist, to help him with his final goodbye. As the ravishingly
lensed story unfolds, it becomes apparent that Aist
and Tanja were once more than friends. The two men,
bound together through friendship and passion for the
same woman, discuss their memories of her in bawdy
reflection as they transport her to her final place of rest.
By a riverbank, they wordlessly and expertly observe the
ancient rituals and lovingly prepare Tanja’s body. Water is
central to the film and to Merjan life, and the unobtrusive
yet obviously key presence it has is indicative of the gentle
way director Aleksei Fedorchenko beautifully weaves
the myths and traditions of this vanishing culture into his
poetic film. As the director states, “The slogan of the film
was tenderness. We wanted tenderness to be transformed
into nostalgia; tenderness and nostalgia were to become
synonymous with love.” The result is a melancholy and
mystical journey following the complex and twisting
currents of the human heart.
Aleksei Fedorchenko
Aleksei Fedorchenko was born in 1966 in Sol-Iletsk, in the
Orenburg region of Siberia. After studying engineering, he
worked on space defense projects in a factory in Sverdlovsk
(Ekaterinburg). In 1990, he became the official economist then
deputy director of the Sverdlovsk Studio. Since 2000, he has
managed the studio’s production department and participated
in the production of over 80 films. Fedorchenko’s debut feature,
First on the Moon (2005), was a mockumentary about a 1930s
Soviet moon landing. Silent Souls is his third feature.
—Alissa Simon
FRI
SUN
THU
APR 22
APR 24
APR 28
7:00
4:45
7:00
PFA
KABUKI
KABUKI
127
The Sleeping Beauty
La belle endormie
France
2010
82 min
DIR Catherine Breillat
PROD Jean-François Lepetit, Sylvette Frydman
world cinema
SCR Catherine Breillat
CAM Denis Lenoir
ED Pascale Chavance
WITH Carla Besnaïnou, Julia Artamanov,
Kérian Mayan, David Chausse
90232. FAX: 310-836-7510. EMAIL: david@
On the heels of the mesmeric Bluebeard (SFIFF 2009),
French auteur Catherine Breillat again delves into the
piquant fairy tales of Charles Perrault for this singular,
sparkling film, a reverie and rumination over slumbering
lives and awakening sexual and mortal consciousness.
Opening on some half-dreamed late-modern world, The
Sleeping Beauty playfully sets up the story of young
princess Anastasia (a delightfully quick and valiant Carla
Besnaïnou), cursed at birth by a wicked fairy/crone to die
in her sixth year. Fortunately for Anastasia, three beautiful
young fairies counter the spell, at least a bit, sending the
six-year-old instead into a 100-year slumber, from which
she will wake into contemporary French society a ripe 16year-old. First, though, our heroine, a defiant tomboy, will
wander long in a dream world. There she finds and loses
an adoptive brother, Peter, who lives with his mother in a
country house set evocatively beside a train track. Going
in search of the roving Peter—her brother, prince and first
love—she meets a series of young princes and princesses
(“Blue bloods stick together,” she explains) in strange
faraway lands before a real-life prince, grandson of Peter,
wakes her into her 16-year-old self. From there, another
awakening begins, or perhaps one spell is broken and
another cast. Breillat’s aesthetic fashions a world at once
palpable and ethereal, itself a waking dream, with a ludic
insouciance that delights in combining allusive, painterly
detail with makeshift and anachronistic improvisations. As
much a tonic to the intellect as the senses, The Sleeping
Beauty will keep you up all night.
Catherine Breillat
Since her first film, A Real Young Girl (1976), Catherine Breillat
has explored issues of female sexuality, sibling relations and the
development of self with a characteristic frankness, imagination
and intelligence. Other celebrated films include Romance
(1999), Fat Girl (2001), Brief Crossing (SFIFF 2002), Sex
Is Comedy (SFIFF 2003), Anatomy of Hell (2004, based on
her novel Pornocratie), The Last Mistress (SFIFF 2008) and
Bluebeard (SFIFF 2009). Her sister is actress Marie-Hélène
Breillat. Catherine Breillat lives in Paris.
—Robert Avila
TUE APR 26
WED APR 27
128
6:15
6:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
The Stool Pigeon
Xian ren
Hong Kong/China
2010
113 min
DIR Dante Lam
PROD Candy Leung, Zhang Dajun, Ren Yue
CAM Kenny Tse
ED Chan Ki-hop
MUS Henry Lai
WITH Nick Cheung, Nicholas Tse, Guey Lun-mei,
Liu Kai-chi
PRINT SOURCE Emperor Motion Pictures, 28th
Floor, Emperor Group Centre, 288 Hennessy
Road, 040 Wanchai, Hong Kong. FAX: 8522893-4309. EMAIL: [email protected].
WEB: emp.hk.
In Cantonese with subtitles.
world cinema
SCR Jack Ng
Hong Kong crime thriller pro Dante Lam’s latest sleekly
stylized, hard-boiled drama comes pierced by an
uncharacteristic tone of melancholy and urban gloom.
Focusing on the ripped backstreets and slums of the
city, Lam examines the moral quandaries faced by police
who use paid informants to set up their stings on the
criminal underworld. Nick Cheung gives a powerful and
nuanced performance as police inspector Don Lee, whose
use of an informant explodes in his face, causing him to
question the tricky cop/informant relationship. As Lee,
Cheung exudes a studious and unflappable surface, while
underneath roils an increasingly disturbed and desperate
man. When his new informer, Ghost Jr., is released from
prison, Cheung endeavors to get things right from the
beginning. Played with restrained gusto by Nicholas Tse,
Ghost Jr. falls in with a wanted and extremely dangerous
gang, and the thrill ride takes off. Though it explores deep
themes, The Stool Pigeon also offers Lam’s patented
action sequences, which are fierce and head-spinning.
Among the best scenes are a car chase accompanied
by the soothing sounds of “White Christmas,” the rushed
and furious action of a jewelry store robbery and the
gripping and violent finale in the ruined schoolroom of
some forgotten slum. In the swirl of several wrenching plot
twists and a deepening existential angst, any character left
standing has a bloody face to boot.
Dante Lam
Born in Hong Kong, award-winning director Dante Lam has
elevated himself to the top of the new wave of Hong Kong
action movies with a string of successes, beginning with Option
Zero (1997). Known for its realism and breathtaking action
scenes, Lam’s work has included the critically acclaimed films
Beast Cops (1998), Sniper (2008) and The Beast Stalker
(SFIFF 2009). Last year he released Fire of Conscience.
—Gustavus Kundahl
SUN APR 24
MON MAY 2
9:15
8:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
129
13 Assassins
Jûsan-nin no shikaku
Japan
2010
126 min
DIR Takashi Miike
world cinema
PROD Minami Ichikawa, Toichiro Shiraishi,
Michihiko Umezawa, Takahiro Ohno,
Hirotsugu Yoshida, Masaaki Ujo
SCR Daisuke Tengan
CAM Nobuyasu Kita
ED Kenji Yamashita
MUS Koji Endo
WITH Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada,
Yusuke Iseya, Goro Inagaki, Masachika Ichimura
PRINT SOURCE Magnolia Pictures, 2222 S.
Barrington Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90064.
provided by Penelope Wong and Tim Kochis.
Cult filmmaker Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, SFIFF 2002;
Izo, SFIFF 2005) delivers possibly his most surprising film
of all, a nearly straightforward homage to the glory days of
Japanese swordplay movies. A remake of a little-known (at
least in the West) 1963 film by Eiichi Kudo, 13 Assassins
begins in 1844, when the noble samurai Sinzaemon
Shimada (Koji Yakusho, Charisma, SFIFF 2000; Babel
2006) is chosen to assassinate the brutal and extremely
well-protected Lord Naritsugu (a giddily sadistic Goro
Inagaki). A job this daunting needs more than a few
good men; Shimada slowly recruits a dirty dozen of them,
some more willing than others to kill and, most likely,
die. All roads, of course, lead to a final showdown: our
13 assassins versus literally hundreds of villains in a
remarkable, roughly 45-minute battle scene filled with life,
death and dynamite—a sequence that finds Miike holding
his own against any Kurosawa, Inagaki or Leone set piece.
While inserting his dry humor and a few of his trademark
over-the-top moments, Miike otherwise refuses any snide
genre send-ups or satire here, instead focusing on the
simple pleasures of a well-crafted genre film.
“13 Assassins is a samurai terror film showing the flowers
of life and death,” he notes. “Simple, radical, beautiful.”
Takashi Miike
Born in Osaka, Takashi Miike studied under Shohei Imamura at
a Yokohama film school before beginning a creative career that
now stands at over 85 films, television series and straight-tovideo quickies. One of the most notorious and prolific filmmakers
in modern history (sometimes churning out five or six movies
a year), Miike is best known for such cult works as Audition
(1999), Ichi the Killer (SFIFF 2002) and Izo (SFIFF 2005).
SUN
130
MAY 1
8:30
CASTRO
The Trip
England
2010
100 min
DIR Michael Winterbottom
PROD Andrew Eaton, Melissa Parmenter
ED Mags Arnold, Paul Monaghan
WITH Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Margo Stilley
PRINT SOURCE IFC, 11 Penn Plaza, 18th
Floor, New York NY 10001. FAX: 646-2737250. EMAIL: [email protected]. WEB:
revolution-films.com.
provided by Susie and Pat McBaine, and by
Jennifer and Doug Biederbeck.
world cinema
CAM Ben Smithard
Prolific British director Michael Winterbottom never ceases
. . . to amaze. A restless whiz, he’s frequently wandered
from the predictable path with such mercurial marvels
as Wonderland, 24 Hour Party People and The Killer
Inside Me. But nothing has stymied expectation more
than the miasmic masterpiece Tristram Shandy: A Cock
and Bull Story, in which Winterbottom succumbs to
the bottomless buffoonery of Laurence Sterne’s protopostmodern novel. That film’s stars, Steve Coogan and Rob
Brydon, slip out of their costumed roles to play themselves
in a riotously amusing rivalry for center stage. The Trip
finds them reunited in an ecstatic extension of their
spar-filled friendship. Now Coogan (as himself) is sent
to the Lake Country on assignment as culinary critic for
The Observer. When Coogan’s girlfriend Misha (Margo
Stilley) can’t accompany him, he rings up rollicking Rob
(accurately portrayed by Rob Brydon), and off they go to
the great country inns of England. They have only a map in
hand and their wits about them. Visiting a string of chichi
restaurants, the duo practically ignore the ornamental
concoctions they’ve been served in favor of slipping into
celebrity impersonations of Anthony Hopkins, Michael
Caine and Al Pacino, to name a few. One stirring bout
has them trading impressions of Sean Connery ordering
martinis until you can’t hold your own cocktail steady.
Steve and Rob’s Brit bromance is seasoned sweet and
sour in its ribbing rivalries. But like a foodie version of
Sideways, The Trip trades dry vintage for a full belly
laugh.
Michael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom first emerged as a television director
in the early 1990s, soon crossing over with his debut
feature Butterfly Kiss (1995). A restless and prolific artist,
Winterbottom’s body of work is notable for its stylistic
adventure—Wonderland, Code 46 and Tristram Shandy:
A Cock and Bull Story—and daring subject matter—In
This World, Nine Songs and The Road to Guantanamo.
Winterbottom’s previous film was his 2010 adaptation of Jim
Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me.
—Steve Seid
MON MAY 2
WED MAY 4
4:00
6:45
KABUKI
KABUKI
131
Walking Too Fast
Pouta
Czech Republic/Slovakia/Poland
2009
146 min
world cinema
DIR Radim Spacek
PROD Vratislav Slajer
SCR Ondrej Stindl
CAM Jaromir Kacer
ED Anna Johnson Ryndova
MUS Tomás Vtipil
WITH Ondrej Maly, Kristina Farkasova,
Martin Finger, Lubos Vesely
PRINT SOURCE Film Europe, Branicka 4,
140 00 Prague, Czech Republic. EMAIL:
[email protected]. WEB: pouta-film.cz.
In Czech and Slovak with subtitles.
Against the backdrop of a Cold War Czechoslovakia
where the Velvet Revolution is still unimaginable, this taut
political thriller traces the psychological unraveling of a
secret agent, torn apart by the monotony and corruption
of the sinister bureaucracy that employs him. Antonin,
nicknamed Tonga, becomes obsessed with the girlfriend
of a writer he is tracking as a suspected subversive, using
the considerable means at his disposal to break them
apart and win the woman for himself, never mind the
implausibility of his plan. Afflicted by panic attacks and
visions of himself teetering above a gaping chasm, he sees
that his prey, Tomas, has exactly the life—and the woman,
Klara—he desires, despite the constant pressures of the
police state. Tomas refuses to accept Tonga’s offer of
exile, even amid the incessant sabotaging of his private
life. But the pressure is unrelenting, and he eventually must
choose between his love for Klara and everything else he
holds dear. Bringing to mind The Lives of Others in its
story of love under a totalitarian regime, Walking Too Fast
similarly features a brilliant central performance by Ondrej
Maly, who plays Tonga with a chilling ruthlessness. Maly’s
steeliness is echoed by Jaromir Kacer’s surveillance-like
photography, full of stark shadows and a tenebrous ochre
and gray palette. Collecting an unprecedented 13 Czech
Golden Lion nominations, Walking Too Fast is a bleak
and potent rendering of the emotional destruction wreaked
by totalitarianism.
Radim Spacek
Trained as an actor from the time he was five years old, Radim
Spacek went on to study directing at the Prague Film Academy.
After a year of study, he relocated to Sarajevo at the height
of the Bosnian War, a move that informed his work from early
on. Employing a mix of fiction and documentary, Spacek’s first
films often dealt with war and crisis. He has worked in various
capacities for Czech television since his debut film, Young Men
Discovering the World (1996). Walking Too Fast is his first
narrative feature in over ten years.
—Jesse Dubus
FRI
APR 22
SUN APR 24
MON MAY 2
132
8:45
3:00
8:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
PFA
World on a Wire
Welt am draht
Germany
1973
204 min
DIR Rainer Werner Fassbinder
SCR Rainer Werner Fassbinder,
Fritz Müller-Scherz
CAM Michael Ballhaus
ED Marie Anne Gerhardt
MUS Gottfried Hüngsberg
WITH Klaus Löwitch, Ulli Lommel, Barbara
Valentin, Günter Lamprecht, Kurt Raab,
Margit Carstensen
PRINT SOURCE Janus Films, 215 Park Avenue
S., 5th Floor, New York NY 10003. FAX: 212756-8850. EMAIL: [email protected].
There will be a ten-minute intermission.
world cinema
PROD Peter Märthesheimer, Alexander
Wesemann
Largely unseen since its 1973 broadcast in Germany,
the restoration of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s cyberpunk
precursor is a revelation. This immensely satisfying
and entirely singular work has rarely screened in the
United States. Adapted from Daniel F. Galouye’s novel
Simulacron-3, the film’s treatment of virtual worlds brings
to mind The Matrix or Tron, but with its own astounding
visual style. Director of photography Michael Ballhaus, who
also supervised the restoration, mounts a riot of reflected,
refracted and severely fragmented images in the service
of a prescient story concerned with the illusory nature
of reality and the subjectivity of perception. Scientist
Fred Stiller replaces a colleague who was in charge of
an enormous computer simulation until he committed
suicide. The simulation is an artificially constructed world,
made up of “identity units” with human thoughts, emotions
and behaviors, created in order to predict the real-world
needs of the future. Stiller’s paranoia grows as he tries to
uncover the reason behind his coworker’s death. At the
same time, he is unnerved by the sudden disappearance of
a man who everyone but him seems to have immediately
forgotten. Wire is on par with the best of European
science fiction, but Fassbinder, rather than playing the
genre straight, makes it his own. Subverting the material
with characteristic elements of camp, pastiche and Sirkian
melodrama, Fassbinder lends the film his distinctive
sensibility, and it is all the richer for it. One of the major
cinematic rediscoveries in recent years, World on a Wire
is a beguilingly eccentric fusion of styles as well as a
breathtaking visual achievement.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
One of the seminal directors of the New German Cinema of
the 1970s, Rainer Werner Fassbinder made 40 feature-length
films in a career that lasted only 15 years. A larger-than-life
figure known nearly as much for his stormy personal life as for
his provocative films, he often focused on outsiders and social
criticism while dealing with sexuality and prejudice through
unconventional means, most notably ironic melodrama. Subject
of a major retrospective that toured the United States in 1997,
Fassbinder’s works include Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974),
Fox and His Friends (1975), Querelle (SFIFF 1983) and the
Adenauer Trilogy.
—Jesse Dubus
SAT
SAT
APR 23
APR 30
8:45
2:00
KABUKI
PFA
133
DOCUMENTARIES
International Nonfiction Features
About People, Places, Issues and Ideas
In Competition for
Golden Gate Awards
140
144
145
146
147
148
149
153
158
159
160
163
Better This World
Cinema Komunisto
Crime After Crime
Detroit Wild City
Foreign Parts
The Good Life
The Green Wave
Marathon Boy
The Pipe
The Redemption of General
Butt Naked
The Tiniest Place
OUT OF COMPETITION
American Teacher
The Arbor
The Autobiography of
Nicolae Ceausescu
139 The Ballad of Genesis and
Lady Jaye
141 The Black Power Mixtape
1967–1975
142 Cave of Forgotten Dreams
143 Children of the Princess
of Cleves
150 Hot Coffee
151 The Last Buffalo Hunt
152 Let the Wind Carry Me
154 Miss Representation
155 Nostalgia for the Light
156 Page One: A Year Inside the
New York Times
157 Pink Saris
161 Something Ventured
162Tabloid
164 !Women Art Revolution
165 Yves Saint Laurent l’Amour Fou
136
137
138
135
American Teacher
World Premiere
USA
2011
81 min
DIR Vanessa Roth
PROD Nínive Calegari, Dave Eggers,
Vanessa Roth
ED Brian McGinn
PRINT SOURCE The Teacher Salary Project,
3864 23rd Street, San Francisco CA 94114.
WEB: bigyearprods.com.
documentaries
This is a Cinema by the Bay film.
As the debate over the state of America’s public school
system rages on, one thing everyone (including President
Obama) agrees on is the need for great teachers. Yet,
while research proves that teachers are the most important
factor in a child’s future success, America’s teachers are
so woefully underpaid that almost half must divide their
time between a second job in order to make a living.
Chronicling the stories of four teachers in different areas
of the country, American Teacher reveals the frustrating
realities of today’s educators, the difficulty of attracting
talented new teachers and why so many of our best
teachers choose to leave the profession altogether. The
only African American teacher at Leadership High School
in San Francisco, Jonathan Dearman, loved his job, and
his students adored him. But his inability to support his
family led him to pursue a new career and left his students
devastated by his departure. An elementary school
teacher in New Jersey, Rhena is fresh out of Harvard and
personifies the smart, young teacher anyone would want
for their kids. But even her youthful commitment ultimately
crumbles when weighed against her own financial needs.
Their stories are disheartening, but this wake-up call to
our system’s failings also looks at possibilities for reform.
Can we re-value teaching in the United States and turn
it into a prestigious, financially attractive and competitive
profession? With almost half of American teachers leaving
the field in the next five years, now is the time to find out.
Vanessa Roth
Vanessa Roth has been making social-issue documentaries for
more than a decade. Her award-winning films include the PBS
special Taken In: The Lives of America’s Foster Children,
Close to Home, Aging Out and The Third Monday in October
(SFIFF 2007). As a producer, her film Freeheld won the
Academy Award for Best Documentary Short in 2008. She holds
a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University, and
before making films worked as a child advocate in family courts
and public schools in New York and California.
—Joanne Parsont
TUE
THU
136
MAY 3
MAY 5
6:30
3:45
KABUKI
KABUKI
The Arbor
England
2010
94 min
DIR Clio Barnard
PROD Tracy O’Riordan
CAM Ole Birkeland
ED Nick Fenton, Daniel Goddard
MUS Harry Escott, Molly Nyman
WITH Manjinder VIrk, Christine Bottomley,
Neil Dudgeon, Monica Dolan, Jimi Mistry
90232. FAX: 310-836-7510. EMAIL: david@
Clio Barnard
Born in Santa Barbara, California in 1965, Clio Barnard is a
British artist and filmmaker whose work has appeared in film
festivals, on Britain’s Channel 4 at the Tate Modern and the New
York Museum of Modern Art. She has also worked as a director
and producer for MTV Europe. For The Arbor, her debut feature,
Barnard won the Best British Newcomer Award at the 2010 BFI
London Film Festival.
documentaries
British playwright Andrea Dunbar (1961–1990) didn’t
come “out of nowhere,” as a familiar formula might have
it. Both she and her art hailed from a precise place:
Brafferton Arbor, a poor row of council estates in Bradford,
West Yorkshire, the tangible setting for this moody,
exquisitely crafted film portrait. Nevertheless, Dunbar’s
arrival at London’s Royal Court Theatre at age 17 was
hardly expected. When she died of a brain hemorrhage
at 29, she vanished as suddenly as she had arrived.
Dunbar left a complex legacy, entwined in several sexually
precocious, uncompromisingly gritty and very funny
plays—including Rita, Sue, and Bob Too!, made into a
celebrated film by Alan Clarke in 1986 (SFIFF 1993)—and
three children with three different men. Barnard delves
into this bounding yet brooding history with inspired
invention. Marshaling the techniques of documentary
theater, she mixes archival footage with scenes from
Dunbar’s seminal play, The Arbor, staged outdoors
on Brafferton Arbor itself. Meanwhile, actors lip-synch
extensive audio interviews with family, neighbors and
intimates—performances so deft you could easily miss the
conceit, but adding subtly to the narrative’s hypnotic pull.
As Dunbar’s tenacity, ambivalence and depression emerge
from the Arbor, so too does the story of Lorraine (a quietly
haunted Manjinder Virk), her half-Pakistani child who
descended into addiction, prostitution and finally prison. Art
and life intermingle in prolific ways as absorbing accounts
by Lorraine, her siblings and others reverberate with, and
respond to, the brutal, beautiful career of a working-class
artist.
