San Francisco International Film Festival 2006 (20/4 - 4/5)

[hengcs]

The official website
http://fest06.sffs.org/
;)

I have watched a number of the films.
e.g., the opening film

I think my review is somewhere in this board too
hiaks hiaks

So, if any of you are watching,
maybe there can be a chat

hee hee

[oscar jubis]

Click on Festival Coverage and you'll access Chris Knipp's detailed reviews. Enjoy the fest!

[hengcs]

hey thnks

but believe me ...
i took a few min before i finally found where the link is ...

maybe the administrator can move it to somewhere more conspicuous ... (at least for these 2 weeks)
;)

rgds

PS: By the way, it seems like the rest of us (i.e., normal members) CANNOT add or post to that folder ... too bad ...

So, if you are keen on any of the following ... I can say sth abt them ...

- Adam’s Apples (Denmark)
- All About Love (HK)
- The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros (Philippines)
- The Giant Buddhas (Switzerland)
- Look Both Ways (Australia)
- Perhaps Love (HK)
- Three Times (Taiwan)
- The Wayward Cloud (Taiwan)
- The Wild Blue Yonder (Germany)
- Workingman’s Death (Australia)
- You Are My Sunshine (Korea)

rgds
hengcs

[oscar jubis]

We can discuss the films from the SFIFF here, if you'd like. I would certainly appreciate any comments/opinions you have about the films you watch.

Highly recommended:
PLAY (Chile) Reviews on MIFF thread and SFIFF thread
THE SUN (Russia) Sokurov. Review on NYFF thread
THREE TIMES (China) Hou
NEWS FROM AFAR (Mexico) Review on MIFF thread
REGULAR LOVERS (France) Garrel. Review on NYFF thread
HOUSE OF SAND (Brasil)

Recommended:
IN BED (Chile) Review coming to MIFF thread
LOWER CITY (Brasil) Review on MIFF thread
OBADA (Spain) Armendariz
THE GRONHOLM METHOD (Spain) Review on MIFF thread

Recommended (based on Chris Knipp's reviews):
THE PETIT LIEUTENANT Review on French Rendezvous thread
BROTHERS IN THE HEAD Review on SFIFF thread

Please Avoid
VIVA CUBA (Cuba) review on MIFF thread
SOLO DIOS SABE (Mexico)

*We've seen and discussed Tsai's film on its thread last year. Perhaps his worst and still quite interesting, in my opinion.
*I will watch THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS at the local Gay & Lesbian Festival next week and promise to post about it.

[Chris Knipp]

Oscar:

Obviously if you've read my San Francisco festival thread you know I would strongly second your recommendations of Scherson's Play and Benet's News from Afar, which have been my big discoveries so far. I loved both of them and have already seen Play twice!

Small corrections: it's "Le Petit Lieutenant" and "Brothers of the Head." The first would appeal to everybody, pretty much. The second to fans of rock docs who like something kind of weird.

From what I saw at the NYFF besides Regular Lovers and Three Times and The Sun, I would also recommend the austere, elegant, highly emotional Gabrielle from that eminent stager of operas in Europe, Patrice Chéreau... My favorite of all these would have to be The Sun. By far, actually. Though Regular Lovers kind of grows on you later, even if you might not want to sit through the whole three hours of it again, any time soon.

House of Sand and Lower City definitely sound worth seeing, but I can only see so many, due to my schedule. The documentaries Favela Rising and The Dignity of the Nobodies are very good. I was not so taken by Obada and think the mainstream US audience would find its lengthy flashbacks strange and static, but certainly The Gronholm Method is very good entertainment. One reason why it may not get US distribution is that it is very conventional, but in Spanish, and it is mostly dialogue--too many subtitles even for arthouse audiences, without that extra arthouse flair. But you're right that it is absorbing, and the actors first rate.

I have followed your warning and stayed away from Solo Dios Sabe and Viva Cuba with absolutely no regrets, even though I could have seen them in press screenings, which tend to be less hassle than the public ones at night.....Some people have been highly critical of En la Cama/In bed, and I stayed away from that, despite your recommendation.Michael Guillen, an online journalist covering the SFIFF like myself, discussed En la cama with me and has an interesting discussion of it and its critical reception plus his own response, and the vagaries of festival films, on his site The Evening Class (http://theeveningclass.blogspot.com/2006/04/2006-sfiffin-bed-en-la-cama.html). I didn't see it, so can't personally comment. Maybe some day I will, on DVD.

