San Francisco International Film Festival 2010

[Chris Knipp]

FILMLEAF SFIFF 2010 COMMENTS THREAD

San Francisco International Film Festival 2010
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SFIFF 2010 (April 22-May 6)

MY REVIEWS OF FILMS SEEN AT OR AFTER THE FESTIVAL:

Air Doll (Hirakasu Koreeda 2009)
Alamar (Pedro González-Rubio 2009)
Brand New Life, A (Ouunie Lecomte 2009)
Cargo (Ivan Engler, Ralph Etter 2009)
Domain (Patric Chiha 2009)
Famous and the Dead, The (Esmir Filha 2009)
Gainsbourg (Je t'aime...moi non plus (Joann Sfar) (2010)
Linha de Passe (Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas 2008)
Lourdes (Jessica Hausner 2008)
Loved Ones, The (Sean Byrne 2009)
Man Who Will Come, The (Giorgio Diritti 2009)
Moscow (Whang Cheoul-mean 2009)
My Dog Tulip (Paul and Sandra Fierlinger 2009)
My Queen Karo (Dorothée Van Den Berghe 2009
Pianomania (Robert Cibis, Lilian Frank 2009)
Practice of the Wild, The (John J. Healey 2010)
Restrepo (Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington 2010) (
Russian Lessons (Andrei Nekrasov, Olga Konskaya 2009)
Seducing Charlie Parker (Amy Glazer 2010)
Splice (Vincenzo Natali 2010)
Transcending Lynch (Marcos Andrade 2010)
White Meadows, The (Mohammad Rasoulof 2009)
Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010)
You Think You're the Prettiest, But You're the Sluttiest (Che Sandoval 2008)

MY REVIEWS OF SFIFF FILMS I SAW PREVIOUSLY:

Around a Small Mountain (Jacques Rivette 2009)
Bill Cunningham New York (Richard Press 2010)
Everyone Else (Maren Ade 2009)
Father of My Children, The (Mia Hansen-Løve 2009)
Hadewijch (Bruno Dumont 2010)
Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno (Serge Bomberg, Ruxandra Medea 2009)
How I Ended This Summer (Alexei Popogrebsky 2010)
Lebanon (Samuel Moaz 2009)
Making Plans for Lena (Christophe Honoré 2009)
Nénette (Nicholas Philibert 2010)
Night Catches Us (Tanya Hamilton 2101)
Oath, The (Laura Poitras 2009)
Soul Kitchen ((Fatih Akin 2009)
Tehroun (Nader T. Homayoun 2009)
Last Train Home (Fan Tixan 2009)
To Die Like a Man (João Pedro Rodrigues 2009)
White Material (Claire Denis 2009)
Wild Grass (Alain Renais 2009)

I ALSO SAW AT NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS BUT DID NOT REVIEW THESE SFIFF 2010 SELECTIONS:

Northless (Rigoberto Pérezcano 2009)
Pivellina, La (Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel 2009)
Nénette and Soul Kitchen I saw in Paris; the others were included either in the NYFF 2009, the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2010, or New Directors/New Films 2010.



THE SFIFF WILL BE HONORING WALTER SALLES AS WELL AS ROBERT DUVALL AND JAMES SCHAMUS THIS YEAR (ABOVE) .
AWARDS ARE GOING TO ROGER EBERT AND DON HERZFELDT TOO.


An overview

The festival opening night film was Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Micmacs, a film about one man's war against weapons manufacturers. The centerpiece film is Josh Radnor's Happythankyouplease, a tale of twentysomethings livoing in lower Manhattan. The finale will be a showing of the documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Ricki Stern, Anne Sundberg), with Ms. Rivers to be honored.

"An array of first- and second-time directors are competing for this year's coveted New Directors Prize with films including Alamar (dir. Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio – Mexico), The Day God Walked Away (dir. Philippe van Leeuw – France/Belgium), and Susa (dir. Rusudan Pirveli – Georgia).

Entries into the World Cinema category include Cyrus, the new, mature film from mumblecore heroes the Duplass brothers starring Marissa Tomei, John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill that was a hit at Sundance. Other highlights are Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (dir. Jan Kounen – France), Air Doll (dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda – Japan), and I Am Love (dir. Luca Guadagnino – Italy) starring Tilda Swinton.

In addition to the films, there’s a multitude of awards and tributes during the festival. This year’s recipients include actor Robert Duval (Peter J. Owens Award), director Walter Salles (Founder’s Directing Award), and screenwriter James Schamus (Kanbar Award). All three will be honored with screenings, clips, and live interviews discussing their work. Roger Ebert will also be honored with the Mel Novikoff Award for his work in influencing the public’s knowledge and appreciation of world cinema. Don Hertzfeldt will receive the prestigious Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award for his outstanding work in animation

One of the biggest changes to this year’s festival is the expansion of the Live & Onstage program. Rachel Rosen, director of programming for the San Francisco Film Society notes “live appearances by special guests are one of the most exciting aspects of the festival,” and she’s not lying.

This year there are some great interactive events with influential names in the business. A Conversation with T Bone Burnett has the Oscar- and Grammy-winning musician discussing his experience working on acclaimed films like O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Crazy Heart.

Those looking to laugh should check out A Drunken Evening with Derek Waters and Wholphin.Writer/actor Derek Waters will screen some of his acclaimed short films, including his internet sensation Drunk History series, followed by a conversation with Wholphin editor Brent Hoff."--Martian Malloy, SFStation.