San Francisco International Film Festival 2012 (year 55)

[Chris Knipp]

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LINKS TO REVIEWS:
(Including films seen at NYFF 2011, R-V [Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2012], ND/NF [New Directors/New Films 2012]; FCS [Film Comment Selects]; and in Paris 2011.)

17 Girls (Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin 2011)--R-V (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3239-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-at-Lincoln-Center-2012&p=27448#post27448)
Alps (Yorgos Lanthimos 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27786#post27786)
Back to Stay (Milagros Mumenthaler 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27706#post27706)
Bernie (Richard Linklater 2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27683#post27683)
Bonsái (Cristian Jiménez 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27689#post27689)
Chicken with Plums (Parannaud, Satrapi 2011)--PARIS (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1942)
Choked (Kim Joong-hyun 2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27676#post27676)
Crulic -- The Path to Beyond (Anca Damian 2011)--ND/NF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27521#post27521)
Day He Arrives, The (Hong Sang-soo 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27716#post27716)
Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey (Ramona S. Diaz 2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27739#post27739)
Dreileben (Petzold, Graf, Hochhäuser 2011)--NYFF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3121-Nyff-2011&p=26814#post26814)
Farewell, My Queen (Benoît Jacquot 2011)--R-V (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3239-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-at-Lincoln-Center-2012&p=27445#post27445)
Found Memories (Júlia Murat 2011)--ND/NF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27545#post27545)
Giants, The (Bouli Lanners 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27712#post27712)
Gimme the Loot (Adam Leon 2012)--ND/NF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27513#post27513)
Goodbye (Mohammad Rassoulof 2011)--ND/NF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27505#post27505)
Guilty (Vincent Garenq 2011)--R-V (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3239-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-at-Lincoln-Center-2012&p=27612#post27612)
How to Survive a Plague (David France 2011)--ND/NF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27539#post27539)
Hysteria (Tanya Wexler 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27721#post27721)
I Wish (Hirakasu Koreeda 2011)--FCS (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27454#post27454)
Informant (Jamie Melzer 2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27779#post27779)
Intouchables, The (Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27726#post27726)
Land of Oblivion (Michale Boganim 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27771#post27771)
Last Screening (Laurant Achard 2011)--R-V (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3239-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-at-Lincoln-Center-2012&p=27439#post27439)
Last Winter (John Shank 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27709#post27709)
Law in These Parts, The (Ra'anan Alexandrowicz 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27732#post27732)
Lonieliest Planet (Julia Loktev 2011)--NYFF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3137-New-York-Film-Festival-2011&p=26794#post26794)
Neighboring Sounds (Kleber Mendonça Filho 2012)--ND/NF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27538#post27538)
Okay, Enough, Goodbye (Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27729#post27729)
Oslo, August 31 (Joachim Trier 2011)--ND/NF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27556#post27556)
Oversimplification of Her Beauty, An (Terence Nance 2012)--ND/NF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27506#post27506)
Policeman (Nadav Lapid 2011)--NYFF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3137-New-York-Film-Festival-2011&p=26882&posted=1#post26882)
Polisse (Maïwenn 2011)--PARIS (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3165-Paris-movie-report-%28oct-2011%29&p=26921#post26921)
Rebellion (Mathieu Kassovitz 2011)--FCS (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27477#post27477)
Secret World, A (Gabriel Mariño 2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27731#post27731)
Sleeping Sickness (Ulrich Köhler 2011)--NYFF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3137-New-York-Film-Festival-2011&p=26848#post26848)
Smugglers' Songs (Rabah Ameur-Amèche 2011)--R-V (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3239-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-at-Lincoln-Center-2012&p=27383#post27383)
Snows of Kilimanjaro (Robert Guédiguidigian 2011)--R-V (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3239-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-at-Lincoln-Center-2012&p=27399#post27399)
Step Up to the Plate (Paul Lacoste 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27671#post27671)
Summer Games (Rolando Colla 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27748#post27748)
Terraferma (Emanuele Crialese 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27746#post27746)
Twixt (Francis Ford Coppola 2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3273-PARIS-MOVIE-REPORT-%28May-2012%29&p=27848#post27848)
Waiting Room, The (Peter Nicks 2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27698#post27698)
Where Do We Go Now? (Nadine Labaki 2011)--ND/NF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27500#post27500)



The 55th annual San Francisco International Film Festival is coming. It runs April 19 to May 3, 2012. This year's festival website is now (Mar. 27) up and running. You'll find it here. (http://festival.sffs.org/) They have a "slide show" of "competition" films. I've seen some of them just recently, such as 17 Girls, Found Memories, Neighboring Sounds, and Policeman. Highlighted in blue. You will find reviews of them on Filmleaf.

F I L M S... I N... C O M P E T I T I O N

Official Selections 2012 New Directors Prize (Narrative Feature) Competition

Back to Stay, Milagros Mumenthaler, Argentina 2011, U.S. Premiere (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27706#post27706)
Buenos Aires at the end of summer. Marina, Sofia and Violeta are alone in the family home after their grandmother, who had brought them up, has died. This strange situation will affect their interactions with one another and with the world.

Choked, Jong-hyn Kim, South Korea 2011 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27676#post27676)
In a recession-battered Seoul, a young man in the dodgy relocation business must deal with loan sharks and aggrieved parties owed large sums by his vanished entrepreneur mother. Director Kim Joong-hyun gradually turns up the heat and watches his characters boil in this intelligent and nuanced feature debut.

Found Memories, Júlia Murat, Brazil 2011 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27545#post27545)
A young photographer drifts into the tiny Brazilian village of Jotuomba, charming the elders with her camera and learning the fine art of baking bread in this disarming meditation on memory, aging and letting go of the past.

Land of Oblivion, Michale Boganim, France/Ukraine 2011 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27771#post27771)
This compelling debut feature tallies up the fragile human cost of one of the first truly global disasters, the cataclysm at the nuclear power facility at Chernobyl. Ukrainian Bond girl Olga Kurylenko plays emotionally damaged Anya, one of many unanchored survivors whose memories and ambitions are impacted by the strangely magnetic pull of a desolate hometown.

Last Winter, John Shank, Belgium 2011 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27709#post27709)
A young farmer in central France tries to sustain his spiritual connection to the land amid the crushing pressures of modern agriculture in this elegiac drama. Vincent Rottiers is the taciturn Johann, who goes it alone in the landscape he loves, a terrain captured in shimmering cinematography.

Mosquita y Mari, Aurora Guerrero, USA 2011
Set in Huntington Park, near downtown Los Angeles, this earnest and beguiling coming-of-age tale follows two Chicana teens in the midst of the delicate dance of self-discovery and sexual awakening as they explore a new friendship and young love.

Neighboring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil 2012 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27538#post27538)
This magnificently sculpted story about life on an upscale street in the bustling city of Recife encompasses an entire city block’s worth of characters, incidents and encounters. The totality becomes symphonic in its structure and power.