—Robert Avila
SUN APR 24
SUN MAY 1
WED MAY 4
8:45
7:15
7:15
PFA
KABUKI
KABUKI
137
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
Autobiografia lui Nicolae Ceausescu
Romania
2010
187 min
DIR Andrei Ujica
PROD Velvet Moraru
SCR Andrei Ujica
ED Dana Bunescu
PRINT SOURCE Mandragora International,
29 rue des Pyramides, Paris 75001, France.
FAX: 33-1-42-86-02-24. EMAIL: jennifer@
mandragorasales.com. WEB: the-autobiography.
com.
documentaries
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu opens
with footage of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu at their
trial in 1989, just before their execution. The couple is
exhausted but defiant. “I will only answer to the Grand
Assembly,” Ceausescu says, “whatever your masquerade
is.” “It was your masquerade for 25 years,” his unseen
questioner retorts. Andrei Ujica’s biting film documents
that masquerade. In this collage of clips from Ceausescu’s
official filmed record, there is no sign of Romania’s mass
poverty or the countless sick and abandoned children
who were the product of Ceausescu’s laws against
contraception. Instead there are cheering crowds,
grandiose building projects, meetings with international
figures like Charles de Gaulle and Jimmy Carter, and
Ceausescu’s obvious fascination with the obsequious
political theater of Mao’s China and Kim ll Sung’s North
Korea. At moments, the happy veneer wears thin. The
audio from a live broadcast of the 1977 earthquake
records the collapse of a crowded concert theater.
A courageous Communist official refuses to vote for
Ceausescu’s reelection to the 12th Romanian Congress.
For most of the film, however, the viewer will detect
smaller fractures of the myth in the managed footage. A
crowd of young people clowns around rather than listen
to a Ceausescu speech. Workers in a store applaud
mechanically beside goods that were shipped in so
that Ceausescu could be filmed inspecting them. Ujica
chillingly reveals, without comment, the manner in which a
dictator constructs, and comes to believe in, his own cult
of personality.
Andrei Ujica
Andrei Ujica was born in Timisoara, Romania, in 1951. He
codirected Videograms of a Revolution (1992) with Harun
Farocki and directed the acclaimed Out of the Present (1995),
a documentary about cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, aboard the
Mir space station at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Ujica currently lives in Berlin, where he teaches literature, film
and media theory.
—Pamela Troy
SAT
SUN
SUN
138
APR 23
APR 24
MAY 1
12:45
5:15
1:30
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
PFA
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye
USA
2011
72 min
DIR Marie Losier
PROD Marie Losier, Steve Holmgren
CAM Marie Losier, Benjamin Kasulke
ED Marie Losier
PRINT SOURCE Marie Losier. EMAIL: info@
balladofgenesisandladyjaye.com.
Marie Losier
Marie Losier, born in France in 1972, is a filmmaker based in
New York. She has been a film curator at the Alliance Française
in Manhattan since 2000, and programs experimental films at
various venues in Europe and throughout the United States. Her
own films, including idiosyncratic portraits of George and Mike
Kuchar, Richard Foreman and Guy Maddin, frequently screen at
art and film festivals and museums. Recipient of many awards
and grants for her filmmaking, she was included in the 2006
Whitney Biennial. The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye is her
first feature film.
documentaries
After many inventive short works, Marie Losier’s first
feature film is an intimate and poignant portrait of Genesis
P-Orridge, the industrial music, performance art and body
mod pioneer (and onetime SF resident). Shot on HD and
16mm, with sound floated in as if from outer space, the
film combines Losier’s home movie–style cinematography
with whimsical set pieces and amazing archival footage
to collage P-Orridge’s mercurial career with her deep love
for late muse and other half, the lovely Lady Jaye. More
specifically, it explores the pair’s primary art project: their
merging into a single “pandrogyne” through plastic surgery
and various practices of oneness. The debatable success
of this project makes it no less interesting though also,
at times, somewhat sorrowful. For all its playfulness and
provocation—and there’s plenty: It opens with P-Orridge
looking like Carol Channing in a diaphanous bird suit,
chirping mellifluously, and tracks her vanguard work with
COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV—
the film has a tweaked melancholy. It is as much an elegy
as a ballad, not only for the loss of a loved one but also for
something that not everyone cares about or even believes
in: the late 20th-century avant-garde. If, by chance, you do
believe in this—if, Burners and friends, you believe in a vital
sociopoetical underground bent on world liberation—then
this singularly magical little film will give you plenty of
ideas to swipe and heartfelt permission to go further; as
well as, perhaps, a hatful of blues to sort through.
—Graham Leggat
WED APR 27
THU MAY 5
9:15
6:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
139
Better This World
USA
2011
94 min
DIR Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway
PROD Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway
CAM David Layton
ED Greg O’Toole
MUS Paul Brill
PRINT SOURCE Loteria Films, 1613 Eighth
Street, Berkeley CA 94710.
GGA Documentary Feature Contender
documentaries
Passionate young activists and authorities clash in
Minneapolis in events surrounding the protests at the
2008 Republican National Convention. As arrests are
made and accusations fly, the truth recedes behind a
desperate and strained justice system abetted by the
opportunism of chameleon-like activist Brandon Darby,
a cofounder of Common Ground Relief. Darby’s cult of
personality spins a nasty web that entangles the lives
of two young protesters, childhood friends who had
regarded Darby as their mentor and were eager to show
him the genuineness of their political convictions. As
the filmmakers follow the twists and turns of their legal
defense, the young men confront a divisive moral dilemma
that pits shared ideals against practical decisions, with
immediate consequences for themselves and their families.
From this tense situation, a poignant portrait emerges of
the activists, their friends and loved ones. Intimate phone
conversations, found footage, photographs and court
transcripts merge with artful reenactments, while onscreen
interviews include FBI officials and the federal prosecutor
handling the case. Documentarians Kelly Duane de la
Vega and Katie Galloway present a story that deals not
only with problems of power and authority, freedom and
democracy but also with the ultimate power of forgiveness
and love.
Kelly Duane de la Vega
Katie Galloway
Kelly Duane de la Vega is a 2010 HBO Documentary Film/
Film Independent Fellow and 2010 Sundance Fellow. Her
documentaries have been broadcast on PBS, the Documentary
Channel and Discovery Channel and have screened at numerous
international film festivals. She has recently produced a television
series for IFC.
Katie Galloway is an award-winning documentarian who has
produced works for Frontline, POV and PBS and is a 2010
Sundance Fellow. She now teaches Media Studies at UC
Berkeley and is filmmaker in residence at the Journalism
School’s Investigative Reporting Program.
—Sean Diggins
SAT
TUE
FRI
140
APR 23
APR 26
APR 29
6:00
6:30
9:30
KABUKI
PFA
KABUKI
The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975
Sweden/USA
2011
96 min
DIR Göran Hugo Olsson
PROD Annika Rogell
SCR Göran Hugo Olsson
ED Göran Hugo Olsson, Hanna Lejonqvist
MUS Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson,
Om’Mas Keith
PRINT SOURCE IFC, 11 Penn Plaza, 18th Floor,
New York NY 10001. FAX: 646-273-7250.
WEB: blackpowermixtape.com.
provided by Dale Djerassi.
Göran Hugo Olsson
Göran Hugo Olsson is a Swedish documentary filmmaker and
cinematographer who has been making films for television for
over two decades. He was a consultant at the Swedish Film
Institute during 2000–02 and is a member of the editorial
board of Ikon South Africa, a platform for innovative South
African documentaries. Olsson is also the cofounder of the
production company Story AB, where he has made other daring
documentaries like Fuck You, Fuck You Very Much (1998)
and Am I Black Enough for You (2009).
documentaries
In English and Swedish with subtitles.
Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson’s fascinating
documentary, coproduced by longtime activist and
acclaimed actor Danny Glover, juxtaposes recently
discovered Swedish archival material chronicling the Black
Power movement in the United States from 1967 to 1975
with new commentary by prominent African American
voices in cultural and political spheres. Set to an evocative
soundtrack with original music by Questlove (DJ and
drummer of the hip-hop group the Roots) and Om’Mas
Keith, the outcome is a dynamic audiovisual collage about
being Black in America in the ’60s and ’70s, through the
curious and at times naive eyes of Swedish journalists.
Unique coverage of iconic African American activists such
as Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton,
Eldridge Cleaver and Bobby Seale is contextualized with
reference to the struggles of the Black community in
places like South Florida and Harlem. Special attention
is given to the Black Panther Party’s activities in Oakland
as well as the views of other radical Americans, criticizing
the government and the situation for African Americans
at the time. Mixtape is a striking reminder that many of
the problems discussed here endure in today’s society.
This is emphasized by the insightful commentary from
activists and artists such as Kathleen Cleaver, Sonia
Sanchez, Abiodun Oyewole, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli
and Harry Belafonte. Apart from taking a refreshingly
honest look at the Black Power movement’s evolution,
this montage of rare cinematic gems offers universally
relevant observations about racial stratification and political
empowerment.
—Erica Hand
SAT
TUE
APR 30
MAY 3
9:00
6:00
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
141
USA
2010
95 min
DIR Werner Herzog
PROD Erik Nelson, Adrienee Ciuffo
CAM Peter Zeitlinger
ED Joe Bini, Maya Hawke
MUS Ernst Reijseger
New York NY 10001. FAX: 646-273-7250.
This is a World Cinema Spotlight film.
documentaries
The surprise resurgence of 3-D has prompted everything
from blanket claims that it’s the future of cinema to
dismissals that it will again exhaust public patience
through indiscriminate application to inappropriate films.
But this process too often associated with routine genre
films and cheesy FX can be surprisingly apt for some
auteurs. Who better to adopt the form than Werner
Herzog, our veteran guide to landscapes and mindscapes
dislocative yet immersive? Eternally attracted to the
spectacular, mystic and strange, he’s forever plunging
head-first into exotica his bemused point-of-view renders
gently inviting. There’s scarcely a Herzog feature—
from Even Dwarves Started Small (1970) to recent
Antarctica documentary Encounters at the End of the
World—whose outré content, personalities and imagery
wouldn’t make perfect sense in the stereoscopic form.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams is about southern France’s
Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc caverns, discovered in 1994. An Ice
Age landslide had hidden (and preserved) prehistoric art
dating back as far as 32,000 years ago, the oldest such
expressions known today. Herzog was given exclusive
access to this publicly sealed-off site of human prehistory.
Its spectacular wall drawings from a near-unimaginable
distant past are no less photogenic than the deep-focus
vistas of limestone-stalagmite caverns à la Carlsbad.
As ever, Herzog proves a wry, philosophically inclined,
idiosyncratically personal guide to the extraordinary. Cave
of Forgotten Dreams is like no 3-D movie you’ve seen: It
thrusts out not to show off but to ponder more deeply the
“humanness” of human life over millennia.
Werner Herzog
Bavaria-raised director Werner Herzog has been a globetrotting,
internationally acknowledged master of the medium since
making his feature debut in 1967 with Signs of Life.
Subsequent narrative films include Aguirre, the Wrath of God
(1972), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1975), Nosferatu the
Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Rescue Dawn (2006)
and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009). His
documentaries include Lessons of Darkness (SFIFF 1993),
Bells from the Deep (SFIFF 1993), Little Dieter Needs to Fly
(1998), Grizzly Man (2005) and The Wild Blue Yonder (2006).
Herzog received SFIFF’s Founder’s Directing Award in 2006.
—Dennis Harvey
MON APR 25
TUE APR 26
142
7:00
9:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
Children of the Princess of Cleves
Nous, princesses de Clèves
France
2009
69 min
DIR Régis Sauder
PROD Sylvie Randonneix
SCR Régis Sauder
CAM Régis Sauder
ED Florent Mangeot
PRINT SOURCE RamondaParis, 91 rue de
Ménilmontant, 75020 Paris, France.
Régis Sauder
After completing a master’s degree in neuroscience and a
brief career as a science journalist, Régis Sauder became a
filmmaker by chance. Over the last several years he has directed
a number of documentaries including Passeurs de vie (2003),
Le lotissement, à la recherche du bonheur (2006), L’année
prochaine à Jérusalem (2008) and Je t’emmène à Alger
(2009). He is currently in production on a documentary about
the mental health of prisoners, filmed in a Marseille prison.
documentaries
Ah, the high school English class, where works of great
literature are foisted upon students as required reading.
Those great tomes filled with heady prose and characters
from another era are supposed to be vitally important to
every young person’s education, but how relevant are they
to the realities of daily angst-ridden teenage existence? In
a refreshing and inspired look at the lives of contemporary
youth, director Régis Sauder attempts to make that elusive
connection between classic literature and contemporary
teenage life through the authentic voices and emotions
of one Marseille high school class studying the 17th
century French novel La princesse de Clèves. A tale of
love and duty in the 16th century court of King Henri II,
this classic text has been taught in French classrooms
for decades. But Sauder gives it a new spin, juxtaposing
its narrative with the lives of the students themselves, a
diverse population of teens from predominantly workingclass and immigrant families. As they gradually begin
the stressful preparation for their baccalaureate exams,
the students recite assorted passages from the book
and speak candidly about their hopes and dreams, love
and heartbreak, family and friends and their own place in
today’s French society.
Aglaée
After he loses a bet, Benoît’s friends dare him to ask the
disabled girl in their class to go out with him, sparking a range
of teen emotions, insecurities, expectations, hormones and
ever-present peer pressure. (Rudi Rosenberg, France 2010,
20 min)
—Joanne Parsont
SUN APR 24
MON APR 25
SAT APR 30
4:15
2:00
4:15
PFA
KABUKI
KABUKI
143
Cinema Komunisto
Serbia
2010
101 min
DIR Mila Turajlic
PROD Dragan Pesikan
SCR Mila Turajlic
CAM Goran Kovacevic
ED Aleksandra Milovanovic
MUS Nemanja Mosurovic
PRINT SOURCE Dribbling Pictures, Bitoljaska
2/II, 11030 Belgrade, Serbia. FAX: 381-112391369. EMAIL: [email protected].
WEB: cinemakomunisto.com.
documentaries
More than a history of the Yugoslavian film industry, this
account of a once-illustrious Belgrade studio chronicles
how a national cinema was used to create and revise
the narrative of a country with an ever-murky identity.
Complete with heroes and legends, the fiction did not
always cleave to reality. When the studio collapsed
with the country around it, a new generation was left to
struggle with reinterpreting the self-made myths. Spurred
by a movie-mad populace that included cinephile-inchief President Josip Broz Tito, who screened nearly
9,000 feature films during his tenure and was often
deeply involved in the productions, Yugoslavia allocated
tremendous resources to making films. Scores of
triumphant war films that extolled the nation’s founding
gave way to large international coproductions featuring
stars like Sophia Loren, Anthony Hopkins and Orson
Welles, culminating in an Oscar-nominated epic about
a seminal battle of World War II. Told through the proud
recollections of the industry’s aging craftsmen and newly
restored archival clips from dozens of forgotten films,
Cinema Komunisto offers a glimpse into the wild frontier
days of a studio where the answer to every challenge, no
matter how great, was “no problem.” The film’s charming
subjects including Tito’s personal projectionist, reverently
remember the era, while acknowledging the disconnect
between the way things were and the way they were
proclaimed to be. Director Mila Turajlic’s fleet-footed debut
is a nostalgic tale of a golden age, with cheerful clips and
bright music rendered bittersweet in light of the harsh
realities that were to come.
Mila Turajlic
After graduating from the London School of Economics with a
degree in politics and international relations and competing in
numerous debate tournaments, Mila Turajlic decided to channel
her political engagement into filmmaking. She earned a degree
in film production at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade
and went on to study documentary filmmaking at La Femis
in Paris. She worked as an assistant director and production
coordinator in New York and London before going on to develop
Cinema Komunisto, her first feature documentary.
—Jesse Dubus
SAT APR 30
TUE MAY 3
WED MAY 4
144
3:15
6:30
3:15
KABUKI
PFA
KABUKI
Crime After Crime
USA
2011
93 min
DIR Yoav Potash
PROD Yoav Potash
CAM Ben Ferrer, Yoav Potash
ED Yoav Potash, Frank Giraffe
MUS Jaymee Carpenter
WITH Deborah Peagler, Joshua Safran,
Nadia Costa, Natasha Wilson, Bobby Buechler
PRINT SOURCE Life Sentence Films LLC, 1375
Santa Rosa Drive, Santa Fe NM 87505. EMAIL:
[email protected].
WEB: crimeaftercrime.com.
Support for this program generously provided by
Visionary Circle member Lynn Kirshbaum.
Yoav Potash
Yoav Potash, a 2008 San Francisco Film Society FilmHouse
resident, recently codirected the documentary Food Stamped
(2010) in collaboration with his wife, nutrition educator Shira
Potash. His documentary Life on the Inside, about the nation’s
largest women’s prison, began airing on PBS in 2007. His short
Minute Matrimony earned a Golden Gate Award at SFIFF in
2002 and a Grand Festival Award at the Berkeley Video & Film
Festival. Other films include Criminal Justice, on racial profiling,
and From the Ground Up (2000), about a group of Berkeley
students who helped rebuild burned-down African American
churches in Alabama. Crime After Crime is his first featurelength film.
documentaries
Yoav Potash’s moving documentary takes us inside the
case of Deborah Peagler, a woman serving 25 yearsto-life for her involvement in the murder of the man who
abused her. This intimate portrait includes the pro bono
legal team of Joshua Safran and Nadia Costa, young
attorneys who upon meeting Peagler—already more than
20 years into a life sentence—became inspired to fight
relentlessly for her release. In the wake of a new California
law offering abused women the opportunity to reopen
their defense cases, Safran and Costa were convinced
they would prevail. Shot over a five-and-a-half year period,
Crime After Crime is a fascinating and penetrating
look at a skewed justice system from the vantage of
a remarkable and committed triumvirate taking on the
powerful Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The film also offers a rare glimpse into life behind bars at
the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, the
state’s largest women’s prison. Myriad twists and surprises
unfold for the audience as they did for the director, making
for an emotional roller coaster ride with pressing social
content.
—Andrea Carla Michaels
SUN APR 24
WED APR 27
MON MAY 2
6:00
6:30
9:00
KABUKI
PFA
KABUKI
145
Detroit Wild City
Detroit ville sauvage
France/USA
2010
80 min
DIR Florent Tillon
PROD Bernard Bouthier, Pierre-Emmanuel
Fleurantin
CAM Florent Tillon
ED Florent Tillon, Claire Atherton
MUS Winter Family, William Basinski
PRINT SOURCE Festival Agency, 89 New Bond
Street, London, W1S 1DA, England.
documentaries
In English.
Florent Tillon’s film begins with familiar but inevitably
arresting images of Detroit’s decay into postapocalyptic
pastoralism, but doesn’t end there. While most cinematic
pilgrims have portrayed the Motor City as a giant canvas
onto which they project their outsider fantasies, Tillon
has greater ambitions and greater respect. The obligatory
urban tour of empty factories and the abandoned Michigan
Central station quickly gives way to a contemplative,
nuanced discussion of what futures might actually be
possible. As we visit with a variety of Detroiters, we realize
that most of what we think we know about Detroit is
superficial, and begin to question easy assumptions about
urban agriculture, urban pioneering and Detroit’s reversion
to a “natural” state. While urban farmer Shirley Robinson
suggests “a lot of people would go back to a simple life
if they had a choice,” outsider historian/pundit Black
Monk questions the long-term effect of today’s urban
pioneering movement. “Urban pioneers find the edge, but
don’t occupy it,” he tells us. “Cities are built by settlers, not
pioneers.” Tavern proprietor Larry Mongo, on the other
hand, likens today’s young inbound migrants to those who
originally settled Detroit 300 years ago. A minimalist but
intelligent travelogue that resists sensationalism, Detroit
Wild City focuses on people rather than ruins. It suggests
that while macronarratives may help us understand the
past, micronarratives will describe the future, and Detroit’s
destiny will be the product of many individual, small-group
and localized efforts.
Florent Tillon
Florent Tillon’s films focus on landscape and the continuum
between nature and culture. Other works include Rond-point
de la Porte Maillot (2008), observing biodiversity in a traffic
roundabout, and Las Vegas Meditation (2009). This is his first
feature film.
—Rick Prelinger
FRI
APR 29
SUN MAY 1
WED MAY 4
146
7:00
2:45
8:40
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
PFA
Foreign Parts
USA/France
2010
80 min
DIR/ PROD/ CAM/ ED Véréna Paravel, J.P.
Sniadecki
PRINT SOURCE Véréna Paravel, EMAIL:
[email protected]. WEB: foreignpartsfilm.com.
In English, Spanish and Hebrew with subtitles.
Véréna Paravel
J.P. Sniadecki
Véréna Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki are both associated with the
Harvard University Sensory Ethnography Lab. Paravel received
her PhD in anthropology in France and began making films in
2008 at Harvard, producing 7 Queens (2008) and five video
shorts grouped as the Interface Series (2009).
J.P. Sniadecki is completing his doctorate in Harvard’s Media
Anthropology program. He has produced several films while
based in Beijing, including Songhua (2007), the award-winning
Demolition (Chaiqian) 2008) and The Yellow Bank (2010).
documentaries
Anthropological in scope, sensuous in detail and
emotionally resonant throughout, Véréna Paravel and
J.P. Sniadecki’s Foreign Parts is an exemplary social
record—one which harkens back to the unsentimental
poetry of James Agee and Walker Evans’ Let Us Now
Praise Famous Men as well as the ground-up advocacy
work of Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great
American Cities. The film takes a local interest in the
Willets Point neighborhood in Queens, New York, an
industrial enclave where cars are scrapped, salvaged and
repaired. Enmeshed in a symphony of radios, drill bits,
overhead plane traffic and much scraping and pounding
(Sweetgrass sound editor Ernst Karel again works
wonders here), we find an eclectic citizenry at work and
leisure. Whether listening to a middleman bark orders
for windshield glass, a Hasidic Jew explain how to wrap
tefillen or a disillusioned young man’s monologue on the
lures of drag racing, Foreign Parts is a potent trove of
talk. The observational camera threads the yard’s pocked
grounds on the heels of several local fixtures, a few of
whom emerge as sharply etched characters. Meanwhile,
the new Mets stadium looms in the near distance,
emblematic of Mayor Bloomberg’s redevelopment plans
for the entire area. Without recourse to voiceover or direct
interviews, Foreign Parts raises essential questions about
urban renewal’s effects on pluralism and the city’s working
class. The Willets Point landscape is unavoidably political,
but Paravel and Sniadecki remain adamantly concerned
with the grain of human experience there—its bitterness
and grace.