Your advice on Spanish-language flicks at the SFIFF has been extremely helpful, even if I haven't been able to follow it to the letter. I wish I could have had such detailed, knowledgeable advice on the Asian selections but I've had to fend more for my self in that area apart from following up on Peter's recommendation of Wakamatsu, whose Cycling Chronicles: What the Boy Saw I saw. But I can't cover them all anyway.


Hengcs:

Didn't think much of the slick, conventional All About Love. Will be seeing Wild Blue Yonder.

Couldn't get to Perhaps Love (press pass no good for special events) but reviews say it tries to do everything and succeeds at nothing, but some good words came in for my idol, the splendid (looking) Takeshi Kaneshiro, as being the one who succeeded in getting some emotion across.

Can't agree with those who think The Wayward Cloud a work of genius (I did watch it). That is one that can be debated endlessly, I guess and maybe it will be when more people see it. As for Three Times, I find Hou an uneven performer (blasphemy, I know) but the first "time" is perfection, and deeply touching.

[cinemabon]

I was intrigued by "The Sun" premiering tomorrow night at the festival and delighted in discovering your review Chris which you posted on IMDB last November.

That led to an exploration of Sokurov...

How I envy you...

Great posts

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks!

[oscar jubis]

*Count me among those interested in Brothers of the Head. I'm glad it's getting a mid-summer release. (IFC Films)

*It's Regular Lovers I'm worried about, as far as getting a chance to watch it properly in a theatre. Recent Garrels have come out on dvd in France with English subs. Maybe the local Alliance Francaise will show it. That'd be nice.

*So you got to Play twice. Good for you. It was second to Los Muertos (which you also liked and lamentably will probably never watch again) on my 2005 Undistributed list. Maybe News from Afar will eventually get a release here. After all, the 2004 Mexican film Duck Season finally got a US release in '06.

*All of Sokurov's recent films have gotten a US release so I expect to watch The Sun in theatres. Even his 5-hour doc Spiritual Voices is available on dvd in the good ol'.

*Guillen provides festival history and review of critical response for In Bed, besides providing his own opinions. Only Dargis and Slate's Ed Gonzalez are negative about it, and the latter is IMO not a good critic because he is seemingly unaware of his own prejudices.
What Guillen fails to mention concerns In Bed's highest recognition to date. Namely, being picked by a jury lead by Andre Techine as Best Film at Valladolid. The competition was strong: Deepa Mehta's Water, Trier's Manderlay, Haneke's Cache, Audience Fave and Miami winner Life in Color, Francois Ozon's Le Temps Qui Reste (apparently a return-to-form after the less than memorable 5x2), and a dozen others.

*The Wayward Cloud is not a work of genius in my opinion. There are folks who seem to overlook flaws just because it's Ming Liang and he IS a great filmmaker.

[Chris Knipp]

You're right, it would be better to see Regular Lovers on a big screen, and it is doubtful whether you will be able to, aside from a festival. I would think the dour-ness of The Sun might make distributors reluctant to pick it up, and Father and Son seemed to get only very limited showings here. However, it might work better on your home screen, being rather claustrophobic in conception.

I just reviewed two new-to-us documentaries (one was released on National Geographic in 2005 US and German TV; Beyond the Call, also short at 82 minutes, seems really new)--neither on IMDb, so I've tried to add them on there. Complicated to add titles.

I haven't read Dargis on In Bed. Anyway it is meaningless since I haven't seen it. Guillen said it was soft-core didn't he? The thing that's great about Before Sunrise and Before Sunset is that there isn't any sex at all. It doesn't sound like something a lot of people would like, but more would like it than Wayward Cloud if the filmbuffs weren't so crazy about Tsai Ming-liang. That movie is completely nutty. The "musical" sequences are a hoot. The word "genius" is being used. Whatever....

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Couldn't get to Perhaps Love (press pass no good for special events) but reviews say it tries to do everything and succeeds at nothing, but some good words came in for my idol, the splendid (looking) Takeshi Kaneshiro, as being the one who succeeded in getting some emotion across.

