Jul 26, 2011
SFFILM
The San Francisco Film Society’s new theatrical home, San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema (1746 Post Street) will open Friday, September 2 with Film Socialisme (Switzerland/France 2010), legendary director Jean-Luc Godard’s evocative, magisterial essay on the decline of European civilization.
Ever the provocateur, master filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard required that his latest film be presented with subtitles that only suggest the welter of language(s) spoken. It’s an appropriate gambit as the film addresses the decline of Western civilization-and its Babel-like confluence of languages-within the contexts of a polyglot cruise liner traversing the Mediterranean and, more intimately, an intellectual, loving family that runs a service station in provincial France. Weaving together philosophical texts, documentary footage and scenes from classic films, this is a dissonant, dense and challenging work, but also an impassioned and undeniably brilliant investigation into the costs of liberty.
Written by Jean-Luc Godard. Photographed by Fabrice Aragno, Paul Grivas. With Patti Smith, Alain Badiou, Jean Marc Stehlé. 101 min. In French with idiosyncratic English subtitles. Distributed by Lorber Films.
Thursday, September 22 the Film Society will celebrate the official Grand Opening of San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema with an evening of special screenings and an open house reception. Details will be announced in the coming weeks.
For screeners contact hilary@sffs.org
For photos and press materials visit: sffs.org/pressdownloads
At San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema, the supremely stylish state-of-the art theater located in the ultra-contemporary New People building at 1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan) in Japantown, the San Francisco Film Society will offer its acclaimed exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs and events on a daily year-round basis for the first time in the organization’s storied 54-year history. For complete up-to-date information on all San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema programming, including buying tickets, visit sffs.org.
Upcoming San Francisco Film Society programs
Opens September 9: Puzzle A middle-aged housewife, cherished by her husband and two sons but nevertheless taken for granted, discovers an aptitude for jigsaw puzzles in this beautifully modulated character portrait from Argentina.
Opens September 16: Aurora Romanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu destroys all notions of crime as entertainment in this painstakingly realistic anatomy of a crisis, delivering a chilling character study of an ordinary person driven to extremes.
September 23-25: Hong Kong Cinema New in 2011, presenting recent works from one of the world’s most exciting film industries.
September 26: The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan Private McKinley Nolan vanished 40 years ago on the Cambodian frontier. In 2006, his younger brother travels from rural Texas to Vietnam to try to unravel the story in this moving documentary.
September 27: Film Arts Forum Bimonthly information-sharing, discussion, networking, professional development jamboree for the Bay Area film community.