—Max Goldberg
SAT
THU
FRI
SUN
APR 23
APR 28
APR 29
MAY 1
2:15
9:00
1:15
6:45
PFA
NEW PEOPLE
KABUKI
KABUKI
147
The Good Life
Det Gode Liv
Denmark
2010
87 min
DIR Eva Mulvad
PROD Sigrid Dyekjaer
CAM Eva Mulvad, Sophia Olsson
ED Adam Nielsen
MUS Johann Jóhansson
PRINT SOURCE The Danish Film Institute,
Gothersgade 55, 1123 Copenhagen K,
Denmark. EMAIL: [email protected].
documentaries
In English, Danish, Portuguese and French
with subtitles.
“We’ve always had what we needed, and then some. And
now we don’t have anything.” Such is the predicament of
Mette Beckmann and her middle-aged daughter Anne, two
women suddenly facing an unfamiliar nemesis—poverty—in
this compelling and timely documentary by Eva Mulvad.
Against the picturesque backdrop of a Portuguese
resort town, The Good Life chronicles Mette and Anne’s
reluctance to surrender the opulent lifestyle they have
enjoyed for decades far south of their native Denmark.
While the elderly and pragmatic Mette makes feeble
attempts to ensure the pair’s survival, her entitled daughter
desperately clings to delusions of their family’s former
grandeur. Bitterly lamenting a present reality for which she
feels unprepared, Anne assuages the harsh challenges
of adult life with frequent sunbathing, the frivolous pursuit
of material objects and a particularly virulent strain of
naïveté. The quotidian struggles of this tragic and often
entertaining duo are thoughtfully juxtaposed with the
overwhelming beauty of Portugal’s coast. With a film that
unapologetically parallels Albert and David Maysles’ 1975
classic Grey Gardens, Mulvad not only crafts an engaging
narrative but also highlights a series of issues increasingly
at the forefront of modern society. As the world prepares
to face the consequences of widespread irresponsibility—
both financial and otherwise—many people find themselves
in situations not unlike that of Anne and Mette. Mulvad’s
memorable protagonists point to the uncertainty of the
human condition and offer a glimpse into a fate from
which none of us is necessarily exempt.
Eva Mulvad
Following her graduation from the National Film School of
Denmark in 2001, Eva Mulvad produced films for Danish
national television before distinguishing herself as one of the
region’s top documentary filmmakers. Her breakthrough work,
Enemies of Happiness (2006), which traces the story of the
first Afghan woman to enter the nation’s parliament, garnered
the 2006 IDFA Silver Wolf Award and 2007 World Cinema Jury
Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The Good Life is Mulvad’s
sixth feature-length documentary.
—Damon O’Donnell
FRI
THU
SUN
148
APR 22
APR 28
MAY 1
3:45
6:45
9:30
KABUKI
KABUKI
KABUKI
The Green Wave
Germany/Iran
2010
80 min
DIR Ali Samadi Ahadi
PROD Jan Krueger, Oliver Stoltz
SCR Ali Samadi Ahadi
CAM Peter Jeschke, Ali Samadi Ahadi
ED Barbara Toennieshen, Andreas Menn
MUS Ali N. Askin
WITH Pegah Ferydoni, Navid Akhavan,
Payam Akhavan, Shirin Ebadi
PRINT SOURCE Visit Films, 89 Fifth Avenue,
Suite 806, New York NY 10003. FAX: 718362-4865. EMAIL: [email protected].
In Farsi with subtitles.
Ali Samadi Ahadi
Born 1972 in Tabriz, Iran, writer/director Ali Samadi Ahadi
fled his country alone at the age of 12. He is now based in
Germany, where he studied filmmaking and TV production. His
documentaries, starting with Culture Clan (2004) and including
Lost Children (2005), made with Green Wave producer Oliver
Stoltz, have won several awards. He made his first feature film,
the comedy Salami Aleikum, in 2009.
documentaries
Spring and summer of 2009 were a heady time for the
youth of Iran. The candidacy of comeback reformist MirHossein Mousavi promised a blossoming of democracy
and freedom not seen during the regimes of the Shah or
the Islamic Republic. Green scarves and banners emerged,
symbolizing the opening up of life and activism. Then,
when the people realized that the outcome—projected
so clearly in favor of Mousavi—was manipulated to give
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a landslide victory,
their fury led to massive street demonstrations. These
in turn provoked a brutal government crackdown in the
form of beatings, torture and murder. As the regime
silenced conventional media outlets like newspapers
and state-run TV, new ones took their place. With The
Green Wave, filmmaker Ali Samadi Ahadi has created a
moving documentary collage that adroitly captures this
21st-century model for a new-media people’s movement.
A variety of real-time Facebook reports, tweets and
videos posted on the Internet were integrated into the film
composition, and hundreds of actual blog entries served as
background reference for the experiences and thoughts
of two young students whose story anchors the narrative.
Vivid animation appears alongside authentic, often
disturbing from-the-street photographs of the movement
and on-camera interviews to drive the moving account of a
youth revolt against one of the most repressive regimes in
the world. It’s a captivating amalgam of election meetings,
demonstrations and unrest, and ultimately attacks by
the militia, perfectly capturing a revolution in flux, yet
evergreen with hope.
—Frako Loden
SAT APR 23
SUN APR 24
MON MAY 2
4:00
2:45
6:15
PFA
KABUKI
KABUKI
149
Hot Coffee
USA
2010
88 min
DIR Susan Saladoff
PROD Carly Hugo, Alan Oxman, Susan Saladoff
CAM Martina Radwan
ED Cindy Lee
MUS Michael Mollura
PRINT SOURCE If Not Now Productions. EMAIL:
[email protected].
WEB: hotcoffeethemovie.com.
documentaries
Most folks will at least vaguely recall the infamous case
of Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants, in which a woman
who spilled a cup of coffee on her lap sued the fast food
conglomerate for over $2 million dollars. As depicted in
the media, the 1994 lawsuit quickly became a nationwide
joke. Moreover, the public outrage over the perceived
legal frivolity was subsequently maniputlated to help
justify massive legal reform to favor big business. This
larger legislative agenda, sold to the public as a means
of protecting honest citizens from greedy individuals, had
been underway since the 1980s, and its success has
left the public less able to seek redress for corporate
wrongdoing in court. The alarming facts of the case—
including significant corporate misconduct and extensive
physical injury—remained hidden. Starkly unraveling a
history of corruption and self-interest, lawyer-turneddocumentarian Susan Saladoff’s vital debut feature uses
the cautionary hot coffee case—among several vivid
examples of similar injustices, each one more frustrating
and disturbing than the last—to expose a massive public
relations campaign that has both facilitated and masked
an effort to close off the one forum where average
citizens have a fighting chance at holding corporations
accountable to the law. Culminating with a travesty so
appalling that it simply cannot be ignored, Hot Coffee cuts
to the core of a corrupted civil justice system whose decay
has been systematically orchestrated, and challenges us to
do something about it.
Susan Saladoff
Susan Saladoff has spent the past 25 years practicing law and
representing victims of individual and corporate negligence.
Beginning her career as a public interest lawyer with Public
Justice, she subsequently served as the organization’s 20th
president. Recognized by her peers as an Oregon Super Lawyer,
she has previously directed, produced and edited several short
documentaries. Hot Coffee marks her feature filmmaking debut.
—Landon Zakheim
FRI
APR 22
MON APR 25
TUE APR 26
150
6:30
6:30
2:00
NEW PEOPLE
KABUKI
KABUKI
The Last Buffalo Hunt
US Premiere
USA
2011
76 min
DIR Lee Anne Schmitt
PROD Lee Lynch, Lee Anne Schmitt
CAM James Laxton, David Fenster,
Lee Anne Schmitt, Lee Lynch
ED Lee Anne Schmitt
MUS Roger Pipers
PRINT SOURCE CalArts/Film Deptartment,
Lee Anne Schmitt
Lee Anne Schmitt is on the faculty of CalArts’ graduate film
directing program. She creates evocative, deeply felt works that
consider everyday elements of American life as cultural ritual,
including a series of cinematic investigations of the intersections
of landscape with personal memory (Las Vegas, 2000), with
the history of the American Left (Awake and Sing, 2003) and
with urban development (The Wash, 2005). Her previous film,
California Company Town (SFIFF 2009), an examination of
the landscape of the loss of the American dream, screened at
over 50 festivals and made top ten lists in Artforum, New York,
Time Out and Cinema Scope.
documentaries
24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia CA 91355.
FAX: 661-253-7824. EMAIL: leeanneschmitt@
gmail.com. WEB: leeanneschmitt.com.
Lee Anne Schmitt (California Company Town, SFIFF
2009) turns her essayistic directorial style onto the mythic
idea of the American Western frontier. Centering on an
officially sanctioned annual hunt on one of the last freeranging American bison herds, the film meditates on the
iconography and activities associated with a special brand
of American individuality as seen through the lens of a
dying cowboy culture. Schmitt deftly poses the ideologies
of frontierism and freedom against the practicalities
of commodification and regulation. She displays the
breathtaking open landscapes of southern Utah and
presents the men who have worked its land for decades
against a growing clutter of plastic teepees and casinos.
Perhaps most troubling is the industry that has grown out
of the hunt, now a mere tourist activity, an anachronistic
experience for scrapbooks. The result is a rounded picture
of the trajectory of the ideals surrounding our shared
national narrative, an unvarnished look at the residue of
a Western past and future. Schmitt continues her work
of documenting culture through its detritus and decay.
As in California Company Town, her approach is to let
images and activities unfold and accumulate, allowing the
duration of events to speak for themselves (recalling the
work of experimental auteur James Benning.) The result
is double-edged, as we are given access to the majestic
beauty of an America we all desire, while we also witness
it fading away.
—Sean Uyehara
SAT APR 23
TUE APR 26
WED APR 27
3:30
6:30
4:00
NEW PEOPLE
NEW PEOPLE
KABUKI
151
Let the Wind Carry Me
Cheng zhe guang ying lu xing
Taiwan
2010
88 min
DIR Chiang Hsiu-chiung, Kwan Pun-leung
PROD Tony Luo
CAM Kwan Pun-leung
MUS Kuo Li-chi
PRINT SOURCE Yonder Pictures Limited Inc.,
11th Floor, No. 92, Sec. 1, Zhongshan N. Road,
Zhongshan District, 104 Taipei, Taiwan. EMAIL:
[email protected]. WEB: letthewindcarryme.
com.
documentaries
provided by Taipei Economic and Cultural Office,
San Francisco.
For nearly three decades Mark Lee Ping-bin has
collaborated with many of the most urgent filmmakers in
Asia. As the primary cinematographer to Hou Hsiao-hsien,
lensing classics such as A Time to Live and a Time to
Die (SFIFF 1987), Goodbye South, Goodbye (SFIFF
1997, 2003) and Three Times (SFIFF 2006), Lee
has altered the visual grammar of filmmaking. Let the
Wind Carry Me documents Lee’s working process and
philosophical outlook, as he strives to present a vision of
the world to filmgoers. With discussions on Lee’s work
with Hou and other Asian master directors with whom
Lee has collaborated such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Wong
Kar-wai and Tran Anh Hung, Lee’s intense and beautiful
way of seeing is made clear. His tireless quest to picture
things just so, however, does take a toll on Lee’s personal
life. His status as an itinerant artist blows him from project
to project, leaving his wife and children anchored to
their home is Los Angeles without direct access to their
husband and father. The demand for Lee’s services is
great, and for good reason, as his economical and often
fearless ideas have made lasting impact on the stunning
design of his films. And it appears that success hasn’t
changed Lee, except perhaps in giving him the means
and time to delve even more deeply into questions of
the esoteric nature of perception. But, as the film offers
discreetly, at what price?
Chiang Hsiu- chiung
Kwan Pun-leung
No stranger to SFIFF, Chiang Hsiu-chiung brought her debut
fiction feature Artemisia to the Festival in 2009. She is also an
accomplished actress, delivering a Golden Horse–nominated
performance in Edward Yang’s epic A Brighter Summer Day
(SFIFF 1992). Behind the scenes, Chiang worked as assistant
director and performance supervisor on Yang’s films, including
A Confucian Confusion (SFIFF 1995) and Yi Yi (2000), and
those of Hou Hsiao-hsien: Flowers of Shanghai (SFIFF 1999)
and Millennium Mambo (SFIFF 2002).
Kwan Pun-leung has photographed close to 20 feature films,
including (with Mark Lee Ping-bin and Christopher Doyle) Wong
Kar-wai’s highly acclaimed In the Mood for Love (2002). With
Doyle and Lai Yui-fai he has won numerous awards for his
photographic work on Wong’s 2046 (2004), including Golden
Horse, National Society of Film Critics and New York Film Critics
Circle awards. In 1999, Kwan directed a making-of documentary,
Buenos Aires Zero Degree, about Wong’s film Happy
Together (1997).
—Sean Uyehara
FRI
APR 29
SUN MAY 1
WED MAY 4
152
6:15
1:30
3:45
NEW PEOPLE
KABUKI
KABUKI
Marathon Boy
England/USA/India
2010
98 min
DIR Gemma Atwal
PROD Gemma Atwal, Matt Norman
SCR Gemma Atwal
CAM Matt Norman
ED Peter Haddon
MUS Garry Hughes
PRINT SOURCE DRG. EMAIL: blankcanvas@
blueyonder.co.uk. WEB: marathonboymovie.com.
Gemma Atwal
British filmmaker Gemma Atwal was a 2009 Gucci Tribeca
Documentary Fund grantee. Her first film as a director was
Expedition Alaska (2008), a feature-length documentary that
follows a team of renowned scientists, naturalists and wildlife
filmmakers into Alaska’s four billion acres of wilderness to
assess the impact of global warming.
documentaries
In Oriyan and English with subtitles.
A national hero, Budhia Singh made headlines by running
more miles before the age of six than most people run in
a lifetime. But what motivates this young boy? Is it safe
for a five-year-old to run multiple marathons? Filmmaker
Gemma Atwal focuses on these questions and many more
in this spellbinding and often unsettling documentary.
Budhia is a scrappy slum kid from the eastern Indian
state of Orissa, where he and his mother search for their
next meal. Biranchi Das is a charismatic judo instructor
who runs an orphanage and becomes Budhia’s mentor.
Together, this dynamic duo captivates a country. As
the determined boy runs and runs, coach Das sets his
sights on Olympic gold. When India’s government hurls
accusations of child endangerment, the story takes a
sharp and sudden turn. Using footage she gathered over
several years, beginning with Budhia at three years old and
ending when he’s eight, Atwal crafts a tale with thrilling
twists and turns. Her verité style gives us an immediate
sense of access to the people and places of the story
while refraining from easy judgments. Combining intense
scenes of contemporary Indian life with striking shots
of the country, Atwal builds a fascinating story full of
contradictions and complexities that resonates well past
the last frame.
—Brendan Peterson
FRI
SAT
TUE
APR 29
APR 30
MAY 3
2:30
1:00
9:15
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
KABUKI
153
Miss Representation
USA
2011
85 min
DIR Jennifer Siebel Newsom
PROD Jennifer Siebel Newsom
SCR Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Jessica Congdon
CAM Svetlana Cvetko, John Behrens, Ben Wolf
ED Jessica Congdon
MUS Eric Holland
PRINT SOURCE Girls’ Club Entertainment, 912
Cole Street, #198, San Francisco CA 94117.
WEB: missrepresentation.org.
documentaries
provided by Celeste and Anthony Meier.
Today’s female teenagers consume more media than
anyone ever. Each week, they devour more than 31
hours of television and 17 hours of music: programming
pervaded by the message that their value lies more in their
fleeting physical attraction than in lasting intellectual or
leadership capacities. Miss Representation measures
the magnitude of that phenomenon, including the way
objectification gets internalized—in a symbolic devaluing
of self-worth—inhibiting girls and women from realizing
their full potential. Actress, filmmaker and former first
lady of San Francisco, Jennifer Siebel Newsom marshals
astonishing facts and statistics, supported by provocative
stories from teenage girls as well as candid interviews
with actors, politicians, journalists, academics and activists
(a roll call that includes Jane Fonda, Geena Davis,
Margaret Cho, Condoleeza Rice, Nancy Pelosi and Gloria
Steinem). Siebel Newsom critically examines recent and
stark episodes of sexism and prejudice in the public
sphere, including the media’s unbalanced treatment of
Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin and Hollywood’s ongoing
exploitation of actresses and women directors. The
accumulation of startling details will leave viewers shaken
but armed with a new perspective. A personal narrative
woven throughout, reflecting on the recent birth of her
daughter Montana, affirms Siebel Newsom’s genuine
desire to ignite national enthusiasm for helping to advance
the next generation. This is powerful advocacy on behalf
of a more balanced portrayal of women and girls across
the full spectrum of media we and they so voraciously
consume.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, former first lady of San Francisco,
is also an actress, filmmaker, spokesperson and mother. After
receiving an MBA from Stanford, she moved to Los Angeles and
landed roles in film, television and theater. She founded Girls’
Club Entertainment in order to develop and produce independent
films with strong social, political and cultural significance,
focused on empowering women. In May 2010, Siebel Newsom
partnered with the Professional BusinessWomen of California to
create the First Lady’s Young Women’s Summit to help empower
high school girls in the Bay Area.
—Kim Bender
FRI
APR 22
WED MAY 4
154
6:00
5:45
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
Nostalgia for the Light
Nostalgia de la luz
France/Chile/Germany
2010
90 min
DIR Patricio Guzmán
PROD Renate Sachse
SCR Patricio Guzmán
CAM Katell Djian
ED Patricio Guzmán, Emmanuelle Joly
MUS Miranda & Tobar
PRINT SOURCE Icarus Films, 32 Court Street,
21st Floor, Brooklyn NY 11201. EMAIL:
[email protected]. WEB: icarusfilms.com/
new2011/nost.html.
provided by CineClean.
Patricio Guzmán
Patricio Guzmán first gained international recognition with his
epic documentary The Battle of Chile, filmed in 1973, a cinema
verité account of the rise and fall of Salvador Allende’s Popular
Unity government. After going into exile, Guzmán continued
to make films about his homeland, including In the Name of
God (SFIFF 1988); The Southern Cross (SFIFF 1993); Chile,
Obstinate Memory (SFIFF 1998) and The Pinochet Case
(SFIFF 2002). Guzmán teaches documentary film classes in
Europe and Latin America and is the founder and director of the
International Documentary Festival of Santiago.
documentaries
In Spanish with subtitles.
For a man who has been making political films all his life,
Nostalgia for the Light by Patricio Guzmán appears at
first to be an aberration: an examination of the strangely
beautiful work of astronomers using the mammoth
telescopes in the remote highlands of Chile’s Atacama
Desert. The images of heavenly bodies they see are
millions of years old, their light reaching us only now. The
telescopes are in a place so high and dry that no humidity
exists whatsoever, nothing to interfere with the view of
the heavens. The desert has no birds, no animals, no
insects. But there is another side of the Atacama. Here
is where the Pinochet dictatorship quietly established its
biggest concentration camp. In an attempt to cover up its
crimes, the military regime dumped the bodies of its critics
by the thousands in this same desert in the 1970s. Just
as assiduously as the astronomers search the heavens,
relatives of the disappeared comb the desert searching
for the remains of the victims, the scientists as detached
and joyful in their pursuit as the relatives are impassioned
and somber. We meet both groups—although they never
intersect—on a seemingly similar quest: searching the
past, looking for the light. Guzmán magically weaves the
two together in one of his most touching, most thoughtprovoking films.
—Miguel Pendás
TUE
THU
APR 26
APR 28
6:30
6:15
KABUKI
PFA
155
Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times
USA
2010
88 min
DIR Andrew Rossi
PROD Josh Braun, David Hand, Kate Novack,
Alan Oxman, Adam Schlesinger
SCR Kate Novack, Andrew Rossi
CAM Andrew Rossi
ED Chad Beck, Christopher Branca,
Sarah Devorkin
MUS Paul Brill, Killer Tracks
documentaries
Susan Murdy.
The venerated New York Times finds itself front-page
in Andrew Rossi’s fascinating documentary on print
journalism and its battle to survive in a contemporary
climate of layoffs, cutbacks and new-media competition.
Given full access to the institution and its newsrooms
and corridors, Rossi tracks one year in the life of the
Times’ media desk, one that featured moments both
low—including a day in which over 100 staffers were laid
off—and high. From WikiLeaks to Twitter, new modes of
communication and journalism are brought to the forefront
as challengers to the Gray Lady’s throne, but as one
staffer notes, “Trees are still cut. Papers are still delivered.”
At the film’s heart is Times columnist David Carr, a former
drug addict who is both the paper’s strongest advocate
and its most irascible, charismatic iconoclast; whether
publishing an exposé on the Tribune Corporation’s internal
issues or giving a bratty editor a verbal slap-down, he
brings a down-to-earth humanity into such overarching
issues as new versus old media, corporate control and
journalistic integrity. Thanks to Carr and the other news
hands interviewed here, Page One makes clear that
whether it’s online or off, printed or downloaded, what
matters—and what’s at stake—is good journalism.
Andrew Rossi
“I’d been impressed with the newsroom’s openness ever
since they agreed to let me and my camera in,” notes director/
producer/cinematographer Andrew Rossi in a Filmmaker
Magazine blog entry on the making of Page One. “What really
surprised me was the realization that something fundamental
was changing, not just in the news business, but in how we as a
culture access and interpret and internalize information.” Rossi’s
first feature documentary was Eat This New York (2004),
which screened on the Sundance Channel. Page One: A Year
Inside the New York Times is his third documentary feature.
FRI
SUN
156
APR 29
MAY 1
6:15
5:30
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
Pink Saris
England/India
2010
96 min
DIR Kim Longinotto
PROD Amber Latif, Girjashanker Vohra
CAM Kim Longinotto
ED Ollie Huddleston
MUS Midival Punditz
PRINT SOURCE Women Make Movies, 462
Broadway, Suite #500, New York NY 10013.
In Hindi with subtitles.
