Feb 7, 2012
Festival
This year’s 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19-May 3) celebrates the 13th annual programming highlight and audience favorite, the presentation of a film accompanied by live performance by contemporary music artists. Merrill Garbus, who dazzles in live performance with her band tUnE-yArDs, will play, in collaboration with virtuoso guitarist Ava Mendoza, live scores for four shorts featuring the genius of physical comedy Buster Keaton, at the historic Castro Theatre on Monday, April 23 at 8:00 pm.
Could there be a band with a bigger breakout in 2011 than tUnE-yArDs? The Oakland-based group’s album w h o k i l l was consistently praised as one of the best of the past year (according to NME, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, the Guardian, Paste and other publications). The band’s leader, Merrill Garbus, has been featured in the New Yorker, NPR and Wired. Her method is madness. Equipped with drums, ukulele and electronics, Garbus often establishes a song’s theme with a beat, plus a melody, plus a vocal track that she records live and loops. She then takes those musical motifs and layers them, adding her own accompaniment while backed by a powerful band. The results are mind-bending, fun and frenzied songs, satisfying even as they threaten to careen out of control. It’s no surprise, then, that for her live performance at SFIFF 55 she’s decided to provide scores for short films starring Buster Keaton by reinventing some previous works and collaborating with local wunderkind, guitarist Ava Mendoza. Like Garbus, Keaton (as both actor and director) uses a few basic props-a house askew, a slippery floor, a piece of trash-in absurd and incredibly nuanced ways, often escalating into a cacophonous riot. For this night, Garbus and Mendoza will be joined by the entire tUnE-yArDs crew. The band accompanies the films One Week (1920), Good Night, Nurse! (1918), The Haunted House (1921) and–with Fatty Arbuckle–The Cook (1918).
Tickets $20 for SFFS members, $25 for the general public. Box office now open for SFFS members online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema (1746 Post Street, Webster/Buchanan. Box office opens February 9th for the general public.
In recent years the San Francisco Film Society has presented these works-many of which were commissioned as world premieres–at the San Francisco International Film Festival: Claire Denis Film Scores 1996-2009 with Tindersticks; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Stephin Merritt; The Lost World with Dengue Fever; The Golem with Black Francis; The Phantom Carriage with Jonathan Richman; Street Angel with American Music Club; Sunrise with Lambchop; A Page of Madness with Superchunk; Jean Painlevé: The Sounds of Science with Yo La Tengo; and Tom Verlaine: Music for Film.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
Upcoming San Francisco Film Society programs
Through February 9: Domain This moody, contemplative, superbly acted drama explores the unusually intimate relationship between a magnetic and alcoholic woman and her 17-year-old nephew who is coming to terms with his sexuality.
Opening February 10: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia Masterful police procedural from acclaimed Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan yields a quietly poignant portrait of the human condition.
Opening February 17: Margaret Anna Paquin stars in Kenneth Lonergan’s drama about a young woman grappling with her feelings of guilt over her role in a tragic accident.
Opening February 24: Roadie Michael Cuesta’s compellingly honest look at youthful rock ‘n’ roll dreams gone awry.
55th San Francisco International Film Festival
The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 19-May 3 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, the Castro Theatre, SF Film Society Cinema and SFMOMA in San Francisco and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Held each spring for 15 days, the International is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in one of the country’s most beautiful cities, featuring 200 films and live events, 14 juried awards and $70,000 in cash prizes, upwards of 100 participating filmmaker guests and diverse and engaged audiences with more than 70,000 people in attendance.