Mar 15, 2017
Education, Festival
San Francisco, CA — SFFILM announced today the annual Schools at the Festival (SATF) and the Art & Science of Lucasfilm programs that will be part of the 60th San Francisco International Film Festival. Organized by the SFFILM Education department, and presented this year in collaboration with Google Inc. and the Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund, SATF is a pioneering film literacy initiative that has created a vital connection between the SFFILM Festival and the local educational community, providing students of all ages the opportunity to participate in the Festival experience. A collaboration between SFFILM Education and the Lucasfilm Studio Talent Group, the Art & Science of Lucasfilm brings experienced professionals from the various Lucasfilm divisions to share their knowledge with Bay Area middle- and high-school students in a series of behind-the-scenes, interactive multimedia presentations that demonstrate the intersection of art, math, and science in the entertainment industry.
For the last 26 years, as part of SATF, elementary, middle and high school students and teachers from around the Bay Area attend curated weekday matinee Festival screenings. Participating teachers receive study guides developed by SFFILM Education staff, which have been designed to integrate each film’s content into the curricula. SATF curricula are designed in alignment with the Common Core and the Visual and Performing Arts Standards for California public schools. Additionally, local and visiting filmmakers visit classrooms to share their work and interact with students. This year, one narrative feature, eight documentaries and 22 short films have been carefully selected as part of SATF to suit a broad range of curricula and grade levels. Targeted subject areas include computer science, language arts, ethics, health, history, journalism, math, politics, science, social studies, and world affairs. Thanks to the generous support of Google Inc. and the Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund, all tickets for public school, private school, and homeschooled students and teachers will be free for all SATF screenings.
“This will be my 13th year of running the program, and I am more excited than I have ever been before heading into it,” said Keith Zwölfer, SFFILM’s Associate Director of Education. “I’m very proud that this year we are able to offer up free tickets to all of our attendees for the first time, thanks to the generous support of Google Inc. and the Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund. Our goal was to make what we do as accessible as possible to every school and teacher who wanted to attend with their students. Money should never be an obstacle for kids to be able to have a positive and meaningful experience with the arts. The early reaction has been overwhelmingly, with ticket reservations reaching an all-time high for SATF of 5,200 seats, all taken in during the first week of registrations.”
This year, SATF will also feature its eighth annual Student Essay Contest. Made possible by the Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund, the contest aims to cultivate students’ imaginations, enhance critical thinking and creative writing skills, and instill a greater appreciation for the magic of movies. Students in grades 2-12 are invited to submit essays in response to designated questions about select SATF films. Contest winners will be announced in late May and will receive cash awards ranging from $50 to $500.
2017 SATF films offered to middle and high school students range from inspiring narratives to in-depth cultural explorations and gripping documentaries, including Brimstone & Glory (USA 2017), Dolores (USA 2017), The Force (USA 2016), Serenade for Haiti (USA 2016), STEP (USA 2016), and Swagger (France 2016). For elementary school students, film offerings include the newest documentary from the long running Disneynature series, Born in China (USA 2016) and three separate screenings of Shorts 5: Family Films. A collection of animated and live-action short films, Shorts 5: Family Films includes the newest animated short from Pixar, Lou (USA 2016), and the Academy Award®-nominated virtual reality animation short, Pearl (USA 2016). On offer for all students in grades 4-12 is a screening of Hidden Figures (USA 2016), a 2016 Academy Award® nominee for Best Picture.
Available exclusively to Bay Area educators and students, tickets may be reserved only through the SATF office by contacting Associate Director of Education Keith Zwölfer at kzwolfer@sffilm.org or 415-561-5040. SATF tickets cannot be reserved through the Festival box office.
Now in its ninth year, the Art & Science of Lucasfilm series is designed to draw connections between the art, math, and science being taught in Bay Area schools and the processes behind the mind-blowing special effects, creative character design, and visual storytelling seen in recent blockbuster hits. In addition to an interactive multimedia presentation, each event that is part of the series includes time for discussion, where students have the opportunity to ask questions of Lucasfilm directors, supervisors, artists, and engineers. A curriculum guide developed by SFFILM Education staff is available for teachers who wish to integrate the information from each presentation into their classroom curricula. This year’s featured presentation, the Art & Science of Lucasfilm: Rogue One, will highlight the work of the Academy Award®-nominated film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Presentation does not include screening of the film.
