Jul 16, 2012
SFFILM
The San Francisco Film Society’s Global Threats Film Series continues on Tuesday, August 28 at San Francisco Film Society Cinema (1746 Post Street) with a global pandemic double feature of Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion (USA 2011) and Elia Kazan’s Panic in the Streets (USA 1950). Following the screening of Contagion, Mark Smolinski, director of global health threats with the Skoll Global Threats Fund and a consultant on Contagion, will discuss the science behind that film and the ways in which the threat of global pandemic has changed between the eras of the two films in the double feature.
In a world of mass transit, the transmission of a deadly disease has rapid global reach, as shown in Soderbergh’s expert thriller. Though the MEV-1 virus that devastates the planet in Contagion is fictional, the science behind it is not. To ground the terrifying story of a pandemic in fact, screenwriter Scott Z. Burns worked closely with leading scientists to present a chillingly possible scenario. As the other characters suffer the depredations of the disease in a daze, it is the epidemiologists who are the film’s heroes, from Kate Winslet’s focused calm as a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) doctor on the front lines to the diligent researcher at the World Health Organization (WHO) played by Marion Cotillard, who is trying to track the virus’s Patient Zero. Made with admirable style and economy, the film educates and informs while also being viscerally entertaining. Written by Scott Z. Burns. Photographed by Steven Soderbergh. With Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard. 106 min. Distributed by Warner Bros.
Showtime 6:30 pm
In Elia Kazan’s New Orleans-set noirish thriller Panic in the Streets, an illegal immigrant fresh off a boat is killed after a card game with criminals Blackie (Jack Palance) and Raymond (Zero Mostel). The doctor who performs the autopsy on the unidentified corpse immediately notices something awry and calls in Dr. Clinton Reed (Richard Widmark) of the U.S. Heath Service, who diagnoses pneumonic plague. Reed must work with a gruff police captain (Paul Douglas) to try and find the killers-who may be carrying the infection-before they skip town and spread a deadly epidemic. For Kazan, the plague is more of a metaphorical device than an opportunity for a realistic procedural about prevention, but the film provides a stark reminder of how much more complicated it has become to prevent the spread of deadly diseases in the last 60 years. Written by Richard Murphy. Photographed by Joseph MacDonald. With Richard Widmark, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jack Palance. 96 min. Distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Showtimes 4:00, 9:15 pm
Tickets $9 for SFFS members, $11 general, $10 senior/student/disabled. Box office opens July 16 online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema.
To request an interview contact hhart@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
The Film Society has received a significant award from the Skoll Global Threats Fund to curate and present four programs in 2012 that will engage Bay Area audiences in increased awareness, provocative dialogue and productive action around topics of urgent global threats: climate change, water scarcity, pandemics, nuclear proliferation and Middle East conflict. Each program in the series will feature a public screening, a school screening, guest speakers, a published essay, educational materials and continuing audience engagement through the Film Society’s Causes & Impacts program.
The Global Threats Film Series launched on March 20 with a screening of The Island President (USA 2011), Jon Shenk’s documentary about Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives, followed by an in-depth Q&A with the filmmakers moderated by journalist Mark Hertsgaard.
The SFFS Global Threats Film Series is made possible with support from the Skoll Global Threats Fund.
At SF Film Society Cinema, the stylish state-of-the art theater located in the New People building at 1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan) in Japantown, the San Francisco Film Society offers its acclaimed exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs and events on a daily year-round basis.
More upcoming San Francisco Film Society programs
Continuing on consecutive Saturdays through July 21: The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Through July 19: Ballplayer: Pelotero
Through July 19: Bonsái
July 14 only: The Storytellers Show
July 19 only: Dark Horse Filmmaker Todd Solondz in Person
Opening July 20: A Burning Hot Summer
July 20-August 11: KinoTek: Nate Boyce
Opening July 27: Sacrifice
Opening August 3: The Devil, Probably
Opening August 10: The Moth Diaries
Also opening August 10: Battle Royale
August 11 only: Special Family Screening of James and the Giant Peach followed by a Q&A and show-and-tell with artists who worked on the film-and some of the puppets and props they used.
Opening August 17: Love in the City
August 24: Master Class: Les Blank on Documentary
September 15-October 20: KinoTek: Brent Green, sculpture and animation
December: KinoTek: Kota Ezawa, animation