Kim Longinotto
Born in London in 1952, Kim Longinotto is a widely acclaimed
chronicler of ordinary women fighting entrenched societal
injustice. Her extensive body of work includes a pair of films
made in Africa, Sisters in Law and Rough Aunties, as well as
Gaea Girls (SFIFF 2000) and Divorce Iranian Style (SFIFF
1998). Longinotto received the Inspiration Award at the 2010
Sheffield Doc/Fest, where Pink Saris also won the Special
Jury Award.
documentaries
Acclaimed British filmmaker Kim Longinotto (The Day
I Will Never Forget, SFIFF 2002) begins her latest
unflinching portrait of gutsy everyday heroines with a line
from Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore: “When
old words die out on the tongue, new memories break
forth from the heart.” For 20 years now, Sampat Pal Devi
has been battling the insults, violence, discrimination
and sexual abuse routinely visited on married and single
women of the untouchable caste. This intimate portrait,
shot by the filmmaker herself with unblinking compassion,
captures the founder of the Gulabi (or “Pink”) Gang
tirelessly challenging husbands, fathers-in-law and
policemen in her home state of Uttar Pradesh. In one
illuminating case, Devi intercedes on behalf of a pregnant
woman whose fiancé was pressured by his father to
abandon her. She confronts the older man—clearly not
used to having his authority questioned by a woman—and
refuses to leave until she gets her way. Devi incorporates
lodging, counseling and inspiration as part of her mission,
and the filmmaker does not shy from showing the financial
and personal strain of a 24/7 calling. To the contrary, the
most searing scene is arguably a nasty argument between
Devi and her husband, who claims fame and notoriety
have gone to her head. Knocked off her pedestal, she
is touchingly vulnerable and acutely real. Longinotto has
enormous admiration for her subjects but little interest in
glorifying them. She recognizes that all social progress is
the work of ordinary human beings, flaws and all.
—Michael Fox
SAT
THU
APR 23
APR 28
1:00
6:15
NEW PEOPLE
KABUKI
157
The Pipe
Ireland
2010
83 min
DIR Risteard Ó Domhnaill
PROD Rachel Lysaght, Risteard Ó Domhnaill
CAM Risteard Ó Domhnaill
ED Nigel O’Regan, Stephen O’Connell
MUS Stephen Rennicks, Hugh Drumm
PRINT SOURCE Scannáin Inbhear, Barr na Trá,
Béal an Átha, Co. Maigh Eo, Ireland.
WEB: thepipethefilm.com.
documentaries
The discovery in 1996 of a vast natural gas deposit off
Ireland’s west coast led global energy giant Shell to begin
laying a high-pressure pipeline across the seabed and
onto shore, where it would terminate at a refinery near
the small town of Rossport. Shell did not ask Rossport’s
farmers and fishermen if it could pass its pipeline beside
their houses and through the community’s pristine
commonage and coastline; according to resident Willie
Corduff, it simply informed them of the fact. “They tried to
bully us, and it didn’t work.” In 2005, the community made
international headlines when Corduff and four others
were jailed for blocking construction of Shell’s pipeline.
Thousands rallied behind the Rossport Five. “And that,”
says Corduff, “is when it all began.” Risteard Ó Domhnaill’s
reflective and rousing documentary incorporates archival
footage from those days but begins its own chronicle
a year later, during a violent nighttime clash between
police and locals blockading the construction site after a
government go-ahead to Shell. What follows is an intimate,
stirring and utterly timely portrait of a community straining
under a titanic battle—for what it considers its very
survival—against a Goliath of money power and a largely
compliant state. Ó Domhnaill’s keen-eyed camera stays
close to the lush countryside and a handful of courageous,
colorful players in the grassroots effort. Shell, meanwhile,
which refused to participate in the film, remains a shadowy
onscreen conglomeration of trespassing land surveyors,
men with binoculars, locals in hardhats tempted by shortterm jobs and a hulking, ominous ship named Solitaire.
Risteard Ó Domhnaill
Irish-born Risteard Ó Domhnaill spent summer vacations as a
child in County Mayo, where the town of Rossport is located.
He filmed The Pipe over the course of four years beginning
in 2006. He holds degrees in theoretical physics from Trinity
College in Dublin and history and Gaelic from the University
of Galway, and has worked as a news cameraman and current
affairs editor. The Pipe marks his directorial debut.
—Robert Avila
SAT APR 23
SAT APR 30
MON MAY 2
158
6:00
12:15
6:30
NEW PEOPLE
KABUKI
PFA
Stand van de sterren
Netherlands
2010
111 min
DIR Leonard Retel Helmrich
PROD Hetty Naaijkens-Retel Helmrich
SCR Leonard Retel Helmrich, Hetty NaaijkensRetel Helmrich
CAM Leonard Retel Helmrich, Ismail “Ezther”
Fahmi Lubish
ED Jasper Naaijkens
MUS Danang Faturahman, Fahmy Al-Attas
PRINT SOURCE Films Transit, 252 Gouin
In Indonesian with subtitles.
provided by Netherlands Cultural Services.
Leonard Retel Helmrich
Born in the Netherlands in 1959, Leonard Retel Helmrich
is a master of cinema verité as well as one of its leading
contemporary innovators. “The more dramatic a certain situation
is,” he says, “the least aware people are of the camera—even
when you are standing in their field of vision. This is why
practically no one looks directly into the camera during
shooting.” Shape of the Moon (SFIFF 2005) received the
Joris Ivens Award for best feature-length documentary at the
2004 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam and the
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2005
Sundance Film Festival.
documentaries
Boulevard E., H3L 1A8 Montreal, Canada.
WEB: positionamongthestars.com.
Dutch director Leonard Retel Helmrich (Eye of the Day,
2001; Shape of the Moon, SFIFF 2005) returns with
the latest chapter in his stunningly artful and intimate
portrait of the Shamshudin family of Jakarta. After a
pulse-quickening recap of choice moments from the first
two films—all the introduction one needs—grandmother
Rumidjah is summoned to the big city from the countryside
by her son Bakti to counsel and motivate her teenage
granddaughter Tari—the family’s great hope for attaining
middle-class stability. Tari is smart but devious, and more
interested in boys, music and colored contact lenses than
studying. And presuming she does get into a university,
where will the money for tuition come from? Meanwhile,
Bakti breeds his beloved fighting fish and serves as a
low-grade neighborhood functionary. The domestic drama
of intersecting lives unfolds against a neon backdrop
of rapidly increasing materialism in Indonesia and the
fascinating underlying tension between secular modernism
and Islam’s central place in Indonesian life. Helmrich’s
virtuoso long sequences, distinguished by how-did-hedo-that? camera movement, transmute the banality of
the everyday into art without romanticizing it. In one
memorable passage, he turns the unannounced arrival of
workers fumigating the alleyways with clouds of pesticide
smoke into a scene that proceeds from unnerving to
otherworldly to absurdly funny. Helmrich’s eye, though,
remains fixed on his subjects. Tari may represent the
future of the family and Indonesia, but Rumidjah is the
rock, the moral center, the connection to the land and, yes,
the stars.
—Michael Fox
TUE APR 26
WED APR 27
WED MAY 4
8:50
6:00
9:00
PFA
KABUKI
KABUKI
159
The Redemption of General Butt Naked
USA
2010
84 min
DIR Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion
PROD Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion
CAM Eric Strauss, Peter Hutchens, Ryan Hill
ED Jeremy Siefer
MUS Justin Melland
PRINT SOURCE part2 pictures, 287 Court Street,
Brooklyn NY 11231. EMAIL: rachael@part2
pictures.com. WEB: generalbuttnakedmovie.com.
documentaries
Can a warlord become an advocate for peace? Can a
nation ever heal the open wounds of a brutal civil war?
The Redemption of General Butt Naked is the account
of a man and a country attempting to move forward
in the wake of unspeakable violence, both on a quest
for revolutionary transformation. In 1996, General Butt
Naked metamorphosed from ringleader of the ruthless
Butt Naked Battalion—responsible for the deaths of over
20,000 people in Liberia’s 14-year civil war—to Joshua
Milton Blahyi, an evangelist who claims to be bringing
peace and forgiveness to his ravaged country. Or so the
story goes. This riveting documentary charts the rise and
fall of the Butt Naked Battalion and the general’s horrific
tactics. We see the fearsome armies he led—literally naked
except for weapons draped on their backs—slaughtering
fellow countrymen in Monrovia’s streets; we see the child
soldiers he recruited, hefting machine guns larger than
their emaciated torsos. Yet years later, with infectious
charisma, Blahyi preaches the Gospel to the family
members of his victims. He begs forgiveness and testifies
before Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. “I
killed your brother out of madness,” he says. “Now, let me
be your brother. Count on me when you need brotherly
counsel.” Are we witnessing a changed man? Filmmakers
Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion neither romanticize
nor prosecute Blahyi on his alleged journey of redemption.
Instead, they shrewdly task the audience with a set of
harrowing questions about justice, violence, mortality and
faith.
Eric Strauss
Daniele Anastasion
The Redemption of General Butt Naked is the first feature
film for director/producers Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion.
The two have previously produced and directed various series
for broadcast, such as Hard Time, an Emmy-nominated prison
series that premiered on the National Geographic Channel in
2009, as well as work for Frontline/World, the History Channel
and A&E, among others. Strauss also directed, shot and
produced Heroin Crisis and Iraq’s Guns for Hire. Anastasion’s
other credits include KKK: Inside American Terror and Inside
the Body Trade.
—Sara Dosa
THU APR 28
SAT APR 30
MON MAY 2
160
1:30
6:45
9:45
KABUKI
KABUKI
KABUKI
Something Ventured
USA
2011
84 min
DIR Dan Geller, Dayna Goldfine
PROD Paul Holland, Molly Davis, Dan Geller,
Dayna Goldfine, Celeste Schaefer Snyder
CAM Dan Geller
ED Jen Bradwell, Gary Wiemberg
MUS Laura Karpman
PRINT SOURCE Zeitgeist Films, 247 Centre
Street, 2nd Floor, New York NY 10013.
WEB: somethingventuredthemovie.com.
Dan Geller
Dayna Goldfine
Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s past films include Ballet
Russes (2005), which received a national theatrical release,
the Emmy Award–winning Kids of Survival (1999) and
Frosh: Nine Months in a Freshman Dorm (1994), which was
nominated by the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding
Directorial Achievement in the Documentary Form. They live in
San Francisco.
documentaries
provided by Margaret and Will Hearst, and
by Visionary Circle members Julie, Wally and
Walter Haas.
One day in 1957 a Wall Street brokerage firm received a
strange letter from a group of men who would come to be
known as “the traitorous eight.” Scientists and engineers
at Shockley Semiconducter, frustrated with William
Shockley’s “confusing and demoralizing management,”
wanted to offer their services as a group to another
company. A young banker who traveled to California to
meet them had a better idea. What followed would usher
in an era characterized by new terms like “venture capital”
and “start-up company” and new names like Apple, Intel,
Cisco Systems and Silicon Valley. Beginning with the
crew-cut techies of the late ’50s, Something Ventured
tells the story of the engineers, inventors and capitalists
who joined forces to change the landscape of American
technology and finance. Directors Dan Geller and Dayna
Goldline use interviews and vintage footage to set outsize
personalities against the shifting images of recent history,
spiced with the conflicts inevitable when financial and
computer mavericks interact. “(Steve) Jobs is a national
treasure,” observes Arthur Rock, who helped launch Intel,
Apple, Teledyne and Scientific Data Systems. “He’s so
visionary, so bright. I had to fire him, though.” “[Venture
capitalist Tom Perkins] had to take me to buy a suit,”
remembers Jimmy Treybig, founder of Tandem Computers.
“He always said he could buy the suit, but that still didn’t
help.” This intriguing documentary reveals the origins, the
risks, the triumphs and the failures behind many of the
high-tech and financial giants who created the world we
now live in.
—Pamela Troy
SUN
SUN
APR 24
MAY 1
2:00
3:00
PFA
KABUKI
161
Tabloid
USA
2010
87 min
DIR Errol Morris
PROD Julie Bilson Ahlberg, Mark Lipson
CAM Robert Chappell
ED Grant Surmi
MUS John Kusiak
PRINT SOURCE IFC Sundance Selects, 11 Penn
Plaza, 18th Floor, New York NY 10001. FAX:
646-273-7250. EMAIL: ebrambilla@ifcfilms.
com.
documentaries
provided by Celeste and Anthony Meier.
“You could tell a lie long enough that you believe it,”
suggests Joyce McKinney, the fabulously eccentric
subject of Errol Morris’s new documentary covering tabloid
journalism, bondage, Mormonism and love. A former Miss
Wyoming who boasts an IQ of 168, McKinney became
infamous in the UK in 1976 as the mastermind of the
“Manacled Mormon Kidnapping” after she abducted a
former lover who had abandoned her for the Mormon
Church. Charged with kidnapping and rape, she held him
hostage in a cottage in Devon for several days, where
she chained him to a bed (with mink-trimmed handcuffs)
in order to erase all elements of “Mormon brainwashing”
from his mind. “I would have skied down Mt. Everest nude
with a carnation in my nose for him,” noted the everquotable McKinney during her trial, which became one of
England’s biggest media stories of the 1970s thanks to
its combination of kinky sex and a buxom all-American girl
gone wild. Now living relatively anonymously, McKinney
“reveals all” to Morris’s camera as do various British
tabloid hacks still busy putting their own spin on the tale.
A welcome return to the eccentric Americana of Gates
of Heaven (1980) and Vernon, Florida (1982), Tabloid
never uncovers what is the truth and what is a lie—Morris
writes that even he doesn’t know. “And that’s what I like
about it.”
Errol Morris
A former graduate student at UC Berkeley and associate of the
Pacific Film Archive, Errol Morris famously bet Werner Herzog
he could direct a feature film; the result, Gates of Heaven
(1980), started Morris on a critically acclaimed career (and
forced Herzog to eat his own shoe). His films include Vernon,
Florida (1982), The Thin Blue Line (SFIFF 1988) and Fast,
Cheap and Out of Control (1997). His film on former Defense
Secretary Robert McNamara, The Fog of War (2003), won an
Oscar for Best Documentary. In 2008, Morris received SFIFF’s
Persistence of Vision Award.
TUE
THU
162
MAY 3
MAY 5
9:30
2:45
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
The Tiniest Place
El lugar más pequeño
International Premiere
Mexico
2011
100 min
DIR Tatiana Huezo
PROD Nicolás Celis
SCR Tatiana Huezo
CAM Ernesto Pardo
ED Paulina del Paso, Tatiana Huezo
MUS Leonardo Heiblum, Jacobo Lieberman
PRINT SOURCE Centro de Capacitación
provided by the Consulate General of Mexico,
San Francisco.
Tatiana Huezo
Born in 1972 in El Salvador, Tatiana Huezo moved to Mexico
City at age five. A graduate of the prestigious Centro de
Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC), she’s the recipient of the
Gucci/Ambulante award, a grant established in 2007 to support
new and established Mexican documentarians. Huezo has taught
documentary film at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.
The Tiniest Place is her first feature-length documentary.
documentaries
Cinematográfica, Calzada de Tlalpan, 1670 Col.
Country Club, 04220 Mexico City DF, Mexico.
To walk into the jungle-shrouded village of Cinquera,
El Salvador, is to enter a world where ghosts walk,
passing back and forth between the past and present.
Here, decades after a brutal civil war annihilated the
village, survivors return to bury their dead and rebuild the
community from the ashes. During the 1980–92 civil
war, Cinquera was invaded by the National Guard, which
targeted it as a potential haven for guerrillas of the FMLN
opposition. Cinquera was literally wiped off the map,
disappearing temporarily from official charts in a conflict
that resulted in 80,000 deaths with tens of thousands
more disappeared. We see the result of that devastation
on the resolute and composed survivors now sowing new
seeds in Salvadoran-born Mexican filmmaker Tatiana
Huezo’s stunning debut feature. In an unobtrusive portrait
of collective memory, we mingle with villagers as they
recall horrifying ordeals of rape, mutilation and torture; a
man talks about the madness that consumed him; an old
lady habitually talks to her dead daughter. Of those who
managed to escape into the woods, many joined the FMLN
(whose rebel flag still appears painted on the sides of
houses). A remarkable example of Mexico’s bourgeoning
documentary scene, The Tiniest Place guides us through
this landscape with a contemplative, poetical eye, as the
deep forest looms in mute witness to the testimonies we
overhear. Battle scars and wounds may run deep but they
prove unable to destroy the soul of Cinquera.
—Christine Davila
SAT
SUN
THU
APR 30
MAY 1
MAY 5
6:00
4:15
5:45
PFA
KABUKI
KABUKI
163
USA/Canada
2010
83 min
DIR Lynn Hershman Leeson
PROD Lynn Hershman Leeson, Kyle Stephan
SCR Lynn Hershman Leeson
CAM Hiro Narita, Antonio Rossi, Fawn Yacker,
Lise Swenson, Lynn Hershman Leeson
ED Lynn Hershman Leeson
MUS Carrie Brownstein
PRINT SOURCE Zeitgeist Films, 247 Centre
Street, 2nd Floor, New York NY 10013. FAX:
212-274-1644. EMAIL: nadja@zeitgeistfilms.
com. WEB: womenartrevolution.com.
documentaries
Can you name three women artists? The question was
asked of visitors to two major metropolitan art museums.
Nobody filmed could. If you can’t either, see this film.
And if you can, ditto, because you might owe that fact
to the feminist artists, critics, curators and academics
who, starting in the late 1960s, took on the old-boy art
establishment in an all-out WAR: Women Art Revolution.
Lynn Hershman Leeson was there with her camera and
in 40 years has never turned it off. In her living room,
in artists’ studios, over coffee, she recorded dozens of
women artists. Their candid tales of WAR come woven
together in this engaging, provocative film with original
graphics by Spain Rodriguez and a score by Carrie
Brownstein. Some of the stories are public record, such
as congressmen debating the merits of Judy Chicago’s
The Dinner Party with its depictions of “women’s genital
regions.” Others were newsworthy protests at major
institutions (meet the Gorilla Girls—still masked). But
most are personal revelations that, taken together, form a
history of a culture that grew out of the struggles of the
1960s but remained marginalized: How Faith Ringgold,
the first to raise her voice in protest, challenged Robert
Rauschenberg and Carl Andre as a representative of the
made-up “WSABAL”; where Leo Castelli Gallery told the
late Nancy Spero to put her artwork; and the childhood
outrages that led women artists to adopt fictional
identities, as in Howardena Pindell’s Free, White and 21
and Hershman Leeson’s own Roberta Breitmore series.
Lynn Hershman Leeson
Lynn Hershman Leeson, “a provocateur du cinema” (Variety), is
internationally acclaimed for her pioneering work in media and
new technologies, in which she explores issues of identity and
privacy, the interfacing of humans and machines and real and
virtual worlds. Having come on the scene with her audacious
Roberta Breitmore series (1974–78), she turned to cinema
in 1998 with Conceiving Ada (SFIFF 1998), followed by
Teknolust (SFIFF 2002) and Strange Culture (SFIFF 2007),
all featuring Tilda Swinton. Her art is in numerous museum
collections. Hershman Leeson is chair of the Film Department
at the San Francisco Art Institute and professor emeritus at the
University of California, Davis.
—Judy Bloch
SAT APR 23
MON APR 25
164
3:00
8:40
SFMOMA
PFA
Yves Saint Laurent l’Amour Fou
France
2011
100 min
DIR Pierre Thoretton
PROD Kristina Larsen, Hugues Charbonneau
CAM Leo Hinstin
ED Dominique Auvray
MUS Côme Aguiar
New York NY 10001. FAX: 646-273-7250.
provided by Howard Roffman.
Pierre Thoretton
Oise native Pierre Thoretton is a visual artist who has had
solo exhibitions in France and Germany. Yves Saint Laurent
l’Amour Fou is his first feature. “I don’t know about fashion, I’m
interested in people,” he has said of the film. “For me, it’s a film
about love.” He knew Saint Laurent from the time when he was
the husband of actress Chiara Mastroianni, daughter of Marcello
Mastroianni and YSL muse Catherine Deneuve.
documentaries
Few figures loom larger in the annals of 20th-century style
than Yves Saint Laurent. Barely out of his teens when he
was appointed head of the House of Dior, he triumphantly
launched his own brand only a few short years later. For
decades he epitomized the jet-set lifestyle, dressing its
luminaries and sharing their giddy excesses. Visual artist
Pierre Thoretton’s first feature captures the well-known
highs and lows of this remarkable but also stormy career:
Saint Laurent’s breakdown when conscripted into the
French Army in 1960, during Algeria’s Independence War;
signature designs like the Mondrian-inspired dresses that
epitomized Pop Art chic; his celebration of feminine beauty
via muses from Deneuve to Iman; becoming the first haute
couture house to “democratize” fashion via affordable
prêt-à-porter lines; working compulsively hard and playing
harder in the cocaine-fueled celebrity bubble of Studio
54. But Thoretton’s film provides us privileged access
beyond the headlines. Its primary voice is that of Pierre
Berge, Saint Laurent’s surviving business and life partner.
Recalling their half-century together, Berge decides
to surrender some of that past by selling many of their
fabulous properties in what is dubbed the auction of the
century. As he bids adieu to long-cherished possessions,
we get the vicarious thrill of touring sumptuous homes
in Morocco and France (one of them an “homage” to
Proust) and a stunning art collection that stretches from
ancient Egyptian artifacts to Matisse and Warhol. Yves
Saint Laurent l’Amour Fou documents a crazy love for all
things beautiful.
—Dennis Harvey
TUE
THU
MAY 3
MAY 5
7:00
8:15
KABUKI
KABUKI
165
THE LATE SHOW
THRILLS AND CHILLS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
168Outrage
169 The Selling
170 Stake Land
171 The Troll Hunter
167
Outrage
Autoreiji
Japan
2010
109 min
DIR Takeshi Kitano
PROD Masayuki Mori, Takio Yoshida
SCR Takeshi Kitano
CAM Katsumi Yanagijima
ED Takeshi Kitano, Yoshinori Ôta
MUS Keiichi Suzuki
WITH Beat Takeshi, Kippei Shina, Ryo Kase,
Tomokazu Miura, Jun Kunimura, Renji Ishibashi,
Tetta Sugimoto
PRINT SOURCE Magnolia Pictures, 49 W. 27th
Street, 7th Floor, New York NY 10001. EMAIL:
[email protected]. WEB: office-kitano.
co.jp/outrage/main.html.
