Mar 14, 2018
Festival
San Francisco, CA — SFFILM today announced a variety of programs that focus on science and technology at the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival (April 4–17). The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation supports the annual Science in Cinema program, expanding their partnership with SFFILM this year to include a keynote conversation with writer/director Alex Garland and scholar Tara McPherson as part of the Creativity Summit program. The annual World Cinema Spotlight this year is “Into the Great Beyond: Spotlight On Space,” with three films from different genres that reveal inspiration, drama, and poetry as they look beyond Earth to outer space. Additional film titles will interest audiences with themes around science and technology.
ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION SCIENCE IN CINEMA PROGRAM
In partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation—the nation’s leading philanthropic grantor for science and the arts—SFFILM launched a major new initiative in 2015 to enhance public understanding of science through the language of film. The Sloan Science in Cinema initiative includes four interconnected programs—fellowships, screenwriting workshops, awards, and exhibition opportunities-that elevate filmmakers who tackle scientific or technological themes.
At this year’s Festival, SFFILM is thrilled to highlight compelling cinema that tells the story of science. The expanded lineup is designed not only to engage members of the scientific community, but also to inspire those Festival attendees who are not scientists or engineers. Both the Sloan Foundation and SFFILM believe that filmmakers have the power to immerse audiences in the challenges and rewards of scientific discovery while illuminating the intersections between science, technology, and our daily lives.
Mercury 13 (USA 2018 – WORLD PREMIERE)
When Dr. Sally Ride lifted off in the Challenger, the first American woman in space was riding on the shoulders of a group of pioneering women whose little-known story finally gets its due in this passionate and rousing documentary. These proud pilots were selected for rigorous testing and often fared better than their male counterparts, but were ultimately shut out of the NASA program. Through spirited interviews and revealing archival footage, the film allows these thwarted but amazing aviators to inspire anew.
Salyut-7 (Russia 2017)
When a Russian space station goes mysteriously offline in 1985, it’s up to a forcibly grounded cosmonaut and an engineer who’s never been in space to rescue the unmanned Salyut-7 before the Americans intercept it or blow it up. Facing one-in-a-million odds, the two travelers battle exhaustion, fire, and oxygen depletion in this phenomenally entertaining and dramatic thriller that brings history to life with visual splendor and edge-of-the-seat tension. Winner of Best Film at the Golden Eagle Awards, Russia’s equivalent to the Oscars.
Searching (USA 2017)
This nail-biting debut by Aneesh Chaganty, is a fresh and innovative film told exclusively through computer screens. 16-year-old Margot (breakout actress Michelle La) can’t emotionally connect with her dad, David (a charismatic John Cho), who has been withdrawn and overprotective since her mother passed away. When Margot goes missing, David is aided by Detective Vick (Debra Messing) but ultimately must rely on his own search skills to find his missing daughter before it’s too late. The film premiered to rave reviews at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Film Prize. Director Aneesh Chaganty will be in attendance and take part in a Q&A after the screening.
CREATIVITY SUMMIT
The Creativity Summit, formed in partnership with WIRED, was launched in 2017 with a program that featured speaker Dr. Ed Catmull, and will be presented again at the the 2018 SFFILM Festival (April 4–17). This year’s event foregrounds a suite of programming interrogating the intersection of film and technology—issues that reach into how technology impacts us and our ability to create and connect. The speakers and panelists represent a breadth of perspectives drawn from the arts, academia, and technology. This year’s panels focus on discussions of “presence,” or how technology broadly (and VR & AR in particular) is impacting artistic and cultural practice.
Alex Garland in Conversation with USC professor Tara McPherson – supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Alexander Medawar Garland is a quintessential multi-hyphenate. A novelist, screenwriter, video game writer, film producer, and director, Garland’s first novel, The Beach (1996), led critics to dub him a key voice of Generation X. He subsequently penned screenplays for, amongst others, 28 Days Later (2002) and Never Let Me Go (2011). With Ex Machina (2015), Garland directed his own screenplay, which received an Academy Award nomination. His most recent project is Annihilation (2018). Garland’s work is deeply rooted in analyses of human-machine interaction and science and technology’s impact on human survival. Tara McPherson is a Professor in USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and Director of the Sidney Harman Academy for Polymathic Studies. She studies the intersection of digital technologies and cultural systems and also develops new tools and paradigms for digital publishing and learning. She is the author or editor of five books including the recent Feminist in a Software Lab: Difference + Design (2017) and Transmedia Frictions: The Digital, the Arts, and the Humanities (2014).
Jaron Lanier in Conversation with WIRED’s Peter Rubin
Jaron Lanier is also a quintessential multi-hyphenate. A computer scientist, author, and composer, his name is often associated with Virtual Reality research. He either coined or popularized the term ‘Virtual Reality’ and founded VPL Research, the first company to sell VR products, in the 1980s. One of most celebrated technology writers in the world, Lanier is known for charting a humanistic approach to technology appreciation and criticism. Peter Rubin, senior editor at WIRED, oversees culture coverage in the magazine and online. His forthcoming book, Future Presence: How Virtual Reality Is Changing Human Connection, Intimacy, and the Limits of Ordinary Life, explores how we will use VR to form previously impossible relationships, explore new frontiers of intimacy, and how it will forever change human connection.
