Hell on Frisco Bay (2005-2008 archive)

Frisco's 50th International Film Festival has announced its full program slate, and I'm overwhelmed by the task of trying to absorb it all in anticipation. I certainly haven't come close yet. I entreat any readers to take a glance at the schedule online and fill the comments section below with recommendations of films you've seen or are anticipating.

In the meantime let me direct your attention to Michael Hawley, a 31-year festgoing veteran who has posted his initial reaction to the program announcement at the Evening Class. I've attended only a fraction of the festivals Michael has, but I share his excitement in titles I've been hoping for months might be screened, most especially Opera Jawa by Garin Nugroho, Daratt by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Colossal Youth by Pedro Costa, and Brand Upon the Brain by Guy Maddin. These are among the films that I'll be trying to reconfigure my work schedule to catch if I have to, and it looks like I will, at least in the case of Opera Jawa. This Javanese gamelan-driven retelling of a piece from the Ramayana epic is one of the most fascinating-sounding of the seven films commissioned by Peter Sellars for his New Crowned Hope celebration of a quarter-millennium of Mozart last fall. Darrat is another. Hopefully the full set will make its way to Frisco cinema screens sometime this year. The selection of Sellars to deliver this year's State of the Cinema address seems like an inspired one from this vantage point.

Other films I've been eagerly anticipating for a while now include His Eye is on the Sparrow by Bruce Conner, Ad Lib Night by Lee Yoon-ki, Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic by Kevin Brownlow, Hana by Hirokazu Kore-eda and the newly-struck Janus print of the Phantom Carriage by Victor Sjöström (insert "Jonathan Richman is awesome" note here). And those are just the ones I don't expect to encounter another shot at later on down the line; I know that for instance Paprika by Satochi Kon, Private Fears in Public Places by Alain Resnais and Bamako by Abderrahmane Sissako all have theatrical distributors, and the latter even has a release date, at least in Marin County: June 1st at the Rafael Film Center. (According to that theatre's new calendar, SFIFF closing night film La Vie En Rose also opens there on June 15th.)

But, as I noted around this time last year, at this anticipatory moment a festival cannot be judged by the familiarity of the titles to those of us who pay attention to buzz from festivals in other cities. For every title I can check off my "hope someone brings it" list, there are at least two I've heard little to nothing about. If I'd known that Nanni Moretti, Patrick Tam, and Otar Iosseliani, to name three, had new films on the festival circuit, at some point I must have forgotten. But now I'm excited for a chance to see the Caiman, After This Our Exile, and Gardens in Autumn, respectively. And those are still films by known-quantity directors, while it's at least as important for a good festival to introduce work by unfamiliar names. On that front I'm very intrigued by a Thai documentary previously unknown to me, Stories From the North by Uruphong Raksasad. Another documentary is Fabricating Tom Zé by Decio Matos, Jr., on a Brazilian musician I resolved to learn more about after finding his tense compositions the most effective part of the Sundance prizewinner Manda Bala. Of course that's only the beginning. I've barely begun to look deeply into the program guide.

I have already seen a few more films in the program than I ever have before at this stage, though, and I hope to have time to elaborate on what I think of some of them. For now I'll just briefly list them (with links, as always). In tribute to Frederico Fellini, whose La Strada played on a 1956 program of Italian films at the Alexandria, that would morph into the SFIFF the following year, I wish I could say it was 8 1/2, but truthfully I've seen 8 1/3 of the films programmed in this year's festival so far. Three, Wonders Are Many by Jon Else, Protagonist by Jessica Yu and Destiny Manifesto by Martha Colburn were among my favorites from Sundance this January. Three are classics of various sorts that I've only seen on video up to now and am definitely considering taking the rare opportunity to rewatch on the big screen. Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali, which won the first Golden Gate award at the first truly international festival in 1957 and was reprised at the 35th and 40th editions of the festival, will also be screened at the 50th on April 29th. Terry Gilliam's the Fisher King is the Robin Williams film selected for his Castro Theatre tribute May 4th, and is one of very few Gilliam features I've never seen in a cinema. And Wladyslaw Starewicz's the Cameraman's Revenge by Wladysaw Starewicz is an adorably morbid piece of 1912 insect animation playing as part of a very intriguing program of live-music-and-film called Notes to a Toon Underground. Two more are also animated: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which screened at the 1965 edition of the festival's tribute to Walt Disney, and ten years later was the first film I ever saw (at the Stonestown Theatre, according to mom), and The Danish Poet, which I saw digitally projected on a program of Oscar-nominated animated shorts at the Lumiere a few weeks ago (I thought it was the marginal best of a rather lackluster bunch). Finally, last year's festival screened a ghostly iceberg collage called How to Pray, which is the center of Bill Morrison's Highwater Trilogy making its Frisco premiere this time around. So that's where 1/3 comes from.

There's so much more to mention but I'd really better wrap it up for now. Suffice to say I'll be writing more about the 50th SFIFF in the coming weeks.

One thing I will mention before I go: some of the films I'd thought might be programmed by SFIFF are actually turning up soon at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. It goes beyond Syndromes and a Century April 13-15 and I Don't Want to Sleep Alone April 20-22, which careful readers of this space have known about for a while. Also expect Row Hard No Excuses April 18th, the Pervert's Guide to the Cinema May 3-5, Red Without Blue May 16th, and Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait, which I caught at Sundance but am glad to see snagging a Frisco engagement May 17-19. The venue will also play host to a Grindhouse double-bill (exact titles kept secret until showtime) May 10th, a May 24th showing of Terry Zwigoff's Crumb to accompany the exhibit currently on view there, and its regular calendar of copresentations with SF Cinematheque (which brings the legendary Larry Jordan in person for a May 13th program of his films) and other local institutions.

Did I say one thing before I go? Here's a couple more, time-sensitive items I've been meaning to post. First, of all, in August there'll be a new film festival in town called the Dead Channels Festival of Fantastic Film, and to drum up early interest they're bringing a series of genre-wallowing triple features to the Victoria Theatre over the next few Sundays.

And finally, contrary to what I reported here earlier, Journey From the Fall will not be playing at the Four Star when it expands April 20th, but the ebullient teen film from Japan Linda Linda Linda will still open there this Friday. I haven't seen Grindhouse or Police Beat yet myself, but as much as I want to I can't imagine enjoying them more than Nobuhiro Yamashita's rockin' crowd pleaser.