I wouldn't be so dismissive of Perhaps Love, being Peter Chan's return to the director's chair. I liked The Love Letter and I vividly remember the excellent Comrades: Almost a Love Story, one of the best romances of the 1990s. The new film is lenses by Peter Pau and Chris Doyle, a musical-within-a-musical, winner of 6 Hong Kong Film Awards, starring Xun Zhou (who was breathtaking in Suzhou River and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress). Every review I found online has something good to say about several aspects of production. No one is calling it a masterpiece. That didn't stop me from importing the dvd in case it never plays at a theatre near me. Can't wait to watch it myself.

Can't agree with those who think The Wayward Cloud a work of genius (I did watch it). That is one that can be debated endlessly, I guess and maybe it will be when more people see it.

I wrote somewhere that it's my LEAST favorite film by TML and I wrote that some "overlook flaws just because it's Tsai Ming Liang". I have to add that perhaps it's understandable. It's hard to separate this film from the rest of the auteur's filmography because The Wayward Cloud is simply the last chapter in the story of Hsiao Kang, the director's "Antoine Doinel", so to speak. Those character associations from the earlier films in the series are brought into the viewing experience by those who've seen them (many times in some instances). Their appreciation of the new film is enriched by the character associations they bring from the preceding films.

[Chris Knipp]

Recent local reviews have suggested that Perhaps Love tries to do everything and succeeds at nothing, but obviously for musical fans it has much to offer in the way of romantic plot, star-studded cast, and high production values Moreover I would probably watch anything with the gorgeous (formerly just ultra-cute) Takeshi Kaneshiro in it and another local wrote that his performance is the one that has the most emotion in it, surprising for him. I wanted to go to the opening event (which this is) at the SFIFF and the closing one (Altman's Prairie Home Companion) but you have to be invited to these as press, you are not given passes, I didn't try to get invited, and they're both officially sold out. I can't say I enjoy mob scene, which the Werner Herzog special event was, but the people I went with were big fans of Herzog, and it lived up to expectations, both the man and his new movie. I suppose Kang is Tsai's Jean-Pierre Léaud, but would hope the relationship were more ironic in the former case, and wouldn't want to think Tsai wound up as a small-time porn actor. Whether that is a step up from selling watches on the street I don't know...

[Chris Knipp]

P.s. Remember as I stated at the beginning of my SFIFF reviews, my goal is to see (and of course recommend) the best new films not simply all the ones something good can be said about.

[oscar jubis]

I hear you brotha. Your mission is clear and I'd say: mission accomplished, as far as highlighting the best films. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to see Play and News from Afar become available in the US beyond the festival circuit. I'm convinced The Wayward Cloud is inferior to those, and Perhaps Love highly unlikely to reach those heights (even though I have not seen it).

My post intended to find an explanation behind the very positive opinions of The Wayward Cloud expressed by members here last year on that film's thread. Opinions that reflect those of many of Tsai Ming Liang's admirers. The character Hsiao Kang's porn acting is probably a step up from street vendor from a financial standpoint and a step down from a spiritual one. My interpretation of the film is that Hsiao Kang (played by Lee Kang-Sheng) wants to reciprocate Shiang-chyi's romantic/sexual advances but sex and affection have become something mechanical and meaningless to him. He's a tragic figure and a damaged spirit.

I think our recent posts provide a more balanced view of Chan's Perhaps Love than "succeeds at nothing". That is, based on the reviews I've read and my positive opinion about Chan's previous films, not based on my own viewing of the film.

[Chris Knipp]

Perhaps Love was the opening night special. That explains it.

Kang as a tragic figufre is a bit far-fetched.

Saw Gabrielle tonight, for the second time: cinematic grandeur.

[hengcs]

hey
sorry that i have been VERY busy ...
i will try to post some things soon ...
;)

[hengcs]

SKYY Prize
Taking Father Home (China)
Half Nelson (US)

FIPRESCI jury
Half Nelson

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
Look Both Ways (Australia)

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
Encounter Point (USA)

Golden Gate Awards
Shooting Under Fire

Golden Gate Awards - Best Documentary Feature
Workingman’s Death

Best Bay Area Documentary Feature
The Life and Death of Peoples Temple

Best Documentary Short
lot 63, grave c

Best Bay Area Documentary Short
Phoenix Dance

New Visions
site specific_Las Vegas 05

Best Narrative Short
Love at 4 PM

Best Bay Area Non-Documentary Short
Lost & Found

Best Animated Short
At the Quinte Hotel

Golden Gate Award - Youth Works category
Slip of the Tongue

Best Work for Kids and Families
Sirah was named

;)

[Chris Knipp]

Taking Father Home got the Skyy Prize (not Helf Nelson, a nominee). Play, News from Afar, Brothers of the Head, and Illumination were other worthier nominees.

