Mar 29, 2011
Festival
The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21-May 5) presents its inaugural World Cinema Spotlight. The Spotlight calls attention to a current trend in international filmmaking, bringing to light hot topics, reinvigorated genres, underappreciated filmmakers and national cinemas. This year’s Spotlight, Painting with Light, highlights three examples of filmmaking that bring paintings and their creators alive through film and includes one film from each of the Festival’s major sections: Documentaries, New Directors and World Cinema.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (USA 2010) Intrepid explorer of the exotic Werner Herzog is the first filmmaker allowed into the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc caverns in southern France, site of the world’s oldest prehistoric art. Who better to ponder these enigmatic drawings? And what cinematic plunge into the unknown could be better served by 3-D? Cave of Forgotten Dreams screens 7:00 pm, Monday, April 25 and 9:30 pm, Tuesday, April 26 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.
The Mill and the Cross (Poland 2010) At once a detailed social history of 16th-century Flemish life and a keen study of the artistic imagination, Lech Majewski’s brilliant film brings to life before our eyes The Way to Calvary, Pieter Bruegel’s dense frieze of Christ’s passion set within a busy rustic Flanders scene. The Mill and the Cross screens 12:30 pm Saturday, April 23 at SFMOMA and 9:00 pm Wednesday, April 27 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.
Nainsukh (India, Switzerland 2010) The 18th-century Indian painter Nainsukh of Guler receives a poetic, visually stunning tribute from young Indian filmmaker Amit Dutta, employing an arresting pictorial language. Shot in the region where Nainsukh produced his most celebrated work, this is a meditative and meticulous recreation of the world of an artistic genius. Nainsukh screens 9:15 pm Friday, April 22 at New People, 2:30 pm Sunday, April 24 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas and 7:00 pm Sunday, May 1 at PFA.
The SFIFF54 World Cinema Spotlight: Painting with Light is supported by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
For more information visit fest11.sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
54th San Francisco International Film Festival
The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 21-May 5, 2011 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, the Castro Theatre, New People and SFMOMA in San Francisco and the Pacific Film Archive Theater in Berkeley. Held each spring for 15 days, the International is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in the country’s most beautiful city, featuring 15 juried awards, 200 films and live events with upwards of 100 participating filmmakers and diverse audiences of 75,000+ people.