Recent The Art & Science of Lucasfilm presentations have included The Force Awakens with Creative Executive Rayne Roberts, Senior Vice President of Physical Production Jason McGatlin, and ILM Visual Effects Supervisor Patrick Tubach (March 2016); Jurassic World with ILM Visual Effects Supervisor Tim Alexander, ILM Animation Supervisor Glen McIntosh, and ILM CG Technology Supervisor Kaori Ogino (September 2015); Strange Magic with Lucasfilm Creative Executive Rayne Roberts, ILM VFX Supervisor Tony Plett and Production Manager Julie Peng (January 2015); Star Wars Rebels with Executive Producer Dave Filoni, Line Producer Athena Portillo and Art Director Kilian Plunkett (October 2014), We Build Cool Stuff with Lucasfilm Research & Development Software Designers Mike Jutan, Rachel Rose and Matthew Parrott (March 2014); The Animation of Pacific Rim with ILM Animation Supervisor Hal Hickel (November 2013); Assembling the VFX for Marvel’s The Avengers with ILM VFX Supervisor Jeff White, Digital Production Supervisor Jason Smith and Animation Director Marc Chu (November 2012); Skywalker Sound: Creating Sound for Film at California School for the Blind with Will Files and Jon Greber (February 2012); and Inside Motion Capture with ILM Digital Supervisor Michael Sanders (November 2011), among many others.
Serving more than 10,000 students and teachers each year, SFFILM Education works with classrooms throughout the Bay Area-from kindergarten through college-to help students develop media literacy, cultural awareness, global understanding, and a lifelong appreciation of cinema. Through its cutting-edge programs, SFFILM Education aims to cultivate students’ imaginations, prepare them for filmmaking careers, and empower them to succeed in a media-saturated world. In addition to SATF and the Art & Science of Lucasfilm, SFFILM Education year-round programs include Screenings for Schools, Filmmakers in the Classroom, FilmEd., and Young Filmmakers Camp. All SFFILM Education programs receive generous support from Hearst Foundations.
Screenings for Schools:
The Screenings for Schools program is a year-round series of carefully curated films and presentations at theaters, schools and other venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. Films are selected to support the curriculum of a range of grade levels and subject areas, and all programs are interactive experiences with opportunities for students to engage with filmmakers, industry professionals and subject area specialists in post-screening discussions and Q&As. Viewing guides are provided for most films to all participating teachers, providing useful questions, activities and additional resources for integrating each program’s content into the classroom.
Filmmakers in the Classroom:
Filmmakers in the Classroom is a semester-long program that provides on-site professional development for teachers in grades 4-12 who want to integrate media making and viewing into their classroom curriculum. In partnership with a local professional filmmaker and SFFILM Education staff, participating teachers develop customized curricula that give students intensive, hands-on instruction in media literacy, critical thinking and filmmaking. At the start of the semester, the partnering filmmaker and teacher meet for a curriculum development workshop then team-teach a series of classroom sessions over the course of the semester. The program culminates in the production of collaborative short film projects by the students, while the teacher acquires the skills to use media effectively in subsequent classes and to develop their own future media making projects.
FilmEd.:
An interactive platform and Open Educational Resource for teaching media making and viewing in the classroom, FilmEd. is an online community and toolkit for both educators and artists that grew out of a desire to make the SFFILM Education‘s Filmmakers in the Classroom curriculum accessible to educators who are teaching media literacy and media making in K-12 classrooms. Educators can connect and can access and share ideas for promoting media literacy and teaching media making in the classroom. Toolkit portals on the website include Teaching Tools, which provides a comprehensive framework for educators interested in implementing a media literacy curriculum and/or experimenting with filmmaking projects in the classroom; the Lesson Library, which is an interactive database, where educators can share their best media literacy and media arts curricula; and the Video Channel, an exhibition space for media projects created by young makers.
Young Filmmakers Camp:
An intensive film program, Young Filmmakers Camp is an opportunity for teens ages 14-18 to learn from first-class film professionals in a fun, interactive and collaborative environment. Aspiring filmmakers can enroll in either the 2-week Starter Lab, the 2-week Advanced Lab—or both for a full four weeks-of total film immersion.
For general information visit sffilm.org/education
To request interviews or screeners, contact your Festival Press Office contact.
For photos and press materials visit sffilm.org/press
60th 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 60th edition runs April 5-19 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.