Friday, October 31, 2008

So Many Festivals It's Almost Scary

Read of the week: Michael Guillén's piece inspired by the latest issue of the Film International journal, guest-edited by Dina Iordanova. I can't wait to get my hands on this issue myself. Michael cherry-picks quotes from its articles that help crystalize questions modern-day film festivals must tackle in the face of audiences who are finding other ways to see the stock-and-trade of certain kinds of fests; he believes "new strategies must be devised if these festivals are to survive." I half-wish Michael hadn't quoted me -- a big surprise midway into the article -- because it would have kept this paragraph from seeming a bit like an appeal to join a mutual admiration society.

But I'm ultimately glad he pointed to my piece on October's film festival glut here on Frisco Bay, for one because it provides an opportunity to point out that most of November is looking hardly less glutted with appealing festgoing options. DocFest and the SFJFF continue into the month, and I've also already mentioned that third i and the San Francisco Film Society are both bringing festivals the weekend of November 13-16. In addition, the SFFS's Animation Festival leads right into their New Italian Cinema presentation November 16-23, ending with the festival-lauded Gomorrah. After a chance to catch a Thanksgiving breath, it's followed by Quebec Film Week (titles as yet unannounced) December 10-14. 2008 has been the first year that I've sampled the SFFS's fall offerings, at the successfully-inaugurated French Cinema Now where a rare opportunity to see two early films by Arnaud Desplechin has sparked a re-evaluation of the filmmaker on my part. More on that on another day...

Two more November festivals begin on the same date: the Latino Film Festival and the American Indian Film Festival both start on the 7th day of the month. The AIFF has at least one program I really don't want to miss: Kent MacKenzie's the Exiles, a highly-praised 1962 film set in the Bunker Hill district of Los Angeles, that played for a week at the Castro Theatre this summer while I was out of town. The LFF brings the reputedly Guy Maddin-esque La Antena from Argentina and is tributing Gregory Nava's extremely significant El Norte (hopefully in a new 35mm print). More suggestions of titles from either of these festivals would be welcome.

Frank Lee is bringing back his Chinese American Film Festival to the Four Star on November 14-20 with titles including Johnny To's Sparrow, and an additional November 8th Marina Theatre screening of Ganglamedo, a Tibet-themed musical which also plays on the last day of the festival at the main venue.

Looking further into the festival crystal ball, the Berlin and Beyond film festival will run January 15-21, 2009 at the Castro and include an in-person tribute to Wim Wenders along with a presentation of his newest film Palermo Shooting. And it's already time to anticipate Noir City 7 (January 23-February 1st), a "newspaper noir"-themed special edition promising some of the most cynical print-stained newshounds ever to have collected a kill fee. Like Chuck Tatum from Ace in the Hole, or JJ Hunsecker from the Sweet Smell of Success. Lesser-known films from Fritz Lang and Anthony Mann (two apiece) and a repeat Noir City presentation of the 1946 B-picture Night Editor (did Joe Eszterhas see this before he wrote Basic Instinct?) are additional cursory highlights, but this is one festival in which its worth looking beyond the filmmaker pedigrees, so easy is it for all but the most committed noir-heads to feel like they've unearthed a forgotten gem (Night Editor was one such gem from Noir City 4, and I'm glad it's being brought back, this time on the Castro screen.)

In the meantime, other notable screenings and events not connected with film festivals keep popping up on the calendar. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts has announced some more screenings through mid-December, including brand-new 35mm prints of five Alain Robbe-Grillet films (Last Year in Marienbad, which he wrote, and four he also directed) December 4-18. The new Pacific Film Archive calendar starts this weekend with the first films in a tremendous Japanese cinema series, beginning with post-war films from Kon Ichikawa, who died earlier this year, and Akira Kurosawa. Then it continues with screenings of career highlights from most of the major figures of the Japanese New Wave (Shindo, Oshima, Suzuki, Imamura) and beyond. I hope to say more on the November-December PFA calendar soon.