Half Nelson got the Fibresci Prize.

These two were not the awards I'd have given out. I was pretty shocked. Shooting Under Fire is worthy, if not great. I have not seen any of the others, but there seemed to be a lot of interest in Workingman's Death. I avoided Look Both Ways. It sounded like corny melodrama to me. But audiences like that kind of thing sometimes. These awards were not the festival's finest hour.

[hengcs]

I have watched both
- Workingman's Death (and written a review on it)
- Look Both Ways (will soon write)

rgds

[Chris Knipp]

Where are your reviews?

Workingman's Death is showing in San Francisco now (Roxie, 16th St.), wonder if I should go.

[hengcs]

please delete

[hengcs]

Well, I usually prefer to go with NO expectations
(so I wont be disappointed ... hee hee)
Otherwise, this review may let you set your expectations too high ...

I think it is good for a documentary and for its effort/message ...

Director: Michael Glawogger

The official website
see
http://www.workingmansdeath.com/

The documentary depicts the work of various manual labor around the world, and is told in 6 segments
Chapter 1: HEROES
Chapter 2: GHOSTS
Chapter 3: LIONS
Chapter 4: BROTHERS
Chapter 5: THE FUTURE
Chapter 6: EPILOGUE

Each segment will bring you to a different country and labor
1 - Ukraine, coal mines
2 - Indonesia, sulphur mining
3 - Nigeria, slaughter yard
4 - Pakistan, shipbreaking
5 - China, steel complex
6 - Germany, leisure park

For more info
http://www.workingmansdeath.com/chapter_en.html

As I did not read much about the film prior to watching, I thought the film was technically "unexpected", but good ... merely looking at the title, I thought it is going to be rather "dramatic" and "eventful" ... bombarding us with scenes of horrible images ... say, for example, mines exploding, people very sick and dying, etc ...

Without these manipulative tactics, the film actually achieves a higher level of technicality ... making the audience feel ... by ... depicting a very realistic portrayal of how life has to go on despite the harsh conditions ... as there is always hope amidst resignation ... and there is always danger amidst calm ... and there is always bond (be it love or friendship) amidst poverty ... and there is always "entertainment" amidst work ...

As such, the film succeeds in making the audience feel the gravity of the situation, the grimness and the suffering, and yet will occasionally smile at the interviews/dialogues, etc ...

The film also has interesting lines and food for thought ...

In terms of cinematography, I personally like the scenes at Ukraine (wow ... the winter), Indonesia, China (wow ... the calligraphy) and Germany (the lighting) ...

I do not have much qualms over the film except that
... NOT all audience can stomach the scenes at Nigeria ... with all the slaughtering and blood ... and for quite an extensive segment
... also, the China and Germany segments are kind of too terse ...

unfortunately, the "leisure park" scenes are for the epilogue ... so it is kind of brief ...

it basically features the "beauty" of its night lightings, with many young couples visiting it ... kissing, etc ... * smile *

while others may have a different interpretation for this ending scene, i would like to say my take away of the scene is probably ...
-- that there is still "life" after its supposed "end" (the steel industry) ... paralleling the fact that life goes on ... or there is always a new lease of life ...
-- and that there is "beauty" in everything we do (or work) ... these and many other workers help bring "beauty" to the world ...


Conclusion:
Highly Recommended.
But do go with the expectation of a documentary, not a drama ...
Also, the scenes at Nigeria with all the slaughtering may be too much for some audience ...

[Chris Knipp]

Okay, now how about "Look Both Ways"?

[oscar jubis]

Look Both Ways deserves its own thread. If no one posts about it, I may just write a short review to get the ball rolling. When I have time, that is.

[Chris Knipp]

I just wanted to hold hengcs to his promise on this thread
I have watched both
- Workingman's Death (and written a review on it)
- Look Both Ways (will soon write) This would be a logical place to discuss it due to its getting the audience prize at the SFIFF. I don't know how much you can get a ball rolling since it seems unlikely anybody but you and hengcs has seen it. May be coming to the Bay Area late due to that prize (I've seen a tralier in Berkeley); vanished from other US venues after its April 2006 limited US opening, it seems.