Takeshi Kitano makes a long-awaited return to the
gangster genre with this embittered look at the formal
hierarchies and manipulative “honor” of the Japanese
yakuza, and what happens to those on the losing end of
the power struggle. A crisis is triggered within a powerful
syndicate by, of all things, too much friendship between
enemies. One boss is too chummy with a rival, which
demands the sending of a message—though with a certain
restraint. Unfortunately, the low-level boss picked for the
job is Otomo (Kitano), who doesn’t know the meaning of
restraint (a particular dentist-chair scene makes this point
perfectly clear). Suddenly a war is on, as rivals become
allies and allies rivals. For the ever-scheming opportunists
of the yakuza, however, allies are just those people you
vow loyalty to before eventually killing. Leaving behind the
cheerful eccentricities of his more recent work and the
playful experimentation of earlier gangster masterpieces
like Sonatine (SFIFF 1995), Kitano moves into far
bleaker, almost existential terrain. To borrow the title of
a seminal 1973 Kinji Fukasaku film, the battles here are
truly without honor or humanity, and seemingly destined to
play on a continuous loop for eternity.
Takeshi Kitano
Actor, filmmaker, comedian, painter, professor and television
personality, “Beat” Takeshi Kitano was born in Tokyo in 1947.
He began his entertainment career as an elevator operator at a
Tokyo comedy hall and strip club before becoming a successful
comic and entertainer. His first film role came opposite David
Bowie in Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
(1983). He began directing in 1989 with Violent Cop but
international recognition and success came with several offbeat
yakuza films such as Sonatine (SFIFF 1995) and Fireworks
(1997). In recent years he has steered toward iconoclastic,
highly personal works such as Takeshis (2005) and Glory to
the Filmmaker! (2007).
the late show
SAT APR 30
WED MAY 4
168
11:00
9:45
KABUKI
KABUKI
The Selling
World Premiere
USA
2010
92 min
DIR Emily Lou
PROD Gabriel Diani, Emily Lou
SCR Gabriel Diani
CAM Mattias Schubert
ED Chad Meserve
MUS Geoff Mann
WITH Gabriel Diani, Barry Bostwick, Janet
Varney, Jonathan Klein, Etta Devine
PRINT SOURCE Redwood Pictures, 7266
Sayre Drive, Oakland CA 94611. EMAIL:
[email protected]. WEB:
thesellingthemovie.com.
Emily Lou
Emily Lou began her directing career at San Francisco State
University, where she won the coveted Jules Irving Award for
Excellence in Direction. At Teatro Esperanza, she directed the
world premiere of Ride My Coche, which later moved to the
Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. She has also worked at the
San Francisco Fringe Festival and Magic Theatre. The Selling
is her first feature film.
the late show
For most people affected by the recent housing market
crash, the impact was strictly financial. In Emily Lou’s
inventive debut, hero Richard Scarry discovers an
additional burden: the paranormal. Worried by his mother’s
increasing medical problems, the overly nice real estate
agent cooks up a grand moneymaking scheme. He and
his friend Dave will buy a house, fix it up and flip it for an
amazing profit. In the days before the bubble pops, this
seems like a grand idea, and the pair sets to work on a
quick sale. However, it soon becomes clear that not only
are they in danger of losing money on the place but it’s
also haunted by the victims of a notorious serial killer
called the Sleepstalker. In the wake of overflowing toilets
and bleeding walls, a plague of wasps and a bad bout of
demonic possession, the plucky salesman soldiers on,
scheduling showings and even hosting an open house.
“Sometimes the closet becomes a portal to another
realm,” he helpfully warns one horrified couple. Scriptwriter
Gabriel Diani (who also plays Scarry) cleverly employs
the tropes of haunted house stories to witty and original
ends. Besides Richard’s frequent fisticuffs with phantasms,
the film offers tongue-in-cheek casting (Rocky Horror
Picture Show’s Barry Bostwick plays a demented
exorcist), a crisp visual style and keen up-to-date satire.
Deftly juggling humor and horror, The Selling is one short
sale genre fans won’t want to miss out on.
—Rod Armstrong
FRI
APR 29
WED MAY 4
11:30
4:15
KABUKI
KABUKI
169
Stake Land
USA
2010
96 min
DIR Jim Mickle
PROD Derek Curl, Larry Fessenden, Adam Folk,
Brent Kunkle, Peter Phok
SCR Jim Mickle, Nick Damici
CAM Ryan Samul
ED Jim Mickle
MUS Jeff Grace
WITH Nick Damici, Connor Paolo, Kelly McGillis,
Michael Cerveris, Danielle Harris
New York NY 10001. FAX: 646-273-7250.
EMAIL: [email protected]. WEB: scareflix.
net/stakesite.html.
Martin and Mister are two of the few remaining survivors of
a global apocalypse caused by rampaging (and ravenous)
vampire zombies, the toughest of which can be killed only
by a stake through the base of the skull. Martin (Gossip
Girl’s Connor Paolo) is a somewhat naïve teenager who
watched his family get wiped out by the beasts, while
Mister (cowriter Nick Damici) is a grizzled loner and vampkilling expert with a car pimped out like the Road Warrior’s.
Headed north to New Eden, the rumored encampment
of remaining humans, the pair runs afoul of a marauding
band of religious zealots called the Brethren, led by a nasty
piece of work named Jebediah (an exceedingly creepy
Michael Cerveris). As the two dodge crazed cultists and
vicious vampires, they also come across small outposts
of humanity, including a few folks (Top Gun’s Kelly
McGillis among them) who want to join their caravan to
the possibly apocryphal New Eden. Though firmly in the
vein of take-no-prisoners horror classics, Stake Land
also offers a visually gritty dystopian tale in which human
beings are worse than the monsters running amok. With
nary a moment wasted, this is lean, mean filmmaking with
a powerful bite.
Jim Mickle
Jim Mickle graduated from New York University and worked
as a storyboard artist, grip and editor before directing a number
of acclaimed short films, including Last Legs (1999) and
The Underdogs (2003). In 2007, he directed his first feature,
Mulberry Street. Stake Land is his second film.
the late show
—Rod Armstrong
FRI
APR 22
MON APR 25
170
11:30
9:45
KABUKI
KABUKI
The Troll Hunter
Trolljegeren
Norway
2010
103 min
DIR André Ovredal
PROD John M. Jacobsen, Sveinung Golimo
SCR André Ovredal
CAM Hallvard Braein
ED Per Erik Eriksen
WITH Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud,
Hans Morten Hansen
provided by the Royal Norwegian Consulate
General, San Francisco.
André Ovredal
Born in Norway in 1973, André Ovredal has made a name for
himself as one of the country’s most successful directors of
commercials, having completed more than 200 for clients in
Norway and abroad. He holds a B.A. from Brooks Institute of
Photography and Motion Pictures in Santa Barbara. In addition
to commercials, he has directed award-winning short films. The
Troll Hunter is Ovredal’s first feature film.
the late show
Student journalists making a documentary on bear
poaching in the Norwegian countryside stumble upon a
secret war between government operatives and stony
giants. Thrust into danger and intrigue, the students
suddenly need to bone up on troll defense. All of us
know the rules of zombie and vampire combat, but how
is it again that trolls operate? Equal parts The Blair
Witch Project and Jurassic Park, this film features raw
“documentary” footage and a healthy dose of CGI magic
in a romp through troll lore. The integration of the massive
menaces into seemingly amateur video is exhilarating and
hilarious, as gargantuan trolls of many varieties blend into
the landscape and sniff out Christians. Once the students
realize the extent of the danger posed by the creatures,
they set out to document the daily tasks of a troll hunter,
in this case a disgruntled government employee fed up
with a government bureaucracy that wants him to fill out
troll death certificates after an arduous day of hunting.
While documenting his activities, the students become
embroiled in efforts to seek out and vanquish ever more
dangerous and odd beasts, soon dropping their embedded
journalist status and becoming troll hunters themselves.
Icy adventures in caves, mountains and plains await the
avid crew.
—Sean Uyehara
SAT APR 23
MON APR 25
11:30
6:15
KABUKI
NEW PEOPLE
171
SHORTS
Multiple Genres, Many Gems
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
Cupid with Fangs
The Deep End
Do You See What I See?
Irresistible Impulses
Mind the Gap
Youth Media Mash-Up
173
young dracula
blokes
red shirley
MEMO TO PIC DESK
Cupid with Fangs
Blokes
Every stage of life comes with its own set
of challenges, but youth and old age are
particularly fraught. This selection of narrative
and documentary shorts covers this tricky
territory with humor and pathos, from a kid who
uses fake fangs to establish his nonconformity
to an elderly woman whose extremely varied life
establishes hers.
During the depredations of the Pinochet era in Chile, young
Lucho spies on a handsome guy across the way. (Marialy
Rivas, Chile 2010, 15 min) In GGA competition.
A couple of profane robots discuss the pros and cons of
holding up a bank. (James Dastoli, Robert Dastoli, USA 2010,
2 min) In GGA competition.
Young Dracula
God of Love
A misunderstood adolescent boy runs away from home and
is picked up by a family that makes him feel relatively normal.
(Alfred Seccombe, USA 2010, 15 min) In GGA competition.
In this Oscar-winning short, lonely lounge singer Raymond
Goodfellow receives a set of love darts from the Olympus
Foundation and puts them to surprising use. (Luke Matheny,
USA 2010, 19 min) In GGA competition.
Library of Dust
—Rod Armstrong
A storeroom of canisters filled with abandoned ashes in
a rundown asylum becomes a meditation on time and
remembrance. (Ondi Timoner, Robert James, USA 2010, 10
min) In GGA competition. This is a Cinema by the Bay film.
Red Shirley
Rock music icon Lou Reed prompts his 100-year-old cousin to
discuss her eventful life, from escaping WWII-era Poland as a
child to her leftist political activism as a worker in New York’s
Garment District. (Lou Reed, USA 2009, 28 min)
shorts
SUNAPR 24
TUEAPR 26
174
3:15 KABUKI
9:00NEW PEOPLE
last resort
slave ship
minong, i slept
The Deep End
Presented in association with Pacific Film
Archive and San Francisco Cinematheque.
Dive into a program of new experimental
cinema that observes the world subjectively,
drifting between rural and urban landscapes
or expansive deserts and watery depths,
interspersed with contemplations of history from
the sinking of the Titanic to the exploits
of Houdini. When you come back up for air,
you’ll be invigorated.
Trypps #7 (Badlands)
Burning Bush
A hypnotic portrait that transforms a vivid landscape into a
psychic experience. (Ben Russell, USA 2010, 10 min)
A shrub bursting with dazzling fall colors is at once real and
unreal, natural and created. (Vincent Grenier, Canada/USA
2010, 9 min)
Minong, I Slept
A subtle tapestry of resonant images of life on a remote island
serves as a meditation on place and the past. (Vera BrunnerSung, USA 2010, 5 min)
Tokyo - Ebisu
People and trains speeding through busy Tokyo stations are
collaged in-camera into a vibrant checkerboard of multiple and
fragmented images. (Tomonari Nishikawa, Japan 2010, 5 min)
Last Resort
The depths of an abandoned space are excavated, creating an
abstract animation with a rich palette of mossy hues. (Katherin
McInnis, USA 2010, 2 min)
Victoria, George, Edward and Thatcher
A dizzying journey from East to West London is captured in
over 3,000 images taken on a cell phone. (Callum Cooper,
England 2010, 2 min)
I Swim Now
A story of survival frames a visceral rendering of shipwrecks
as the tumult and ferocious beauty of the sea are imparted
through layered and expressive abstraction. (Sarah Biagini,
USA 2010, 8 min)
Slave Ship
Innovative pixel painting brings to subtle motion a mesmerizing
and luminescent re-visioning of J. W. Turner’s 1840
masterpiece. (T. Marie, USA 2010, 6 min)
Hell Roaring Creek
The conflicts inherent in the Western landscape are framed in
a filmmaker/anthropologist’s pastoral portrait of a seemingly
endless herd of sheep crossing a Montana stream.
(Lucien Castaing-Taylor, USA 2010, 20 min)
—Kathy Geritz, Vanessa O’Neill
a little prayer (H-E-L-P)
Images of Houdini bound in chains flicker and spin amid
laceration marks created through hand processing.
(Louise Bourque, Canada 2011, 8 min)
shorts
SUNAPR 24
WEDAPR 27
7:00 KABUKI
8:50PFA
175
play
ATLANTIS
by play
UNBOUND
ormie
jillian dillon
specky four eyes
the snowman
Specky Four Eyes
Jillian Dillon
Whether young or old, big or small, not
everyone sees the world through the same
lens. In this collection of eye-opening shorts,
an assorted cast of characters learns to adjust
the focus and view themselves—and others—in
unexpected new ways.
Arnaud’s eyesight is atrocious. But when the doctor prescribes
a new pair of glasses, everything suddenly looks a lot less
interesting than it did before. (Jean-Claude Rozec, France
2010, 9 min) In GGA Competition.
It’s hard out there for a hippoplatypus. This fresh and charming
take on the classic tale of misfit redemption is told through
handmade puppets, rhyme and song. (Yvette Edery, Germany/
USA 2010, 5 min)
Twist & Shout
Walk Don’t Run
An unusual ukulele duo jams to their favorite Beatles tune.
(Yosuke Kihara, Japan 2010, 2 min)
Because you can never have too much ukulele.
(Yosuke Kihara, Japan 2010, 2 min)
The Fantastic Flying Books of
Mr. Morris Lessmore
Ormie
Recommended for ages seven and up.
Children’s author William Joyce (Rolie Polie Olie) brings
stacks of storybooks to life in a whimsical tale of hurricanes,
libraries and the love of reading. (William Joyce, Brandon
Oldenburg, USA 2010, 17 min) In GGA Competition.
A battle of will between pig and fridge. (Rob Silvestri, Canada
2010, 4 min)
—Joanne Parsont
The Snowman
Some may see a snowman with a vegetable nose. Others see
dinner. (Kelly Wilson, Neil Wrischnik, USA 2010, 5 min)
In GGA Competition. This is a Cinema by the Bay film.
Play by Play
Donn may not be a great baseball player on his team at
school, but in his own mind he’s an MVP. When the class bully
threatens to expose his inner athletic world, Donn uses his
ingenuity and creative writing skills to give their power dynamic
a whole new spin. (Carlos Baena, USA 2010, 23 min)
In GGA Competition. This is a Cinema by the Bay film.
shorts
sun
176
MAY 1 11:00 amNEW PEOPLE
hail
get with the program
the cap
a purpleman
The Cap
Pixels
These animated shorts will clear your head
(The External World), blow your mind
(Dromosphere) or at the very least make you a
bit more organized (Pixels) . . . kinda. They run
the gamut of CGI, hand-drawn, motion graphics
and live action/animation hybrids. Get with this
program!
Amid the turbulent partition of India in 1947, a young Hindu
boy has a chance encounter with a stranger. (Arjun Rihan,
USA/India 2009, 6 min) This is a Cinema by the Bay film.
A hybrid of live action and CGI explores the implications of
making the entire world into a massively complicated video
game extravaganza. (Patrick Jean, France 2010, 3 min)
In GGA competition.
Dromosphere
Some may remember Thorsten Fleisch as the director of
the incredible short Energy! (SFIFF 2008). Here, he again
de-familiarizes an everyday object in the most amazing way,
with a combination of high-speed photography and CGI (we
think). (Thorsten Fleisch, Germany 2010, 11 min) In GGA
competition.
A Purpleman
An eye-opening animated interview with a North Korean
émigré about a new life of alienation and consumption in South
Korea. (Kim Tak-hoon, Yoo Jin-young, Ryu Jin-young, Park
Sung-ho, South Korea 2010, 14 min) In GGA competition.
The External World
Self Portrait as a PowerPoint Proposal for an
Amusement Park Ride
David O’Reilly has established a style unto himself, one that
ingeniously borrows from and resituates classic storytelling and
animation styles in unexpectedly absurd ways. (David O’Reilly,
Ireland/Germany 2010, 15 min) In GGA competition.
Not so much animation as motion graphics, this entirely
text-based narrative is as engaging as it is ridiculous. (Jonn
Herschend, USA 2010, 6 min) In GGA competition. This is a
Cinema by the Bay film.
Sync
This program’s titular short ensures it all makes sense,
answering two age-old conundrums: “Tell me why my love is
hot” and “Should I have a cell phone attached directly to my
head?” (Jennifer Drummond Deutrom, USA 2010, 4 min) In
GGA competition.
Reminiscent of John Whitney’s famous animated mandalas,
Max Hattler’s work presents a hypnotic, ever-expanding and
contracting series of concentric circles. (Max Hattler, England
2010, 10 min)
—Sean Uyehara
Hail
The wonderful Emily Hubley offers a new hand-drawn music
video for band Hamell on Trial in her trademark style.
(Emily Hubley, USA 2011, 3 min)
shorts
SATAPR 23
WEDAPR 27
THU MAY 5
9:45 KABUKI
9:30NEW PEOPLE
5:00NEW PEOPLE
177
the strange ones
delmer builds a machine
into the middle of nowhere
bitch rabbit
noreen
Delmer Builds a Machine
Bitch Rabbit
Behaving instinctively, although encouraged in
children, often leads to mishaps and difficulty
as one enters adulthood. In this offbeat medley
of documentary and narrative shorts, various
manifestations of acting out are strikingly
realized, whether through the eyes of children
at play in the woods or two trigger-happy
policemen.
In this wordless gem, a tiny engineering genius builds an
unusual device made up of sundry items, with calamitous
results. (Landon Zakheim, USA 2010, 3 min)
A jaded prostitute and her unexpectedly frisky trick share a
tender moment in this curious love story. (Guérin Van De Vorst,
Belgium 2010, 10 min) In GGA competition.
Noreen
This warm and funny film lovingly captures the wonder of
childhood as kids explore and test boundaries of reality
through play and imagination. (Anna Francis Ewert, England/
Scotland 2010, 15 min) In GGA competition.
A couple of bumbling policemen respond to a routine call and
get more than they bargained for in this hilarious Irish comedy
starring the director’s father, Brendan Gleeson. (Domhnall
Gleeson, Ireland 2010, 18 min) In GGA competition.
The Strange Ones
The Home Front
A pair of anonymous drifters seeks refuge and relief in a motel
swimming pool, where they are befriended by a young woman.
On the surface all seems normal, but a sense of foreboding
lies beneath in this taut, suspenseful drama. (Christopher
Radcliff, Lauren Volkstein, USA/France 2011, 14 min)
In GGA competition.
The familiar adage “home sweet home” is given new meaning
as government mediators attempt to diffuse emotionally
charged disputes between neighbors. (Phie Ambo, Denmark
2010, 40 min) In GGA competition.
—Audrey Chang
shorts
FRIAPR 22
3:15 KABUKI
SUNAPR 24NOON KABUKI
MON MAY 2
5:45NEW PEOPLE
178
tourist trap
coming attractions
all flowers in time
the d train
Mind the Gap
Whether getting on or getting off, be careful,
especially of your expectations. Many of these
experimentally minded shorts explore the
difference between the imagination of the thing
and the thing itself. From established masters
of experimental cinema such as Jay Rosenblatt,
Peter Tscherkassky and Kerry Laitala to relative
newcomers such as Zackary Drucker, this
program will be sure to surprise, confound and
illuminate worlds real and imagined.
The film Coming Attractions is presented with
the generous support of the Austrian Consulate
General, Los Angeles.
All Flowers in Time
Lost Lake
From the director of Tarnation comes this Lynchian scenario
featuring Chloë Sevigny, question-posing men, truly alarming
CGI and an off-kilter fairy tale/monster story. (Jonathan
Caouette, Canada/USA 2010, 13 min) In GGA competition.
Los Angeles–based performance artist Zackary Drucker hunts
rural perverts, luring them to their demise through the phone,
Internet and good old-fashioned bear traps—minus the bear
traps. (Zackary Drucker, USA 2010, 8 min)
In GGA competition.
Chromatastic
Kerry Laitala thrills the senses with her abstract color schemes
in spectacular, attractive 3-D. (Kerry Laitala, USA 2010, 4 min)
In GGA competition. This is a Cinema by the Bay film.
Once it started it could not end otherwise
Kelly Sears takes a foreboding turn in this apocryphal yarn of
gymnastically inclined school-age cliques. (Kelly Sears, USA
Coming Attractions
Peter Tshcerkassky continues his near 30-year experimental
film project with a work that explores the underlying
relationship between early cinema and the avant-garde.
A visualization of Tom Gunning’s concept of a “cinema of
attractions.” (Peter Tscherkassky, Austria 2010, 25 min) In
GGA competition.
The D Train
Tourist Trap
San Francisco is a lot of things to a lot of people, but it was
never quite this video, which may well be stolen from the guide,
“San Francisco for Faceless Partiers.” (Skye Thorstenson, USA
2010, 13 min) In GGA competition. This is a Cinema by the
Bay film.
—Sean Uyehara
An elderly man reflects on his life in this piece by a master of
found footage. (Jay Rosenblatt, USA 2011, 5 min) This is a
shorts
SATAPR 23
SUN MAY 1
4:45 KABUKI
9:45 KABUKI
179
how could she?
come to the table
flags
fire bad
escape from suburbia
Youth Media Mash-Up
Neighborhood Watch
Fire Bad
A fascinating fusion of ideas, perspectives,
genres, styles and voices, this creative
concoction of short documentary, narrative
and animated films is an inspired and inspiring
look at the world as interpreted by today’s teen
filmmakers.
A playful animated meandering through chalk and song.
(Zachary Booth, USA 2010, 3 min)
Caveman make fire. Modern man pay price. (Isaac Wolfe, USA
2010, 2 min) This is a Cinema by the Bay film.
Sunny Side Up
Z-Man
After his girlfriend leaves him, Sunny’s seemingly perfect life
turns upside down. (Mattan Cohen, USA 2010, 7 min)
A legendary Bay Area photographer shares colorful anecdotes
about some of his classic rock-and-roll subjects. (Nat Talbot,
USA 2010, 5 min) In GGA competition. This is a Cinema by
the Bay film.
Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Escape from Suburbia
Reflecting on the abridged life and extensive travels of an
uncle she never met, a Marin teen charts her own future of
exploration and discovery. (Mayana Bonapart, USA 2010, 9
min) In GGA competition. This is a Cinema by the Bay film.
The Math Test
The standard train-leaves-the-station math problem becomes a
source of both anxiety and liberation for one young test-taker.
(Sam Rubin, USA 2010, 5 min) In GGA competition. This is a
Come to the Table
A former student revisits her positive culinary experiences
in the Edible Schoolyard program at Martin Luther King, Jr.
Middle School in Berkeley. (Zoe Sainave, USA 2010, 9 min)
How Could She?
Hidden secrets threaten to unravel a relationship. (Kevin Rieg,
USA 2010, 5 min)
Independence in Sight
At the Hatlen Center for the Blind, vision-impaired teenagers
learn essential life skills that will help them lead independent
lives. (Sydney Paige Matterson, Lauren Lindberg, Julian
Compagni-Portis, Bonita Tindle, USA 2010, 8 min) This is a
2 AM
Somewhere between dream and reality, a young man wrestles
with the fear of loss. (Joseph Procopio, Canada 2010, 6 min)
In GGA competition.
Flags
Nationalism runs amok as everyone tries to stake his or her
claim to cultural and global importance. (Mattan Cohen, USA
—Joanne Parsont
India Export
A vibrant visual voyage through the sights and sounds of
Southern India. (Raphael Linden, USA/India 2010, 5 min) In
GGA competition. This is a Cinema by the Bay film.
shorts
SATAPR 23NOON KABUKI
180
studentS AT A SCREENING OF THE REEL YOUTH REVOLUTION SHORTS pROGRAM AT THE 2007 SFIFF
SAN FRANCISCO FILM SOCIETY
EDUCATION PROGRAMS
The Film Society’s deep commitment to education
through film touches the lives of tens of thousands
of Bay Area residents of all ages every year
through three key program areas:
schools at
the festival
sfiff college
days
•Youth Education provides year-round film
literacy programming to Bay Area schools
through screenings, filmmaker classroom visits,
youth media classes, teacher trainings and
curriculum support.
The annual Schools at the Festival educational outreach
program introduces students ages 7–18 to the art of
filmmaking and celebrates both the differences and the
shared values of the cultural groups that make up the global
community. The program advances media literacy, deepens
insights into other cultures, enhances foreign language
aptitude, develops critical thinking skills and inspires a
lifelong appreciation of cinema.
This three-day film series is offered exclusively to Bay Area
college and university students during the second weekend
of SFIFF54. The program consists of five Festival films,
curated specifically for a college film student audience,
and includes post-screening Q&As with visiting filmmakers
and an SFIFF programmer as a guest lecturer for each film.
For participating schools, course credit is also available.
•Colleges & Universities offers creative,
educational, social, financial and professional
opportunities for college-level film students as
they transition from the academic arena to the
professional world.
•Film Craft & Film Studies classes give
emerging artists, film professionals and
cinephiles at all skill levels valuable instruction in
the art, craft and business of filmmaking and in
film appreciation, history and criticism.
During SFIFF54, a series of new and recurring
education programs will be offered for audience
members of all ages and interests.
Through film screenings, interactive discussions, filmmaker
visits to schools and curriculum support for teachers, the
program strives to cultivate students’ imaginations, facilitate
their awareness as filmgoers and empower them as
true global citizens. Read more about this year’s special
anniversary program on page 183.
Schools at the Festival is made possible by the generous
support of:
dexter F. And dorothy h. baker Foundation
THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION
Tin Man Fund
Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund
182
The complete College Days program schedule is available
at fest11.sffs.org. For more information, contact Education
Associate Trinity West at [email protected].
SECOND- AND THIRD-GRADE STUDENTS AT GRATTAN elementary SCHOOL DURING A SCHOOL VISIT BY DIRECTOR BARBARA ETTINGER AND FILM SUBJECT SVEN HUSEBY OF A SEA CHANGE AT THE 2009 SFIFF
Schools at the Festival 20th Anniversary
In 1991 a retired San Francisco schoolteacher and
Festival volunteer named Robert Donn had the
revolutionary idea that high school students just might
appreciate—and learn from—Festival films as much as
adult audiences had been doing for decades. And, with
that, Schools at the Festival was born.
What began as an inspired educational experiment with
a couple of high school classes has since grown into a
year-round Youth Education program that now serves
more than 10,000 students and teachers each year.
Throughout SFIFF54, elementary, middle and high school
classes from across the Bay Area will attend weekday
matinees of specially curated Festival film programs at
subsidized ticket prices. Dozens of filmmaker guests from
around the world will also visit local classrooms to meet
and discuss their films with students.
Many SATF films are supplemented by study guides,
providing participating teachers with questions, activities
and resources for integrating each film’s content into their
classroom and curriculum.
The SATF program also includes an annual essay contest,
for which students of all grade levels write about films
they’ve seen at the Festival and compete for cash prizes.
The complete list of feature films, documentaries and
shorts programs selected for this year’s SATF program
can be found at fest11.sffs.org.
To commemorate this 20-year milestone, SFIFF54
features an additional series of special public programs
showcasing SATF programming past and present.
20th Anniversary Celebration
Tuesday, May 3, 5:00 pm
Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
$5 members, $6 general
This program includes clips of past SATF films, live
stories, tributes to educators and youth filmmakers and a
reception with complimentary drinks and appetizers.
Teacher Appreciation Night
Tuesday, May 3, 6:30 pm
$11 members, $12 senior/student/disabled, $13 general
In honor of National Teacher Day, we present the world
premiere screening of American Teacher (see page
136) with special guests in attendance.
Puppets in Film: An Animation Workshop for Kids
Saturday, April 30, 10:30 am
Festival Lounge, 1493 Webster Street (at Geary)
Award-winning puppeteer Yvette Edery, director of
Jillian Dillon in the shorts program Do You See What
I See?, leads this interactive weekend workshop for
kids on puppet animation techniques. Ages 7–11.
La Matinée Animée: A Cat in Paris
Sunday, April 24, 12:30 pm
Sunday, May 1, 12:30 pm
New People
$11 members, $12 senior/student/disabled, $13 general,
$8 children 12 and under
Join us for this family-friendly matinee of the Englishlanguage version of the new animated feature film
A Cat in Paris (see page 81). Shown with the Frenchlanguage short Specky Four Eyes. Ages eight and up.
Our kids had a bake sale and raised $1,400 for the school in Salone. Lots
of cookies and donations from families who were moved that their kids
were so touched by the film experience. So Schools at the Festival is much
more than a field trip for us.
Anne Paine, teacher, San Francisco Day School
I received a bunch of letters from one class who were so moved by my film
that they wanted to write to my contributors to let them know how inspired
they had been. This surely is what outreach is all about.
Lucy Bailey, director, Mugabe and the White African
183
BRAZILIAN DIRECTOR AND RECIPIENT OF THE 2010 FOUNDER’S DIRECTING award WALTER SALLES PRESENTS A MASTER CLASS AT SFIFF53.
conversations
Master Classes
Salons
An extension of the year-round SFFS Film Craft & Film Studies program, this series
of master classes provides a unique opportunity for audiences to engage with special
Festival guests and get an insider’s look at intriguing cinema subjects.
This new discussion series is designed to deepen and enhance the Festival experience
and take it a few steps beyond the post-screening Q&A. Bay Area film scholars and
filmmakers lead in-depth audience conversations about major film genres and prominent
Festival themes. See one or more of the films listed in each category, then join us for the
corresponding salon to engage with other cinephiles.
Jean-Michel Frodon: The Critic’s Response
and Responsibility
Thursday, April 28, 7:30 pm
French film critic Jean-Michel Frodon, a former critic for Le Point and
Le Monde, former editor-in-chief of Cahiers du Cinéma and the 2011
Stanford Humanities Center Bliss Carnochan Visitor, will explore the task and
purpose of the film critic in cinema today.
The Social Justice Documentary
Monday, April 25, 8:30 pm
Salon host Bill Nichols is a cinema studies professor at San Francisco State
University and an author specializing in documentary and ethnographic films,
film history and theory, and rhetoric and visual representation. Susan Saladoff,
director of Hot Coffee, will also participate in the discussion. Films up for
discussion: Better This World, Crime After Crime and Hot Coffee.
Frank Pierson: A Writer’s Life
Friday, April 29, 5:00 pm
Join legendary screenwriter and recipient of this year’s Kanbar Award Frank
Pierson (Cool Hand Luke, Dog Day Afternoon) for an intimate discussion
about the craft of screenwriting.
The Producer/Director Collaboration
Join producer Alison Dickey and director Azazel Jacobs (Terri) for an
in-depth discussion about working together to bring this year’s Centerpiece
film to the screen.
184
Expressions of French Cinema
Salon host Susan Weiner is the author of Enfants Terribles: Femininity and
Youth in the Mass Media in France, 1945–68 and a former professor of
French cultural studies at Yale University. Films up for discussion: Children of
the Princess of Cleves, Hands Up, I’m Glad My Mother Is Alive and The
Place in Between.
Golden Gate
Award Screeners
Filmmaker
Services
• Consultation services
• Fiscal sponsorship
• Film Arts Forum
• Grants and residencies
• Membership services
sffs.org
Rachel Aloy
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Jill C. Brooke
Charlie Canfield
Jason Carey
Maïa Cybelle Carpenter
Paula Cavagnaro
William Clark
Karl Cohen
Teresa Concepcion
Laura Costantino
Emily Doe
Jesse Dubus
Jeffrey Edalatpour
Elsa Eder
Nancy Fishman
Jamal Gamal
Pam Grady
Justin Graham
Robin Griswold
James Gunn
Rachel Hart
Trevor Hazel
Gail D. Huddleson
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Athena Kalkopoulou
Cynthia Kane
Barbara Klutinis
Kristine Kolton
Jon Korn
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David Liu
Frako Loden
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Peter Moore
Carol Nakaso
Joanne Parsont
Yoander Perdomo
Francesca Prada
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Gail Silva
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Trinity West
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Annual Fund Campaign
2011
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Filmmaker Newsletter A monthly email digest of SFFS news and
events specifically for the filmmaking community.
The Film Society brings the best in international, independent and
documentary film to the Bay Area with an array of screenings, festivals,
events, talks and more throughout the year. highlights of SFFS yearround programming include the San Francisco International Film Festival,
the longest-running film festival in the Americas; a robust Fall Season
comprised of small, focused festivals; and SFFS Screen, presenting
extraordinary world cinema on a daily basis.
Picture Talk The weekly online resource for the latest Film Society
happenings, upcoming events, free screenings and education programs.
Scoop du Jour Daily Festival highlights and best bets during SFIFF54,
available via daily emails and in print at the Festival info table at
Sundance kabuki Cinemas. Watch video Scoops on fest11.sffs.org.
SF360 eNewsletter upcoming film events on Tuesdays and features,
breaking news and filmmaking how-to articles on Thursdays.
edUcatioN
NetworK with Us
The Film Society’s youth Education program brings international cinema
and media literacy to more than 10,000 teachers and students annually
through film screenings, media presentations, interactive discussions, filmmaker visits to schools, study guides and teacher training. Film Craft & Film
Studies classes and workshops offer emerging artists, film professionals,
hobbyists and cinephiles of all ages engaging opportunities to learn the
business and art of filmmaking as well as expand their cinematic experience.
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offering a full suite of programs and activities designed to foster creativity
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year, the Film Society acts as an advocate, catalyst and change agent for
the many causes these programs and films bring to light.
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Find out more about the San Francisco Film Society at sffs.org.
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193
39 Mesa Street, Suite 110
The Presidio
San Francisco CA 94129
Tel 415-561-5000
Fax 415-440-1760
Email [email protected]
Web www.sffs.org
Jim Morris
Adrienne Port
Robert Redford
Jorge Ruffinelli
Kevin Spacey
Steven Starr
Robert Towne
John Waters
Board of Directors
FILMMAKER Advisory
Committee
George Gund III, chairman
J. Patterson McBaine, president
Doug Biederbeck
Melanie Blum
Max Boyer Glynn
Frank Caufield
Jennifer Chaiken
John M. Diefenbach
Dale Djerassi
Carla Emil
Sid Ganis
William R. Hearst III
James H. Herbert II
Maurice Kanbar
Graham Leggat, ex officio
Fred M. Levin
Janet McKinley
Celeste Meier
Howard Roffman
Barbara Tomber
Todd Traina
Penelope Wong
Advisory Board
Joaquín Alvarado
Maria Bello
Britt Bensen
Honorable Willie L. Brown, Jr.
Marc Capelle
Jean-Claude Carrière
Melanie Cornwell
Peter Coyote
Stefanie Coyote
Chris deFaria
Clint Eastwood
Jeannette Etheredge
Danny Glover
Madelyn Hammond
Ed Harris
Werner Herzog
Jim Hoberman
Dustin Hoffman
Anita Jaffe
Hugo Lai
Lois Lehrman
Mike Leigh
Tom Luddy
Susie McCormick
Cornelius Moore
194
Peter Bratt
Christine Dewey
Hannah Eaves
Pamela Harris
Tony Liano
Jamie Meltzer
Beth Pielert
Peter Quartaroli
Ellen Schneider
Tiffany Shlain
Robin Sloan
Film Society Awards
Night Committee
Chairs
Melanie and Lawrence Blum
HONORARY Chairs
Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein
Film Society Awards
Night Committee
honorary host committee
Nena and Tom Bernard
Jennifer and Doug Biederbeck
Jerry Bruckheimer
Joan Chen
Karen and John Diefenbach
Chiara DiGeronimo
Dale Djerassi
Jeannette Etheredge
Jane and Douglas Ferguson
Honorable Dianne Feinstein and
Richard C. Blum
Milos Forman
Agnes Gund
George Gund IV
Llura and Gordon Gund
Theo Gund
Margaret and Will Hearst
Cecilia and Jim Herbert
Katie and Claude Jarman
Philip Kaufman
Edith Kramer
George Lucas
Monique and Tom Luddy
Nicola Miner and
Robert Mailer Anderson
Rob Nilsson
Nancy K. and Steve H. Oliver
Honorable Nancy Pelosi and
Paul Pelosi
Nini and Miller Ream
Mary Robinson
Jan and David Sargent
Roselyne Swig
Sibylle Szaggars and
Robert Redford
Barbara Tomber and
Don Mathews
Diane Wilsey
table sponsors
screen legend
Karen and John Diefenbach
Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein
George Gund III
Margaret and Will Hearst
Celeste and Anthony Meier
mogul
First Republic Bank
Maurice Kanbar
Susie and Pat McBaine
Nicola Miner and
Penelope Wong and Tim Kochis
executive producer
Frank Caufield
Theo Gund and George F. Gund
Cecilia and Jim Herbert
Janet and Thomas McKinley
Howard Roffman
Katie and Todd Traina
Wells Fargo
Diane Wilsey
director
Jennifer and Doug Biederbeck
Melanie and Lawrence Blum
Honorable Willie L. Brown Jr.
Jennifer Chaiken and
Sam Hamilton
Chicken and Egg Pictures
Dale Djerassi
Nancy Hult Ganis and Sid Ganis
Max and David Glynn
Nancy Livingston and
Fred M. Levin
Barbara Tomber and
Don Mathews
VISA Inc.
individual supporters
This list includes Film Society
Members and Annual Fund donors
As of March 20, 2011
*Indicates member of the Film Society
board of directors
LEADERSHIP Premier Circle
$250,000+
George Gund III*
Maurice Kanbar*
Sharon and Larry Malcolmson
Susie and Pat McBaine*
$100,000–$249,999
Margaret and Will Hearst*
Celeste* and Anthony Meier
$25,000–$99,999
Frank Caufield*
Carla Emil* and Rich Silverstein
Cecilia and Jim Herbert*
Fred M. Levin* and
Nancy Livingston
Suzie Reider and Brian Smith
Katie and Todd Traina*
Penelope Wong* and Tim Kochis
visionary circle
$10,000–$24,999
Anonymous
Jennifer and Doug Biederbeck*
Denis P. Bouvier
Caroline Crawford
Jean and Josette Deleage
Karen and John Diefenbach*
Dale Djerassi*
Rudi Dundas
Doris Fisher
Max* and David Glynn
Julie, Wally and Walter Haas
Arlene Inch
Lynn Kirshbaum
Nion T. McEvoy and
Leslie D. Berriman
Thomas and Janet McKinley
Susan Murdy
Fred Phillips
Howard Roffman*
Camilla and George Smith
Diane B. Wilsey
Charlotte and David Winton
producer CIRCLE
$5,000–$9,999
Edward V. Abratowski
Melanie* and Lawrence Blum
Charles N. and Margaret Charnas
Penny and James George Coulter
Guerrino De Luca
Peter Dolan
Randi and Bob Fisher
Nancy Hult Ganis and Sid Ganis*
Linda and Jon Gruber
John and Tina Keker
George and Judy Marcus
Alexander and Carolyn Mehran
Ron and Diane Miller
Timothy Mott and Ann Jones
Paul Spiegel
Barbara Tomber* and Don
Mathews
Skylar Woodward
Saul Zaentz
Luminary Members Club
$900–$2,900
(includes Annual Fund Benefactor
and Chairman’s Club donors)
Anonymous
Carol Baker
Joe T. Bamberg
Barrish Bail Bonds
Owsley Brown III
Mark Buell and
Susie Tompkins Buell
Marc Capelle and Sara Murphy
Nina Carroll
Stefanie and Peter Coyote
Robert K. Culley
Arianne Z. Dar
Guerrino De Luca
David deWilde
Ray and Dagmar Dolby
Becky Draper
Julia Erickson and Arthur
Rothstein
Netta F. Fedor
William S. and Sakurako Fisher
Fraenkel Gallery
Jonathan Gans and Abigail Turin
David M. Goodstein and
Olga Perkovic
Theo Gund
Martine Habib
Lynn Hershman and
George Leeson
Beth and Hank Holland
Robert James and Howard Grothe
Adam J. Klein
Herbert Kurz
John M. Lobato
Lucasfilm Foundation
Ken Malcolmson, in honor of
Catherine Marcus
David F. and Lori Marquardt
Douglas Marschke
Susan J. Martin
James McElwee
Linda and Tony Meier
Merchant
Steven L. Merrill
Joan Maze Miles and
Marion L. Miles Jr.
Claudia D. Miller and Ron E. Corral
Bert Mittler
Philip Monego and
Sandra Dinubilo
Marjorie S. Munson
William and Susan Oberndorf
Jan and Howard Oringer
Sharon Diane Ow-Wing
Mary Prendiville and
Richard Lopez
John Riordan
Jason Rogan
Yvonne and Angelo Sangiacomo
Brenda Shank, M.D., Ph.D.
Jane Spray
Heidi and John Stone
Robert P. Taylor and
Anne D. Kaiser
Jay and Shannon Thomson
Laney and Pasha Thornton
Trevor and Alexis Traina
Jack and Susy Wadsworth
Leslie Walker and Buzz Burlock
John Waters
Benjamin and Patricia Winslow
Paul Zaentz
Film Director $500–$900
(Includes Annual Fund
Patron donors)
Actual Films
Janice Anderson-Gram
Richard Benefield and
John Kunowksi
Gretchen and John Berggruen
Beatrice Bowles
Jamie and Philip Bowles
Sue Busby and Glen Hildebrand
Andrew Byrnes
Lisa Carlin
Edward and Nancy Conner
John Dawson
Levon Der Bedrossian and
La Méditerranée
Steven and Pamela Dinkelspiel
Netta and Michael Fedor
Carolyn and Timothy Ferris
Elisabeth and Greg Fowler,
in honor of Penelope Wong
and Tim Kochis
Thomas and Sandy Friedland
Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller
Kaatri Grigg
Robert Holgate
Linda and Robert Holub
Leslie and George Hume
Bill and Kathy Lazzaretti
Stephen and Maribelle Leavitt
Mr. and Mrs. P. Levensohn
Bonnie Levinson and Donald Kay
Sara MacPherson and
Dr. Robert Bhistkul
Alisha L. McCutcheon
Walter and Aggie Murch
Virginia Newhall
Jim Newman and Jane Ivory
B.L. Peuto and A. Betraud Peuto
Bradley Post
William and Karin Rabin,
in honor of Nellie Wong
Tuesday A. Ray
Rebecca Ross
Contee Seely
Ivan Serdar and Brian Espinoza
Wylie and Judy Sheldon
Stephen L. Smith and Diana T. Go
H. Marcia Smolens
Katya Sorokko
Stuhlmuller Vineyards
Sundance Group
John A. Traina Jr.
Catherine Wagner and
Loretta Gargan, in honor of
Carla Emil
Kirby Walker
Lawrence Wilkinson
CONTRIBUTOR $100–$499
Anonymous
Stephen Bannatyne
Charles Barile
Ted Bartlett and Donna
Hoghooghi
Matthew Barton
Laura Bass
Karl Beck
Susan Berger Law
Andrew Black
Tim Boettcher
Romana and Nicholas J. Bracco
Kimiko Burton
Richard and Glynn Butterfield
Larry Byrnes, in honor of
Ana Stenzel and Trent Wallace
Philipa and James Caldwell Jr.
