Mar 22, 2012
Festival
The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19-May 3) will present the 2012 Mel Novikoff Award to the little known yet enormously influential Pierre Rissient for his tireless work behind the scenes on behalf of international cinema, Saturday, April 28 at 4:00 pm at the Castro Theatre. Following the award presentation and an onstage interview with independent scholar/author John Wranovics (Chaplin and Agee), Fritz Lang’s gothic noir House by the River (USA 1950), a film that Rissient was influential in bringing back to the public eye, will be screened. Pierre Rissient: Man of Cinema (USA 2007), Todd McCarthy’s richly anecdotal documentary portrait of this hugely influential figure in the international film world will play Friday, April 27 at SF Film Society Cinema and Monday, April 30 at the Pacific Film Archive.
“It’s a pleasure to acknowledge the work of Pierre Rissient, a true lover and champion of cinema, with the presentation of the Mel Novikoff Award,” said Rachel Rosen, the Film Society’s director of programming. “His onstage interview is sure to be full of behind-the-scenes stories that film lovers will enjoy.”
Rissient is revered by filmmakers of all ages around the world, from Clint Eastwood, who frequently shows him the rough cut of his work, to Werner Herzog, who calls him “the yeast in the dough,” to Quentin Tarantino, who dubs him “a samurai warrior” because he has devoted his life to supporting filmmakers from around the globe.
In the early 1950s Rissient began his film career as a programmer at the Cinéma Mac-Mahon in Paris. He and his fellow programmers, including Bertrand Tavernier, introduced American film noir and other genre films, by Fritz Lang, Joseph Losey, Otto Preminger, Raoul Walsh and others, to the new French directors including Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. He worked as assistant director for Chabrol and Godard, directed several short films, and eventually two features. In the 1960s he again partnered with Tavernier to promote the films of John Ford, Sam Fuller, Abraham Polonsky and Jacques Tourneur in French theaters. Over nearly five decades his most significant contribution to international cinema has been as a consultant and scout-official and clandestine-for the Cannes Film Festival, with a focus on discovering new talent in Asia and North America. The careers of directors Jane Campion, Clint Eastwood, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, King Hu, Abbas Kiarostami, Im Kwon-Taek, Sydney Pollack, Jerry Schatzberg and Quentin Tarantino have all benefited from his advocacy.
The award, named for the pioneering San Francisco art and repertory film exhibitor Mel Novikoff (1922-1987), acknowledges an individual or institution whose work has enhanced the filmgoing public’s knowledge and appreciation of world cinema.
Previous recipients of the Mel Novikoff Award are Serge Bromberg (2011), Roger Ebert (2010), Bruce Goldstein (2009), Jim Hoberman (2008), Kevin Brownlow (2007), Anita Monga (2005), Paolo Cherchi Usai (2004), Manny Farber (2003), David Francis (2002), Cahiers du Cinéma (2001), San Francisco Cinematheque (2001), Donald Krim (2000), David Shepard (2000), Enno Patalas (1999), Adrienne Mancia (1998), Judy Stone (1997), Film Arts Foundation (1997), David Robinson (1996), Institut Lumière (1995), Naum Kleiman (1994), Andrew Sarris (1993), Jonas Mekas (1992), Pauline Kael (1991), Donald Richie (1990), USSR Filmmakers Association (1989) and Dan Talbot (1988).
The Mel Novikoff Award Committee members are Francis J. Rigney (chairman), Rachel Rosen (ex officio), Helena R. Foster, George Gund III, Maurice Kanbar, Philip Kaufman, Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer, Anita Monga, Janis Plotkin and Peter Scarlet.
Tickets – Novikoff Award: Pierre Rissient: House by the River $12 SFFS members, $15 general public; Pierre Rissient: Man of Cinema $11 SFFS members, $12 senior, student, disabled, $13 general public; Box office now open online atsffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema (1746 Post Street, Webster/Buchanan).
The 2012 Mel Novikoff Award presentation is sponsored by TV5 Monde, Bank of the West, French American Cultural Society and French Consulate, San Francisco.
For tickets and more information visit festival.sffs.org.
To request interviews or screeners contact your SFIFF publicist.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
More upcoming San Francisco Film Society programs
Through March 22: Kill List
March 20: The Island President
Opening March 23: Sound of Noise
Opening March 30: House of Pleasures
April 3: Qarantina
April 6: Character Comes First: Costume Design in the Movies
Opening April 6: This Is Not a Film
April 10: SFFS Film Arts Forum: Beyond Film School
Opening April 13: The Turin Horse
April 19: SFIFF Opening Night: Farewell My Queen
April 21: SFIFF State of Cinema Address: Jonathan Lethem
April 22: SFIFF Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award: Barbara Kopple
April 23: SFIFF Merrill Garbus (tUnE-yArDs) with Buster Keaton Shorts
April 27: SFIFF An Evening with Kenneth Branagh
May 1: SFIFF The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller
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.