Apr 2, 2013
Artist Development
The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 25-May 9) has announced its annual Late Show program, a selection of the year’s most intense international features. This year’s program delivers the goods (and bads), from the frantic, Freudian musical madness of Peaches Does Herself to Adam Wingard’s pitch-black indie slasher You’re Next to a pair of rough gems from genre masters in top form: William Freidkin’s sun-streaked noir To Live and Die in L.A. and Takeshi Kitano’s satisfyingly sadistic Outrage Beyond.
“From queer performance artist Peaches to William Friedkin presenting his undersung masterpiece To Live and Die in L.A., this year’s Late Show boasts plenty of action to thrill and entice viewers,” said Festival programmer Rod Armstrong. “And if those two aren’t enough, Adam Wingard takes home invasion to a new level in You’re Next while Takeshi Kitano does the same in another genre with his new yakuza film Outrage Beyond.”
“I’m particularly pleased with the broad thematic range of this year’s Late Show program, where gender-bending performance art can meet up with yakuza hit men and a couple of Wang Chung’s greatest hits,” said Festival programmer Rod Armstrong. “The section will also offer some especially welcome guest appearances from cult favorites William Friedkin and Peaches, who are both expected for the screenings of their respective films”
Outrage Beyond, Takeshi Kitano (Japan 2012)
Kitano once again depicts rival yakuzas battling over territory and stature in his kinetic follow-up to his 2010 hit Outrage (SFIFF 2010). A violent and densely plotted story of betrayal and retribution, peppered by pitch-black humor, it nimbly demonstrates how the business-minded instincts of criminal enterprises quickly escalate into outrageous shooting matches when the slightest element of distrust enters the picture. Outrage Beyond screens Friday, April 26 at 11:45 pm at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas; Monday, April 29 at 9:15 pm, and Thursday, May 2 at 4:00 pm at New People Cinema.
Peaches Does Herself, Peaches (Germany 2012)
This performance documentary/opera directed by and featuring internationally renowned pop anti-star Peaches is a spectacle of choreography, music and sexual exuberance. It would be disingenuous to say that Peaches merely confronts the supposed rules governing music, sexuality, age and femininity. In truth, she obliterates these edifices and more. (Not for kids!) The artist Peaches is expected to attend. Peaches Does Herself screens Monday, April 29 at 9:45 pm and Thursday, May 2 at 9:15 pm at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.
To Live and Die in L.A., William Friedkin (USA 1985)
A risk-taking amoral U.S. Treasury agent seeks revenge against a sleek counterfeiter who murdered a fellow agent, going rogue in an obsessive pursuit that swiftly spirals out of control in William Friedkin’s tense, action-packed thriller that dazzles with his finest, most adrenaline-packed chase scene and star turns from William Petersen and Willem Dafoe. William Friedkin is expected to attend. To Live and Die in L.A. screens Tuesday, May 7 at 9:00 pm at New People Cinema.
You’re Next, Adam Wingard (USA 2012)
When the Davison clan reunites at their isolated country home for an anniversary celebration, they find themselves beset by crossbow-wielding killers. With a cast lifted from a who’s who of current indie filmmaking, a thread of wicked black humor skewering the nouveau riche and a knowing sense of where the camera should be to provide optimal scares, this terrific horror thriller takes the notion of home invasion to the next level. You’re Next screens Saturday, April 27 at 11:30 pm and Wednesday, May 1 at 9:45 pm at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.
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.
56th San Francisco International Film Festival
The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 25-May 9 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, the Castro Theatre and New People Cinema 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 in attendance.