SFFILM News

Meet the Spring 2018 SFFILM Westridge Grant Winners

SFFILM and the Westridge Foundation have selected the inaugural winners of the SFFILM Westridge Grant, the newest filmmaker support program…

Meet the Spring 2018 SFFILM Westridge Grant Winners

SFFILM and the Westridge Foundation have selected the inaugural winners of the SFFILM Westridge Grant, the newest filmmaker support program offered by SFFILM Makers.

A total of $100,000 has been awarded in the Spring 2018 granting round to five narrative feature projects from a diverse group of emerging storytellers tackling important social issues facing the nation.

The SFFILM Westridge program is designed specifically to support the screenwriting and development phases of narrative feature projects whose stories focus on the significant social issues and questions of our time. Providing support at these critical early stages protects filmmakers’ creative processes, and allows them to concentrate on properly crafting their stories and building the right strategy and infrastructure to guide them through financing and production.

The SFFILM Westridge Grant is open to US-based filmmakers whose stories take place primarily in the United States. Applications are now being accepted for the Fall 2018 round of grants; the final deadline to apply is July 31. Find out more at sffilm.org/makers.

SPRING 2018 SFFILM WESTRIDGE GRANT WINNNERS

Back Seat
Lana Wilson, writer/director; Shrihari Sathe, producer (screenwriting) — $20,000
An immigrant woman leaves her young son alone in the back seat of a car, setting off a firestorm of controversy in the liberal community where she lives. As the town’s latent xenophobia bubbles to the surface, and the woman’s parenting abilities are scrutinized in increasingly disturbing ways, she fights to prove that she’s a worthy mother — to the town, to her children, and to herself.

Mandeville
Russell Nichols, writer (screenwriting) — $20,000
A traumatized Black boy, whose brother was killed by a cop, volunteers for an experiment that tests his powers of prediction to prevent future murders.

Miss Juneteenth
Channing Godfrey Peoples, writer/director; Neil Creque Williams, producer (development) — $20,000
Turquoise, a former beauty pageant queen turned hardworking single mother, enrolls her rebellious daughter, Kai, in the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant to compete for the grand prize — a college scholarship. Determined to keep Kai from making her same mistakes in life, Turquoise saves her tips from working at a juke joint to buy her daughter the grandest pageant dress of all. However, Kai is more interested in her school’s dance team and chasing her high school crush.

Stay Awake
Jaime Sisley, writer/director; Kelly Thomas and David Ariniello, producers (development) — $20,000
For years, teen brothers Ethan and Derek Reynolds have tried to help their mother, Michelle, overcome her prescription drug addiction with little success. When Michelle goes missing after another binge, Ethan and Derek begin to question whether they should continue trying to find and help Michelle, or move on with their lives at the expense of saving her.

Taliesin
Maya Perez, writer (screenwriting) — $20,000
Based on actual events, Taliesin tells the story of a young Black couple hired to work at the infamous Taliesin home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The remote location becomes a pressure cooker, and tensions around race and gender boil over with tragic consequences — the most horrific mass murder in Wisconsin history.

In addition to the cash grants, recipients will receive various benefits through SFFILM’s comprehensive and dynamic artist development program, as well as support and feedback from SFFILM and Westridge Foundation staff. All grantees will spend one week in the Bay Area attending a programmed retreat geared towards honing their craft, strengthening their scripts, and making connections to other filmmakers and industry professionals.

For more information about SFFILM Makers artist development programs, visit sffilm.org/makers.

Meet the Inaugural SFFILM Westridge Grant Finalists

SFFILM and the Westridge Foundation have announced the inaugural finalists of the SFFILM Westridge Grant, the newest filmmaker support…

Meet the Inaugural SFFILM Westridge Grant Finalists

SFFILM and the Westridge Foundation have announced the inaugural finalists of the SFFILM Westridge Grant, the newest filmmaker support program offered by SFFILM Makers.

