Mar 27, 2012
Festival
San Francisco, CA – The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19-May 3) presents a new slate of Conversations, designed to deepen and enhance the Festival experience, giving filmgoers the opportunity to go beyond the post-screening Q&A. An extension of the Film Society’s year-round Film Craft & Film Studies program, Master Classes are an opportunity to engage with special Festival guests and get an insider’s look at intriguing cinema subjects. In Festival Salons, Bay Area film scholars and filmmakers will lead in-depth discussions about major film genres and prominent Festival themes. Audience members are encouraged to view a selection of thematically linked films and then participate in the corresponding salon to engage with fellow cinephiles. All programs will take place at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.
MASTER CLASSES
Malcolm Turvey: Tati, Chaplin and the Democratization of Comedy, Sunday, April 22, 1:00 pm. Drawing on clips from the great French filmmaker Jacques Tati’s three greatest films, M. Hulot’s Holiday (1953), My Uncle (1958, SFIFF1972) and Play Time (1967), British professor Malcolm Turvey will compare and contrast Tati’s comic style with those of American silent comedians such as Chaplin. Turvey is a professor of film studies at Sarah Lawrence College and is the 2012 Stanford Humanities Center Bliss Carnochan Visitor. Tickets are $16 SFFS members, $20 general.
Susie Cagle: Visual Journalism, Monday, April 23, 6:00 pm. Susie Cagle is part of a vanguard of journalists who use vibrant, hand-rendered illustration in tandem with traditional reportage in ways that bring humor and multi-faceted humanity into the often moribund worlds of news analysis. Using her most recent series on Occupy Oakland as her primary example, Cagle will unpack the various forms of journalism she employs, with attention paid to the virtues and limitations of these approaches. Tickets are $16 SFFS members, $20 general.
Mick LaSalle: The Beauty of the Real, Saturday, April 28, 12:30 pm. French cinema is witnessing an explosion of female talent, a golden age unlike anything the world has seen since the days of Hepburn, Davis and Garbo. Using film clips and excerpts from his new book, The Beauty of the Real, San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle showcases the contemporary French actresses who are doing the best work of their lives. Tickets are $16 SFFS members, $20 general.
SALONS
Causes & Impacts: The Threat of GMOs, Friday, April 20, 2:30 pm. Salon Host Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, senior scientist at the Pesticide Action Network, will lead a discussion about the issue of genetically modified foods and the dangers they pose to farmers and consumers around the world, with additional guests including organizers from Organic Consumers/Millions Against Monsanto and the Center for Food Safety and Micha X. Peled, director of the documentary Bitter Seeds. Tickets are $11 SFFS members, $13 general.
Causes & Impacts: Measuring Change Through Film, Thursday, April 26, 8:30 pm, after the 6:15 pm screenings of Bitter Seeds and In My Mother’s Arms. Can films generate positive change in the world? If so, how do we measure their success? Salon host and story consultant Richard Saiz will lead a moderated discussion with filmmakers, funders, activists and evaluation specialists on how to measure the impact of social issue films and the role audience members can play in that process. SFIFF55 films to be discussed include Bitter Seeds, In My Mother’s Arms, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry and The Waiting Room. Tickets are $11 SFFS members, $13 general.
A Sense of Place, Monday, April 30, 6:00 pm, after the 3:45 pm screening of Meanwhile in Mamelodi. This Salon will explore the challenges filmmakers encounter as outsiders trying to capture the essence of a particular location or environment. Films to be discussed include Tokyo Waka, Meanwhile in Mamelodi and It’s the Earth Not the Moon. Salon host Kristine Samuelson teaches in the MFA documentary film and video program at Stanford University and is codirector of Tokyo Waka. Tickets are $11 SFFS members, $13 general.
For tickets and information visit festival.sffs.org.
To request interviews or screeners contact your SFIFF publicist.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
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.