Apr 2, 2013
Festival
The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 25-May 9) will present the 2013 Mel Novikoff Award to legendary cinephile Peter von Bagh for his lifelong commitment to international film. Following the award presentation, Saturday May 4,3:00 pm at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas there will be an onstage conversation and a screening of Helsinki, Forever (Finland 2008), von Bagh’s ode to Finland’s capital and its cinema. SFIFF56 will also present Mikko Niskanen’s masterpiece Eight Deadly Shots (Finland 1972). Personally selected by von Bagh, this rarely seen epic drama, considered by many a lost masterpiece of Finnish cinema, will play Sunday May 5, 12:00 pm and Tuesday May 7, 12:15 pm at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.
“Peter von Bagh embodies the essence of the Mel Novikoff Award,” said Rachel Rosen, San Francisco Film Society’s director of programming. “He has worked indefatigably and infectiously to share his appreciation of world cinema and has many good stories to share about the filmmakers and icons he’s met during his half century in the movies.”
Throughout his career Peter von Bagh has worn many different hats in the cinematic arena. Besides being a film director, one especially attracted to compilation films, von Bagh has been a television and radio producer, book publisher, curator and program director of the Finnish Film Archive, professor of film history, artistic director and cofounder of the Midnight Sun Film Festival and artistic director of Bologna’s Il cinema ritrovato festival. As a film critic and historian, he has (co)written and/or (co)edited more than 30 books, including The History of World Cinema, 1975 and 1998. Regarded as a Finnish national treasure, von Bagh is a true master of international film and an extraordinary example of cinema lived to the fullest.
About Helsinki, Forever:
This cine-collage is both a lively tour of Helsinki past and present and a poetic tribute to film as a form of collective memory. Through art, archival footage and clips from fiction films, von Bagh considers not just the city but also the cinema, that imaginary place we all inhabit.
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 Pierre Rissient (2012), 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, Maurice Kanbar, Philip Kaufman, Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer, Anita Monga, Janis Plotkin and Peter Scarlet. The committee that selected Peter von Bagh for the award also included the late George Gund III.
Tickets – Novikoff Award: Peter von Bagh: Helsinki, Forever $13 SFFS members, $14 senior, student, disabled, $15 general public; Eight Deadly Shots $13 SFFS members, $14 senior, student, disabled, $15 general public; box office opens online April 2 for SFFS members and April 5 for the general public.
For tickets and information visit festival.sffs.org.
To request screeners or interviews 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.