Mike and Gina Cerre
Peter Chase
Susan Churchill
Margaret Clarson
Chonita and Michael Cleary
Gary Coates
Lea Cohen
Bruce Cree and Eleanor Harwood
Cristine Dewey
Earl Diskin
Dolby Laboratories
Lisa Doran
Alan Epstein
Sally-Ann and Ervin Epstein Jr.,
in honor of Jennifer Chaiken
Elizabeth Erdos and
Wayne Dejong
Paul and Laura Escobosa
Judith Ets-Hokin and
Trig Liljestrand
Paul and Dianne Felton
Vicki and David Fleishhacker
Hugh W. Foster
Robert E. Frye,
Whistling Communications
Diana Fuller
Rainer Gaethke
Marina Galli
Jameson Goldner
Arnold A. Grossman
Jana M. Hardy
Elizabeth Hartka
Allan and Nancy Herzog,
in memory of Irma Levin
Vivien Hillgrove and Karen Brocco
James C. Hormel and
Michael P. Nguyen
Eleanor Jacobs
Sid Jenkins
Janet L. Johns
Liz Keim
Adam Keker
Uzma and Ahmed Khaishgi
Adam Klein
Karen Kronick
Shari and Phil Lalonde
Hollis Lenderking
Matthew Levine and
Diane Duerr-Levine
Anthony and Jodi Liano
Delroy and Nashormeh Lindo
John Lobato
Vincent McCambridge
Larry Mercer and Terry Senne
Gerry Nagatani
Hiro Narita and
Barbara Parker Narita
Leland Orser and
Jeanne Tripplehorn
Rajeev Prabhakar
Don and Maureen Querio
Charles and Patricia Raven
Barbara and Charles Renfrew
Royal Kennedy Rodgers
Annie Roney
Myra Rothfeld and
Richard Shupak
Ken Schneider and Marcia Jarmel
John Sealander
Anne W. Smith
Carol A. Smith
Lauren Sorkin
Stephen and Elsa Spaulding
Danielle Steel
Susan Stern
Timothy Streb
Myron Sugarman and
Cynthia Woods
David Sweet
Dolly Talaga
Theatrical Stage Employees
Local 16 IATSE
Laura Thielen and George Eldred
Andrea Turner
Gregory and Virginia Tusher
Leon Van Steen
Paul Von Stamwitz
Tim and Patricia Warner
Melina and Tom Whitehead
C. Lawrence and
Anne Z. Whitman
Alex Witherill
Jon Yolles and Stacey Silver
Mona Lisa Yuchengco and
Lloyd LaCuesta
195
San Francisco
Film Society Staff
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
Graham Leggat
Executive Director
Rebecca Sills
Executive Associate
COMMUNICATIONS
MARKETING
DEVELOPMENT
Kim Bender
finance, administration
& operations
FINANCE & ADMINSTRATION
Publications Associate
Steven Jenkins
Howie Severson
Suzanne McCloskey
Deputy Director
Production Coordinator
Director, Corporate Sponsorship
Keith Cowling
Amanda Todd
Business Manager
Harlen Mallis
Digital Media Coordinator
Development Manager
Sarah Bernat
Robert Avila
Elizabeth Duran
Office Manager
Copy Editor
Development Associate
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
membership
Ryan Del Gado
Marketing Manager
Julia Rosof
IT Director
Jen Cox
Membership Manager
Marketing Associate
Jennie-Marie Adler
Miguel Pendás
Creative Director
Michael Read
Publications Manager
Barbara del Rio
Design & Production Manager
Mihai Manoliu
The Spider
Web Support
Matthew Rancatore
Graphics Intern
SF360.org
Susan Gerhard
Editor-in-Chief
Membership Associate
EDUCATION
Joanne Parsont
Director of Education
Michael A. Behrens
Filmmaker Education Manager
Keith Zwölfer
Youth Education Manager
Trinity West
Operations Manager
PROGRAMMING
Rachel Rosen
Director of Programming
Marsha H. Levine
Production Artists
Denise Granger
Print Broker
Jeffrey Lowe
Graphics Intern
Programmers
Julieta Esteban
Audrey Chang
Apeksha Agarwal
Golden Gate Awards Manager
Djajijo Bola
Joseph Flores
Luis Guzman
Ryan Nemec
Education Interns
FILMMAKER SERVICES
Andrew Provost
Michele Turnure-Salleo
Jessica Sapick
Director, Filmmaker Services
SF360.org Interns
Athena Kalkopoulou
Publicity Manager
Jay Wertzler
Mei Levenson
Education Assistant
Kim Nunley
Bill Proctor
Technical Director
Rose de Heer
Emily Hoover
Gianmaria Franchini
Director of Publicity
Jeremy Stevermer
Erin Coker
Scoop du Jour Video Host
Jason Berger
Masakazu Nagane
Hilary Hart
Director of Operations
Marc Capelle
Music Director
Sean Uyehara
Dennis Harvey
PUBLICITY
Sarah Cathers
Editorial Support
publicity
Yuko Inatsuki
Julia Barbosa
OPERATIONS
Jason Sanders
Rod Armstrong
Education Associate
Michael Fox
Contributing Editors
Damon O’Donnell
Director, Foundations &
Major Gifts
Linda Butler
PUBLICATIONS
publications
Fiscal Sponsorship Coordinator
Sara Dosa
Grants & Residencies Coordinator
Katelind Ikuma
Samuel Tomfohr
Jale Yoldas
Filmmaker Services Interns
Programming Coordinator
Ally Fan
Robin Griswold
Julia Lee
Judith Sealy
Ashlee Szot
Programming Interns
Betty Tweedy
Publicists
Camille Bertrand
Jannette Bivona
Diane Lo
Laura Molinari
Publicity Interns
Pamela Gentile
Lead Photographer
George F. Gund
Tommy Lau
FOR THE FESTIVAL
Pat Mazzera
Tanya Dueri
communications
Photographers
MARKETING
Rebecca Sweeney
DEVELOPMENT
Marketing Assistant
Victoria Amaro
Jamal Pinkney
Development Assistant
Derek Sagehorn
Kaleigh Gaynor
Marketing Interns
Tera Ragan
Brianne Ries
Executive & Development Interns
196
Elise Cuvelier
Erin Klenow
volunteers
Membership Intern
Julie Lipe
Michael LoPresti
Oriana Reyes
Volunteer Manager
Lydia Smith
Whitney Chaney
WINSLOW & ASSOCIATES
SPECIAL EVENTS COORDINATORS
Lynne Winslow
President
Neil Figurelli
Vice President
Matthew Wanlin
Box Office Cashiers
Operations
David Owen
Saifon Doucet
Business Manager
Festival Events Producer
Antonio Pagni
Production Manager
Stage Manager
Sarah Bernat
tech
Simin Atayman
Molly Glover
Curtis Maughlin
Diane Romualdez
Tina Valentine
Event Coordinators
Timothy Taylor
Nancy Li
Rafael Musni
Restaurant Coordinators
David Goodyear
Janet Glynn
Intern
Assistant Technical Director
Mike Shoun
Technical Manager
Jon Bastian
Kahlil Karn
Cat Lam
Hal Rowland
Projectionists
Volunteer Associate
programming
GUEST OFFICE
Christine Davila
Guest Office Manager
Creative
Credits
Festival creative by
Method Design
Festival trailer
motion graphics by Aaron
Becker
Festival original music by
Marc Capelle and Monte
Vallier
John Cardellino
Jenni Rowland
Photo Credits
Guest Coordinators
Photo of Graham Leggat on page 28
by Michael Read.
Matthew Takata
Photo of George Gund III on page
35 by Pamela Gentile.
Special Guest Coordinator
Dori Stegman
Photo of Walter Salles on page 37 by
Tommy Lau.
Talent Producer
Photo of Robert Duvall on page 39
by Tommy Lau.
print traffic
Photo of Matthew Barney on page
42 by Hugo Glendinning, courtesy
Gladstone Gallery, New York.
Jesse Dubus
Print Traffic Manager
Dylan Reiff
Matthew Barney stills on page 43
courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New
York.
Print Traffic Associate
Still from Beginners on page 58
courtesy of Focus Features.
Tad Barker
PROGRAMMING
Photo of Mike Mills on page 58 by
Sarah Soquel Morhaim.
Emily Doe
Aaron Delman
Denis DeLaRoca
Rocío Salazar
Schools at the Festival
Filmmaker School
Visit Coordinators
Jacob Heule
Vicci Ho
Jordi Valdes
Elisabeth Lequeret
Peter Williams
Program Consultants
Rick Baraff
EDUCATION
finance, administration
& operations
ADMINISTRATION
Shannon Walter
Administrative Assistant
Box office
Mitch Vaughn, Box Cubed
Box Office Manager
Ben Armington, Box Cubed
Box Office Manager
Technical Assistants
Associate Programmer
Gyllian Christiansen
Theater Operations Manager
Ally Fan
Jackie Moe
Sarah Simonds
Theater Operations Assistants
Julia Lee
transportation
Meredith Potter
Judith Sealy
Ashlee Szot
Programming Interns
Photo of Serge Bromberg on page
64 by Léo Delafontaine.
Photo of Matthew Barney on page
65 by Hugo Glendinning; courtesy
Gladstone Gallery, New York.
Still from Drawing Restraint 17
on page 65 by Hugo Glendinning,
courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New
York.
Photo of Walter Salles on page 66
by Tommy Lau.
Photo of Robert Duvall on page 67
by Tommy Lau.
Photo of Kaspar Astrup Schröder on
page 72 by Tommy Lau.
Peter Lowe
Transportation Associate
Still from La Dolce Vita on page
114 courtesy Cineteca di Bologna/
Reporters Associati.
Dimitri Camsat
VENUE OPERATIONS
Adrianne Chu
Alan Valensky
Sarah Flores
Jessica Wilson
Vanessa Gentry
Venue Operations Managers
Brian Govender
Christine Frey
Keeyan Majdi
Festival Lounge Managers
Mike Keegan
Robin Griswold
Photo of Walter Salles, Robert Duvall
and James Schamus on page 60 by
Pamela Gentile.
Transportation Manager
Adele Burnes
Katelind Ikuma
Christine Davila
THEATER OPERATIONS
Photo of Elijah Wood and Evan
Rachel Wood on page 59 by Tommy
Lau.
Photo of Federico Fellini on page
114 courtesy Cineteca di Bologna/
Reporters Associati.
Photo of Raúl Ruiz on page 126 by
Pamela Gentile.
Photo of the Master Class with
Walter Salles on page 184 by Tanya
Dueri.
197
Acknowledgments
Betsy Abendroth
William Adams
Brooks Addicott
Michael Ahrens
Gunnar Almer
Ioannis Andreades
Jordan Angle
Mark Ankner
Wakana Arai
Viviana Araneda
Ed Arentz
Sten Arne Rosnes
Meagan Asplin
Arnaud Aubelle
Krissy Bailey
Bill Banning
Michael Barker
Joe Bender
Richard Benefield
Katie Beneicke
Dan Berger
Nicole Berman
Tom Bernard
Andrea Bertolini
BJ Crystal, Inc.
Livia Bloom
Stephanie Bolton
Adreine Bowles
Denise Bradley
Elizabeth Brambilla
Peter Bratt
Josh Braun
Phil Bronstein
Grant V. Brown
Owsley Brown III
Debbie Brubaker
Tom Bruchs
Crystal Bryant
Kristina Bunger
Chris Burdett
Meghann Burns
Jessica Bursi
Paul Burt
Luis R. Cancel
Marc Capelle
Amelia Carpenito
Antonucci
Kim Caruana
Jonathan Chait Aurbach
Florence Charmasson
Catherine Chau
Joan Chen
Thomas J.C. Chen
Anna-Mae Chin
Hwa-seon Choi
Dennis Chu
Martin Chu
198
Wendy Chu
Tracy Cink
Brian Collette
Michelle Collins
Rebeca Conget
Gerry Corbett
Juan Ignacio Correa
Matt Cowal
Peter Coyote
Stefanie Coyote
Bruce Cree and
Eleanor Harwood
Eilish Cullen
Steve Cummings
Santhosh Daniel
Manohla Dargis
Marika Davis
Ninfa Dawson
Rosana de Sa
Lindsay Dedo
Denis DeLaRoca
Thania Dimitrakopoulou
Paul Discoe
Dish Café
James Dutcher
Hannah Eaves
Klaus Eder
Ken Eisen
Mark Eitzel
Daniela Elstner
Delphine Eon
Jeannette Etheredge
Michael Farmer
Kevin Farnham
Mike Farrah
Liza Burnett Fefferman
Howard Feinstein
Carlos Félix Corona
David Fenkel
Festival Internacional
de Cine de Morelia
Sarah Finklea
Sandro Fiorin
Fei Ling Foo
Jeffrey Fraenkel
Fraenkel Gallery
Dale Fridell
Benjamin Friedland
Betty Friend
Diana Fuller
Christine Gagliardo
Mark Ganter
Alex Garcia
María Belén García
Alcat
Amélie Garin-Davet
Christopher Geison
Kathy Geritz
Nancy Gerstman
Kaveh Gharib
Dulcinea Gonzalez
Bill Gosden
Lizette Gram Mygind
Nancy Gribler
Brad Griffin
William Gruenberg
Martine Habib
Brian Han
Rachel Hart
Lauren Hart
Ann Hatch
Chris Hatfield
Mohamed Hefzy
Abigail Holmes
Diana Holtzberg
Seiji Horibuchi
Christine Horstmann
Marcus Hu
Paul Hudson
Johnny Ray Huston
Manami Iboshi
Steve Indig
Hiroshi Inomata
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
Larry Jenkins
Nathalie Jeung
Ali Johnston
Doug Jones
Linda Jordan
Amber Kaplan
Maciej Karpinski
Jennifer Katell
Mike Keegan
Liz Keim
Heejeon Kim
Laura Kim
Wes Kinnear
Elyse Klaidman
Ani Klose
Marion Klotz
Jorge Kobe
Irena Kovarova
Ryan Krivoshey
David Kwok
Yura Kwon
Tomi Lahdesmaki
Claudia Landsberger
Pascale Langlois
Karen Larsen
Winnie Lau
Claudia Lehan
Juliette Lepoutre
Dan Lettieri
Caroline Libresco
Cheng-Sim Lim
Aida LiPera
Alessandro Lombardo
Bill Longen
Richard Lorber
Tom Luddy
Cindy Lund
Allen Machain
Marie-Pierre Macia
Lindsay Macik
Maggie Mackay
Sanam Madjedi
David Magdael
Hiromi Makepeace
Guillaume Mannevy
Isabel D.C. Markl
Jonathan Marlow
Anne-Claire Martin
Pablo Maseda
Ayesha MathewsWadhwa
Carol Anne McCrystal
Catherine McCrystal
Andrea McStocker
Pamela Meneses
Merchants of Upper
Market and Castro
Becky Mertens
Meta Interfaces, Inc.
Gary Meyer
Daniela Michel
Charlotte Mickie
Paul Miller
Rachel Milstein
Jackie Moe
Anita Monga
Matt Moon
Peter Moore
Robert Morales
Jim Morris
Eddie Muller
Robert Murdock
National Alliance
for Media Arts
and Culture
Russell Nelson
Valeska Neu
Rick Norris
Claude Nouchi
Luc Ntonga
Jef Nuyts
Mike Olcese
Gary Olive
Barbro Osher
Susan Oxtoby
Miira Paasilinna
Gary Palmucci
Steve Pelinacci
Manfred Peng
Angela Penny
Mark Peranson
Miles Perkins
Richard Peterson
Thomas Petit
Frances Phillips
Michael PickmanThoon
Silvia Pinterova
Mike Popalardo
Mario Porto
John Powers
Tom Prassis
Pusan International
Film Festival
Tom Quinn
Jeremy Quist
Jennifer Rainin
Juan Ramirez
Pascale Ramonda
Courtney Regan
Sandra Reid
Charlotte Renaut
Jennifer Revoir
Danae Ringelmann
Mariette Rissenbeek
Jerry Rojas
Lorrae Rominger
Eric Rorer
Becky Ross
Peter Rothen
Camille Rousselet
George Rush Jr.
Emily Russo
Renate Sache
Jeffrey Sakson
Sarajevo Film Festival
Marlene Saritzky
Eric Schell
AJ Schnack
Kary Schulman
Lauren Schwartz
Samantha Scupp
Heather Secrist
Natalie Serfözö
Neta Shacham
Cindy Shamban
Sam Sharkey
Joel Shepard
David Sibbet
Michael Silberman
Rosemary Silverman
Renee Simms
Alissa Simon
Britta Sjogren
Elena Smirnova
Dustin Smith
Gavin Smith
Ashley Soares
Karolina Sobecka
Deanne Sowter
Shelley Spicer
Chris Statton
Kate Statton
Peter Stein
Judy Stone
Melinda Stone
Micaela Swafford
Patricia Sweetow
M.T. Sylvia
Clémence Taillandier
Sandi Tan
Nadja Tennestedt
Claire Thibault
Kyle Thorpe
Skye Thorstensen
Geir Tonnessen
Akiva Tor
Toronto International
Film Festival
Robin Treasure
Kristin Treiber
Shelley Trott
Frederick Tsui
Marie-Pierre Ulloa
Camille Utterback
Shannon Valcich
Linda Valdespino
Bart van Bolhuis
Ron Vandenberg
Jaap Veerman
Juan Vélez
Marc Vogl
Ragnar von Schiber
Leslie Vuchot
Katrina Wan
Villy Wang
Cari Waters
Marius Watz
John Weaver III
Adam Weiss
Ryan Werner
Molly Wiebe
Chris Wiggum
Jennifer Wilson
Gisela Wiltschek
Stacey Wisnia
Leo Wong
Vicky Yang
Sherman Yee
Jennifer Ziegler
CAUSES & IMPACTS
LIFE, ABOVE ALL
American Teacher
Vanessa Roth
USA
Better This World
Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway
USA
Crime After Crime
Yoav Potash
USA
The Green Wave
Ali Samadi Ahadi
Germany/Iran
Hot Coffee
Susan Saladoff
USA
Kinyarwanda
Alrick Brown
USA/Rwanda
Life, Above All
Oliver Schmitz
South Africa/Germany
Miss Representation
Jennifer Siebel Newsom
USA
The Pipe
Risteard Ó Domhnaill
Ireland
USA
200
better this world
The San Francisco Film Society is committed to
more than the passive viewing of films on the
big screen.
Contemporary filmmakers are producing powerful
films that aim to raise awareness, influence
opinion, change behavior, encourage action and
even instigate social movements.
By curating programs and cultivating new
film projects that have the potential to effect
change, and by bringing these works to Bay Area
audiences each year—including thousands of
students through SFFS Youth Education outreach
programs (see page 182)—the Film Society fills
the role of advocate, catalyst and change agent
for the causes these programs and films bring
to light.
At SFIFF54, we have identified ten narrative
and documentary films that expose and explore
some of today’s critical social issues, including
criminal justice, civil liberties, AIDS in Africa,
women in the media and the arts, education, the
environment, democratic revolution and conflict
and reconciliation.
Join us for Festival screenings of these films
and participate in conversations with filmmakers
in attendance. We hope you will be inspired
to play a part in making change, engage with
other audience members and connect with other
enthusiasts, activists or groups who stand ready
to respond to cinematic calls to action.
In addition to connecting audiences with these
important causes, we also aim to measure the
impact these films are having in the world.
Throughout the Festival and beyond, we ask you
to share with us how you have engaged with
the films and what action you have taken on the
issues after seeing them.
We also welcome your opinions on how you’d like
us to continue to develop this Causes & Impacts
initiative and measure positive change in the
future.
Short Film Print Sources
Aftermath on Meadowlark Lane
Zellner Bros., PO Box 49554, Austin
TX 78765. EMAIL: info@zellnerbros.
com.
Aglaée
Kare Productions, 9 Rue du Château
d’Eau, 75010 Paris, France. EMAIL:
[email protected].
All Flowers in Time
Phi Group, 356 Lemoyne Street,
Suite 100, H2Y 1Y3 Montreal,
Canada. FAX: 514-844-9503. EMAIL:
allflowersintime.com.
Bitch Rabbit
AJC! – Atelier Jeunes Cinéastes, 109
Rue du Fort, 1060 Brussels, Belgium.
Blokes
Fabula, Holanda 3017, Ñuñoa,
7770057 Santiago, Región
Metropolitana Anexo 111, Chile. FAX:
56-2-344-0908.
Burning Bush
CFMDC, 401 Richmond Street
W., Suite 119, MKV 3A8 Toronto,
Canada. EMAIL: bookings@cfmdc.
org. WEB: bingweb.binghamton.
edu/~vgrenier/filmsvideospages/
armoire.htm.
The Cap
Arjun Rihan, EMAIL: arjunrihan@
gmail.com.
Chelsea Hotel #2
Lorca Cohen and Darin Klein, EMAIL:
alexdacorte.com.
Chromatastic
Mercurial Productions,
WEB: kerrylaitala.net.
Come to the Table
Bay Area Video Coalition, 510 16th
Street, Suite 500, Oakland CA
94612. EMAIL: [email protected].
Coming Attractions
Sixpack Film Americas, PO Box 914,
Marfa TX 79843. EMAIL: amovie@
sbcglobal.net. WEB: tscherkassky.at.
Coyote Falls
Warner Bros., EMAIL: tom.mcalister@
warnerbros.com.
Landon Zakheim, EMAIL: landonjz@
gmail.com.
Gladstone Gallery, 515 W. 24th
Street, New York NY 10011.
Dromosphere
Fleischfilm, c/o Thorsten Fleisch,
Seestrasse 107, 13353 Berlin,
Germany. EMAIL: snuff@fleischfilm.
com.
202
The D Train
Jay Rosenblatt Films,
FAX: 415-641-8220.
WEB: jayrosenblattfilms.com.
Citizen Film, 2180 Bryant Street,
#201, San Francisco CA 94110.
FAX: 415-206-1329. EMAIL: emma@
citizenfilm.org.
The External World
David O’Reilly. EMAIL: mail@
davidoreilly.com.
Blasted Heath Films, Bozener Strasse
23, 78052 Villingen, Germany. EMAIL:
[email protected].
Noreen
El Zorrero Films, 788 Sarto Park,
Bayside, Dublin 15, Ireland. EMAIL:
[email protected].
Is This What You Wanted
Lorca Cohen and Darin Klein, EMAIL:
[email protected].
Once it started it could not end
otherwise
Kelly Sears. EMAIL: kelly.sears@
gmail.com.
I Swim Now
Sarah Biagini. EMAIL: sarah.biagini@
gmail.com.
I Tried to Leave You
Lorca Cohen and Darin Klein. EMAIL:
[email protected].
The Fantastic Flying Books
of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Moonbot Studios, 2031 Kings Hwy.,
Suite 102, Shreveport LA 71103.
FAX: 318-213-0769. EMAIL: clare@
moonbotstudios.com.
Jillian Dillon
Yvette Edery, 1015 N. Doheny Drive
#16, West Hollywood CA 90069.