The SFFILM Westridge program is designed specifically to support the screenwriting and development phases of narrative feature projects whose stories focus on the significant social issues and questions of our time. Providing support at these critical early stages protects filmmakers’ creative processes, and allows them to concentrate on properly crafting their stories and building the right strategy and infrastructure to guide them through financing and production.

SPRING 2018 SFFILM WESTRIDGE GRANT FINALISTS

Back Seat
Lana Wilson, writer/director; Shrihari Sathe, producer (screenwriting)
An immigrant woman leaves her young son alone in the back seat of a car, setting off a firestorm of controversy in the liberal community where she lives. As the town’s latent xenophobia bubbles to the surface, and the woman’s parenting abilities are scrutinized in increasingly disturbing ways, she fights to prove that she’s a worthy mother — to the town, to her children, and to herself.

Bait
Jamie Ruddy, writer/director (development)
In a prosperous suburb in 1986, New Jersey, an 11-year-old girl discovers her father is a child molester and has been using her as bait. Will she protect him or tell the truth in this heartbreaking true story?

The Beautiful Ones
Neil Paik, writer/director (screenwriting)
A fateful night in the San Fernando Valley, an illicit affair in Afghanistan, a school shooting, and an activist journalist are all connected by an old Polaroid camera that exchanges hands over the course of 15 years following 9/11.

Mandeville
Russell Nichols, writer (screenwriting)
A traumatized Black boy, whose brother was killed by a cop, volunteers for an experiment that tests his powers of prediction to prevent future murders.

A Night to Remember
Jessiline Berry, writer/director (screenwriting)
Just three hours ago, they were strangers at a party; now Will is stopping Rayna from getting into an Uber so she can spend the night getting into him. The two could-be lovers go on a moonlit LA adventure, falling into mischief and, perhaps, something like love. By morning’s light, Rayna will know Will all too well — for better or for worse.

Stay Awake
Jaime Sisley, writer/director; Kelly Thomas and David Ariniello, producers (development)
For years, teen brothers Ethan and Derek Reynolds have tried to help their mother, Michelle, overcome her prescription drug addiction with little success. When Michelle goes missing after another binge, Ethan and Derek begin to question whether they should continue trying to find and help Michelle, or move on with their lives at the expanse of saving her.

A Storybook Ending
Lanre Olabisi, writer/director; Isaac LeFerve and Gabriel Sedgwick, producers (development)
A “Black” comedy set in Brooklyn, A Storybook Ending is also a highly stylized noir. The film unfolds through shifting time frames as it explores contemporary race relations experienced by multiple characters whose lives intersect thanks to a single, life-changing event.

They Call Me Stacy
Atsuko Okatsuka, writer/director (development)
They call her Stacy…but that’s not her name. Asuka is an undocumented high school student living in her uncle’s garage with her grandmother and schizophrenic mother. With the help of her mother, she tries out for the school’s cheerleading squad and gets in. Her two best friends Nanette and Sandy act as the comedic relief and support system for Asuka as she navigates family stress, being a new member of the cheerleading squad, and now also going by Stacy, as suggested by her English teacher.

The Vanishing Point
Beth Pielert, writer (development)
On the verge of losing her home, a community-minded Latina is seduced by a group of senior women who offer her a solution to her money troubles — help them rob the pharmaceutical company where she works.

White
A. Sayeeda Moreno, writer/director (screenwriting)
White is a dystopian thriller set in a burning hot near-future where climate change has both devastated the planet and turned melanin into the world’s most valuable commodity. When Nuyorican beauty Luna has her newborn ripped from her arms just moments after giving birth, she is thrust into the merciless world of melanin harvesting to save her daughter, her community and spark a revolution.

For more information about SFFILM Makers artist development programs, visit sffilm.org/makers.

