Jesse Hawthorne Ficks: IOHTE

The San Francisco Bay Area is still home to a rich cinephilic culture nurtured in large part by a diverse array of cinemas, programmers and moviegoers. I'm honored to present a selection of favorite screenings experienced by local cinephiles in 2015. An index of participants can be found here. 

IOHTE contributor Jesse Hawthorne Ficks is the Film History Coordinator at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and curates/hosts the Midnites for Maniacs series at the Castro Movie Theatre, Alamo Drafthouse & Roxie Theater. He also writes film festival reviews for many Bay Area outlets..

Ficks' Picks of Films Seen in 2015 For the First Time

1. Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World: 288 Minute Director's Cut (1991) - DCP @ The Castro

2. John Ford's Four Sons (1928) - 35mm @ The Stanford

3. Vittorio DeSica's Marriage Italian Style - DCP @ The Castro

4. James Glickenhaus' Shakedown - 35mm @ The Castro

5. Dimitri Kirsanoff's Menilmontant - DCP @The Castro

6. Henry King's The Gunfighter - 35mm @ The Yerba Buena Center

7. King Vidor's War & Peace - 35mm @ The Stanford

8. Sidney Bernstein & Alfred Hitchcock's Holocaust Concentration Camp - DCP @ The Castro

9. Floyd Mutrux's Dusty & Sweets McGee - 35mm @ The Castro

10. John Ford's The Iron Horse (1925) - 35mm w/ Dennis James on Organ @ The Stanford

Jerry And Me (2012)

WHO: Jerry Lewis and Mehrnaz Saeedvafa are the "Jerry" and "Me" of the title: the former a comedy legend, the latter the Iranian-American film scholar (and co-writer, with Jonathan Rosenbaum, of a terrific book on Abbas Kiarostami) who directed this among other her other films and videos.

WHAT: I haven't yet seen this documentary reflecting on Saeedvafa's personal history through the prism of her lifelong relationship with the films of Lewis, from her days watching him dubbed in Farsi during her youth in pre-Revolutionary Tehran to her more recent experiences teaching college courses on him in Chicago. With endorsements from as diverse an array of critics as Scott Jordan Harris, Ehsan Khoshbakht, and Adrian Martin, I'm dying to. A brief excerpt from the review of Jerry and Me by the last of these in the must-read film journal LOLA follows:

Film history, as it has generally been written, only occasionally gives us a glimpse of this kind of shuttle-action across cultures, nations and audiences: a Latin American star such as Carmen Miranda as seen ‘back home’ via the detour of her Hollywood productions; or the cult of certain US actors in Japan. But an entire treasure-trove of spectator experience opens up once we loosen the bounds of territorial belonging, as Saeedvafa does here. It is a different Lewis than the one we are used to encountering... 

WHERE/WHEN: Screens at the Castro Theatre today at 1:15 PM, at the Cinéarts Palo Alto August 7th at 3:50 PM, and the Grand Lake in Oakland August 10th at 1:45 PM, all as presentations of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

WHY: The SFJFF is bigger than ever this year and there's much to intrigue among its 74 films programmed. But if I could only attend one day of the festival, today would be it. If I wanted to make a marathon out of it, I could arrive in the morning for a pair of Israeli road movies and stay all day until the 9PM Frameline co-presentation Out In The Dark. In between there will be two very exciting director-in-person appearances: brilliant New York documentarian Alan Berliner with his new First Cousin, Once Removed and legendary Swedish auteur Jan Troell with his latest The Last Sentence.

This afternoon's screening of Jerry And Me seems particularly important in the light of the fact that the Castro Theatre has released an August calendar filled with many tantalizing viewing options, it's once again a month without a Jerry Lewis film. Unless my memory's failing me, In the many years I've been paying close attention to its programming, not once has a film by or starring Lewis played the Castro. Not even The King of Comedy made it into the venue's 2009 Scorsese series (although a new restoration is said to be making the rounds internationally, so perhaps soon...) This may sound a bit like a cross between noticing the Castro doesn't play enough Adam Sandler or John Wayne films- the nexus of unappealing to San Francisco audiences for aesthetic and political reasons. The venue's size means it needs to appeal to large audiences in its screening offerings, and perhaps steer clear of Lewis's general unfashionability and his retrograde, borderline (and sometimes over-the-border) offensive personal comments about women, gays, and various minority groups over the years. 

