Hell on Frisco Bay (2005-2008 archive)

It may still be rainy February here in Frisco, but it won't last (the month, at least; I can't guarantee the weather). At this time of year, as the days get longer and the equinox approaches, the movies have to get better and better in order to compete with the popularity of outdoor activities. The first big street fair of the spring is the Cherry Blossom Festival, and it runs April 14, 15, 21 and 22. In past years local cinephiles have often thought of the event as something of an annoyance, as it tied up traffic and even sent the sound of taiko drums reverberating throughout the Kabuki Theatre during its simultaneous hosting of the biggest annual film event in town, the SF International Film Festival. This year we can appreciate the Cherry Blossom Festival for what it is, because for the SFIFF's golden anniversary, the Film Society has decided to push its screening dates back so as not to conflict with the Japantown street fair. The 50th SFIFF will open with Emanuele Crialese's the Golden Door at the Castro Theatre, on April 26th, and then will continue through May 10th at venues across Frisco Bay: the Castro, the Kabuki, the Museum of Modern Art and the Cowell Theatre here in Frisco, the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, the Aquarius in Palo Alto, and more.

According to the festival's history project, the first SFIFF, held back in December of 1957, featured screenings of now-classic films such as Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, Andrzej Wajda's Kanal, and Satjajit Ray's Pather Panchali, which won the festival's first awards, for Best Picture and Best Director. The opening night film was the less-remembered the Captain from Köpenick, directed by Helmut Käutner. And the festival included the very first screening of a Michelangelo Antonioni film in the United States. The film was Il Grido, his last credited film before embarking on his great "trilogy of alienation": L'Avventura, La Notte and L'Eclisse.

Though the 50th edition of the festival won't begin for almost two months, we Frisco cine-history lovers can prepare ourselves by watching some of these films, and others screened at various editions of the SFIFF since that first year. On March 13th the Goethe-Institute is starting a series of DVD screenings of Käutner films each Tuesday, culminating with a showing of the Captain from Köpenick introduced by SFFS Creative Director Miguel Pendas April 17th. A near-complete Antonioni retrospective will begin at the PFA this Friday with the Red Desert, and ten of the films will have encores on the Castro's screen March 19-22, April 6-7, 11-12 and 18-19. Il Grido plays the PFA March 10th and the Castro on April 7th. It's worth noting that several other Antonioni films have played the SFIFF, most notably in 1968 when the great master was honored with what we now might call an early-mid-career tribute by the festival.

But the big upcoming pre-SFIFF-focus, also at the PFA, is an 18-film retrospective of films programmed at past editions of the festival, from this weekend's screenings of Shadows (4th SFIFF) and Aparajito (2nd SFIFF) to screenings of the Match Factory Girl (34th SFIFF) and the Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (31st SFIFF) the weekend before the 50th edition starts. Shirley Clarke's the Cool World (10th SFIFF) shows March 9th with Bruce Baillie's beautiful short Castro Street (10th SFIFF) Three essential films by the under-discussed collagist Arthur Peleshian screen on a program together on April 8th, before Otar Iosseliani's Pastorale the same day. Usually March and April are the months I cross the bridge to the PFA the least often, but I'm not sure that will hold this year.

On the other hand, there's plenty to tempt me on this side of Frisco Bay as well. The Castro, in addition to the above-mentioned programs, will be showing Renoir's the Rules of the Game March 9-14, (it plays the Rafael March 16-22) Godard's Two Or Three Things I Know About Her March 30-April 5, and Burnett's Killer of Sheep May 18-24. They're all absolute must-attend engagements. The Red Vic has its new (slightly shorter than usual, to make room for ads) calendar available around town too, and in addition to the usual late-run showings of recent releases (Romántico March 26-27, Volver April 4-5, Tears of the Black Tiger April 14-15) the co-op is also bringing back Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle Tuesdays and Wednesdays starting April 17th, its now-annual engagement of the Big Lebowski 4/19-4/21, and the new prints of El Topo (April 22-23) and the Holy Mountain (April 29-30) that I missed out on when they played the Castro last month.

More time-pressing events include the Noise Pop Film Festival at various venues inbcluding the Roxie Feb. 28- March 4, and Tazza: the High Rollers, the second-biggest box office hit in South Korea last year (after the Host) and playing at the Four Star through Thursday, March 1st. That happens to be the day the Documentary Film Institute begins a four-day series of wartime documentaries through history called Witness To War. Some will be excited to see the new Ken Burns film at the Castro and the Premiere Theatre (this is the first I've noticed the Presidio venue open to the public), but I'm more excited by a chance to see films by the great British documentarian and former surrealist Humphrey Jennings shown on the screen at the De Young Museum this Saturday- for free! The most poetic of all "propaganda" films, Listen To Britain and a Diary For Timothy play at noon, introduced by David Thomson, and the feature-length "Fires Were Started-" screens at 2PM. Other films, including Iraq in Fragments, which I was rooting for (but not expecting) to win an Oscar the other night play the venue, also for free, over the weekend. And of course the Balboa's birthday bash featuring Buster Keaton films and vaudeville-style performances happens tonight at 7PM.

Other Cinema is back up and running for the season. Every Saturday night the series infects the Mission District with the most eclecticly curated experimental films imaginable, through the open wound known as Artists' Television Access. The gash will be stitched shut for the summer after the final screening in the series on May 26th, a selection of new work including Martha Colburn's seriously cine-reflexive, political splatter movie Destiny Manifesto.

The Clay is showing Where the Boys Are with Connie Francis in person beforehand this Friday, March 2nd. Speaking of Landmark, its Filmcalendar is currently up and running and includes the Page Turner opening April 6th, Mafioso April 13th and Offside April 20th. These films as well as other one-week (sometimes longer, but you never know) stands are scheduled for either the Opera Plaza or Lumiere in Frisco, and the Shattuck in Berkeley.

And since I've so smoothly segued back to the East Bay, I'd like to mention that the Parkway Theatre's African Diaspora Cinema series is about to get rolling again, beginning with Daughters of the Dust this Sunday, March 4th, and continuing with Rolf De Heer's The Tracker May 6th and more. The long-standing Parkway series known as Thrillville will split its time with its sister theatre to the North, the Cerrito. But Oaklanders will be glad to know they won't have to trek that far to see Night of the Lepus March 8th or Thunderball July 12th.

David Lynch fan alert: the Tiburon Film Festival will be screening Lumiere and Company as part of a tribute to French Film Pioneers March 25th. You may be aware that Premonition Following an Evil Deed, Lynch's contribution to the omnibus/documentary was almost universally acclaimed as the best segment of the film when it first made the rounds more than a decade ago. I quite liked the film overall, though, and remember minute-long films made by Youssef Chahine, Zhang Yimou, Claude Lelouche, Spike Lee and numerous others as among the highlights. More shorts, such as collection of Pixar offerings, and Olivio Barberi's Site Specific: Las Vegas are also programmed for the festival, which runs March 22-30th. There's also a tribute to Tunisian cinema and some documentaries on great filmmakers: Peter Bogdanovich's revised Directed By John Ford, which is supposed to be quite something, as well as Searching For Orson and Satyajit Ray Negatives which I hadn't heard of before, like most of the films at this Marin County festival I haven't attended before.

Finally, a touring film festival called Lunafest, featuring "short films by, for and about women" is coming the Auctions By the Bay Theatre on the island of Alameda. This is one of the most gorgeously restored theatres on Frisco Bay, and even if the shorts are of unknown quality, it's a very rare chance to see films in such an inviting environment.