OK, Enough, Goodbye., Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia, Lebanon 2010 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27729#post27729)
A forty-something Lebanese pastry shop owner who looks like an escapee from a film by Judd Apatow and still lives with his mother is the unlikely protagonist of this marvelously crafted deadpan comedy. After his mother skips town, he searches cluelessly for various maternal substitutes.

Policeman, Nadav Lapid, Israel 2011 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3137-New-York-Film-Festival-2011&p=26882&posted=1#post26882)
This fascinating journey into Israel’s changing political landscapes doubles as a formally puzzle-like narrative. Story lines involving a counter-terrorism police unit and class-war guerillas merge into a telling picture of a long-embattled region.

17 Girls, Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin, France 2011 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3239-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-at-Lincoln-Center-2012&p=27448#post27448)
A young girl’s decision not to terminate an accidental pregnancy sets off something like an airborne outbreak of teen reproduction, transmitted via loneliness and peer pressure, in this startling debut feature based on real-life events.

Valley of Saints, Musa Syeed, India 2012
Using Kashmir’s picturesque Dal Lake as its backdrop and underpinned by the political unrest in the region, this heartfelt drama explores the relationship between two best friends and the female researcher, studying environmental degradation, who threatens to distract them from their dreams of escape.

In addition to these 11 first features in competition, the New Directors section of SFIFF55 includes 19 out-of-competition films, which will be announced at the Festival’s press conference Tuesday, March 27.

Official Selections 2012 Golden Gate Awards Documentary Feature Competition

Golden Slumbers, Davy Chou, Cambodia 2011
This exceptional documentary summons the spirits of Cambodian cinema’s golden age, which ended during the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror between 1975 and 1979. Blending interviews with surviving filmmakers, classic songs and poetic examinations of former movie palaces, Golden Slumbers is a testament to the captivating power of art in the face of tragedy.

In My Mother’s Arms, Atia Jabarah al-Daradji, Mohamed Jabarah al-Daradji, Iraq 2011
In violence-ridden Baghdad, one determined man tries to create a safe haven: an independent orphanage with no government support, where 32 Iraqi boys live, eat, play, sleep and go to school together. It is a fragile ecosystem shielding them from a life of suffering and extreme danger.

Informant, Jamie Meltzer, USA 2012, World Premiere (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27779#post27779)
Brandon Darby, liberal activist turned FBI informant turned FOX news commentator and Tea Party darling, tells his side of the story.

It’s the Earth Not the Moon, Gonçalo Tocha, Portugal 2011
Filming on the remote Azores island of Corvo, director Gonçalo Tocha aims “to be everywhere at the same time and not miss a thing.” The result is a wonderfully poetic take on the anthropological documentary, the travel essay and the armchair adventure, made with almost naïve sincerity.

The Law in These Parts, Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, Israel 2011 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27732#post27732)
This film, winner of the Sundance 2012 World Documentary prize, offers a rare insider’s view of the logic, structure and moral cost of Israel’s parallel military legal system that governs Palestinians under occupation. Interviews with the men who created and uphold these laws, artfully juxtaposed with archival footage, call into question concepts of justice and rule-of-law.

Meanwhile in Mamelodi, Benjamin Kahlmeyer, Germany 2011, U.S. Premiere
Set against the raucous backdrop of the 2010 World Cup, this beautifully crafted portrait of a place and a family features stunning cinematography and a lively score, as the Mtswenis’ day-to-day struggles and victories echo the promise of a new South Africa.

Off Label, Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri, USA 2011
An alternatively tragic and bleakly comic road trip through the methods and madness of pharmaceuticals in our culture. Setting personal storytelling against archival and industrial footage, it examines the medicated margins of American life, from the testing, marketing and consumption of pharmaceuticals to the alienation, perseverance and spiritual striving of individuals living in a society that pathologizes our desires for health, happiness and even our sense of identity for profit.

Patience (After Sebald), Grant Gee, England 2012
This moving tour through the landscape of W.G. Sebald’s genre-bending novel, The Rings of Saturn, presents a multilayered, many-voiced homage to his discursive, elegiac and perfectly illusion-free style by poets, mapmakers, novelists and acquaintances—admirers haunted and inspired by the voice of the German writer, who died in 2001.

The Source, Maria Demopolous, Jodi Wille, USA 2012
An exploration of the controversial Source Family, a ’70s Southern California experiment in communal living whose eccentric leader, Father Yod, championed Eastern mysticism, healthy living and sexual liberation. Using archival footage and interviews with former members, the documentary chronicles the Family from inception through implosion, examining its lasting impressions on pop culture.

Step Up to the Plate, Paul Lacoste, France 2011 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27671#post27671)
Hawkeyed master chef Michel Bras is ready to hand the keys to his Michelin-recognized restaurant in rural southwestern France to his talented son. A sublime, contemplative study of artistry, family and tradition calibrated to the turning of the seasons, this lovely documentary is about much more than food.

The Waiting Room, Peter Nicks, USA 2012 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27698#post27698)
Dire situations are often illuminated by extraordinary acts of compassion in this intimate and intense day-in-the-life documentary portrait of the patients, doctors, nurses and social workers at Oakland’s Highland Hospital—Alameda County’s busiest medical center for trauma cases, the uninsured and indigent.

Winter Nomads, Manuel von Stürler, Switzerland 2012, North American Premiere
800 sheep, three donkeys, and several dogs are led by two shepherds through Swiss fields and suburbs in a film that combines its beautifully photographed images with a keen ear for sound to situate this vanishing profession and lifestyle within a changing environment.


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[Chris Knipp]

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Today (March 27, 2012) was the SFIFF 2012 introductory press conference and the whole program was officially announced. This will be found on their website

SFIFF 2012 WEBSITE (http://festival.sffs.org/films/)


"More than 75,000 filmgoers attend the San Francisco International Film Festival, which plays at venues throughout an enthusiastically responsive Bay Area. The Festival features a bonanza of narrative feature films, live action and animated shorts, television and theatrical documentaries, experimental work and a variety of new digital media, as well as a smart lineup of industry panels and seminars, awards events, onstage tributes, retrospectives and the highly acclaimed Schools at the Festival program."

There are 31 new directors narrative films. Of these 11 are in competition, as announced earlier. But some of the ones not in competition would be important for festival goers to see, for instance Joachim Trier's OSLO, AUGUST 31 (2011), and various others, depending on your interests. I heard of Bouli Laners' GIANTS last year and that sounds interesting, plus there are Latin American and Korean selections that are promising.

Now that we have the whole program, I have put up a:

Filmleaf SFIFF 2012 Festival Coverage Thread. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012)

Links are up there for the narrative features already reviewed on this site as part of the NYFF, Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, New Directors/New Films, or Film Comment Selects. There is also one that was in my Paris Report in October. All together there are 11 selections of the 31 new directors films already covered on the site, and 23 total that I've already seen and reviewed here.

There were also some awards and special events announced. Kenneth Brannagh will be the honored person. Jonathan Lethem (but we already know this) will be the State of Cinema speaker. FAREWELL MY QUEEN will be the opening night film (this was in the Rendez-Vous). 23 is a good head start. With luck I may be be able to watch another 25 or thirty out of the festival selections that I have not seen -- a few of the many. There are also many events and revival items in connection with tributes that I won't be able to cover.

