Jul 13, 2010
Artist Development
The San Francisco Film Society announced today the filmmakers who have been awarded SFFS FilmHouse Residencies for October 2010-April 2011. This innovative program, developed in partnership with the San Francisco Film Commission and launched in November 2008, supports local independent filmmaking by making office space available free of charge for six-month residencies to independent filmmakers actively engaged in various stages of film production. The newest recipients are working in many different styles and genres and in all stages of production. FilmHouse, part of the Film Society’s expanding filmmaker services, functions as a vibrant workshop and community-builder for local filmmakers of all stripes.
The panelists who reviewed the applicants submissions were Debbie Brubaker, film commissioner and producer; Sara Dosa, SFFS grants and residencies coordinator; Athena Kalkopoulou, SFFS fiscal sponsorship coordinator; Christine Munday, representing the San Francisco Film Commission Office; and Trinity West, SFFS education associate. They announced the winners saying, “The review panel was impressed by the overall quality, imagination and uniqueness of all of our applications. After a rigorous debate, we are thrilled with the diversity of projects we chose and believe they well represent the San Francisco filmmaking community.”
John Cavalli, production, animated series
The Adventure of Ginger and Pickles is a stop-motion animated program about a gingerbread girl, Ginger Smacks, and a pickle, Professor Picklepants, who work in a variety of highly specialized temporary assignments in an alternative food-themed version of San Francisco. Their smorgasbord of assignments includes stints as astronauts, game show hosts, food critics and, in this first episode, major league baseball players for the Pittsburger Pirates. www.johnnyunderscore.com
Hayley Downs and Julie Kahn, postproduction, feature documentary
Swamp Cabbage is a dark and sweaty documentary about Hayley Downs, a half-“Cracker”-in Florida, a term of pride referring to the descendants of early pioneers known for their ability to survive in the treacherous wilderness-stuck in Brooklyn who discovers that the bizarre backwoods-meets-suburbia childhood she left behind is actually the key to her own survival. swampcabbagemovie.com
Lisa Fruchtman, postproduction, feature documentary
Sweet Dreams follows the 62 members of Ingoma Nshya, Rwanda’s first and only women’s drumming troupe, who have come from both sides of the 1994 Rwandan genocide to find a haven in which they feel both safe and empowered. Now, with the help of two young American entrepreneurs, they are moving toward improving their economic future by opening Inzozi Niza (sweet dreams)-Rwanda’s first-ever local ice cream shop-embarking on a remarkable experiment in economic and emotional recovery.
Jim Granato, outreach/distribution, feature documentary
D tour is a feature-length documentary about indie rock drummer Pat Spurgeon who struggles with kidney disease while fulfilling his dreams as a musician. As his band starts to take off, he takes his dialysis with him on the road and starts the difficult quest to find a potential living donor. A rock-and-roll film about life, death and bodily functions, D tour addresses issues regarding the U.S. health care system, lack of affordable insurance and the importance of organ donation. dtourmovie.com
Scott Kirschenbaum, postproduction, feature documentary
You’re Looking at Me Like I Live Here and I Don’t is the invigorating first-person account of Lee Gorewitz’s life inside the Traditions Alzheimer’s & Other Dementia Care Unit at the Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living in Danville, California. A total immersion into the fragmented day-to-day experience of the disease, the film reveals Gorewitz’s penetrating ruminations and charismatic vitality, challenging our preconceptions of illness and aging. threebagelsunday.com
Ross McDonnell and Carter Gunn, postproduction, feature documentary
Good Robot is a documentary film that aims to capture a new era in the relationship of humans and machines. Good Robot will explore the social impact the field of modern robotics in medicine, in the military and in the commercial market around the world. As machines become integrated in our lives, the film asks the questions about the places they will take, the morality of their use and whether there is a line we can cross. www.rossmcdonnell.com
Miles Montalbano, preproduction, feature narrative
A Human Certainty is a contemporary neorealist fable in which a young working-poor couple foresee a bleak future for themselves in the midst of a worsening economic crisis and make a lovers’ suicide pact. They check into a cheap hotel with one month’s rent and a vow to spend their last days full of carefree passion and romance. Their love is finally allowed to grow and blossom, but when the month inevitably ends, they must face the irrevocable finality of their decision. www.grayeminencefilms.com
Applications are due in December 2010 for the next term of FilmHouse Residencies beginning April 2011. For additional information, visit www.sffs.org/filmmaker-services/filmhouse-residencies.
Since 1989, the San Francisco Film Commission has served to encourage the recognition of film as an art form with widespread economic, social and cultural benefits for the city. The Film Commission supports a variety of film related activities in the city and promotes San Francisco as a film production destination. While stimulating community awareness of the film art form, the Commission is also committed to promoting long-range investment in projects originating in San Francisco, liaises with groups, councils, organizations and institutions related to the film industry and provides perspective for both the Mayor and the board of supervisors with respect to long-range promotion, development and planning for a significant film arts base in San Francisco. For complete information visit FilmSF.org.
San Francisco Film Society is a nonprofit arts and education organization dedicated to celebrating the world of film and media in four core areas: Internationalism and Cross-Cultural Exchange, Educating and Inspiring Bay Area Youth, Showcasing Bay Area Film Culture and Exploring New Media. Its activities are organized via three major program areas: Exhibition, Education and Filmmaker Services.
The Film Society shows the best of world cinema year-round on its SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas; presents the longest-running film festival in the Americas, the SF International (April 21-May 5, 2011); and presents the San Francisco International Animation Festival, New Italian Cinema, Cinema by the Bay, Taiwan Film Days and French Cinema Now each fall. SFFS presents more than 300 days of programming each year, reaching a total audience of more than 100,000 people. Its acclaimed Youth Education program introduces international cinema and media literacy to more than 10,000 teachers and students annually.
SFFS publishes a daily online magazine, SF360.org, with broad-ranging news and features on Bay Area film culture and provides crucial support to the Bay Area filmmaking community through Filmmaker Services, including FilmHouse Residencies, Fiscal Sponsorship, SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants, Hearst Screenwriting Grant, Djerassi Residency Award/SFFS Screenwriting Fellowship, SFFS Film Arts Forums and professional-level filmmaker classes.