Mar 14, 2018
Festival
San Francisco, CA — SFFILM announced today that celebrated filmmaker Wayne Wang will be honored during the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival with a special tribute, followed by a screening of his 1995 film Smoke, newly remastered and recolored. The intimate onstage conversation and Q&A with the versatile Wayne Wang, and the screening of Smoke, will take place Saturday, April 7, at 7:30 pm at Dolby Cinema at 1275 Market Street.
“Wayne Wang has consistently been among the most interesting and engaging filmmakers at work in the American independent and Hollywood scenes,” said SFFILM Executive Director Noah Cowan. “A pioneer and giant in telling Asian-American stories but with a career that sprawls from Hong Kong to Florida and back again, he continues to inspire us as he rethinks and reinterprets his work for the digital age. We are delighted that he has held back the new version of his masterpiece Smoke for our Festival.”
Wayne Wang has always followed his own path in a career that’s jumped between genres and countries, working at both independent-budget and Hollywood scale. One of the most important Asian-American directors living today, Wang was born in Hong Kong and named after his father’s favorite movie star, John Wayne. He moved to California in the late ’60s and studied film and television at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. Wang’s first feature film, Chan Is Missing (1982) was financed through grants and set in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Wang is often identified with films about the Chinese diaspora including, Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985), Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989), and The Joy Luck Club (1993) but has also made such studio features as Maid in Manhattan (2002) with Jennifer Lopez and Last Holiday (2006) with Queen Latifah, and independent features such as Blue in the Face (Festival 1994) and Center of the World (Festival 2001). His most recent feature, While the Women Are Sleeping, was loosely based on Javier Marias’s short story and shot in Japan. He is currently engaged with remastering, recoloring, and re-editing part of his oeuvre, which only reconfirms what we already knew: Wayne Wang is a craftsman and auteur for the ages.
About Smoke: Collaborating with novelist Paul Auster, director Wayne Wang weaves a multi-character story, revolving around a Brooklyn cigar store where seemingly unrelated incidents, chance meetings, and a paper bag containing $5,000 end up affecting the lives of several people, even linking their destinies. While shop manager Auggie (Harvey Keitel) takes a photo in front of his entrance at the same time every day, the drama unfolds like a puzzle and the pieces come together in intriguing, enigmatic, and often quite poignant ways. The cast also includes William Hurt, Victor Argo, Forest Whitaker, Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing, and Harold Perrineau Jr. The film has been specially remastered and recolored by Wayne Wang. Smoke was awarded the prestigious Silver Bear at the 1995 Berlin Film Festival.
Tickets to A Tribute to Wayne Wang: Smoke are $13 for SFFILM members, $16 for the general public. Box office is open to SFFILM members now online at sffilm.org and opens for the general public Friday, March 16.
Other prominent honorees who will be presented with public tributes and awards at the 2018 SFFILM Festival include Charlize Theron, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, Annette Insdorf, and Nathaniel Dorsky.
For general information visit sffilm.org/festival
To request interviews or screeners, contact your Festival Press Office representative.
For photos and press materials visit sffilm.org/press
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2018 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 61st edition runs April 4-17 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.
SFFILM
SFFILM is a nonprofit organization with a mission to champion the world’s finest films and filmmakers through programs anchored in and inspired by the spirit and values of the San Francisco Bay Area. Presenter of the San Francisco International Film Festival, SFFILM is a year-round organization delivering screenings and events to more than 75,000 film lovers and media education programs to more than 10,000 students and teachers annually. In addition to its public programs, SFFILM supports the careers of independent filmmakers from the Bay Area and beyond with grants, residencies, and other creative development services.
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