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NOVELIST JONATHAN LETHEM WILL GIVE THE 'STATE OF CINEMA' TALK.

[Chris Knipp]

There are some preview screenings of festival films. I will try to attend these:

SFIFF 2012 SCREENINGS

SF Film Society Cinema STEP UP TO THE PLATE [Hold Review]
Tuesday, April 3 (Paul Lacoste, France, 90 min)
12:00 noon Festival dates: Fri April 27, 6:00 pm, Kabuki; Sat April 28, 3:45 pm, Kabuki;
out 1:30 pm Sun, April 29, 1:00 pm, PFA

SF Film Society Cinema CHOKED
Wednesday, April 4 (Kim Jong-hyun, South Korea, 110 min)
11:30 am Festival dates: Sat April 21, 1:30 pm, Kabuki; Sat, April 28, 6:00 pm, Kabuki;
out 1:20 pm Tue May 1, 9:00 pm, Kabuki

Variety Club BERNIE [Hold Review]
Monday, April 9 (Richard Linklater, USA, 99 min)
3:00 pm Festival date: Sat April 21, 9:30 pm, Kabuki

SF Film Society Cinema BONSÁI [Hold Review]
Tuesday, April 10 (Cristián Jiménez, Chile, 95 min)
10:30 am Festival dates: Fri April 20, 9:30 pm, Kabuki; Sun April 22, 12:45 pm, Kabuki;
out 12:05 pm Tue, April 24, 6:30 pm, PFA

Variety Club DARLING COMPANION [Hold Review]
Tuesday, April 10 (Lawrence Kasdan, USA, 103 min)
2:00 pm Festival dates: Mon April 23, 6:45 pm, Kabuki; Tue April 24, 12:00 pm, Kabuki

SF Film Society Cinema THE WAITING ROOM
Wednesday, April 11 (Peter Nicks, USA, 80 min)
11:00 am Festival dates: Sat April 21, 3:50 pm, PFA; Mon April 30, 1:00 pm, Kabuki;
out 12:20 pm Tue May 1, 6:30 pm, Kabuki

Variety Club HYSTERIA [Hold Review]
Tuesday, April 17 (Tanya Wexler, USA/England, 99 min)
2:00 pm Festival dates: Tue May 1, 9:30 pm, Kabuki; Thu May 3, 6:00 pm, SFFSC
out 3:40 pm

[Chris Knipp]

SF Film Society Cinema STEP UP TO THE PLATE [Hold Review]
Tuesday, April 3 (Paul Lacoste, France, 90 min)
12:00 noon Festival dates: Fri April 27, 6:00 pm, Kabuki; Sat April 28, 3:45 pm, Kabuki;
out 1:30 pm Sun, April 29, 1:00 pm, PFA

As promised I saw this film at the new (but not brand new; inaugurated during the late Graham Leggett's time as Film Society Director) San Francisco Film society Theater on Post Street just up the street from the Kabuki Sundance Cinema, the main venue of the SFIFF. This was my first time at the theater. It's a small but handsome screening room, 140 seats I believe, equipped with some of the finest-designed theater seats I've ever sat in, sleek, not puffy, good on the back. Upstairs is a little cafe serving Blue Bottle Coffee, one of the area's elite local brands. I was shocked at how many businesses have shut down or changed recently in Japan Town, where this is.


Paul Lacoste: STEP UP TO THE PLATE (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27671#post27671)

This rather austere, quite moving documentary film describes the slow turning over of the direction of the Michel Bras restaurant in the Hautes-Pyranées (southwest France) from father to son. Lacoste focuses on essentials and doesn't bother to mention that this is one of only 26 three-star Michelin restaurants in the country and 106 in the world. The creativity and intense dedication to excellence of both men speak for themselves. This film will be shown in the SFIFF at the PFA (Pacific Film Archive) and the San Francisco Sundance Kabuki Cinemas as follows:

Kabuki
Fri April 27, 6:00 pm
Sat April 28, 3:45 pm
PFA
Sun, April 29, 1:00 pm

On request from the film's rep locally, this is not a full review, only an introduction. A fuller review will appear later. This film is in the festival's documentary competition.

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DIRECTOR PAUL LACOSTE

[Chris Knipp]

Kim Joong-hyun: CHOKED (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27676#post27676)

A strikingly handsome but too passive young man is plagued by three women, his mother, her friend, and his snobbish fiancee in this study of contemporary materialism set in present-day Seoul. The otherwise interesting characters may need more development in the second half but this is a promising debut feature, with a fresh point of view and admirable restraint.

Choked is one of the San Francisco International Film Festival's official selections for the 2012 New Directors Prize (Narrative Feature) Competition and it will be shown in the festival as follows:

KABUKI
Sat Apr. 21, 1:30 pm
Sat. Apr. 28, 6:00 pm
Tue. May 1, 9:00 pm.

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Director Kim

[Chris Knipp]

Richard Linklater: BERNIE (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27683#post27683)

A droll version of the true story of the nicest murderer in East Texas, an assistant funeral director who did away with his patron and companion the mean widow Marjorie Nugent. Starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, and Matthew McConaughey.

To be screened as part of the SFIFF:

KABUKI
Sat, Apr 21 9:30pm

A full review willl appear in the Festival Coverage section when the film goes into theatrical release in a few weeks.

[Chris Knipp]

Cristian Jiménez: BONSÁI (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27689#post27689)

This sophomore effort by the Chilian director was in Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year, and at Toronto. It is the story, both sardonic and romantic, of an aspiring writer, Julio, seen when in college in the south and eight years later in Santiago when he writes a story of his first love, Emilia, now lost, presenting it to his sometime current lover as the novel in progress of a famous writer whose handwritten manuscript he pretends to be transcribing. "Bonsai gets much of its quiet comic energy from Julio's tendency to coast by on a sea of lies, which he then must confront."--Robert Koehler, Variety. The film is a faithful adaptation of a near-classic (and ingeniously constructed) novella by the Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra. My previous favorite Chliean filmmakers were Alicia Scherson (Play) and Pablo Larraín (Tony Manero and Post Morten). I may need to add Jiménez to this small list, but I have some reservations. This wasn't as much fun, and didn't grab me, quite as much as I would have hoped. Still it is intelligent filmmaking. And it recently won the highest ($30,000) feature Grand Jury Prize and an adidtional $5,000 screenwriting award at the Miami Film Festival.

Bonsái will be shown at the 2012 SFIFF at the following locations and times:

KABUKI
Fri, Apr 20 9:30pm
Sun, Apr 22 12:45pm
PFA
Tue, Apr 24 6:30pm

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CRISTIAN JIMENEZ

[Chris Knipp]

Peter Nicks: THE WAITING ROOM (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27698#post27698)

Emmy Award winner Nicks' documentary feature debut is a hybrid, a film and a social media "storytelling project" that greatly augments the data about staff and patients covered in the 81-minute film about Oakland's Highland Hospital ER during what appears to be a day. The film's short duration contains many hours of tedium and suffering. It doesn't editorialize but focuses on human experience. It does, however, dramatize in very concrete terms how America's economic crisis and the inadequacy of a system dependent on private insurance companies overtax the capacities of even the best run big city emergency room. A tough watch, but a vital experience. Both a stark contrast and a perfect supplement to Michael Moore's Sicko. The ER is the pressure point that shows where the system is breaking down. But that does not mean that there is not humane and compassionate treatment and that people are not helped.

