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San Francisco International Film Festival 2019
San Francisco International Film Festival April 10-23 2019
FESTIVAL COVERAGE SECTION
FULL LINEUP ANNOUNCED FOR 2019 SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
62nd Festival runs April 10–23 at the Castro Theatre, SFMOMA, the Theater at the Children's Creativity Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Dolby Cinema, the Roxie Theater, the Victoria Theatre, BAMPFA, and the Grand Lake Theatre
Browse the full public program info at sffilm.org. Filmleaf coverage begins soon!
Last edited by Chris Knipp; 04-08-2019 at 05:34 PM.
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2019 SFFILM Festival by the Numbers:
163 Films
46 Narrative Features
40 Documentary Features
4 New Vision Features
3 Episodic Programs
70 Shorts
52 Countries Represented
36 Languages
12 World Premieres
5 North American Premieres
1 US Premiere
72 Women Directors (including co-directors)
In addition to the previously announced Tribute to Laura Dern, the Festival will also presenting in-person onstage tribute conversations with:
Claire Denis, featuring a screening of her new film High Life starring Juliette Binoche and Robert Pattison – April 11 (read the full press release)
Laura Linney, with an onstage conversation and a screening of The Savages, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award – April 11 (read the full press release)
John C. Reilly, in which he will go in-depth on his career and collaborations preceding a screening of his recent film The Sisters Brothers – April 12 (read the full press release)
SFFILM’s popular Live & Onstage section is as strong as ever, with Boots Riley set to deliver the State of Cinema Address (April 13); LA-based rockers Warpaint performing a live score to Maya Deren shorts (April 19); a special conversation with video artist Kahlil Joseph (April 15); and Jakob Dylan’s band performing after a screening of Andrew Slater’s documentary Echo in the Canyon (read the full press release)
The Festival’s Launch program, which is comprised of world premieres handpicked by SFFILM's programmers for San Francisco’s special brand of mini-market for select film buyers, is set with five strong debuts: Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly (directed by Cheryl Haines), Colewell (directed by Tom Quinn), The Seer and the Unseen (directed by Sara Dosa), We Believe in Dinosaurs (directed by Clayton Brown and Monica Long Ross), and When I’m a Moth (directed by Zachary Cotler and Magdalena Zyzak) (read the full press release)
Lulu Wang’s The Farewell will be the Festival’s Centerpiece selection, joining the previously announced Opening Night program featuring Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City and Closing Night selection of Gavin Hood’s Official Secrets (read the full press release)
The Festival’s Persistence of Vision Award is going this year to Madeline Anderson, a veteran of public television documentary and pioneer of activist filmmaking (read the full press release)
SFFILM's Mel Novikoff Award will be presented to BBC's Arena documentary series, which will be accepted by Series Editor Anthony Wall preceding an onstage conversation and a screening of James Marsh's Wisconsin Death Trip (read the full press release)
The George Gund III Award Craft of Cinema Award is going to Claude Jarman, Jr., the acclaimed actor, philanthropist, and champion of the arts who headed the San Francisco Film Society from 1965–1980 (read the full press release)
Browse the complete list of Festival press releases HERE
The deadline for media accreditation for the 2019 San Francisco International Film Festival is Friday, March 29. To learn more about media accreditation and for instructions on how to apply, contact Press Office Coordinator Zoe Halsne at zhalsne@sffilm.org.
Last edited by Chris Knipp; 04-08-2019 at 09:12 PM.
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Coming reviews.
The Beast in the Jungle - adaptation of Henry James with an emphasis on dance
SFIFF 2019 films I've requested screeners of:
The Beast in the Jungle
Belmonte
The Chambermaid
Close Enemies
First Night Nerves
The Harvesters
In My Room
Loro
Midnight Traveler
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
Mothers’ Instinct
Red Joan
RAISE HELL: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins
Tehran: City of Love
Walking on Water
We Believe in Dinosaurs
Winter’s Night
Other SFIFF 2019 films I've already seen:
Asako I & II
Ask Dr. Ruth
A Faithful man/L'homme fidel
Honeyland
The Load
Monos
Midnight Family
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
Ramen Shop
Suburban Birds
I will provide reviews of all of these in the Festival Coverage section that I can get to see.
