The Arab Film Festival opens at the Clay and continues in several venues (including the Roxie) in the bay area through the 28th and then in LA October 31st to November 4th.
The United Nations Association Film Festival is at the Roxie in San Francisco tonight, then East Palo Alto on the 19th, and San Jose on the 21st. I'll write more about some of the films which will be playing at Stanford from the 24th to the 28th.
Frontline begins the fall season tonight with Cheney's Law. It expands on last year's The Dark Side (which is online), with a focus on Cheney's push to expand executive power and many would consider the disastrous consequences. It will be online Wednesday. Also see the Washington Post's series on Cheney.
The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio screens at the Clay Theater at 7:30 followed by a performance by the group and Q&A with filmmaker Agostino Ferrente. The documentary tells story of an effort to save a historic theater by creating an orchestra made up of musicians from all over the world. The tour is being presented by Netflix's Red Envelope Entertainment.
Yep - she was sacked but we went to Nepal and negotiated her reinstatement. We were all devastated by the news of her dethroning and we and her family took her to India while the situation was sorted out. Many people from her hometown refused to accept her being dethroned...
There are photos taken during her visit and the filming.
If you missed the film, it will start opening around the country by Thanksgiving. More photos (including of Joan Baez, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and Larry Harvey). There are also many more great documentaries at DocFest through October 10th.
Also tonight at 8 pm, there will be a showing of The Tribe at the San Francisco Apple store followed by 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).
DocFest opens tonight with What Would Jesus Buy? with an appearance by Rev. Billy(former San Francisco resident Bill Talen) at the Roxie (where all the films will be shown this year).
One of the most interesting documentaries playing this weekend is wtf: an okaymentary, a profile of the OkayPlayer online community. It is co-directed by Leslye James who will be at the screenings at 5 pm on Saturday, September 29th and Sunday, September 30th.
I'll be going to screenings and posting and taking photos over the next 13 days.
Strange Culture is playing at the Roxie and the Rafael through Thursday, September 27th. It will be at the Cinema Village in New York from October 5th to 18th (check the website for other places it will be shown).
It tells the story of artist Steve Kurtz's arrest in 2004 weaving together documentary, segments with Tilda Swinton and other actors, and animation. I saw Kurtz talk about his art at SFMOMA in March and saw the film at the San Francisco International Film Festival in May (photos).
DocFest opens at the Roxie on Friday and runs through October 10th and the Mill Valley Film Festival opens at the Rafael and other theaters on October 4th and runs through October 14th. I'll be writing about both festivals.
Last Friday, the Devil Came on Horseback opened at the Roxie (it continues through 9-13). San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom introduced the documentary on Darfur along with producer Jane Wells. He stayed for the film and Q&A and asked a question about current legislation in congress on Darfur.
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.
War Made Easy continues at the Roxie through at least September 14th. Norman Solomon will introduce the film at the Rafael tonight (8-31), and it will open at the Elmwood in Berkeley on September 7th (check the website for more information on more theaters. It is also available on DVD).
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.
I first saw Ralph Arlyck's films in college, but I never saw his 1969 short film Sean (which is now online through 8-31-07). In Following Sean which airs on most PBS stations as part of POV on Tuesday, July 31, Arlyck describes how the film about a child living in the Haight became part of the cultural debate at the time. I saw it at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2005. The documentary updates Sean's story. It is also available on DVD.
This afternoon at 3 pm, following a 1:50 pm screening of Wasted at Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater, there will be a panel discusion of Israeli documentaries. Several of the filmmakers participating including Shimon Dotan were interviewed on YourCall Radio (an MP3 is online). Donlan's intense Hot House which won the best World Cinema Documentary award at Sundance is screening at 4:30 pm today in Palo Alto, on Sunday at 4:15 pm in Berkeley, and next Saturday, Aug 4 at 4:30 pm in San Rafael (full details are at the link)
I'll write more about some of the films, but I have posted a bunch of photos.
Manufactured Landscapes opens today (July 20th) in San Francisco and Berkeley. Photographer Edward Burtynsky will be at the 7:15 pm and 9:35 pm screenings at the Lumiere tonight.
I'll write more about the film (it really should be seen in a theater) which will be opening in other cities.
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.
Gypsy Caravan director Jasmine Dellal will do a Q&A after the Saturday, July 7th 4:50 show at the Shattuck and the 7 pm show at the Lumiere. Voices of Roma will present live music and a discussion on Friday, July 6th at the 7 pm Lumiere and the Saturday, July 7th show at 7:10 pm at the Shattuck.
Also tonight on most PBS stations and online later this week is the last episode of this season of Frontline/World (though they will be posting a new story or photo essay each week this summer - subscribe to the newsletter to get updates).
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.
The best musical (and one of the best movies) I saw last year, Colma: the Musical, opens Friday in San Francisco. There will be Q&As at the Embarcadero with director Richard Wong, screenwriter and star H.P. Mendoza, and other cast members at the 7:30 pm and 10 pm shows on Friday, June 22 and Saturday, June 23rd. There will also be a party Friday at Frisson.
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.
Frameline continues through Sunday. There still are so many films to see. Here are a few.
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.
Michelle Tea is in a short about a JT Leroy like author in Gay Noir on Friday at 4:30 pm at the Castro as well as in Dream of an Ex-Girlfriend in the Homos by the Bay at 1:15 pm on Saturday at the Victoria.
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.
On the last episode of the Sopranos, Anthony, Jr. is watching a Frontline program on Iraq. Endgame will almost certainly not be the last time Frontline does a program on Iraq. But it does take a look back at the military failures in Iraq and how "the surge" strategy became the Bush administration's policy. It airs Tuesday, June 19th on PBS station, and the entire program will be online.
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.