PFA
Sat, Apr 21, 2012 3:50 pm
Kabuki
Mon, Apr 30 1:00 pm

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[B]DIRECTOR PETER NICKS

[Chris Knipp]

Milagros Mumenthaler: BACK TO STAY (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27706#post27706)

In this Argentinean first film, a contender for the SFIFF New Directors Prize, three sisters uneasily occupy a house owned by their grandmother, who was their guardian and has recently died. Seeming at first too listless or worn down by the heat to grieve properly and troubled by mysteries, they each eventually find their own way of moving on. The film won the Golden Leopard at Locarno and has been shown at major festivals since, but some may feel that the gliding camera work and the sense of a confining space (which must be overcome) are more interesting than the minimal action, and the film may seem much too low keyed for many of us. Can Mumenthaler be added to the list of great newer directors from Argentina, Bielinsky, Trapero, Martel, Sorín? Time will tell.

San Francisco International Film Festival showings:

PFA
Sat, Apr 28, 2012 8:50 pm
KABUKI
Mon, Apr 30 4:00 pm
Wed, May 2 9:30 pm

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MILAGROS MUMENTHALER

[Chris Knipp]

John Shank: LAST WINTER (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27709#post27709)

The film is the debut feature in French by an American who studied filmmaking in Belgium and has chosen to live and work there and has done so for well over a decade. This is an elegiac Western about a young cow rancher in the Massif Central who after taking on the farm upon the death of his father refuses to adjust to economic necessities and becomes a sacrificial hero of doomed small time cattlemen. With his pale blue eyes and a face that mixes Marlon Brando and Bob Dylan, Vincent Rottiers is riveting and utterly dedicated in the lead role of Johann, the young rancher. It's a contender for the New Directors Prize at the SFIFF.

Showings:

KABUKI
Sat, Apr 28 3:15 pm
Mon, Apr 30 6:45 pm
PFA
Wed, May 2 6:30 pm

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JOHN SHANK

[Chris Knipp]

Bouli Lanners: THE GIANTS (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27712#post27712)

In this French language Belgian film, two middle class boys apparently abandoned by their mother for the summer at the house of their recently deceased grandfather run out of money and must live by their wits, joined by a third boy. Very mixed adventures follow. This prolific actor turned director (this is his third feature) blends elements of Stand by Me and Mark Twain with dark grotesque humor, great chemistry among the three 13 3/4 - 15-year-old actors and moments of hilarity. It doesn't go quite as deep as it might emotionally, or have anything but a wandering picaresque story line, but it has beautiful landscapes. One French reviewer says this is the world of "The Goonies" transported to that of Bruno Drumont. If that makes sense to you, you'll understand that though this is a slight coming of ager, it has something unique about it, particularly some good scenes, like 15-year-old Seth driving a stolen car around in a field to escape from cops; Russian moving men emptying out their grandfather's house. And in the end, they light out for the territory, just like Huck Finn.

This debuted at Cannes and was in the BFI London FF. At the SFIFF it shows as follows:

KABUKI
Fri, Apr 20 6:15 pm
Sat, Apr 21 4:45 pm

[Chris Knipp]

Hong Sang-soo: THE DAY HE ARRIVES (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012#post27716)

Hong returns to form with a very short film where a filmmaker, given to heavy drinking (as usual) visits Seoul from the provinces and keeps running into the same old flame while hanging out with a friend. Things go round in circles and we don't know if this represents bad memory, strange coincidence, fantasy, or a look at the inner workings of filmmaking. But it remains lighthearted social comedy, even if it's a little 'meta.' The acting is excellent. In black and white, except for the wordless, witty trailer.

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HONG SANG-SOO

KABUKI
Fri, Apr 20 7:15 pm
Mon, Apr 23 9:30 pm
PFA
Wed, Apr 25 9:00 pm

[Chris Knipp]

SFIFF 2012 EVENTS

The Filmleaf Festival Coverage SFIFF 2012 thread (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012) provides access 32 of my reviews of festival films, 23 seen at earlier events and 9 seen here recently, all that is prologue. The San Francisco International Film Festival, year 55, 2012, officially opens Thursday, April 19. The film program begins in earnest Friday, April 20, and it runs through Thursday, May 3. The festival website has a rundown on their numerous

AWARDS: (http://festival.sffs.org/awards/)

The highest profiles ones are those listed below. Click on the titles for details:

Founder’s Directing Award (http://festival.sffs.org/awards/founders_directing_award_2012.php)
This award is given each year to a master of world cinema in memory of Irving M. Levin, founder of the San Francisco International Film Festival. This year's recipient is Kenneth Branagh.

Peter J. Owens Award (http://festival.sffs.org/awards/peter_owens_2012.php)
Named for the longtime San Francisco benefactor of arts and charitable organizations Peter J. Owens (1936–1991), this award honors an actor whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity. This year's recipient is Judy Davis.

Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award (http://festival.sffs.org/awards/pov_barbara_kopple_2012.php)
Established in 1997, the Persistence of Vision Award each year honors the achievement of a filmmaker whose main body of work is outside the realm of typical narrative feature filmmaking, crafting documentaries, short films, television, animated, experimental or multiplatform work. This year's recipient is Barbara Kopple.

State of Cinema Address (http://festival.sffs.org/films/film_details.php?id=97)
Each year, the Festival invites a leader in the world of cinema to address the issues facing the film world today. Past speakers include Peter Sellars, Tilda Swinton, Brad Bird, B. Ruby Rich, Michel Ciment, Kevin Kelly, Mary Ellen Mark, Walter Murch and Christine Vachon. This year, the State of Cinema Address will be delivered by author Jonathan Lethem.

They are also showing Carol Reeds' The Third Man in honor of Bingham Ray, the successor to Graham Leggett as SFFS director who unfortunately also died within a few months of taking on the job. It was his favorite film, and the kind one can watch again and again and not get tired of it.

Awards Night (http://festival.sffs.org/awards/film_society_awards_night.php) ("black tie optional") concludes the festival, and this is when the important strictly cinema prizes (and monetary awards) based on the competition and program films are given out for the best New Director, the Golden Gate Awards for "documentaries, animation, shorts, experimental film and video, youth works and work for television"; and the FIPRESCI Prize, which goes out at various festivals and comes from the International Federation of Film Critics. Not mentioned on the awards page, there is always the Audience Award, compiled from sort of "exit polls" of the public coming out of the films.