But I'll just wrap up this post with a shout-out to the Balboa Theatre, which is bringing some special-events to the Richmond District just in time for me- I've moved back to this corner of Frisco myself. This Sunday there will be two appearances by animation wizard Richard Williams. He's best known for his Oscar-winning work as animation director for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but has an extensive filmography in both theatrical and television, feature-length and short-form animation. He also created title designs for films such as Murder on the Orient Express, Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?, and the 1967 Casino Royale -- and when Friz Freleng's outfit passed the torch after putting together the beloved title sequences for the first three Peter Sellers Pink Panther features, it was Williams who picked it up. Williams will be on hand for a noon show and another at 7PM, though the latter is already listed as sold out. Future special events at the Balboa also include an opportunity to watch Tuesday's election results on the big screen with an enthusiastic crowd (free admission to this one), and on December 10th, the horror host documentary Watch Horror Films, Keep America Strong will have its Frisco premiere (it's shown in Oakland, Sacramento and elsewhere but not in this county yet) with a set of as-yet-unannounced guests in attendance.

Speaking of witch, Happy Halloween!

15 comments:

  1. There is one more festival that may occur in November. The SF Korean American Film Festival is scheduled for November 21 to 23.

    www.mykima.org/2008.html

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  2. Dude,

    Let me know when the Quebec Week Schedule is announced! I'm really excited about that one, having finally ventured to Montreal and picked up a Box Collection of Michel Brault's films.

    Adam

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  3. Quebec Film Week titles will be announced next week at sffs.org.

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  4. Good luck with all the films. Of the Japanese series, I cannot emphasize The Ceremony too much, if you've never seen it. I think it's Oshima's best film.

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  5. Brian, I hope you had a wonderful Haunted House. I'm aware that Halloween is nearly totemic for you.

    As for a mutual admiration society, there's nothing wrong with us West Coast writers sticking together.

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  6. Thanks, Michael- it was one of our best, and smoothest yet. I even had time to squeeze out this post before showtime, since we had pretty much everything in place much earlier than usual.

    Peter, thanks for the Oshima rec. I unfortunately have committed to another activity the evening that the Ceremony is playing, and it's one I simply can't get out of. I'm more optimistic about catching Boy and Violence at Noon, but I'm also hoping there's truth to the rumors of a full Oshima retro in the spring, and that this current series won't be my only shot at seeing a 35mm print of the Ceremony in the next several months. So far I've only seen a couple of his films: Cruel Story of Our Youth on VHS, and Death By Hanging on 16mm.

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  7. Oh, and thanks to both anonymouses for your tips- and Adam, you're going to have to let me take a peek at some of those Braults- I'm currently taking another look at the cinéma vérité and Direct Cinema strains of documentary...

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  8. I believe that would properly be anonymice?

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  9. Oh, lets not go down that rodent...

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  10. Oh Cheeses Christ, just because I'm rat and you're wrong....

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  11. Brian,

    The Oshima Retrospective will indeed wind itself down here int he Bay Area, according to FILM COMMENT, so no worries. (I actually might go to Cleveland to catch it there in March/April.)

    I'm really anxious to finally see BOY. Have tickets for that and THE CEREMONY. (btw, I have Violence of Noon on VHS just in case you don't catch it at PFA.) And for those who will have the retrospective come there way, DEATH BY HANGING is one of my most favorite films.

    And, yes, let's get together to watch the Brault films some time this month before the Quebec Series.

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  12. Would you recommend Sumiko Haneda's Into the Picture Scroll?

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  13. Absolutely. More on that later (hopefully sooner, actually.)

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  14. Quebec film week lineup was sent out to SFFS members today, link here

    http://www.sffs.org/events/index_series_quebec.html

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  15. Thanks. Was having trouble finding the link myself. It's now on my sidebar.

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