Last edited by Chris Knipp; 04-09-2019 at 12:00 AM.
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First new reviews:
A BEAST IN THE JUNGLE (Clara van Gool 2018)
Who knew that you could dance to a Henry James novella? Well, maybe you can't. But they tried to both at a production at the Vineyard Theater in New York last year, and in this beautiful but not very relatable film in English whose director is Dutch.
SFFILM showtimes:
Tue, Apr 16 at 6:00 pm SFMOMA
Wed, Apr 17 at 8:45 pm Creativity Theater
BELMONTE (Federico Veiroj 2018)
From the unique Uruguayan director of A Useful Life and The Apostate, a film about an artist played by Gonzalo Delgado, a friend of the director and a real artist who painted all the work abundantly viewed here. He is pretty successful at being an artist, not so great at anything else (I can relate), though he loves his little daughter and ex-wife and he seems to be catnip to women. Elegant, more serious perhaps than the other two films I've seen, less resolved, but with a style and look to be savored.
SFFILM showtimes:
Sun, Apr 14 at 8:00 pm Creativity Theater
Tue, Apr 16 at 6:15 pm YBCA
Last edited by Chris Knipp; 04-12-2019 at 03:50 PM.
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THE CHAMBERMAID/LA CAMARISTA (Lila Avilés 2018)
This is a stunningly immersive, sometimes almost documentary-feel recreation of a 24-year-old young woman's monotonous work life doing up rooms in a high-rise (42 floors!) luxury (actually Intercontinental) hotel in Mexico City, two hours ride each way from her four-year-old and her bedroom, living with the dream of a red dress or assignment to the coveted 42nd floor. This is beyond miserabilism into a kind of zen concentration. I was asked not to review it because it's coming out soon, so, in the Festival Coverage section, only a couple of quotes and brief summary. Do I see condescension in this numbing picture? Such complexities would require a detailed discussion.
SFFILM showtimes:
Fri, Apr 19 at 6:00 pm Roxie Theater
Sun, Apr 21 at 3:15 pm Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
CLOSE ENEMIES/FRÈRES ENNEMIS ( David Oelhoffen 2018)
This is a very classy genre polar noir, a French urban crime thriller, defining a duel between two childhood buddies from the underprivileged crime-crucible banlieue world outside Paris, one of whom becomes a force in an Arab drug clan, the other, actually of Arab origin, now a cop elevated to stupes, the drug branch. Elegant, restrained, and rich in development of the two leads played by the superb Matthias Schoenaerts and impeccable Rida Kateb, this is a pleasure to watch, but not too much fun to deserve being in a film festival even though it remains conventional.
SFFILM showtimes:
Sun, Apr 21 at 4:30 pm Victoria Theatre
Mon, Apr 22 at 6:00 pm Victoria Theatre
Last edited by Chris Knipp; 04-12-2019 at 03:48 PM.
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THE HARVESTERS/DIE STRUPERS (ETIENNE KALLOS 2018)
In the South Africa Free State Region on a vast cattle farm a family of the dwindling WHITE Afrikaner people. The focus is on a boy who feels threatened when a boy of the streets is adopted by his ultra-religious mother. He also suffers from excessive softness and sensitivity in a community that values masculine toughness above all. Stunning debut by Greek=descent, South African raised Kallos.
SFFILM showtimes:
Sat, Apr 20 at 6:30 pm Roxie Theater
Sun, Apr 21 at 3:45 pm Roxie Theatre
HONEYLAND (Tamara Kotevsk, Ljubomir Stefanov 2018)
Austere but rich, Kotevsk and Stefanov's Honeyland is one of the most immersive and atmospheric documentaries you will see this year. Reviewed for ND/NF, coming also in the San Francisco Film Festival:
SFFILM showtimes:
Sat, Apr 20 at 1:30 pm BAMPFA - AT RUSH!
Fri, Apr 19 at 6:00 pm Victoria Theatre -AT RUSH!
Last edited by Chris Knipp; 04-12-2019 at 03:49 PM.
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