WEB: artistrye.com.
Field Commander Cohen
[email protected].
Ladies and Gentlemen . . .
Mr. Leonard Cohen
National Film Board of Canada.
Fire Bad
Isaac Wolfe Productions, 1291 29th
Avenue, San Francisco CA 94122.
Last Resort
Katherin McInnis. EMAIL: katherin.
katherinmcinnis.com.
Flags
Mattan Cohen, 65 Carson, Irvine
CA 92620. EMAIL: mattancohen@
thecohenhome.net.
Ormie
Starz, 2950 N. Hollywood Way, 3rd
Floor, Burbank CA 91505. EMAIL:
[email protected].
Pixels
Autour de Minuit, 21 rue Henry
Monnier, 75009 Paris, France. FAX:
33-1-42-81-17-29. EMAIL: festivals@
autourdeminuit.com.
Specky Four Eyes
Vivement Lundi!, 11 rue Denis Papin,
Rennes, France. FAX: 33-2-99-6504-74. EMAIL: vivement-lundi@
wanadoo.fr.
The Strange Ones
WEB: thestrangeones.com.
Sunny Side Up
Mattan Cohen. EMAIL:
[email protected].
Sync
Max Hattler. EMAIL: me@maxhattler.
com. WEB: maxhattler.com.
Take This Longing
[email protected].
Play by Play
Afterwork Films, 1200 Park Avenue,
Emeryville CA 94608. FAX: 510-9223971. EMAIL: [email protected].
There Is a War
[email protected].
Protoparticles
Chema García Ibarra. EMAIL: info@
chemagarcia.com.
Tokyo-Ebisu
Tomonari Nishikawa. EMAIL:
[email protected].
Leaving Greensleeves
[email protected].
A Purpleman
A’muse, 5F Pyung Kwang B/D, 19-19
Chungmuro 5Ga, Jung Gu, 100-015
Seoul, South Korea. FAX: 82-2-7776148. EMAIL: [email protected].
Tourist Trap
WEB: skyethorstenson.com.
Library of Dust
Robert James, Producer, NuReality
Productions. EMAIL: r.james@mac.
com.
Quasar Hernandez
com.
Jennifer Deutrom. EMAIL: info@
thebatcabinet.com. WEB:
thebatcabinet.com.
A Little Prayer (H-E-L-P)
Canyon Cinema, 145 Ninth Street,
Suite 260, San Francisco CA 94103.
FAX: 415-626-2255. EMAIL: info@
canyoncinema.com.
Redemptitude
com.
God of Love
Luke Matheny Films. EMAIL:
[email protected].
Lost Lake
Zackary Drucker. EMAIL:
[email protected].
Flotsam/Jetsam
com.
Hail
Hubbub Inc. EMAIL: hubbubinc@
earthlink.net. WEB: emilyhubley.com.
Lover Lover Lover
[email protected].
Hell Roaring Creek
Dastoli Digital LLC. EMAIL:
[email protected].
The Home Front
Danish Film Institute, Gothersgade
55, 1123 Copenhagen K Denmark
How Could She?
Kevin Rieg. EMAIL: kevin@kevinrfilms.
com.
Bay Area Video Coalition, 510 16th
Street, Suite 500, Oakland CA 94612.
India Export
Raphael Linden, FAX: 270-568-3206.
The Math Test
San Francisco Art & Film for
Teenagers, 540 Alabama Street, San
Francisco CA 94110.
Minong, I Slept
Vera Brunner-Sung. EMAIL: vera@
slowtale.net. WEB: slowtale.net.
Neighborhood Watch
Zachary Booth. EMAIL: zack.booth@
yahoo.com.
[email protected].
Red Shirley
Esther Creative Group. EMAIL: brie@
ecgnyc.com.
Rummy
com.
Sasquatch Birth Journal 2
com.
Self Portrait as a PowerPoint
Proposal for an Amusement Park
Ride
Not Working So Well. EMAIL:
[email protected].
A Singer Must Die
[email protected].
Slave Ship
Tammy Marie Dudman. EMAIL:
[email protected].
WEB: tmarie.us.
The Snowman
Kelly Wilson, 10 Millard Drive,
Mill Valley CA 94941. EMAIL:
[email protected].
WEB: kellywilsonfilms.com.
Ben Russell. EMAIL: br@dimeshow.
com.
2 AM
TMJ Productions Inc., 8611 Weston
Road, #9, L4L 9P1 Woodbridge,
Canada. FAX: 905-856-6550. EMAIL:
[email protected].
The Virile Man
com.
Who by Fire
[email protected].
Why Don’t You Try
[email protected].
Young Dracula
Rumsen Films. EMAIL: seccombe@
gmail.com.
Z-Man
San Francisco School of the Arts,
555 Portola Drive, San Francisco
CA 94131. EMAIL: eberhardts@
sfusd.edu.
Country INDEX
Argentina
Asleep in the Sun
Ulysses (coproduction)
Austria
Coming Attractions (s)
Belgium
Bitch Rabbit (s)
Cat in Paris, A (coproduction)
Mill and the Cross, The (setting)
Bosnia
Whistleblower, The (setting)
Brazil
Joy, The
Burkina Faso
Place in Between, The
(coproduction, setting)
Canada
All Flowers in Time (s)
Burning Bush (s)
Falling in Love Again (s)
Incendies
Ladies and Gentlemen...
Mr. Leonard Cohen (s)
Little Prayer (H-E-L-P), A (s)
Ormie (s)
Salesman, The
There Is a War (s)
2 AM (s)
Whistleblower, The
Chile
Blokes (s)
(coproduction, setting)
Ulysses
China
High Life, The
Stool Pigeon, The (coproduction)
Colombia
Colors of the Mountain, The
Czech Republic
Walking Too Fast
Denmark
Good Life, The
Home Front, The (s)
Sound of Noise (coproduction)
Dominican Republic
Jean Gentil
Egypt
Microphone
England
Arbor, The
Into the Middle of Nowhere (s)
Marathon Boy
Pink Saris Sync (s)
Trip, The
Victoria, George, Edward &
Thatcher (s)
France
Aglaée (s)
Arrival of a Train (s)
Aurora (coproduction)
Cat in Paris, A
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (setting)
Chantrapas
Children of the Princess of Cleves
Circumstance (coproduction)
Detroit Wild City
Dolce Vita, La (coproduction)
Foreign Parts (coproduction)
Hands Up
Incendies (coproduction)
Infernal Boiling Pot, The (s)
Light Thief, The (coproduction)
Mysteries of Lisbon (coproduction,
setting)
Mysterious Retort, The (s)
On Tour
Pixels (s)
Sleeping Beauty, The
Sound of Noise (coproduction)
Specky Four Eyes (s)
Yves Saint Laurent l’Amour Fou
Georgia
Chantrapas (coproduction, setting)
Germany
At Ellen’s Age
Blessed Events City Below, The
Dromosphere (s)
External World, The (s)
(coproduction)
Future, The
Nostalgia for the Light (coproduction)
Green Wave, The
Jean Gentil (coproduction)
Jillian Dillon (s)
My Joy
On Tour (coproduction)
Quattro Volte, Le (coproduction)
Whistleblower, The (coproduction)
World on a Wire
Japan
13 Assassins
Hospitalité
Outrage
Tokyo-Ebisu (s)
Twist & Shout (s)
Walk Don’t Run (s)
Kyrgyzstan
Light Thief, The
Lebanon
Circumstance (coproduction)
Liberia
Redemption of General Butt Naked,
The (setting)
Malaysia
Mexico
Jean Gentil (coproduction)
Protoparticles (s)
Tiniest Place, The
Netherlands
My Joy (coproduction)
Norway
Troll Hunter, The
Panama
(coproduction)
Poland
Mill and the Cross, The
Walking Too Fast (coproduction)
Portugal
Mysteries of Lisbon
Greece
Attenberg
Romania
Aurora
Autobiography of Nicolae
Ceausescu, The
Hong Kong
Love in a Puff
Stool Pigeon, The
Russia
My Joy (setting)
Silent Souls
India
Autumn
Cap, The (s) (coproduction, setting)
India Export (s)
Marathon Boy (coproduction, setting)
Nainsukh
Pink Saris (coproduction, setting)
Rwanda
Kinyarwanda (coproduction, setting)
Iran
Circumstance (coproduction,
setting)
Green Wave, The (coproduction,
setting)
Ireland
External World, The (s)
Noreen (s)
Pipe, The
204
Italy
Dolce Vita, La
Quattro Volte, Le
Scotland
Into the Middle of Nowhere (s)
(coproduction)
Serbia
Cinema Komunisto
Tilva Rosh
Slovakia
Walking Too Fast (coproduction)
South Africa
Life, Above All
South Korea
End of Animal
Hahaha
Journals of Musan, The
Purpleman, A (s)
Spain
Black Bread
Sweden
Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975,
The
(coproduction)
She Monkeys
Sound of Noise
Switzerland
Drawing Restraint 17 (s)
Nainsukh (coproduction)
Quattro Volte, Le (coproduction)
Taiwan
Ukraine
My Joy (coproduction)
Uruguay
Useful Life, A
USA
Aftermath on Meadowlark Lane (s)
All Flowers in Time (s)
(coproduction)
American Teacher
Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, The
Beginners
Better This World
Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975,
The (coproduction, setting)
Burning Bush (s) (coproduction)
Cap, The (s)
Chelsea Hotel #2 (s)
Chromatastic (s)
Circumstance
Come to the Table (s)
Coyote Falls (s)
Crime After Crime
D Train, The (s)
Delmer Builds a Machine (s)
Detroit Wild City (coproduction,
setting)
Dish & the Spoon, The
Dog Day Afternoon
Escape From Suburbia (s)
Fantastic Flying Books of
Mr. Morris Lessmore, The (s)
Field Commander Cohen (s)
Fire Bad (s)
Flags (s)
Flotsam/Jetsam (s)
Foreign Parts
Fur of Flying (s)
Future, The (coproduction, setting)
Get with the Program (s)
God of Love (s)
Hail (s)
Hell Roaring Creek (s)
Hot Coffee
How Could She? (s)
I Swim Now (s)
I Tried to Leave You (s)
Independence in Sight (s)
India Export (s) (coproduction)
Is This What You Wanted (s)
Jillian Dillon (s) (coproduction)
Kinyarwanda
Knick Knack (s)
Last Buffalo Hunt, The
Last Resort (s)
Leaving Greensleeves (s)
Library of Dust (s)
Lost Lake (s)
Lover Lover Lover (s)
Lumber Jack-Rabbit (s)
Machines of the Working Class (s)
Marathon Boy (coproduction)
Math Test, The (s)
Meek’s Cutoff
Melody (s)
Minong, I Slept (s)
Miss Representation
Motor Rhythm (s)
Musical Memories (s)
Neighborhood Watch (s)
otherwise (s)
Page One: A Year Inside the New
York Times
Play by Play (s)
Quasar Hernandez (s)
Red Shirley (s)
Redemption of General Butt Naked,
The
Redemptitude (s)
Rummy (s)
Sasquatch Birth Journal 2 (s)
Proposal for an Amusement
Park Ride (s)
Selling, The
Singer Must Die, A (s)
Slave Ship (s)
Snowman, The (s)
Something Ventured
Stake Land
Strange Ones, The (s)
Sunny Side Up (s)
Tabloid
Take This Longing (s)
Terri
Third Dimensional Murder (s)
Tourist Trap (s)
Trypps #7 (Badlands) (s)
Virile Man, The (s)
Who by Fire (s)
Why Don’t You Try (s)
Working for Peanuts (s)
Young Dracula (s)
Z-Man (s)
(s) = short
Filmmaker Index
Abdalla, Ahmad
93
149
Ahadi, Ali Samadi
Amalric, Mathieu
58
178
Ambo, Phie
Anastasion, Daniele 160
Angell, Theo
71
Arbeláez, Carlos
César83
Aschan, Lisa
99
153
Atwal, Gemma
Baena, Carlos
Bagnall, Alison
Barnard, Clio
Barney, Matthew
Bashir, Aamir
Biagini, Sarah
Bonapart, Mayana
Booth, Zachary
Bourque, Louise
Bouyain, Sarah
Bragança, Felipe
Breillat, Catherine
Brittain, Donald
Brown, Alrick
Brunner-Sung, Vera
176
84
137
65
80
175
180
180
175
96
90
128
71
91
175
Caouette, Jonathan 179
Cárdenas, Israel
88
Castaing-Taylor,
Lucien175
Chiang Hsiu-chiung 152
Chomski, Alejandro 108
Coffin, Peter
71
180
Cohen, Mattan
Compagni-Portis,
Julian180
Cooper, Callum
175
Currie, Weston
71
Czajka, Isabelle
92
71
Da Corte, Alex
Dastoli, James
174
Dastoli, Robert
174
Denis, Claire
74
Drucker, Zackary
179
Drummond Deutrom,
Jennifer177
Duane de la Vega,
Kelly140
Dutta, Amit
95
206
Edery, Yvette
176
Ewert, Anna Frances178
Fassbinder, Rainer
Werner133
Fedorchenko,
Aleksei127
Felicioli, Jean-Loup 81
Fellini, Federico
114
Ferguson, Munro
64
177
Fleisch, Thorsten
Fleischer, Dave
64
Frammartino,
Michelangelo97
Fukada, Koji
117
81
Gagnol, Alain
Galloway, Katie
140
García Ibarra,
Chema103
Geller, Dan
161
Gleeson, Domhnall 178
Godoy, Oscar
102
Goldfine, Dayna
161
Goupil, Romain
116
Green, Brent
71
Grenier, Vincent
175
Guzmán, Patricio
155
Guzmán, Laura
Amelia88
Hannah, Jack
64
Hattler, Max
177
Helmrich,
Leonard Retel
159
Herschend,
72, 177
Jonn
Hershman Leeson,
Lynn164
Herzog, Werner
142
Hochhäusler,
Christoph113
Holstad, Christian
71
Hong Sang-soo
115
Hubley, Emily
177
Huezo, Tatiana
163
Iosseliani, Otar
112
Jacobs, Azazel
James, Robert
61
174
Jean, Patrick
Jo Sung-hee
Jones, Chuck
Joyce, William
July, Miranda
177
85
64
176
86
Keshavarz, Maryam
Kihara, Yosuke
Kim Tak-hoon
Kimball, Ward
Kitano, Takeshi
Kondracki, Larysa
Kubat, Aktan Arym
Kwan Pun-leung
82
176
177
64
168
104
122
152
Laitala, Kerry
Lam, Dante
Lanken, Lily
Lanken, Sylvan
Lasseter, John
Lezaic, Nikola
Lindberg, Lauren
Linden, Raphael
Longinotto, Kim
Losier, Marie
Lou, Emily
Loznitsa, Sergei
Lucky Dragons
Lumet, Sidney
Lumière, Auguste
Lumière, Louis
179
129
71
71
64
101
180
180
157
139
169
94
71
68
64
64
Majewski, Lech
125
Marais, Pia
78
Marie, T.
175
Matheny, Luke
174
Matterson, Sydney
Paige180
McInnis, Katherin
175
Meliande, Marina
90
Méliès, Georges
64
Mickle, Jim
170
Miike, Takashi
130
Miller, Claude
118
Miller, Nathan
118
Mills, Mike
58
Milspaw, Brett
71
Morris, Errol
162
148
Mulvad, Eva
Munch, Christopher 120
Nilsson, Johannes
Stjärne100
Nishikawa, Tomonari 175
Norling, John
64
Ó Domhnaill,
Risteard158
O’Callaghan,
Matthew64
O’Reilly, David
177
Oldenburg, Brandon 176
Olsson, Göran Hugo 141
Ovredal, André
171
Owen, Don
71
Pang Ho-cheung
Paravel, Véréna
Park Jung-bum
Park Sung-ho
Pilote, Sébastien
Potash, Yoav
Procopio, Joseph
Puiu, Cristi
123
147
89
177
98
145
180
109
Radcliff, Christopher 178
Reed, Lou
174
124
Reichardt, Kelly
Rieg, Kevin
180
Rihan, Arjun
177
Rivas, Marialy
174
Rosenberg, Rudi
143
Rosenblatt, Jay
179
Rossi, Andrew
156
Roth, Vanessa
136
Rozec,
Jean-Claude 81, 176
Rubin, Sam
180
Ruiz, Raúl
126
Russell, Ben
175
177
Ryu Jin-young
150
Saladoff, Susan
Salnave, Zoe
180
Sauder, Régis
143
Schmitt, Lee Anne 151
Schmitz, Oliver
121
Sears, Kelly
71, 179
Seccombe, Alfred 174
Sidney, George
64
Siebel Newsom,
Jennifer154
Silvestri, Rob
Simonsson, Ola
Sniadecki, J.P.
Spacek, Radim
Stever, Isabelle
Strauss, Eric
176
100
147
132
111
160
Talbot, Nat
180
Tan Chui Mui
105
165
Thoretton, Pierre
Thorstenson, Skye 179
146
Tillon, Florent
Timoner, Ondi
174
Tindle, Bonita
180
Tsangari, Athina
Rachel79
Tscherkassky, Peter 179
144
Turajlic, Mila
Tyrell, Tina
71
Ujica, Andrei
138
Van De Vorst,
Guérin178
Veiroj, Federico
103
Villaronga, Agustí
110
Villeneuve, Denis
119
Volkstein, Lauren
178
Wilson, Kelly
176
Winterbottom,
Michael131
Wolfe, Isaac
180
176
Wrischnik, Neil
Yoo Jin-young
177
Zakheim, Landon
Zellner, David
Zellner, Nathan
Zhao Dayong
178
70
70
87
title index
Aftermath on Meadowlark Lane 70 Falling in Love Again
64
Aglaée143
Fantastic Flying Books of Mr.
176
Morris Lessmore, The
All Flowers in Time
179
71
American Teacher
136 Field Commander Cohen
180
Arbor, The
137 Fire Bad
64 Flags180
Arrival of a Train, The
Asleep in the Sun
108 Flotsam/Jetsam70
147
78 Foreign Parts
At Ellen’s Age
64
Attenberg79 Fur of Flying
86
Aurora109 Future, The
Autobiography of Nicolae
Ceausescu, The
138 Get with the Program
177
Autumn80 God of Love
174
Good Life, The
148
Ballad of Genesis and Lady
Green Wave, The
149
Jaye, The
139
Beginners58 Hahaha115
Better This World
140 Hail177
178 Hands Up
Bitch Rabbit
116
Black Bread
110 Hell Roaring Creek
175
Black Power Mixtape
High Life, The
87
1967–1975, The
141 Home Front, The
178
Blessed Events 111 Hospitalité117
Blokes174 Hot Coffee
150
175 How Could She?
Burning Bush
180
Cap, The
177
Cat in Paris, A
81
142
Chantrapas112
71
Chelsea Hotel #2
Children of the Princess of
Cleves143
Chromatastic179
144
Cinema Komunisto
Circumstance82
113
City Below, The
83
Come to the Table
180
179
Coming Attractions
Coyote Falls
64
145
Crime After Crime
Cupid with Fangs
174
Deep End, The
175
178
Detroit Wild City
146
Dish & the Spoon, The
84
176
Dog Day Afternoon
68
Dolce Vita, La
114
65
Dromosphere177
D Train, The
179
End of Animal
External World, The
208
85
180
177
I Swim Now
175
I Tried to Leave You
71
118
Incendies119
180
180
India Export
Infernal Boiling Pot, The
64
178
178
Is This What You Wanted
71
Jean Gentil
Jillian Dillon
Journals of Musan, The
Joy, The
88
176
89
90
Kinyarwanda91
Knick Knack
64
Ladies and Gentlemen...
Mr. Leonard Cohen
Last Buffalo Hunt, The
Last Resort
Leaving Greensleeves
Library of Dust
Life, Above All
Light Thief, The
Little Prayer (H-E-L-P), A
Lost Lake
Love in a Puff
Lover Lover Lover
Lumber Jack-Rabbit
71
151
175
71
120
152
174
121
122
175
92
179
123
71
64
Machines of the Working Class 174
153
Marathon Boy
Math Test, The
180
Meek’s Cutoff
124
Melody64
Microphone93
125
179
Mind the Gap
Minong, I Slept
175
Miss Representation
154
64
Motor Rhythm
Musical Memories
64
94
My Joy
Mysteries of Lisbon
126
64
Mysterious Retort, The
Nainsukh95
Neighborhood Watch
180
New Skin for the Old Ceremony 71
Noreen178
155
otherwise179
On Tour
62
Oracle of Delphi, The
64
Ormie176
Outrage168
Page One: A Year Inside the
New York Times
156
Pink Saris 157
158
Pipe, The
Pixels177
96
176
Play by Play
159
Protoparticles103
Purpleman, A
177
Quasar Hernandez
Quattro Volte, Le
70
97
Redemption of General Butt
Naked, The
160
Redemptitude70
Red Shirley
174
Rummy70
Salesman, The
Sasquatch Birth Journal 2
Proposal for an Amusement
Park Ride
72,
Selling, The
She Monkeys
Silent Souls
Singer Must Die, A
Slave Ship
Sleeping Beauty, The
Snowman, The
98
70
177
169
99
127
71
175
128
176
Something Ventured
161
Sound of Noise
100
81, 176
Specky Four Eyes
Stake Land
170
Stool Pigeon, The
129
178
Strange Ones, The
Sunny Side Up
180
Sync177
Tabloid162
Take This Longing
71
Terri61
There Is a War
71
Third Dimensional Murder
64
130
13 Assassins
Tilva Rosh
101
163
Tiniest Place, The
Tokyo-Ebisu175
Tourist Trap
179
Trip, The
131
171
Troll Hunter, The
175
176
Twist & Shout
180
2 AM
Ulysses102
Useful Life, A
103
Victoria, George, Edward
& Thatcher
Virile Man, The
175
70
Walk Don’t Run
Walking Too Fast
Whistleblower, The
Who by Fire
Why Don’t You Try
Working for Peanuts
World on a Wire
176
132
104
71
71
164
64
133
Young Dracula
Youth Media Mash-Up
Yves Saint Laurent
l’Amour Fou
105
174
180
165
Z-Man180

CONTENTS - 54th San Francisco International Film Festival

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