WORLD CINEMA SPOTLIGHT PROGRAMS
World Cinema Spotlight is a thematic series that calls attention to international filmmaking by bringing to light hot topics, reinvigorated genres, underappreciated filmmakers, and national cinemas. With life on Earth becoming over more fraught and precarious, more and more filmmakers are turning to space for answers. Films like The Martian (2015) and Interstellar (2014) feature tales of people traveling through space and time while also reflecting and commenting on problems at home. And space has long been a place where writers and filmmakers probe our darkest fears, beginning with 1979’s still-frightening Alien. This year, SFFILM Festival goes into the great beyond with three very different movies about space.
The documentary Mercury 13 tells the powerful true story of women trained to be NASA astronauts who were then told that only men were equipped for the job. Russian filmmaker Klim Shipenko dramatizes another astonishing true story about restoring power to a rogue satellite with Salyut-7. And finally, Johann Lurf takes a more experimental view of the heavens with ★ (Star), an examination of cinema’s fascination with space using only movie sequences of the starry skies.
ADDITIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FILMS AT 2018 SFFILM FESTIVAL
Carcasse (USA 2017) – Extraordinary images abound of an imagined future or past: the abandoned husk of a downed airplane used as an animal shed, chickens pecking feed from an old construction helmet, a raft with a roof made from an old car, transporting sheep across a river. Carcasses both animal and industrial litter the landscape as people perform indecipherable tasks with scraps of industrial material in this gorgeous and mysterious black-and-white portrait of a world that may or may not be real. Is this the first science-fiction documentary?
The Cleaners (Germany/Brazil 2018) – Social media sites—particularly Facebook and YouTube—have been under intense pressure to monitor and delete offensive, pornographic, and incendiary posts. Compassionately portraying the Filipino workers who comb through thousands of online images in the dark of night, The Cleaners exposes the dark side of information technology.
Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences (USA 2018) – Join us for an evening of music, animation, and interstellar investigations with the incomparable Cory McAbee performing songs from his Small Star Seminar album, including “I Was Once Like You,” “They Pump It Up,” and “Trust Me.” Writer/director/composer and San Francisco cult icon McAbee’s (American Astronaut) irresistible new performance art project follows the story of a singing motivational speaker who travels the world urging people to give up their goals, stop reaching for the stars, and start looking for the stars within their own minds. The quirky “seminar” features optimistic songs about quitting, accepting one’s own limitations, and the power of sitting quietly. Through slides, brief clips, and conversations with his live audiences, McAbee introduces his theories of Deep Astronomy, Truth vs. Fact, transdimensional drifting, and the Romantic Sciences.
Eighth Grade (USA 2017) – Kayla (the extraordinary Elsie Fisher, who finished eighth grade one week before filming began) has just won the school award for Most Quiet, but actually has a lot to say. In fact, she has her own YouTube channel where she makes inspirational videos for teens about confidence and “being yourself.” From pool parties to games of Truth or Dare, Bo Burnham’s warm, funny, and riotously discomfiting film reminds everyone just how terribly awkward middle school is.
The Human Element (USA/Iceland 2018) – American photographer James Balog has been tracking human-caused changes to our planet for over 35 years. Disturbed and motivated by what he has seen, The Human Element documents how the earth’s four elements—water, air, fire, and earth—have all been impacted by a fifth element, homo sapiens. With breathtakingly rich and innovative photography, he illustrates issues ranging from rising sea levels to pollution’s impact on asthma cases to focus us on a call for change.
Inventing Tomorrow (USA 2018) – Intel’s ISEF Fair is the science fair that kids all over the world want to qualify for. This inspirational and wildly entertaining documentary profiles the young scientists behind four projects and their hopes to win the top prize in their field. From the shy Muslim girls who invent an air filter for ships mining tin in Indonesia to the trio of endearing boys from Monterrey, Mexico, who develop paint that can absorb pollution, these future-focused wunderkinds inspire the science geek in us all.
Tickets to the various Sloan Science in Cinema, World Cinema Spotlight, and additional Science And Technology Films, are $13 for SFFILM members, $16 for the general public. Admission to the Creativity Summit is free with registration. Box office is open now for SFFILM members online at sffilm.org and opens for the general public Friday, March 16.
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. About the Alfred P. Sloan FoundationThe New York-based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, founded in 1934, is a non-profit philanthropy that makes grants for original research and education in science, technology, and economic performance. Sloan’s program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, theater and new media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience and to bridge the two cultures of science and the humanities. Sloan’s Film Program encourages filmmakers to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination. Over the past two decades, Sloan has partnered with some of the top film schools in the country -and established annual awards in screenwriting and film production. The Foundation also supports screenplay development programs with the Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, the San Francisco Film Society, the Black List, and Film Independent’s Producing Lab and Fast Track program and has helped develop such film projects as Shawn Snyder’s To Dust and Ginny Mohler and Lydia Pilcher’s Radium Girls, premiering at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game, Matthew Brown’s The Man Who Knew Infinity, and Michael Almereyda’s Experimenter. The Foundation has also supported theatrical documentaries such as the recently released Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Particle Fever, and Jacques Perrin’s Oceans. The Foundation’s book program includes early support for Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, the highest grossing Oscar-nominated film of 2017 and the recipient of the Sloan Science in Cinema Prize at the San Francisco Film Society in December 2016.
For more information about the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, visit www.sloan.org
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