Dec 14, 2011
SFFILM
Summer Pasture (China/USA/Tibet 2010), Lynn True, Nelson Walker and Tsering Perlo’s remarkably intimate documentary about the uncertain future of Tibetan nomads, plays January 16-17 at SF Film Society Cinema (1746 Post Street).
Focusing on a young nomadic couple living with their infant daughter in the high grasslands of eastern Tibet, Summer Pasture is remarkable as much for what it doesn’t show as for what it does. Eschewing the trap of fawning, false nostalgia so often found in such ethnographic approaches, the film investigates the unvarnished particularities-social, cultural-of a family attempting to navigate self-subsistent living in a changing economic situation. And still, the film captures the intense beauty of an area renowned for its natural wonder. For every choice that may seem familiar to a western audience, there remains a difference that the film treats with respect. Filmed during the summer of 2007 with rare access to an area seldom visited by outsiders, Summer Pasture offers an unprecedented window into a highly insular community and a sensitive portrait of a family at a time of great transition. Photographed by Nelson Walker. In Tibetan with subtitles. 85 mins. Distributed by Cinemad Presents and Baxter Brothers.
Showtimes 2:30, 4:30, 6:30, 8:30 pm
Tickets $9 for SFFS members, $11 general, $10 senior/student/disabled. Box office open online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema.
To request screeners contact bproctor@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
At SF Film Society Cinema, the stylish state-of-the art theater located in the New People building at 1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan) in Japantown, the San Francisco Film Society offers its acclaimed exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs and events on a daily year-round basis. For complete up-to-date information on all SFFS Cinema programming, including buying tickets, visit sffs.org.
Upcoming San Francisco Film Society programs
December 12, 14: The Catechism Cataclysm In Todd Rohal’s genre busting, hilarious and wonderfully confusing nest of twists and surreal gags, a heavy metal-loving priest takes a canoe trip to consider whether the church is his true calling, when he begins to realize he is lost.
December 16, 18-22: The Bride Wore Black New 35mm print. One of the most entertaining films of the French New Wave has Jeanne Moreau playing the femme fatale to the hilt in François Truffaut’s closest homage to his idol Hitchcock.
December 17: Holiday Movie Poster Sale A once-in-a-blue-moon sale with hundreds of posters from the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Film Society’s weekly screenings and contemporary commercial cinema.
Opening December 23: Silent Souls The myths and traditions of a vanishing culture are beautifully woven into Aleksei Fedorchenko’s lyrical, sensual and dreamlike film about love and loss.
December 23 (late show): Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale It’s the eve of Christmas in northern Finland, and an archeological dig has just unearthed the real Santa Claus. But this particular Santa isn’t the one you want coming to town! DVDs and poster giveaways for lucky winners-great last-minute stocking stuffers!
January 3-5: Paul Goodman Changed My Life Jonathan Lee’s documentary chronicling the life and work of multidisciplinary thinker Paul Goodman.
Opening January 6: King of Devil’s Island Marius Holst’s true-story drama about a historic uprising at a Norwegian boys’ reform school.
January 13, 15: The Best of Annecy A dynamic and entertaining array of shorts from one of the most important animation festivals in the world.