Apr 1, 2014
Festival
The 57th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 24-May 8) announced today that its Centerpiece presentation will be Gia Coppola’s teen-centered drama Palo Alto, starring Emma Roberts, Jack Kilmer and James Franco. Coppola’s feature debut-which she adapted from Franco’s book Palo Alto Stories-will hit a Bay Area movie screen for the first time on Saturday May 3, 7:30 pm at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas. The Festival’s Centerpiece is designed to showcase talented young directors with their latest film. The mid-festival screening will be followed by the swanky Centerpiece Party at Roe. Writer-director Gia Coppola is expected to attend the screening and party.
“We couldn’t ask for a better fit for the Festival’s Centerpiece selection,” said San Francisco Film Society Executive Director Noah Cowan. “A skilled adaptation of the writings of one of our most interesting contemporary artists, a locally-set story, and the feature debut of the newest member of one of this country’s most remarkable and prolific film families. This is going to be quite a night!”
Good girl April (Emma Roberts) grapples with her attraction to her soccer coach Mr. B (James Franco), stoner artist Teddy (Jack Kilmer) finds trouble under the influence of his defiant best bud Fred (Nat Wolff) and promiscuous Emily (Zoe Levin) pins her fragile sense of self on her many sexual encounters. With this adaptation of Franco’s book of short stories, fifth-generation filmmaker Gia Coppola makes an assured feature debut mining the field of troubled adolescence that both her grandfather Francis and aunt Sofia explored before her. Coppola makes the genre wholly her own with an original take on aimless youth that captures not just the sex, drugs and alcohol, but also the angst and alienation.
Following the screening, partygoers can head over to the Centerpiece Party for cool cocktails, delicious hors d’oeuvres and the latest beats. The party begins at 9:00 pm at the boutique South-of-Market nightclub Roe (651 Howard Street between Hawthorne and 3rd).
Tickets to the Centerpiece film and party are $35 for SFFS members / $45 general. Tickets for the Centerpiece film only (limited quantity available are $20 for SFFS members / $25 general. You must be 21+ to attend the party.
For general information visit festival.sffs.org.
To request interviews or screeners, contact your Festival publicist.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
57th San Francisco International Film Festival
The 57th San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 24-May 8 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, 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 nearly $40,000 in cash prizes, upwards of 100 participating filmmaker guests and diverse and engaged audiences with more than 65,000 in attendance.