Mar 31, 2015
Festival
San Francisco, CA – The San Francisco Film Society is proud to present the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award to the distinctively insightful documentarian Kim Longinotto at the 58th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 23–May 7), Saturday May 2, 3:00 pm at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas. Longinotto will be presented with the award followed by an in-depth onstage conversation and a screening of her latest film Dreamcatcher (UK 2015).
Established in 1997, the Persistence of Vision Award each year honors the achievement of a filmmaker whose main body of work is outside the realm of narrative feature filmmaking, crafting documentaries, short films, television, animated, experimental or multiplatform work.
“The Festival has admired Kim Longinotto’s work since we presented Dream Girls in 1993,” said SFFS Director of Programming Rachel Rosen. “Through her sympathetic lens, she has allowed us to discover so many wonderful lives and we’re very proud to honor her this year.”
Kim Longinotto is renowned internationally for creating extraordinary human portraits. Her sensitive and empathetic style of cinéma vérité filmmaking captures groundbreaking subjects and rarely seen perspectives from around the globe. Her films often center on women, many suffering under the yoke of hardship and oppression, yet they inspire surprising optimism by revealing the strength and resilience of ordinary people transforming their lives or those of others. Whether capturing a trio of women in Tokyo who live as men, wives seeking divorce in Iran or Kenyan girls challenging their country’s tradition of female circumcision, Longinotto’s compassionate, observational filmmaking has given voice to a rich array of women who might not otherwise be heard.
Longinotto studied cinematography and directing at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, England, where she now occasionally tutors. While studying at NFTS, she made a documentary about the draconian all-girls boarding school she attended as a child that was shown at the London Film Festival. She has continued to be a prolific observational documentary filmmaker ever since. Her films have won dozens of top awards at festivals worldwide, including the World Cinema Grand Jury Documentary Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival (Rough Aunties), a Peabody award (Sisters in Law) and a BAFTA (Divorce Iranian Style). Longinotto has directed many documentaries for broadcasters including BBC, HBO, PBS and Channel 4. With Dreamcatcher, Longinotto won the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Dreamcatcher: The film follows Brenda Myers-Powell, a survivor of the streets of the Chicago and 25 years “on the game,” who devotes her life to preventing the sexual exploitation of at-risk youth. Longinotto is there to capture every moment, from intense prison work groups to emotionally healing conversations with teenage survivors of sexual abuse. With a keen observational eye, this master documentarian captures the vital work being done by Myers-Powell and her Dreamcatcher Foundation. (UK 2015)
Previous winners of the Persistence of Vision Award include filmmaker and visual artist Isaac Julien (2014), multidisciplinary artist Jem Cohen (2013), documentarian Barbara Kopple (2012), multimedia artist Matthew Barney (2011), animator Don Hertzfeldt (2010), documentarians Lourdes Portillo (2009), Errol Morris (2008) and Heddy Honigmann (2007), cinematic iconoclast Guy Maddin (2006), documentarians Adam Curtis (2005) and Jon Else (2004), experimental filmmaker Pat O’Neill (2003), Latin American cinema pioneer Fernando Birri (2002), avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger (2001), animator Faith Hubley (2000), documentarians Johan van der Keuken (1999) and Robert Frank (1998) and animator Jan Svankmajer (1997).
Tickets to An Afternoon with Kim Longinotto are $13 for SFFS members, $15 for the general public. Box office opens online March 31 for members and April 3 for the general public.
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.
58th San Francisco International Film Festival
The 58th San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 23-May 7 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, Castro Theatre, Landmark’s Clay Theatre and the Roxie Theater in San Francisco and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Held each spring for 15 days, SFIFF is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in one of the country’s most beautiful cities, featuring nearly 200 films and live events, 14 juried awards with nearly $40,000 in cash prizes and upwards of 100 participating filmmaker guests.