Featured films.
Opening night film will be Farewell, My Queen (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3239-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-at-Lincoln-Center-2012&p=27445#post27445) (Benoit Jacquot), which I reviewed as part of the Rendez-Vous this year. It's a more subtle and interesting version of the Marie Antoinette story than Sofia Coppola' candy-cane one. It's certainly a classy ceremonial item with its nice costumes, glamorous women and elegant filmmaking, but it's more than just that. The festival Centerpiece is Lynn Shelton's 'Your Sister's Sister,' with Emily Blunt, Mark Duplass and Rosemarie DeWitt; Shelton's previous film was 'Humpday,' probably the most publicized of her five films so far; she has also done some TV. Nice to have an independent American film in a featured spot. 'Your Sister's Sister' (picked up by IFC), with a focus on ladies in contrast to Shelton's 'Humpday' and with DeWitt and Blunt, represents an advance from 'Humpday' (from Mumblecore toward more slick mainstream work) and Chang of Variety says it "boasts solid appeal for indie fans and mainstream moviegoers interested in trying a safe, tasty item from the smarthouse menu." Closing night film is 'Don't Stop Believin'', an inspirational rock doc, and I'll be reviewing that one. Due to having already watched about 60 festival films in the past couple months and due to the more difficult logistics for me here compared to NYC events, I don't promise to go to many public screenings, but I will go to some.

Priorities.
This is a large festival with some "200 films and live events, 14 juried awards and $70,000 in cash prizes, upwards of 100 participating filmmaker guests and diverse and engaged audiences with more than 70,000 people in attendance." I prefer to focus only on seeing new films. It has not been since 2005 that I went to a festival event. This was when I went to the Werner Herzog evening with Travis Kirby (then a cinephile teenager, now pursuing music and in college up morth, who contributed a few festival reviews then) and his dad to the Castro Theater where they give out the prizes and stage the festival's gala events. We saw a new film by him and saw Werner Herzog get the Director's Award (http://sffs.org/content.aspx?catid=22,37&pageid=622), and I'm glad to have seen Herzog interviewed, as authentic and unique an individual in real life as his films suggest. This year, I'm not terribly excited about the award choices, though I am sure the recipients are worthy, especially Barbara Kopple, the crusading documentary fimmaker.

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Festival piecking order.
The SFIFF is a great event for west coast cinephiles but it feels a bit more like the end of something than the beginning, because just two weeks after it ends the festival calendar begins, big time, withh Cannes, the most glamorous and highly publicized festival of them all (May 16-27, 2012). For some reason though it runs almost concurrently with the SFIFF, this is not so true of New York City's Tribeca Film Festival,, (http://www.tribecafilm.com/tribecafilm/) which has almost wholly new material -- nearly all its films have a 2012 date on them and were not previously shown at any New York film event. There is a fair amount of overlap between what I saw in New York last fall and earlier this year and what is scheduled at San Francisco, but there is almost no overlap in content between SF and Tribeca. In their 2012 narrative feature slate (not counting revivals) there are three titles that are in SFIFF55, Chcken with Plums, Hysteria, and Polisse. Tribeca was cofounded by Robert DeNiro with Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in 2002 to revitalize the cultural life of lower Manhattan after the blow of 9/11. Its being relatively new is not a disadvantage. This year Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon and Dakota Fanning will Serve on the Tribecal's Juries. The next western festival is the small but significant Telluride, founded in 1974 and co-directed (with a guest director) by Tom Luddy. Telluride doesn't announce its slate in advance. It comes in early September, withs all new material and an edge the SFIFF seems to lack, despite its being bigger.

With these reservations, SFIFF, especially after the way the late Graham Leggett revitalized the SF Film Society context, is a film festival of great depth. It's also a last best chance to see many recent festival films that won't be easy to catch on DVD. Last year these included five good-to-great documentaries, the English social one The Arbor, the art one The Mill on the Cross (thought that has had limited US release), the beautiful portrait of the rebirth of a ravaged El Salvador town, The Tiniest Place, the Silicon Valley venture capital doc Something Ventured, and Pago One: Inside the New York Times. And there were three great features I couldn't see elsewhere, the Catalan Black Bread, the exciting and elegant German corporate thriller The City Below, and the delicate Uruguayann cinephile tale A Useful Life. In other words, it's worth i., Even if only about 10% of festival films turn out to be truly memorable, this is par for the course in festivals. My filmleaf coverage aims to expand a bit your awareness and mine of the world film scene today.

Next SFIFF 2012 review.
Tomorrow (April 18, 2012) there will be a commercial press screening in San Francisco of The Intouchables (also called 'Intouchables' and 'Untouchable'), directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano. It is a SFIFF selection, and it was in the Rendez-Vous in NYC but not shown to the press. This film is the second biggest box office success in France of all time. Variety called it "cringe-worthy" and "claptrap." Stephen Holden of the NYTimes called it "a crass escapist comedy that feels like a Gallic throwback to an ’80s Eddie Murphy movie" and said it "exploits every hoary stereotype of the black man as cultural liberator." 'Intouchables' is in the US under the aegis of Harvey Weinstein. He has promoted it by lashing out at the French right-wing politician LePen for attacking it. Weinstein has also bought the rights to an American remake. Whatever its merits it's a cultural phenomenon must-see for a student of French film. It obviously works for many as entertainment. Kurt Brokow, of The Independent online (a street-smart, museum-smart movie that richly deserves its Opening Night status.) and my colleague at Lincoln Center screenings, had nothing but praise for it and called it "a street-smart, museum-smart movie that richly deserves its Opening Night status" (which it had at the Rendez-Vous in New York in early March when Kurt reviewed it). On Allociné it received a good critical rating (3.7), but some touchstone critical publications, Cahiers du Cinema, L'Humanité, Télérama, and Les Inrockuptibles, totally panned it. A Guardian article l (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/17/intouchables-sarkozy-narrative-france?CMP=twt_fd)ast November argued that it has been such a huge successs in France because it provides a story "of class transcendence and national unity," what the country needs as an alternative to the divisiveness of Sarkozy's "divisive politics."

[Chris Knipp]

Tanya Wexler: HYSTERIA (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27721#post27721)

This wink-wink costumeer set in London in the days of Queen Victoria mixes the invention of the electronic dildo with a rom-com involving Hugh Dancy, Felicity Jones, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, with Jonathan Pryce and Rupert Everett on the side.

A preview: the film has opened in many other countries but opens in the US May 18.

SFIFF screenings:

KABUKI
Tue, May 1 9:30
FSC
Thu, May 3 6:00

[Chris Knipp]

FURTHER FILMLEAF SFIFF 2012 COVERAGE COMING, AND NOT


I have screeners coming of

Ramon Diaz's DON'T STOP BELIEVIN' (US music doc)
Ra'an Alexandrowicz's THE LAW IN THESE PARTS (Israel doc)
Rania Attiah and Daniel Garcia's OK, ENOUGH, GOODBYE (Lebanon comedy)
Gabriel Mariño's A SECRET WORLD (Mexican feature)


I'll be trying for public screenings of:

Johnnie To's LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE
Harmony Korine et al.'s THE FOURTH DIMENSION
Emmanuele Crialese's TERRAFERMA

I hope to get DVDs of:

SUMMER GAMES (Italian/Swiss)
LAND OF OBLIVION (Russian)
ALPS (Greek -- Yorgos Lanthimos)
INFORMANT (doc by Jamie Meltzner--relates to last year's BETTER THIS WORLD)


Potentially important ones I can't see during the festival -- unless the unexpectedly come up with screeners of them -- due to my schedule:

Andrea Arnold's WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Francis Ford Coppola's TWIX
Michael Winterbottom's TRISHNA


With luck they will turn up in commercial releases later; this is pormised for WUTHERING HEIGHTS and TRISHNA.