Meet the Golden Gate Award winners at the 2018 SFFILM Festival

On Sunday, April 15, the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival (April 4–17) announced the winners of the juried Golden Gate Award…

Meet the Golden Gate Award winners at the 2018 SFFILM Festival

On Sunday, April 15, the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival (April 4–17) announced the winners of the juried Golden Gate Award (GGA) competitions at an event held at The Lab. The Festival’s Audience Awards were also announced from the Castro Theatre stage at the Closing Night screening. This year the Festival awarded nearly $40,000 in prizes to emerging and established filmmakers.

AUDIENCE AWARDS
Determined by audience ballot throughout the Festival, Audience Awards are given in two categories — fiction feature and documentary feature.

Audience Award – Fiction Feature: Eighth Grade, Bo Burnham (USA)

Audience Award – Documentary Feature: A Thousand Thoughts – A Live Documentary by Sam Green and Kronos Quartet, Sam Green & Joe Bini (USA)

GOLDEN GATE NEW DIRECTORS AWARD (FICTION FEATURE)
The New Directors award is given to a debut feature by an international filmmaker whose work exhibits unique artistic sensibility or vision. The New Directors jury included Programmer Dilcia Barrera, Producer and Editor-in-Chief of Filmmaker Magazine Scott Macaulay, and Producer Adele Romanski.

GGA New Directors Award winner: Scary Mother, Ana Urushadze (Georgia/Estonia)
• Receives $10,000 cash prize

The jury awarded its Golden Gate prize to Ana Urushadze for Scary Mother “for its confident tone and unquestioning commitment to its fearless protagonist, a complicated artist caught between motherhood and the wilds of her own imagination.”

MCBAINE DOCUMENTARY FEATURE AWARD
For more than 60 years, a significant element of the SFFILM Festival has been its broad selection of acclaimed documentaries from across the globe. There are two awards in this category — Best Documentary and Best Bay Area Documentary. Films in the Bay Area Documentary Feature category are also eligible for the Best Documentary Feature award. This year’s Documentary Feature jury was comprised of filmmaker and journalist Carrie Lozano, journalist Noel Murray, and nonfiction filmmaker, visual artist, and writer AJ Schnack.

McBaine Documentary Feature Award Winner: The Distant Barking of Dogs, Simon Lereng Wilmont (Denmark/Sweden/Finland)
• Receives $10,000 cash prize

The jury described the Feature Award winner as “Remarkable, exquisite, and unforgettable.”

McBaine Bay Area Documentary Feature Award: The Judge, Erika Cohn (USA/Palestine)
• Receives $5,000 cash prize

The jury applauded The Judge for “turning a lens on a charismatic and influential woman who is fighting for equality against all odds, and for its nuanced portrayal of a culture that is often misunderstood.”

Special Jury Mention, McBaine Documentary Feature: City of the Sun, Rati Oneli (Georgia/USA/Qatar/Netherlands)
The jury granted this mention to Oneli’s film “for its stunning use of cinematography and sound design that immerses us in a place that is at once stark and stirring.”

GOLDEN GATE AWARDS FOR SHORT FILMS
The Festival is proud to have a variety of shorts in competition across programs. The GGA Short Film jury consisted of Director of Canyon Cinema Antonella Bonfanti, filmmaker Mark Decena, and programmer Liliana Rodriguez.

Narrative Short Winner: Shadow Animals, Jerry Carlsson (Sweden)
• Receives $2,000 cash prize

In a statement, the jury applauded Shadow Animals for “its masterful control of tone and pacing. Shot from the perspective of a young girl at a dinner party, Jerry Carlsson’s short strikes a delicate balance of dread and intrigue, delightfully incorporating surreal, beautiful dance while exploring group mentality anxieties and the potential of one outsider.”

Special Jury Mention, Narrative Short: Jodilerks Dela Cruz, Employee of the Month, Carlo Francisco Manatad (Philippines)

The jury noted: “Carlo Francisco Manatad’s impressive and rebellious movie, from the opening credits until the very end, explodes with the energy of a Molotov.”

