Mar 22, 2010
Festival
The San Francisco Film Society announced today that acclaimed film editor and sound designer Walter Murch will deliver the annual State of Cinema Address at the 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival (April 22-May 6) at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas Sunday, April 25 at 4:00 pm.
Murch’s address, “Three Fathers of Cinema: Beethoven, Flaubert, Edison,” will contemplate what would have happened if motion pictures had been invented in 1789. He will present various theories on the evolution of filmmaking, investigating the cultural origins of cinema in the 19th century and the implications for the future of cinema in the 21st century.
“We are thrilled to have Walter Murch deliver our State of Cinema Address at the Festival this year,” said Graham Leggat, executive director of the San Francisco Film Society. “His extensive contributions to filmmaking and the pioneering steps he has taken in the field provide him with a unique take on cinema today and what it will become in the future. His presentation promises to be enlightening and thought-provoking.”
With more than 40 years of experience in sound design and film editing, Murch is widely renowned as an innovator and master in his field. His work in sound design alone is referenced as a constant source of inspiration for both students of sound design and professionals in the audio industry.
Murch has been honored by both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He has won three Academy Awards and has been nominated in sound and/or editing categories eight times. In 1975, Murch won two BAFTA awards for film editing and sound mixing for The Conversation. In 1978, Murch garnered film editing awards from both academies for Julia. In 1980, Murch received his first Academy Award for Best Sound Design for Apocalypse Now, which also earned him a nomination for film editing by BAFTA. He received two nominations for film editing from AMPAS in 1991 for Ghost and TheGodfather Part III. He earned his ninth Oscar nomination in 2004 in film editing for Cold Mountain as well as BAFTA nominations for film editing and sound mixing. Murch’s other film editing credits include The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), Romeo Is Bleeding (1993), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) and Jarhead (2005). Murch also directed and cowrote the film Return to Oz(1985) with Gill Dennis. Most recently he worked on Tetro (2009), directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Murch is also active in film restoration; films that he has restored include Touch of Evil (1998), Edison-Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1998) and Apocalypse Now Redux (2001).
Murch is the author of a book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye, and his work has been the subject of two books, The Conversations by Michael Ondaatje and Behind the Seen by Charles Koppelman.
Each year, the Film Society invites a well-known public figure to talk about the intersecting worlds of contemporary cinema and visual arts, culture and society, images and ideas. Previous State of Cinema speakers have been photographer Mary Ellen Mark, Wired publisher and technology maverick Kevin Kelly, theater and opera director Peter Sellars, provocative Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton, Oscar-winning director/writer of The Incredibles Brad Bird, renowned film critic, curator and cultural commentator B. Ruby Rich and longtime editor of influential French film magazine Positif Michel Ciment.
For tickets and information visit www.sffs.org or call 925-866-9559.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.