[hengcs]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Okay, now how about "Look Both Ways"?

Director: Sarah Watt
Cast: Justine Clarke, William McInnes, Anthony Hayes, Daniela Farinacci


The official site
see
http://www.lookbothways.com.au/


Synopsis
The story is set in Adelaide (Australia) over a weekend, with several people's life crossing one another ...
e.g., the relationship between Meryl and Nick (the former has returned from her father's death, the latter is pre-empting death)
e.g., the career/relationship of Nick and Andy (partners in news reporting)
etc


My thoughts ...

- Given that the director is an animator, I have to agree that her use of art/animation amidst the film is rather well done and interesting ... however, some people may feel that the animation is kind of morbid and dark (with the female protagonist visualizing all the horrible accidents that could probably happen and death) ... to them, these animations may kind of "spoil" the reality of a film depicting life/drama ...

- Also remarkable is her dealing with the subject matter. Despite its morbid theme revolving around death, it is actually about living ... Quite a difficult topic to deal with, yet the film is peppered with both humor and tears, laughter and sadness, surprises and "predictability" ... you guess the ending, dont you?! hee hee ...

- To me and probably some people, it may be a very well written script (with a number of food for thoughts). However, to other people, it may be slightly contrived/manipulative in the sense that there are too many coincidences (with the people somehow related and crossing one another's path within such a short time frame) ... Whatever the case is, I think one should be more forgiving ... after all, given a 2 hour film, with so many characters, and so many events happening, some things simply have to compromise ...

- Finally, I like the soundtrack too.


Conclusion
Recommended.
;)

[oscar jubis]

Did anyone review THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS here at FilmLeaf?

[Chris Knipp]

It would seem not. I did see it, in a NYC (Village) theater.

[cinemabon]

Since I follow your (Oscar and Chris) lead like a pupil to Guru, I went to IMDB for a review and discovered something strange. Half the review came up as gibberish. Is this censorship? I recently changed over to Explorer 7. Have they deliberately censored certain words? I find this incredible! Perhaps IMDB is censoring reviews. Whatever the case, I am interested in your thoughts on this film, as usual. Keep us posted.

[cinemabon]

I did find the review at amazon. From what I could gather, this is a coming-of-age film in how it relates to a young gay man, his thieving family, and a police officer? Some reviewers complained of the hand held camera. It does state the film was shot digitally and premiered last year at the Sundance Film Festival. I'd still like to read your review, Chris, if you can post a link.

[Chris Knipp]

Apparently you are referring to the IMDb User Comment by "lvp_2087 from Philippines"? That is half in gibberish, but not any of the others.

It's a nice little film. It seemed to me more valuable for the way it shows an openly gay young man well integrated into his family rather than for the qualities of the filmmaking, which were a bit rough. I can't link you to my review because I didn't write one.

[Chris Knipp]

Apparently you are referring to the IMDb User Comment by "lvp_2087 from Philippines" of The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros? That is half in gibberish, but not any of the others.

It's a nice little film. It seemed to me more valuable for the way it shows an openly gay young man well integrated into his family rather than for the qualities of the filmmaking, which were a bit rough. I can't link you to my review because I didn't write one.

Dennis Lim wrote a nice short review for The Village Voice (September 2006; but Moximo Oliveros is 2005):
This year's Cavite undertakes a hectic tour of the dire squatter camps and garbage mountains on the outskirts of Manila; now comes a somewhat more buoyant portrait of Filipino slum life, further evidence of a mini renaissance in the country's long dormant cinema. Twelve-year-old Maximo (Nathan Lopez) is an incongruous vision of lipsticked, hip-swiveling fabulousness. Treating shantytown back alleys as pageant catwalks, the kid is pure flaming flamboyance: a boldly conspicuous outsider in the gritty 'hood. Maxi plays doting mother hen to his family of petty-crook tough guys; his father and brothers, in turn, are not only tolerant but touchingly protective. All is improbably well, until the youngster's undisguised attraction to a hunky cop (JR Valentin) sparks tensions at home. The slide into crime melodrama isn't as persuasive as the film's realist textures, or for that matter its clear-eyed depiction of coming-of-age emotions. In much the same fashion as Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin, Auraeus Solito's feature debut confronts the taboo of pre-teen sexuality with a startling mix of openness and sensitivity. No less than precocious Maxi, the film is alarming, endearing, and utterly unflappable.

