SFFILM

The Bay Area's home for the world's finest films and filmmakers.

SFFILM Exclusive

Behind the Lens: In Conversation with the filmmakers behind His Three Daughters

SF Honors is our annual award presentation in celebration of a filmmaker’s singular vision in our current cinema landscape, and we were honored with a discussion between director Azazel Jacobs and actors Elizabeth Olsen and Jovan Adepo.

SFFILM honored Azazel Jacobs and his film His Three Daughters in the world-class Premier Theater at One Letterman. Before the screening of the film, SFFILM Board President Todd Traina presented the award to Azazel with a very special introduction calling attention to the masterful storytelling in His Three Daughters. After the screening, SFFILM Director of Programming Jessie Fairbanks was joined onstage by Azazel Jacobs and actors Elizabeth Olsen and Jovan Adepo. During the conversation, the filmmakers discussed everything from the structure of the film and the nuances behind its construction to the connection between the actors and their collaboration in the achievement of a singular goal.

“The fact that we get to be here is such a huge privilege to us. We didn’t make this with results in our minds. We made this because of a process that we had all missed. That’s where it came from,” said Elizabeth Olsen. “[We] wanted to support a filmmaker who we love as a person and as a creative.”

Watch the full conversation to hear more about the creation of Azazel Jacobs’s His Three Daughters, and be sure to watch the film on Netflix starting on Friday, September 20.

SF Honors: His Three Daughters—In conversation with Azazel Jacobs, Elizabeth Olsen, and Jovan Adepo

Stay In Touch With SFFILM

SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM brings the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers all year long. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.

A Tribute to Joan Chen

At the 67th San Francisco International Film Festival, we celebrated the career of actor, filmmaker, and local legend Joan Chen. She discussed her love for storytelling and the history behind her work with the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Janet Yang.

SFFILM honored the inimitable Joan Chen with a career-spanning tribute. Before a very special 35mm screening of her award-winning feature directorial debut Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl, she and Janet Yang had an intimate—and illuminating—conversation about her path. From her early stardom in Beijing to her later ascension into fame in the US, their conversation touched on the difficulties of immigrating, learning how to navigate Hollywood, and making the jump from acting to directing.

“Films, Filmmaking, and being creative really has nourished me for almost 50 years.”

Watch the full conversation to hear more about Joan’s life and work including her most recent film Dìdi (弟弟), the Opening Night program for the 2024 SFFILM Festival. Dìdi (弟弟) opens in New York and Los Angeles on July 26, and in San Francisco on August 2. Be sure to get your tickets here!

A Tribute to Joan Chen—In conversation with Janet Yang

Stay In Touch With SFFILM

SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM brings the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers all year long. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.

Get ready for Sean Wang’s Dìdi (弟弟)

The 67th San Francisco International Film Festival opened with Sean Wang’s feature directorial debut Dìdi (弟弟). We talked to him about the importance of this homecoming and the making of the film.

We kicked off the the 2024 SFFILM Festival with a dual screening of what is sure to be a Bay Area classic in Sean Wang’s Dìdi (弟弟). Bay Area movie lovers filled two movie theaters San Francisco’s Marina District for this personal coming of age film with director Sean Wang, producers Josh Peters and Valerie Bush, and many cast and crew members in attendance.

The film features a brilliant cast including Izaac Wang, Shirley Chen, SFFILM Festival tributee Joan Chen, and Sean Wang’s real-life grandmother Chang Li Hua. The story follows 13-year-old Chris as he makes his way through a series of firsts preceding his freshman year in high school. Sean Wang cited his love for coming-of-age movies, and this film is a love letter to them.

Watch the full conversation to hear more about the story and making ofDìdi (弟弟), and make sure you get your tickets for the opening of this beautifully crafted film.

An Interview with the Filmmaker behind Dìdi (弟弟)

Stay In Touch With SFFILM

SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM brings the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers all year long. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.

Action Star at 94, Here’s June Squibb as Thelma

Academy Award-nominated June Squibb closed the 67th San Francisco International Film Festival with a special screening and conversation about her latest starring role

The filmmakers and star of Thelma have the perfect summer movie

SFFILM Festival audiences were treated to a sneak preview of Thelma this April as the closing night film of the program including an onstage conversation with director and writer Josh Margolin, star June Squibb, producers Chris Kaye and Zoë Worth, and composer Nick Chuba.

The film, which opens June 21 in local and national theaters, features steely and hysterical June Squibb in her first leading role as a 93-year-old widow (Thelma) proudly living alone when she falls prey to a cash-grabbing hoax. Vowing to bring the perpetrators to justice, Thelma sets out on an odyssey across Los Angeles, accompanied by her old friend Ben (played by Richard Roundtree in his final performance). Together, the determined duo wields their charm, social invisibility, and elder-age devices to overcome numerous obstacles. Director Josh Margolin draws on action-hero genre cliches, playing with traditional set-ups to illustrate Thelma’s agency.

Watch the full conversation to hear about the making of Thelma, then call your grandma and get your tickets to see this one in the theater!

In Conversation with the Filmmakers of Thelma

Stay In Touch With SFFILM

SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM works hard to bring the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.

On the Invention of Species Celebrates World Premiere at the 2024 SFFILM Film Festival

SFFILM and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation presented filmmaker Tania Hermida with the SFFILM Sloan Science on Screen Award.

What is the SFFILM Sloan Science on Screen Award?

This annual award carries a $5,000 cash prize and celebrates the compelling depiction of scientific themes or characters in a narrative feature film. The 2024 program included a lively onstage conversation featuring the film’s cast and crew, and Noah Whiteman, an evolutionary biologist and Professor of Genetics, Genomics, Evolution and Development at the University of California Berkeley. On the Invention of Species follows Carla, while on the cusp of womanhood and grappling with the loss of her brother, finds herself adrift on the historic archipelago that led to Charles Darwin’s breakthrough studies on adaptation.

SFFILM’s partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation—the nation’s leading philanthropic grantor for science and the arts—culminates in the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative. Launched in 2015, the program celebrates and highlights cinema that brings together science and the art of storytelling, showing how these two seemingly disparate areas can combine to enhance the power of one another. The selections are meant to immerse a broad public audience in the challenges and rewards of scientific discovery, as well as to engage members of the scientific community.

Watch the full conversation to hear about the making of On the Invention of Species.

SFFILM Sloan Science on Screen Award Conversation

Stay In Touch With SFFILM

SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM works hard to bring the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.