[Chris Knipp]

Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache: THE INTOUCHABLES (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27726#post27726)

This French film is the biggest box office hit but one in the country's history (after Dany Boon's 2008 Welcome to the Sticks, which Americans have not gotten to see). Its story of a quadriplegic Parisian millionaire whose black caretaker from the projects livens up his life contains some hoary clichés and a fantasy of economic, racial and class boundary-crossing unlikely to happen collectively either in France or in the US (where Harvey Weinstein is distributing it and has bought the rights to a remake). But it is nonetheless irresistible because it is not only warm-hearted and fun but elegant, well made and well cast. US limited release begins May 25. SFIFF showings:

KABUKI
Tue, Apr 24, 2012 6:00 pm
Thu, Apr 26 3:30 pm

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TOLEDANO & NAKACHE

[Chris Knipp]

THE DAY HE ARRIVES (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27716#post27716)opened today (Fri May 20, 2012) at Lincoln Plaza in New York and got glowing reviews (Metacritic 79). (http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-day-he-arrives/critic-reviews) Attendees of the San Francisco International Film Festival can see it today and Monday in SF and the following Wed. in Berkeley's Pacific Film Archive. In her opening day review (http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/movies/the-day-he-arrives-directed-by-hong-sang-soo.html?nl=movies&emc=edit_fm_20120420)Manohla Dargis of the NYTimes compares the film to Last Year at Marienbad because in both films "the past collides with the present [and] repetition is both a theme and a narrative device" but says, "[Hong's] characters wallow, but he doesn’t, and his film feels as light as Marienbad feels heavy. The Day He Arrives has real force and its experimentation is in the service of a moving story..."

KABUKI
Fri, Apr 20 7:15 pm
Mon, Apr 23 9:30 pm
PFA
Wed, Apr 25 9:00 pm

[Chris Knipp]

Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia: OKAY, ENOUGH, GOODBYE (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27729#post27729)

This debut feature is by a couple. He's American, she's Lebanese. They made it all themselves using Attieh's friends and family in her native Tripoli. This is a coming-of-ager about a 40-year-old, which can happen because the man has lived with his mother (not so unusual in Tripoli) but she leaves him unannounced and goes to Beirut, and he must make a life of his own. This droll but serious and quite real little film uses its non-actors with documentary flair.

SFIFF showings:

KABUKI
Fri, Apr 20 6:30 pm
Sun, Apr 29 12:00 noon
PFA
Tue, May 1 8:50 pm


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DANIEL GARCIA AND RANIA ATTIEH

[Chris Knipp]

Ra'anan Alexandrowicz: THE LAW IN THESE PARTS (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27732#post27732)

A brilliant indictment of the Israeli legal system in which Palestinians in the occupied territories are subject to military law and though they have the right to appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court, it has never been known to rule in their favor. The film takes the form of a series of meticulously researched interrogations of retired judges of the IDF courts, with archival footage flashed on the wall beside them and edited into the film acting as a constant counterpoint representing Palestinian experience. Winner of Best Documentary award at Jerusalem and Best World Documentary at Sundance.

SFIFF screenings:

PFA
Wed, Apr 25 6:30 pm
KABUKI
Sun, Apr 29 6:15 pm
Tue, May 1 2:30 pm

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FILMMAKER RA'ANAN ALEXNDROWICZ

[Chris Knipp]

Ramona S. Diaz: DON'T STOP BELIEVIN': EVERYMAN'S JOURNEY (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012/page2#post27739)

A dream-like rock rags-to-riches story: a diminutive but magnetic 44-year-old singer in an obscure Manila cover band, Arnel Pineda, was adopted in 2007 and brought to America by founding members of the 1973-to-the-present super band, Journey, as their lead vocalist after they found him on YouTube by Googling everything to do with Journey. Raised in dire poverty, he has not only become a successful member of the band. His presence has reinvigorated the sometimes flagging ensemble and brought them and their latest albums their greatest success in years.

Though this is just a conventional rock doc, its subject is as talented as he is articulate, and this exhilarating tale has been chosen as one of the SFIFF's Big Nights features, its closing night presentation.


SCREENING
Thu, May 3 7:00 / Castro

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/8729/dontstopbelievin.jpg

[Chris Knipp]

Emanuele Crialese: TERRAFERMA (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27746#post27746)

Crialese deals with the overflow of African illegals arriving by sea near the Italian island of Lampedusa, southwest of Sicily, the troubles of a fisherman family, and many other things in his colorful but overstuffed new film, Terraferma.

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EMANUELE CRIALESE

[Chris Knipp]

Rolando Colla: SUMMER GAMES (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27748#post27748)

Swiss-Italian director Colla's film depicting play and hassles of youngsters summering at a campground on the Tuscan coast was Switzerland's entry for the Best Foreign Oscar (not nominated). The fighting of the two working class brothers' parents is a drag, but there's some truth in it, and in the occasional cruelty of the children's games.

In Italian. Shown at Venice and Locarno and a few other festivals, released (to so-so reviews) in France. SFIFF screenings:

KABUKI
Mon, Apr 30 3:00 pm
Thu, May 3 7:30 pm

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ROLANDO COLLA: THIS IS HIS FIFTH FEATURE

[Chris Knipp]

Today's exciting SFIFF "Scoop du Jour":

Who's In Town
The inimitable actress Judy Davis and director Fred Schepisi have arrived. Davis will be honored tonight at the Castro Theatre where she will be presented with the Peter J. Owens Award for her glorious acting career with an onstage interview with Elvis Mitchell and a screening of Schepisi's exquisite period drama The Eye of the Storm. Tickets are still available. Also in town are directors Reza Mirkarimi for the final screening of A Cube of Sugar, Eric Baudelaire for The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi, and 27 Years Without Images, Caveh Zahedi for The Sheik and I, Maïwenn for Polisse and Alison Klayman for Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry.

THE EYE OF THE STORM is brand new. See IMDb.http://www.imdb.com/showtimes/title/tt1600207.

Those who are not at the Castro Theater will have to wait till September 7 for the US release.

I read Elvis Mitchell's reviews from 1999 to 2004 when he wrote them for the NYTimes. Judy Davis's career runs from 1979 (at least that was the first notable one, My Brilliant Carreer) til today, but I'm guessing her glory days were the 80s and the 90s, which may be true of Elvis Mitchell too. Davis was in Naked Lunch and Barton Fink, both in 1991. I remember her dry, ironic delivery. However there are stories about her behavior toward River Phoenix on the set of Dark Blood, his last film, in 1993, that makes her sound like a #1 b--ch, and from then on she lost my admiration. Maybe it's a good thing she's "inimitable." Judging from the number of times he's been fired or quit in a flurry, maybe Elvis Mitchell is "inimitable" too -- this could be a good pairing.

