Mar 15, 2017
Festival
San Francisco, CA — SFFILM announced today that director, producer, and Academy Award®-winning writer John Ridley will be honored at the 60th San Francisco International Film Festival with a special onstage tribute. An intimate conversation with the prolific storyteller will take place Wednesday, April 12 at 6:00 pm at the Alamo Drafthouse New Mission, followed by a screening of the first episode of his new SHOWTIME® limited series Guerrilla.
“It is a pleasure to be honoring a truly talented storyteller,” said Rachel Rosen, SFFILM Director of Programming. “John Ridley is able to bring his gift for connecting with audiences to all his work, whether as director, screenwriter, show runner, or novelist. His remarkable skill for weaving meaningful entertainment from true events is on full display in Guerilla which, though based in the 1970s, feels very pertinent to our current political times.”
John Ridley won an Oscar® for writing 12 Years a Slave and is the creator, director, and executive producer of the Emmy-winning series “American Crime,” which is currently airing its third season on ABC. His new limited series Guerilla, starring Freida Pinto, Babou Ceesay, and Idris Elba, will premiere on SHOWTIME® April 16. All Is By My Side, an innovative biopic about Jimi Hendrix written and directed by Ridley, was released in the fall of 2014. Ridley’s body of work includes the feature films U-Turn, Three Kings, Undercover Brother, and Red Tails; the hard-hitting novels Those Who Walk In Darkness and A Conversation With the Mann; and his graphic novel The American Way, which will be returning this summer with a six-series sequel. Throughout his career, Ridley has built a reputation for social relevance and a willingness to forgo political correctness in pursuit of honest storytelling.
About Guerrilla:
Created by Academy Award® winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, American Crime), Guerrilla is a love story set against the backdrop of one of the most politically explosive times in UK history. The SHOWTIME® limited series, starring Screen Actors Guild Award® winner Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) and Babou Ceesay (Getting On), tells the story of a couple whose relationship and values are tested when they liberate a political prisoner and form a radical underground cell in 1970s London. Their ultimate target becomes the Black Power Desk, a true-life, secretive counter-intelligence unit within the Special Branch dedicated to crushing all forms of black activism. While the series is set against a background of social and political activism, at its heart Guerrilla is about a relationship under pressure, and the reality that for any couple there comes a point when the choices they make have real and lasting consequences. Golden Globe® winner Idris Elba (Luther, Beasts of No Nation) also stars and serves as an executive producer through his Green Door Pictures. Along with Ridley and Elba, executive producers are Michael J. McDonald for Stearns Castle, Patrick Spence and Katie Swinden for Fifty Fathoms and Tracy Underwood for ABC Signature. Guerrilla is a co-production between Fifty Fathoms and ABC Signature, in association with SKY UK. SFFILM Festival will show part one of the six-part series.
Tickets to A Tribute to John Ridley: Guerrilla are $20 for SFFILM members, $25 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.
John Ridley joins a stunning group of honorees being presented with public tributes at the 60th SFFILM Festival, which includes Shah Rukh Khan, Gordon Gund, Ethan Hawke, and James Ivory.
For general information visit sffilm.org/festival
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.