Documentary Short Winner: Crisanto Street, Paloma Martinez (USA)
• Receives $2,000 cash prize

The jury awarded this prize to Paloma Martinez’s film with a statement: “So often overlooked and avoided, the issue of the affordable home crisis gets a front row seat from an unexpected view. With a bold choice to arm an 8-year-old boy with a camera, Crisanto Street skillfully renders a touching and powerful portrait of a family trying to survive on the edges. Never sentimental, Martinez captures the family’s struggle with dignity and the ephemeral possibility of hope.”

New Visions Short Winner: .TV, G. Anthony Svatek (USA/Tuvalu/New Zealand/France)
• Receives $2,000 cash prize

The Best New Visions Short Prize was awarded to G. Anthony Svatek’s consideration of Tuvalu’s highly desired national domain suffix .TV for being “an illuminating and surprising account of the hidden economies of technology and the island nation’s eminent risk of extinction due to climate-change.”

Special Jury Mention, New Visions Short: Fair Grounds, Ameer Kazmi (USA/France/Germany) The jury recognized the film for its “tenacious yet elegant abstract critique and exploration of youthful masculinity.”

Animated Short Winner: Icebergs, Elrini Vianelli (USA/Greece)
• Receives $2,000 cash prize

The jury found Icebergs to be “like looking through the windows of a high-rise — Elrini Vianelli’s short weaves together the small, funny, mundane, and most important moments of its characters’ lives, presenting only snippets of what are full, complex people: the human condition in ten minutes.”

Bay Area Short First Prize Winner: Weekends, Trevor Jimenez (USA)
• Receives $2,000 cash prize

The jury acknowledged that “It is rare that a short film, let alone an animated short with no dialogue, has the depth and narrative arc of a feature. The back and forth travels of a young child between his divorced parents’ dwellings reminds us all of what constitutes family, and what makes a place, something we call home. Perhaps it is somewhere in between.”

Bay Area Short Second Prize Winner: 49 Mile Scenic Drive, Bradley Smith, Tyler McPherron (USA)
• Receives $1,500 cash prize

In a statement, the jury noted that “Through thoughtful and captivating use of archival footage and humor, this charming short film tells the history of San Francisco’s iconic 49 Mile Scenic Drive signs and the journey to restore them to their perfectly designed glory.”

GOLDEN GATE AWARD FOR YOUTH WORK
The Youth Works jury was comprised of actor, writer, producer and ARTivist Fawzia Mirza and Bay Area students Olina Scott, Anthony Carter, and Juan Montgomery.

Youth Works Prize: Goodbye Sam, Theo Taplitz (USA)
• Receives $1,000 cash prize

The jury lauded “the playful quirkiness of Goodbye Sam for emotionally embracing the power of friendship, making us laugh and cry and wanting to see more of the oddball story of a boy and his pet bird.”

Special Jury Mention: Elle, Florence Winter Hill (UK) The jury granted this special mention to Florence Winter Hill’s short for “striking an emotional chord for all of us who had to face growing up and letting go of childhood dreams.”

GOLDEN GATE AWARD FOR FAMILY FILM
The Family Film jury was comprised of writer Carvell Wallace, Betsy Bozdech from Common Sense Media, and Marcy Johnson, Jefferson Elementary School teacher.

Family Film Prize Winner: Crisanto Street, Paloma Martinez (USA)
· Receives $1,500 cash prize

The jury noted: “One of the rare films that truly shows us the world through a child’s eyes, this multilayered short doesn’t shy away from life’s struggles, but it demonstrates that joy and home can be found everywhere.”

Special Jury Mention: Bird Karma, William Salazar (USA) The jury praised Bird Karma for “taking on astonishing depth with playfulness, simplicity, humor, and beauty.”

The 2018 Golden Gate Awards were proudly sponsored by IMDbPro.