[Chris Knipp]

Further SFIFF 2012 special event material. Bill Proctor, SF Film Society Publicity Manger, informs us that Jonathan Lethem's State of the Cinema address is available in a video online in its entirety:

https://vimeo.com/41023441

[Chris Knipp]

Bill Proctor, SF Film Society Publicity Manger, informs us that Jonathan Lethem's State of Cinema address is available in a video online in its entirety:

https://vimeo.com/41023441

A "Wired" blog called MISTER BITdi Matteo Bittanti gives a detailed summary of Lethem's speech at the Castro: http://blog.wired.it/misterbit/2012/04/22/jonathan-lethems-neotonous-aesthetic.html

[Chris Knipp]

Johnnie To: LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27757#post27757)

Grinding up a gangster flick with an account of the global financial crisis To amusingly keeps a ridiculous number of narrative threads going and clear, but the effect is slapdash and the glamor and moodiness of the prolific Hong Kong action director in his prime are not to be found here.

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JOHNNIE TO

[Chris Knipp]

From today's "Scoup du Jour" (Thurs. April 26, 20112):

'Who's In Town
Tonight brings one of the most anticipated annual events of the Festival: Film Society Awards Night. Judy Davis, Kenneth Branagh, director Benh Zeitlin and screenwriter David Webb Peoples will be feted at the Warfield Theater, with special guests Peter Coyote, Delroy Lindo, Fred Schepisi and Elvis Mitchell.'

I am glad to see Delroy Lindo is getting some publicity. I remember him as being a strong and underrecognized character actor. Obscure film I like that he shines briefly in: the 1990 Bright Angel. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101510/)

Judy Davis, who yesterday's Scoup called "inimitable," today is "indomitable." If she stays one more day she might become "invincible." She and Fred Schipisi chatted on the stage of the Castro Theater in San Francisco where their new picture was previewed and Davis got the Peter J. Owens Award, which "honors an actor whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity."

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JUDY AND FRED (SCHEPISI) APR. 26 AT THE CASTRO THEATER

[Chris Knipp]

Michale Boganim: LAND OF OBLIVION (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27771#post27771)

In a strong debut feature, documentary filmmaker Boganim creates an uneasy portrait of Chernobyl survivors focused on the psychological toll of the nuclear disaster, as observed during the horrific event, and ten years later. The filmmaker is Israeli and was educated at the Sorbonne. Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and the National Film School in London.

SFIFF SCREENINGS
KABUKI
Mon, Apr 23, 2012 1:00 pm
Fri, Apr 27 9:30 pm
Sun, Apr 29 3:15 pm

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DIRECTOR BOGADIM

[Chris Knipp]

Jamie Melzer: INFORMANT (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27779#post27779)

This one is really new, locally produced, and the world premiere. A companion piece to Better This World (SFIFF 2011), about the two young men whom an FBI informant sent to federal prison for respectively two and four years for making (not using) Molotov cocktails in Saint Paul at the time of the Republican National Convention in 2008. The FBI informant was Brandon Darby, a macho, charismatic activist hero for all his work in Common Grounds Relief in helping people after Katrina. Why did he go from being a revolutionary activist to informing for the feds? This film may help you understand, but the leftists Darby betrayed (including the two young men who looked up to him and were spurred to their action by his presence, if not his words) are not ever going to forgive this rather twisted but clearly seductive man. Melzer teachers documentary filmmaking at Stanford. And he knows his craft.


http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/2576/meltzerjamie.jpg

[Chris Knipp]

(This may be my last review of the SFIFF. I am stopping early because leaving town soon, but I have covered over 40 films counting what I saw at other venues.)

Yourgos Lanthimos: ALPS (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27786#post27786)

This is very similar to Kineta, Dogtooth, as well as Yorgos (AKA "Giorgos") Lanthimos' close associate's Attenberg, in its emphasis on a very odd, hermetic set of people (not a single family this time), and its peculiar premise -- impersonating dead people to help the bereaved deal with their grief. But the screenplay this time takes a step further out into the larger world, and also desptie the cruelty and dominance-submission behavior, there is more kindness and softness. Having tended to reject Dogtooth, and also (but less so) Attenberg, one may find one's resistance fading this time and be led to to play Yourgos' games. And in doing so one may get more out of this one, both intellectually and emotionally. Dogtooth was very much talked about and honored. This one seems more capable of touching people. A film that should be seen if you like challenging movies.

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LANTHIMOS

[Chris Knipp]

SFIFF 2012 END-OF-FESTIVAL FILM AWARDS

(Plus some comments.)

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/9728/5312.jpg
Michael Goodyear, Peter Nicks and Lawrence Lerew of The Waiting Room

Golden Gate Award Documentary Feature Winners
Documentary Feature:
It's the Earth Not the Moon
Gonçalo Tocha (Portugal 2011)
* Winner receives $20,000 cash prize
Honorable Mention:
Meanwhile in Mamelodi
Benjamin Kahlmeyer (Germany/South Africa 2011)

Bay Area Documentary Feature:
The Waiting Room
Peter Nicks (USA 2011)
* Winner receives $15,000 cash prize and $2,000 lab services from EFILM Digital Laboratories.

New Directors Prize:
Policeman
Nadav Lapid (Israel 2011)
* Winner receives $15,000 cash prize
Honorable Mention: OK, Enough, Goodbye.
Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia (Lebanon/UAE 2010)

FIPRESCI Prize:
The Exchange
Eran Kolirin (Israel/Germany 2011)

Congratulations to all the winners.
I have not seen the Documentary Features winner and runner-up.
However, this competition included:
Informant, Jamie Meltzer, USA 2012, World Premiere
The Law in These Parts, Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, Israel 2011 (winner of the Sundance World Documentary Prize)
Both of these are outstanding. I'd have to see the others but I'd be tempted to give the prize to The Law in These Parts. I think It's the Earth Not the Moon is another kind of documentary, more poetic than polemical.

The local documentary winner, Waiting Room, seems to me an excellent choice.

The New Directors competition included
Found Memories, Júlia Murat, Brazil 2011
Land of Oblivion, Michale Boganim, France/Ukraine 2011
Last Winter, John Shank, Belgium 2011
Neighboring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil 2012


To be honest, I think all of these are superior artistically to Policeman, though that is an understandable attention-grabber. I might have given the prize to Neighboring Sounds, a richly unfolding film about social unrest. However, the Israeli film Policeman was in the main slate of the NYFF last year, along with Israel's Best Foreig Oscar nominee Footnote, which showing in limited US distribution. Policeman may be not a total success, with its somewhat disjointed structure, but may be a more important film for us to see than the dryly ironic Footnote. I wrote of Policeman that it " is more interesting as a timely artifact than as a finished film. Its awkward construction and imbalance in characters -- Yaron [the policeman] is far more fully explored than the young revolutionaries [who occupy the film's second half] -- keep it from working structurally or artistically."

