May 24, 2012
SFFILM
Corpo Celeste, (Italy/Switzerland/France 2011) Alice Rohrwacher’s stirring feature debut, opens an exclusive San Francisco engagement June 29 at San Francisco Film Society Cinema (1746 Post Street).
Mixing neo-realism with a touch of Buñuelian satire, Alice Rohrwacher’s assured first feature observes through the eyes of its 13-year-old protagonist how the institutional Catholicism that pervades life in a Calabrian town has become divorced from its spiritual underpinnings. Marta (Yle Vianello), who has just moved to Italy from Switzerland with her mother and older sister, is preparing for her Catholic confirmation while the town readies for a visit from a famous bishop. She approaches the world with a quiet curiosity that is at odds with a community whose social life revolves around the ceremonial trappings of religion, but which lacks any deeper engagement with faith. Vianello is a revelation in the lead role, building a complex character through carefully calibrated expressions and postures, while Rohrwacher draws on her background as a documentary filmmaker to bring to life an entire village, deftly putting into relief the many absurdities of their behavior without reducing them to caricatures. Poignant, nuanced and funny, Corpo Celeste heralds the arrival of a filmmaker to watch. Written by Alice Rohrwacher. Photographed by Hélène Louvart. With Yle Vianello, Salvatore Cantalupo, Pasqualina Scuncia. In Italian with subtitles. 98 min. Distributed by Film Movement.
Showtimes 2:30, 4:30, 6:30, 8:30 pm
Tickets $9 for SFFS members, $11 general, $10 senior/student/disabled. Box office now open online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema.
To request an interview contact hhart@sffs.org.
To request screeners contact bproctor@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
At SF Film Society Cinema, the stylish state-of-the art theater located in the New People building at 1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan) in Japantown, the San Francisco Film Society offers its acclaimed exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs and events on a daily year-round basis.
More upcoming San Francisco Film Society programs
Opening May 25: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Opening June 1: Hide Away
June 2 only: An Evening of Wholphin Love
Eight consecutive Saturdays June 2-July 21: The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Opening June 8: The Wages of Fear
Opening June 15: The Woman in the Fifth
June 21: Master Class: The Politics of the Cutting Room Floor
Opening June 22: Found Memories
June 22-July 7: KinoTek: Adriane Colburn: Ways, Points and Means
Opening July 6: Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present Back by popular demand, the handsome, persuasive documentary about the so-called grandmother of performance art which sold out every SFIFF 2012 show.
August 24: Master Class: Les Blank on Documentary
TBA: KinoTek: Brent Green, sculpture and animation