34 posts tagged “film”
Chicken John introduced Rev. Billy before the Q&A. They'll be having a conversation at 8 pm on Tuesday,
October 2nd (details).
Baez, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and Larry Harvey). There are also many more great documentaries at DocFest through October 10th.
a panel discussion of the internet and film distribution with Tiffany Shlain and Ken Goldberg. The film
is now availalbe on iTunes for $1.99 and also on DVD with a discussion kit.
There also is a podcast about the film and a facebook group. Photos from the premiere (even before it played at Sundance).
He spoke at SFMOMA last night. I'll update this with more on what he said. Until then, some photos (I have many more to go through).
The film tells the story of the genocide in Darfur through the eyes of Brian Steidle who became a military observer there in 2004 after leaving the Marines. He photographed the horrors he saw there, but later wrote that his camera was not nearly enough. But the images he took are powerful, particularly as he tells the story in the film.
Wells says there will be a feature film based on his story, but people should see the documentary now. I asked
her about being the field producer on a segment of the film where Steidle visits Rwanda. She said people are still in mourning twelve years later, that what happened had an impact long after the killing stopped.
Revolution Summer which played at the San Francisco International Film Festival also opens at the Roxie tonight. Jonathan Richman who did the score will perform.
The Devil Came on Horseback, a documentary on Darfur which was sold out at the San Francisco International Film Festival, is opening in the bay area. Friday, August 24th, Mayor Gavin Newsom will introduce the 7 pm screening at the Roxie, and producer Jane Wells will do a Q&A. She will also be at the 8:50 screening and at the 5:10 pm (Q&A) and 7:30 pm (intro) shows at the Shattuck in Berkeley on Saturday, and the 4:30 pm (Q&A) and 6:45 pm (intro) at the Rafael. The 11th Hour
War Made Easy also opens at the Roxie. Norman Solomon will be at the opening on Friday, August 31st at the Rafael. I do Norman's website and have sent him an email asking if he will be at any of the Roxie screenings. There was an article in the Chronicle on how the film uses fair use. It will expand to theaters in other cities and is available on DVD and for screenings at house parties. More photos of the screening at the Grand Lake theater.
Thom Hartmann and Paul Hawken will be at the 7:30 pm and 10 pm shows of the environmental documentary the 11th Hour on Friday at the Embacadero. Producer Brian Gerber will be at all shows on Saturday and Sunday.
Director Seth Gordon will speak at the 7:15 pm and 9:45 pm screenings of The King of Kong on Friday.
There will be a free screening of Made in LA on Thursday, September 6 at 7 pm at the Roxie (it will also be show on PBS on September 4th). There will be a discussion with filmmakers Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar; Guadalupe Hernandez, one of the workers featured in the film; and Katie Quan, Associate Chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
This is one of the best years for silent film in San Francisco in a long time. One the highlights of the San
Francisco International Film Festival was the live performance of Guy Maddin's Brand Upon the Brain (there
was also a screening of the Phantom Carriage). Charlie Chaplin's City Lights just was at the Castro. And the San Francisco Silent Film Festival runs through Sunday, July 15th.
It opens Friday at 7 pm with Ernst Lubitsch's The Student Prince of Old Heidelberg. Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle (who has written about star Norma Shearer in his book Complicated Women) introduces the film. He talked with Silent Film Festival executive director Stacy Wisnia and with artistic director Stephen Salmons on recent podcasts.
Michael Hawley previews the festival at The Evening Class and Max Goldberg for the Bay Guardian and for SF360. I'll just mention the free More Amazing Tales from the Archives program with Rob Stone of the UCLA Film at 10:30 am on Sunday. My photos from last year.
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival will be showing His People with a live jazz score by Paul Shapiro at 7:30 pm on July 21st at the Castro..
Frameline closed Sunday night with the feminist fairy tale, the Itty Bitty Titty Committee, which was produced by Frameline Award winner Andrea Sperling (who was interviewed by SF360). The other award winners were announced, and two of the them will be on cable tonight (Monday, June 25th).
Red Without Blue won the $10,000 Michael J. Berg documentary award for best documentary. It will be on the Sundance Channel at 9 pm tonight and screeening at a number of festivals. SIgn up for their email list to get information on when it will be repeated and available on DVD. Michael Guillen interviewed the directors.
Semper Fi won the audience award for best documentary. It will start showing on Showtime at 8:30 pm tonight and be repeated several times this week (as well as being available on demand through July 23rd). Jeff Key was interviewed on the California Report.
Update: Richard Wong will be at the 7:30 pm & 10 pm shows on Friday, June 29th & Saturday June, 30th.
It will be opening in New York City on July 6th at The Quad Cinemas at 34 W. 13th St and in LA in August. Hopefully, it will be the sleeper indie hit of the summer (they already have an ad promoting repeat viewings) and expand to other cities.
They are promoting Colma on myspace with profiles of characters from the film including Maribel, Billy, and Rodel (HP Mendoza who also has a profile plays him). The film is also a new, shorter cut which Wong and Mendoza talk about in this interview.
More photos from the premiere at the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival where it won a special jury award (they did the trailer for this year's fest). RIchard Wong was also a finalist for the Independent Spirit Someone to Watch Award.
I'll write more about Red Without Blue when it airs on the Sundance Channel on Monday, June 25th, but there is a screening on Wednesday at 2:15 pm at the Castro with the directors and the twins the film is about doing a Q&A.
On Thursday at 7 pm at the Victoria, Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe is screening (it is sold out, but there are rush tickets if you get there early enough). I followed the NEA battle over Mapplethorpe's work closely (and was able to see the show that sparked the controversy at the Whitney), but I still learned a lot about his work and the influence of Sam Wagstaff.
Lynn Breedlove's Godspeed (based on her novel) will also show on Saturday as part of the same shorts program. Breedlove will also be reading on Wednesday at 6 pm at the main library as part of the Mad to Live: Queers Under the Influence of the Beats series Tea organized (it concludes on June 27th at the same time). Two films by experimental filmmaker Abigail Child will also be shown on Saturday at the Victoria at 6 pm.
One night when I came out of the Castro during the San Francisco International Film Festival, the marquee had been changed in preparation to shoot the trailer for the Frameline festival (you can watch them online and see photos i took). Film Arts Foundation's Release Print recently compiled a long list of bay area film festivals and Frameline, the longest running and largest LGBT film festival, is certainly one of the most important.
I'll be writing more and posting photos.
I heard several people say the best cinematic experience they've had in a long time was at the San Francisco International Film Festival live performance of Brand Upon the Brain (photos). The theatrical release won't be the same, but with no foley artists or live musicians, it will be easier to pay attention to the quick cuts of the film.
Maya Lawson (on the screen above) will be at the Saturday, June 16th San Francisco screenings at 4:45 pm and 7:30 pm the Lumiere.
Guy Maddin wrote that one of the reasons he made Brand was to get more people to see silent films.
At the San Francisco screening, he said the first time he saw a silent film with live music was at the San Francisco film festival in the 80s. Hopefully some of the people who see Brand will go to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival at the Castro July 13th - 15th.
The opening film at the festival, the Golden Door, directed by Emanuele Crialese and starring Vincenzo Amato also opened in San Francisco this weekend.