I have yet to see the FIPRESCI winner, The Exchange. Eran Kolirin's pervious film was The Band Visit, , an US art house favorite many have seen and enjoyed. Jay Weissberg's Variety (http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117945990/) review of The Exchange was not positive. He wrote, "The concept is clever, but the execution is so measured as to become soporific. Mixed boos and applause at the Venice press screening signal uncertain prospects, and certainly not the success of Kolirin's previous charmer." Other reviews suggest this new one isn't an unmixed success; an IndieWire (http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/venice_11_review_the_exchange_venice_the_bands_vis its#) review calls it "not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination" but "a little bland."

There are a number of short film choices which you can find with a complete list of all the film awards and the amounts of money given on the SFIFF website here. (http://www.sffs.org/content.aspx?catid=22,37&pageid=2928) For me there is a disconnect on the New Directors awards, but the list of nominees seems to me quite good. I can't comment on the documentaries award because I didn't get to see many of the nominees, but the award-winner sounds notable. It's the Earth, from Portugal, a detailed meditation about life on a near-abandone mid-Atlantic island in the Azores, won special mention at Locarno and top prize at Doc Lisboa and sounds well worth a watch.

[Chris Knipp]

STRAND RELEASING has announced some new releases that include recently reviewed items, three were in the SFIFF and UNFORTIVEABLE was in the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center:




STRAND RELEASING 2012 LINE UP AS OF MAY 8, 2012

For photos/press kits, please visit www.strandreleasing.com, enter our pressroom and download. For more information, please contact: Jenna Martin / Marcus Hu, Strand Releasing (310) 836-7500.

BONSÁI (Romance/Drama) Directed by Cristián Jiménez. Julio is a struggling young writer who has hit a wall. Unemployed and involved in a half-hearted relationship with his neighbor, things are finally starting to look up when he gets an interview with a renowned author to transcribe his latest work. Things don’t go as planned, however, and Julio doesn’t get the job. Instead of admitting the truth to his girlfriend, he pretends to be transcribing the novel when actually writing his own story. Searching for inspiration and a plot, Julio revisits a romance he had eight years ago when studying literature in Valdivia. As Julio’s novel progresses, so does his fondness for the past and of the love he let slip away. Based on an internationally acclaimed novella, BONSÁI is a subtly affecting examination of the lies we tell ourselves in order to get by. Official selection of the Cannes Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Opens in New York on Friday, May 11th at the IFC Center. Opens in Los Angeles on Friday, June 15th at Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 and NoHo 7. NY/ Publicity contact: Harris Dew, IFC Center (212) 924-6789, hdew@ifccenter.com. LA/National Publicity contact: Jenna Martin / Marcus Hu, Strand Releasing (310) 836-7500.

OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (Drama) Directed by Joachim Trier (Reprise). Anders is on the verge of successfully completing treatment at a drug rehab in the countryside. As part of the program, he is allowed to go into Oslo for a job interview but instead uses the opportunity to revisit friends and old haunts. 34-year-old Anders is smart, handsome and from a good family, but deeply haunted by all the opportunities he’s wasted and all the people he’s let down. Though still relatively young, he feels his life is already over in many ways. For the remainder of the day and long into the night, he will wrestle with the chance of love and the possibility of a new life. Official selection of the Cannes Film Festival, AFI Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and New Directors/New Films Festival. Opens in New York on Friday, May 25th at the IFC Center. Opens in Los Angeles on Friday, June 1st at Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 and NoHo 7. NY Publicity contact: Emma Griffiths, Emma Griffiths PR (917) 806-0599, emma@eg-pr.com. LA/National Publicity contact: Jenna Martin / Marcus Hu, Strand Releasing (310) 836-7500.

UNFORGIVABLE (Drama) Directed by veteran French filmmaker André Téchiné (The Girl on the Train, Wild Reeds). Francis (André Dussollier, Micmacs, Tell No One) is a successful crime writer who moves to Venice to work on his next novel. When he meets model-turned-real-estate-agent Judith (Carole Bouquet, That Obscure Object of Desire, Red Lights), he is instantly infatuated. Francis and Judith eventually marry and move to a remote house on Torcello Island but Francis’ newfound happiness hinders his writing. Obsessing over what Judith does while at work, he hires a young ex-convict to investigate. As Judith’s sexual past is revealed both men become increasingly fixated on the mysterious woman. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Venice, UNFORGIVABLE examines the consequences of unresolved past relationships and their far-reaching effects into the future. Official selection of Cannes 2011 Directors Fortnight. Opens in New York on Friday, June 29th at the IFC Center. Opens in Los Angeles on Friday, June 29th at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre. Opens in San Francisco and Berkeley on Friday, August 10th at Landmark’s Lumiere Theatre and Shattuck Cinemas. NY Publicity contact: Sophie Gluck & Associates (212) 595-2432, sophie@gluckpr.com. LA/National & SF/Bay Area Publicity contact: Jenna Martin / Marcus Hu, Strand Releasing (310) 836-7500.

17 GIRLS (Drama) Written and directed by Delphine and Muriel Coulin. Based on a headline-grabbing incident in the U.S., sister directing duo Delphine and Muriel Coulin’s provocative debut feature examines the fallout in a sleepy French coastal town of Brittany where a group of 17 girls from the same high school all decide to become pregnant at the same time. Unexpected and incomprehensible, the girls’ pact sends the town reeling, looking for answers. Official selection of the Cannes Film Festival International Critics Week. Opening TBA. NY Publicity contact: Sophie Gluck & Associates (212) 595-2432, sophie@gluckpr.com. LA/National Publicity contact: Jenna Martin / Marcus Hu, Strand Releasing (310) 836-7500.

[Chris Knipp]

BONSAI was released theatrically in the US May 18, 2012, so I expanded my SFIFF preview to a full review. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27689#post27689) Also on my website.

[Chris Knipp]

LIkewise Tanya Wexler's HYSTERIA was released Ma 18, 2012 so I expanded my preview to a review here. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3257-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2012&p=27721#post27721)

[oscar jubis]

Also THE DAY HE ARRIVES was released by small distributor Cinema Guild. I like this movie at least as much as you seem to, based on your excellent review. I cannot think of any other Asian director more influenced by the nouvelle vague than Hong Sang-soo. It is hard not to think of Raoul Coutard and Eric Rohmer while watching this picture.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for the comment. Yes, I added this line to my review though I didn't mention the US distributor, Cinema Guild; I'll put that in. Readers can find other playdates on Cinema Guild's page for it here. (http://www.cinemaguild.com/dayhearrives/) I see Seattle and Columbus showings are scheduled. It was also recently released in France.
The film was released in NYC April 18. It will be shown in a limited theatrical release at the SF Film Society Cinema, 1746 Post Street , May 4–10, 2012, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00 pm. Though Hong has the new film that was at Cannes, IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, with Isabelle Huppert, and we'll see how that is, my suspicion is that THE DAY HE ARRIVES will remain my favorite of his recent ones. It mixes the bittersweet and the emotional with the conceptual and formalistic so beautifully and seamlessly. Indeed he is very Nouvelle Vagueish, though maybe more close to Eric Rohmer than the younger ones.