Mar 15, 2017
Festival
San Francisco, CA — SFFILM announced today that celebrated Bay Area filmmaker, artist, and writer Eleanor Coppola will be the recipient of the George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award at the 60th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 5-19). The award will be presented to Coppola on Monday, April 10, 7:00 pm at SFMOMA’s Phyllis Wattis Theater. An intimate onstage conversation will be followed by a screening of Coppola’s narrative feature debut Paris Can Wait. The George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award, given in tribute to the longstanding Film Society chairman of the board who passed away in 2013, honors a worthy member of the filmmaking community for outstanding and unique contributions to the art of cinema.
“This award goes to members of our community who make us stronger,” said Noah Cowan, Executive Director of SFFILM. “Eleanor Coppola has been an enormously supportive force. She has helped ensure that generations of filmmakers have made the Bay Area their filmmaking home and supported countless artists and film professionals as they embarked on their journeys to make exceptional work. On the occasion of her first narrative feature film as a director, we proudly hail Eleanor for her service to our community and the world of film.”
Eleanor Coppola was assistant art director Eleanor Neil when she met future husband Francis Ford Coppola on the set of his 1963 horror film Dementia 13. In 1991 she made her own directing debut and won an Emmy for Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse. Her other projects have included A Visit to China’s Miao Country (1996), The Making of ‘Marie Antoinette’ (2007), Francis Ford Coppola Directs ‘John Grisham’s The Rainmaker’ (2007), and Coda: Thirty Years Later (2007). Paris Can Wait marks her narrative feature debut as director and screenwriter. Says Coppola, “I’m this housewife who suddenly decided she’s going to write a film and actually direct. It was terrifying, but part of the challenge was cutting through all of your fears and just going for it.”
About Paris Can Wait:
A seemingly innocent offer of a ride from Cannes to Paris evolves into a flirtatious road trip as a playfully rakish bachelor (Arnaud Viard) woos the alternately amused and vexed wife (a luminous Diane Lane) of a friend. Eleanor Coppola’s effervescent film celebrates transitory romance and the glories of France.
George Gund III was an avid film lover and distinguished philanthropist whose unwavering support of SFFILM spanned more than four decades. He led the organization and its annual film festival into a period of unprecedented growth and success, resulting in a robust year-round cultural institution that now reaches more cinema enthusiasts and supports more filmmakers than at any other time in its history. Created in 2011, the George Gund III Award pays homage to Gund for the more than 40 years of service to the organization and will be given periodically to a member of the film community in recognition of their distinguished service to cinema as an art form. Formerly presented at the Film Society Awards Night Gala, this is the first public presentation of the George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award. Previous recipients include Ray Dolby, John Lasseter, Maurice Kanbar, and Peter Coyote.
Tickets to the George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award-Eleanor Coppola: Paris Can Wait are $13 for SFFILM members, $15 for the general public. Box office is open to SFFILM members now online at sffilm.org and opens for the general public Friday, March 17.
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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.