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Welcome to the 2018 SFFILM Festival

Welcome to the 61st San Francisco International Film Festival! This is both a challenging and inspiring moment to be a part of global film…

Welcome to the 2018 SFFILM Festival

SFFILM Executive Director Noah Cowan – photo by Trejure.com

Welcome to the 61st San Francisco International Film Festival! This is both a challenging and inspiring moment to be a part of global film culture. The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have prompted a great deal of much-needed self-reflection in our community as well as a new focus on positive change. We are inspired to redouble our efforts in support of films and filmmakers creating that change in this country and beyond.

We’ve done a lot of thinking recently about how SFFILM serves our community and our shared values. This has led us to comprehensively re-examine how SFFILM’s key activities across film exhibition, media education, and artist development can best drive our vision of a progressive film culture. Evidence of our new strategic path can be seen throughout this Festival program — in the incredible diversity of talent behind many of our most prominent films this year; in the special programs we’ve designed to interrogate our current social realities; and in the artist talks, live presentations, and collaborative film-and-conversation events that make the Festival a distinctive collective experience.

There is no doubt that the future of the film community we envision lives with today’s youth. With this in mind, we have taken strides to significantly enhance the resources and programs available through SFFILM Education, with expanded opportunities for schools, families, and educators both “live” in San Francisco and digitally across the country through new online platforms. These programs will specifically confront the challenges of media learning around critical social issues that are so often obfuscated by the current breakdowns in our national conversation.

Perhaps the most palpable and direct change this organization creates can be felt in our artist development initiatives known collectively as SFFILM Makers. A national powerhouse of granting and residency programs, SFFILM Makers has supported several films in this year’s Festival lineup and scores of others through creative behind-the-scenes assistance that hits every stage of the filmmaking process. Our new strategic plan has us significantly increasing SFFILM Makers’ size and reach in the years to come, harnessing local financial and intellectual resources to champion the values of the Bay Area by making powerful films that tell globally meaningful stories.

All of this work comes together every year at the Festival. It is an occasion for our community to unite in celebration of film, and to renew our commitment to supporting our artists, our young people, and our allies nationally and abroad. While we must acknowledge this moment of difficult reckoning, let’s make this year’s event a call for thoughtful investment — in spectacular art, in meaningful action, and in our fundamental belief in the possibility of change.

Thank you — and enjoy the movies!

Noah Cowan

Five SFFILM-Supported Films Headed to Sundance 2018

It’s a particularly exciting time of year for the SFFILM Makers team, as several of the films they’ve helped shepherd into existence are on…

Five SFFILM-Supported Films Headed to Sundance 2018

It’s a particularly exciting time of year for the SFFILM Makers team, as several of the films they’ve helped shepherd into existence are on their way to the Sundance Film Festival for their premieres. This year, five projects supported by SFFILM grants and development services will be going to Park City for their big snowy debuts, beginning their journey to reach audiences worldwide.

“These five SFFILM-supported films represent exciting new voices in independent film — from uninhibited bold artistry to nuanced unpacking of complicated systemic issues of our time — and we’re thrilled that they are premiering this week,” said Caroline von Kühn, SFFILM Director of Artist Development. “SFFILM has been championing Boots Riley’s move into filmmaking for some time, and it’s a dream to see such an ambitious, imaginative film come to fruition with a premiere at Sundance. It’s an especially exciting year for Bay Area filmmaking, with both Sorry to Bother You and Blindspotting made in Oakland just last summer. The impressive talent shown by the first-time filmmakers here and the diversity of voices telling these stories are particularly exciting for us as we head into what’s looking like a great year for film ahead.”