[oscar jubis]

Good review by Lim. What brings the film down a notch for me is what Lim calls the less than persuasive "slide into crime melodrama". Solito is apparently a serious film buff. Or, was the fact that the excellent ending scene seems lifted from The Third Man pure coincidence? Film is now available on dvd but the transfer is very poor in quality and only extra is two trailers for other films (shame on you TLA Releasing).

[Chris Knipp]

Waht took it down a peg for me was simply that it all seemed a bit rough and amateurish, though better things may come with better budgets, and I did like the basic theme.

[Chris Knipp]

My 49th SFIFF 2006 Festival Coverage Thread reviews on Filmleaf now have an updated link index. The original thread where all these reviews (except Travis Kirby's) are begins here. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14916#post14916) Two films I watched with Travis, Ying Liang's Taking Father Home and Pascale Breton's Illumiination, were reviewed by him. I have added links to my reviews on other threads of Le Petit Lieutenant, Gabrielle, The Sun, and Regular Lovers, outstanding films of SFIFF 2006 that I had seen and reviewed in NYC earlier at the 2005 NYFF and the 2006 Rende-Vous with French Cinema. These four are all happily on US DVD's and highly recommended.

But too of the most memorable of the SFIFF 2006 films from Latin America, Alicia Scherson's Play (Chile) and Ricardo Benet's News from Afar/Noticias lejanas (Mexico), are not available on DVD.

Brothers of the Head is on Netflix on DVD and Instant Play. I find that Fernando E. Solanas' Dignity of the Nobodies is on YouTube, the entire film in one video in Spanish without subtitles. Of course Factotum, Iraq in Fragments, and Half Nelson, which got US distribution and more or less publicity, are on DVD, also Carlos Saura's Iberia is because his musical/dance series is well known, ditto Tsai Ming-liang's Waward Cloud; Romance and Cigarettes is on DVD too. But I don't know how many of the other titles are available in the US on DVD.

Here is the index (it's also at the beginning of the original thread (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006)):

SFIFF 2006: LINKED INDEX TO REVIEWS
All About Love (Daniel Yu 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14967#post14967)
Betrayal, The (Philippe Faucon 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=15061#post15061)
Beyond the Call (Adrian Belic 2006) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14990#post14990)
Brothers of the Head (Keith Fulton, Lous Pepe 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14919#post14919)
Cycling Chronicles: Landscapes the Boy Saw (Koji Wakamatsu 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14967#post14967)
Dignitiy of the Nobodies (Fernando E. Solanas 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14930#post14930)
Factotum (Bent Hamer 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14921#post14921)
Favela Rising (Jeff Zimbalist, Matt Mochary 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14920#post14920)
Gabrielle (Patrice Chéreau 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/articles/features/nyff05/gabrielle.htm)
Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck 2006) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14921#post14921)
Iberia (Carlos Saura 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14926#post14926)
Illumination (Pascale Breton 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1742-Sfiff-Reviews-By-Travis-Kirby)
Iraq in Fragments (John Longley 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14948#post14948)
Life I Want, The (Giuseppe Piccioni 2004) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14918#post14918)
News from Afar (Ricardo Benet 2004) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14958#post14958)
Northeast (Juan Diego Solanas 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14996#post14996)
One Long Winter Without Fire (Greg Zglinski 2004) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14923#post14923)
Perfect Couple, A (Nobuhiro Suwa 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14929#post14929)
Petit Lieutenant, Le (Xavier Beauvois 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1693-Rendez-vous-With-French-Cinema-06)
Play (Alicia Scherson 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14917#post14917)
Regular Lovers (Philippe Garrel 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/articles/features/nyff05/regularlovers.htm)
Romance and Cigarettes (John Turturro 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14924#post14924)
Sa-Kwa (Kang Yi-Kwan 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14967#post14967)
See You in Space (Ég veled! József Pacskovszky 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=15109#post15109)
Shooting Under Fire (Sacha Mirzoeff, Bettina Borgfeld 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14990#post14990)
Sun, The (Alexandr Sokurov 2004) (http://www.filmleaf.net/articles/features/nyff05/thesun.htm)
Taking Father Home (Ming Liang 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1742-Sfiff-Reviews-By-Travis-Kirby)
Underground Game (Roberto Gervitz 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=15050#post15050)
Wayward Cloud (Tsai Ming-liang 2005) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1711-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2006&p=14927#post14927)