Mar 14, 2018
Festival
San Francisco, CA — SFFILM announced today that the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival‘s lineup will include four features and five short films that have received support from SFFILM Makers, the organization’s artist development branch, which provides significant resources to independent filmmakers through a variety of grants, fellowships, residencies, and advisory services.
Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You received three grants and one post-production loan from the SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grants program and was a 2016 SFFILM FilmHouse resident, where he developed the script. Jeremiah Zagar’s We the Animals received a SFFILM / Rainin Grant for post-production in Spring 2017. Ramell Ross’s Hale County This Morning, This Evening received a Documentary Film Fund grant for post-production in Spring 2017. Alyssa Fedele and Zachary Fink’s The Rescue List was developed during Fedele and Fink’s time at SFFILM’s 12-month FilmHouse Residency program, and received a Documentary Film Fund grant for post-production in Spring 2016.
“SFFILM is deeply dedicated to nurturing independent film in the Bay Area. These films—and filmmakers—exemplify how impactful these connections can be in bringing ideas to life, and to the public.” said Caroline von Kühn, SFFILM Director of Artistic Development. “There’s nothing that brings us more joy than sharing work that was developed here with our local audience.”
Since 2009, SFFILM Makers has disbursed more than $5 million to more than 150 film projects in various stages of production. Through its partnerships with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and the Westridge Foundation, SFFILM is the largest granting body for independent narrative feature films in the United States, awarding nearly $1 million annually across various programs to incubate and support innovative and exceptional films. SFFILM Makers focuses on career sustainability for independent filmmakers, and its diverse initiatives offer unparalleled assistance and opportunities designed to foster creativity and shepherd important projects toward completion. Services offered to documentary and narrative filmmakers by SFFILM Makers include cash grants, consultation services, fiscal sponsorship, and residencies through SFFILM’s one-of-a-kind FilmHouse incubator program, which supports filmmakers by providing mentorship, artistic guidance, office space, and a vibrant creative community to Bay Area-based and visiting filmmakers. For more information visit sffilm.org/makers.
SFFILM SUPPORTED FILMS AT 2018 SFFILM FESTIVAL
Hale County This Morning, This Evening, directed by RaMell Ross
“I already had my troubles for today, so I can’t worry about tomorrow,” states Daniel, one of the protagonists in award-winning photographer RaMell Ross’s inspired and intimate portrait of a place and its people. Set in an African-American community in rural Alabama where the director moves to coach basketball in 2009, the film captures small, but nevertheless precious, moments in Black lives—church services, a toddler running circles, an eclipse—with rapturous attention.
· 2017 Documentary Film Fund grant for post-production
The Rescue List, directed by Alyssa Fedele and Zachary Fink
Lake Volta in Ghana is the largest man-made lake in the world; it is also notorious as a locale for forced child labor. Bay Area filmmakers Zachary Fink and Alyssa Fedele’s beautifully shot documentary charts the courageous efforts of a local safe house to rescue the kids, give them schooling and therapy, and prepare them for reintegration into their families. Though it contains many intimate and moving moments with the children, the star of the film is real life hero Kwame, who initiates several dramatic rescues.
· 2017 SFFILM Documentary Film Fund grant for post-production
· 2015-16 FilmHouse Residents
Sorry to Bother You, directed by Boots Riley
The wait is over. Bay Area icon Boots Riley’s outrageous, taboo-breaking satire is now a wonderfully deranged feature film. Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) gets hired as a telemarketer for Oakland company RegalView. His potential blossoms when he finds his “white voice”-a hilarious voice-over running gag-but moving up the ranks leads to conflicts with coworkers and his girlfriend, not to mention the nefarious activities (including genetic manipulation!) he discovers being perpetrated by RegalView’s CEO, played by Armie Hammer. With shades of Charlie Kaufman, Jordan Peele, and Jonathan Swift, Sorry to Bother You brings surreal flair, dazzling originality, and a scathing lampoon of hyper-capitalist excess to the familiar streets of Oakland, California.
· Spring 2015 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant for screenwriting
· Spring 2016 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant for packaging
· Spring 2017 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant for production
· Fall 2017 SFFILM / Rainin Post-production loan
· 2015-16 FilmHouse Resident
We the Animals, directed by Jeremiah Zagar
Director Jeremiah Zagar uses the dreamy language and impressionistic narrative of Justin Torres’s novel of the same name to tell the coming-of-age story of three young Puerto Rican boys growing up in a loving family shadowed by domestic violence. Evocative and dazzlingly stylized, this image-rich debut film conjures the push and pull of family ties as one of the kids’ burgeoning but same-sex desire sets him apart from the rest of his clan.
· Spring 2017 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant for post-production
In addition to these five features, four features and five short films to be presented at the festival are made by SFFILM-supported filmmakers. Silas Howard, director of the Festival’s opening night film A Kid Like Jake, received an SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant for his upcoming project The Lusty, as did The Rider director Chloé Zhao, who received a 2014 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant for her previous film Songs My Brother Taught Me. Bay Area local and The Judge director Erika Cohn is fiscally sponsored by SFFILM for her current project Belly of the Beast, and 2018 tributee Rob Epstein received a 2016 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant.
In the Shorts category, Skywards, in the Shorts 1 program, was directed by Eva Weber, recipient, with Vendela Vida, of a Spring 2013 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant. While I Yet Live, also in the Shorts 1 program, was directed by Maris Curran, recipient of a Spring 2014 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant. Made in Iowa is in the Shorts 2 program and was directed by Mohammad Gorjestani, former FilmHouse resident and two-time SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant recipient. Marty is also in the Shorts 2 program and was directed by Mario Furloni and Kate McLean, former FilmHouse residents and recipients of a Fall 2015 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant. And Futbolistas 4 Life, which will be screened with The Pushouts, is directed by Jun Stinson, a former FilmHouse resident.
Film tickets are $13 for SFFILM members, $16 for the general public. Box office is now open online at sffilm.org for SFFILM members and opens March 16 for the general public.
For general information visit sffilm.org/festival
To request interviews or screeners, contact your Festival Press Office representative.
For photos and press materials visit sffilm.org/press
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2018 San Francisco International Film Festival
The longest-running film festival in the Americas, the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM Festival) is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in one of the country’s most beautiful cities. The 61st edition runs April 4-17 at venues across the Bay Area and features nearly 200 films and live events, 14 juried awards with close to $40,000 in cash prizes, and upwards of 100 participating filmmaker guests.
SFFILM
SFFILM is a nonprofit organization with a mission to champion the world’s finest films and filmmakers through programs anchored in and inspired by the spirit and values of the San Francisco Bay Area. Presenter of the San Francisco International Film Festival, SFFILM is a year-round organization delivering screenings and events to more than 75,000 film lovers and media education programs to more than 10,000 students and teachers annually. In addition to its public programs, SFFILM supports the careers of independent filmmakers from the Bay Area and beyond with grants, residencies, and other creative development services.
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