SFFILM–SUPPORTED PROJECTS AT SUNDANCE 2018

Blindspotting
US Dramatic Competition — Day One
Carlos Lopez Estrada, director; Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs, writers; Keith Calder, Jess Calder, Rafael Casal, and Daveed Diggs, producers

— 2017 SFFILM / Time Warner Foundation Grant —

Collin is trying to make it through his final days of probation for an infamous arrest he can’t wait to put behind him. Always by his side is his fast-talking childhood bestie, Miles, who has a knack for finding trouble. They grew up together in the notoriously rough Oakland, a.k.a. “The Town,” which has become the new trendy place to live in the rapidly gentrifying Bay Area. But when Collin’s chance for a fresh start is interrupted by a life-changing missed curfew, his friendship with Miles is forced out of its comfortable buddy-comedy existence, and the Bay boys are set on a spiraling collision course with each other. (Sundance Film Festival)

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Hale County This Morning, This Evening
US Documentary Competition
RaMell Ross, director; Maya Krinsky, writer; Joslyn Barnes, RaMell Ross, Su Kim, producers

— 2017 Documentary Film Fund grant for post-production —

How does one express the reality of individuals whose public image, lives, and humanity originate in exploitation? Photographer and filmmaker RaMell Ross employs the integrity of nonfiction filmmaking and the currency of stereotypical imagery to fill in the gaps between individual black male icons. Hale County This Morning, This Evening is a lyrical innovation to the form of portraiture that boldly ruptures racist aesthetic frameworks that have historically constricted the expression of African American men on film. (Sundance Film Festival)

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Monsters and Men
US Dramatic Competition
Reinaldo Marcus Green, director/writer; Elizabeth Lodge Stepp, Josh Penn, Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, and Luca Borghese, producers

— Fall 2017 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant for post-production —

One night, in front of a bodega in Brooklyn’s Bed–Stuy neighborhood, Manny Ortega witnesses a white police officer wrongfully gun down a neighborhood street hustler, and Manny films the incident on his phone. Now he’s faced with a dilemma: release the video and bring unwanted exposure to himself and his family, or keep the video private and be complicit in the injustice? (Sundance Film Festival)

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Sorry to Bother You
US Dramatic Competition
Boots Riley, director/writer; Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Charles King, George Rush, Jonathan Duffy, Kelly Williams, producers

— 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 —

Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield), a 30-something black telemarketer with self-esteem issues, discovers a magical selling power living inside of him. Suddenly he’s rising up the ranks to the elite team of his company, which sells heinous products and services. The upswing in Cassius’s career raises serious red flags with his brilliant girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson), a sign-twirling gallery artist who is secretly a part of a Banksy-style collective called Left Eye. But the unimaginable hits the fan when Cassius meets the company’s cocaine-snorting, orgy-hosting, obnoxious, and relentlessly optimistic CEO, Steve Lift (Armie Hammer). (Sundance Film Festival)

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We The Animals
NEXT
Jeremiah Zagar, director; Daniel Kitrosser and Jeremiah Zagar, writers; Jeremy Yaches, Christina D. King, Andrew Goldman, and Paul Mezey, producers

— Spring 2017 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant for post-production —

Us three, brothers, kings inseparable. Manny, Joel, and Jonah tear their way through childhood. Their Ma and Paps have a volatile love that makes and unmakes the family many times over, leaving the boys fending for themselves. As their parents rip at one another, Manny and Joel ultimately harden and grow into versions of their father. With the triumvirate fractured, Jonah — the youngest, the dreamer — becomes increasingly aware of his desperate need to escape. Driven to the edge, Jonah embraces an imagined world all his own. (Sundance Film Festival)

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Other SFFILM–supported films that have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in recent years include Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer; Peter Bratt’s Dolores; Peter Nicks’s The Force, which won the festival’s Directing Award for U.S. Documentary in 2017; Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, which went on to win both the festival’s Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the narrative category in 2013; Kat Candler’s Hellion; Jacob Kornbluth’s Inequality for All; Ira Sach’s Love is Strange; Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child; Jesse Moss’s The Overnighters; Geremy Jasper’s Patti Cake$; and Alex Smith and Andrew Smith’s Walking Out, among others.

Find out more about the grants, residencies, and fellowships offered by SFFILM Makers here.