Fiftieth Anniversary SFIFF 2007

[Chris Knipp]

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2007

LINKS TO ALL CHRIS KNIPP REVIEWS OF SFIFF 2007 FILMS:

7 YEARS (JEAN-PASCAL HATTU)
12 LABORS, THE (RICARDO ELIAS)
AD LIB NIGHT (LEE YOON-KI)
amour-LEGENDE (MI-SEN WU)
AGUA (VERONICA CHEN)
ALONG THE RIDGE (KIM ROSSI STEWERT)
ARIA (TAKUSHI TSUBOKAWA)
BAMAKO (ABDERRAHMANE SISSAKO)
BORN AND BRED (PABLO TRAPERO)
CAYMAN, THE (NANNI MORETTI)
COLOSSAL YOUTH (PEDRO COSTA))
CONGORAMA (PHILIPPE FALARDEAU)
DANS PARIS/INSIDE PARIS (CHRISTOPHE HONORE)
DARATT (MAHAMAT-SALEH HAROUN)
FALLING (BARBARA ALBERT)
FLANDERS (BRUNO DUMONT)
GARDENS IN AUTUMN (OTAR IOSSELIONI)
GRANDHOTEL (DAVID ONDRICEK)
HANA (HIROKAZU KOREEDA)
HEAVEN'S DOORS (SWEL AND IMAD NOURY)
HOW IS YOUR FISH TODAY? (XIAOLU GUO, 2006)
ISLAND, THE (PAVEL LOUNGUINE)
LADY CHATTERLEY (PASCALE FERRAN)
LOVE FOR SALE: SUELY IN THE SKY (KARIM AINOUZ)
MURCH (EDIE AND DAVID ICHIOKA)
OLD GARDEN, THE (IM SANG-SOO)
OTAR IOSELIANI (JULIE BERTUCELLI)
PAPRIKA (SATOCHI KON)
PARTING SHOT (JEANNE WALTZ)
PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES (ALAIN RENAIS)
RAGE (ZULI ALADAG)
ROCKET SCIENCE (JEFFREY BLITZ)
REPRISE (JOACHIM TRIER)
ROAD TO SAN DIEGO, THE (CARLOS SORIN)
ROME RATHER THAN YOU (TARIQ TEGUIA)
SILLY AGE, THE (PAVEL GIROUD)
SOUNDS OF SAND (MARION HANSEL)
SUGAR CURTAIN, THE (CAMILA GUZMAN URZUA)
THESE GIRLS (TAHANI RACHED)
TIMES AND WINDS (REHA ERDEM)
VANAJA (RAJNESH DOMALPALLI )
VIE EN ROSE,LA/LA MOME (OLIVIER DAHAN)
VIOLIN, THE (FRANCISCO VARGAS)
YACOUBIAN BUILDING, THE (MARWAN HAMED)


FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY

200 films from 54 countries.

This will be a blog of the festival, which runs from April 26 to May 10, and also can be a place for anyone at all to discuss the films or the festival and comment on my reviews in the Festival Coverage Thread.

The SFIFF films schedule is posted now, and there was a press breakfast in the St. Francis Hotel this morning with free food and a nice view and Graham Leggat et al. announced all the programs. I'm glad they are showing The Yacoubian Building, an interesting-sounding new Egyptian movie that I just missed in NY. The finale showing is the same one as the Rendez-Vous', the Edith Piaf biopic La Vie en Rose AKA La Mome. Other offerings I've already seen include Dumont's Flanders and Resnais' new one, Coeurs AKA Private Fears in Public Places. Honore's Dans Paris is also to be shown, Bamako, Gardens in Autumn, Paprika.

Lady Chatterley I have not seen and I am eager to because there has been a lot of buzz about it in Europe; it was well received at the Berlinale and has shown in France to excellent reviews, needless to say since it wont the C�sar for Best Film.

Opening Night and the midterm and final showings offer no comps and the prices are pretty outrageous for the opening, $85 minimum, so I guess I won't see the new Emanuele Crialese (of Respiro) offering, Golden Door AKA Nuovo Mondo. Leggatt called it "Nuevo Mundo," but that was okay: he got every other foreign word and name right and got applause for the way he could reel off two dozen local film artists' names at a time -- he is a sharp cookie, acing the credits aspect anyway, good also at hyping the films and the festival, and he gives every indication of being an excellent director. I don't know how well serious film buffs like the selections/presentations; this festival may excel as much or more for its events as for its actual films, though I plan only on seeing films. There are a couple of young guys responsible for some of the more edgy/ avant-garde / political / offbeat selections, and their enthusiasm is inspiring. (The Centerpiece is Tom De Cillo's Delirous starring Steve Buscemi with Michael Pott.)

The main venue the Kabuki has been taken over by Sundance and is being done over and will be nicer. It will still be the main venue though the remodeling isn't quite finished. I was told there will be very few press screenings and they will be at the downtown Embarcadero Cinemas, which means they're at least easier to get to on the BART train (it is the first San Francisco stop) , an improvement, but I'm disappointed there are going to be few of them, because that was one way I got to see a cross section of the offerings as I mentioned earlier and included Noticias Lejanas and Play as well as several other notable offerings. The system of comps is more of a hassle: you have to show up an hour before the showing, go to the press office, and request comps, and they see if there are any left.... This is another reason why I prefer press screenings. They aren't as lively, but they're easier. There will be more screeners of some sort, but you all know full well that's nothing like seeing a film in a nice auditorium. I'm sure glad I didn't have to watch Noticias Lejanas and Play on my home monitor or one of theirs.