But enjoying the films does not equal endorsing the man's outlook. Many cinephiles know that the best of the films Lewis made in the 1950s and 1960s simply cry out to be seen in cinemas, a fact I confirmed for myself earlier this year when I finally experienced his work in 35mm for the first time, on a trip to the Stanford to see the masterful Tashlin-directed Artists And Models. One day I'd like to see Lewis's work as a director (perhaps the Godard-influencing The Ladies Man?) on a big screen; I can't recall an instance of any Frisco Bay theatre screening any of them since Eddie Murphy's 1996 remake of The Nutty Professor inspired Marc Huestis to bring the 1963 original to the Castro with Stella Stevens in attendance (an event that predated my own intense cinephilia). In the meantime, the only chances to see Lewis on the Castro screen have been occasional bookings of It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, in which he has a brief cameo. Until today's screening of Jerry And Me, when videoclips from his films and media appearances, (including, yes, even some of his dispiriting public statements) will be viewable presented through the filter of a modern, Iranian-American feminist, washing over that giant screen. And who knows if it might whet an appetite to see the genuine article in 35mm?

HOW: Digital video projection on a program also including Dan Shadur's documentary on Jews in Iran, Before the Revolution.

An American Tail (1986)

WHO: Steven Spielberg was executive producer and lent his grandfather's name Fievel to the main character of this film. Former Disney animator Don Bluth directed it as his follow-up to The Secret of NIMH.

WHAT: Somehow I've never seen An American Tail, and had in fact almost forgotten about it until recently reading Art Spiegelman's book Metamaus about the creation and ramifications of his masterpiece of sequential art Maus, in which he relates how the animation became entwined with his anthropomorphic Holocaust tale after its work-in-progress appearance in RAW, the magazine he'd co-founded. A couple key excerpts:

In 1985, somebody showed me an interview with Steven Spielberg that indicated he was producing a feature-length animated cartoon about Jewish mice escaping the anti-Semitic pogroms of Russia to set up a new life in America. I believed that Don Bluth, the director, had seen the Maud chapters in RAW and I just imagined the story conference that led to An American Tail: "Okay. The Holocaust is kind of a bummer, you know, but maybe if we do a Fiddler On The Roof thing with cuter mice we could make a go of it." I was terrified their movie would come out before my book was finished...

...the confusion could have left me being perceived as somehow creating a kind of twisted and gnarled version of a Spielberg production rather than what I'm quite sure was the case: An American Tale was a sanitized reworking launched from the Maud concept. And just a few years ago my friend, Aline Kominsky told me that her mother had praised me: "That Art Spiegelberg, he's such a talented boy! Not only did he do Maus, but he did E.T.!"

This inspired Spiegelman to suggest the publication of Maus in two volumes rather than one, and ultimately An American Tail's production was delayed until after part one had been released, thereby avoiding any such confusion. 

WHERE/WHEN: 10:00 AM today only at the Castro Theatre, as part of the 33rd San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

WHY: The SF Jewish Film Festival started last Thursday and runs through this coming Thursday, August 1st at the Castro before fanning out to other venues around Frisco Bay over the following week and a half. Cheryl Eddy's SF Bay Guardian article on the festival covers several of the festival's documentaries, and notes the SFJFF's broadening of its focus this year, in that "plenty of SFJFF's programs do specifically address Jewish religion and culture," but that several docs she pre-screened "simply happened to be made by a Jewish filmmaker."

In the case of An American Tail, the theme may be Jewish (it must be among the most prominent American animated features to feature explicitly Jewish characters) but the director was not; Bluth is Mormon. But the film still seems like an ideal selection to bring a "family" audience to a festival better known for showing films that appeal to viewers old enough to read subtitles and/or to digest heady intellectual topics. It's also, perhaps unintentionally, a great selection to bring to a festival that is including a documentary on the Maus-termind himself: The Art of Spiegelman, which screens next week at just about every festival venue but the Castro. I for one am hoping to be able to attend both films.

HOW: An American Tail and the August 11 showing of the The Producers (the movie based on the musical based on the movie, not the original movie) at Oakland's Grand Lake Theatre are, according to the Film On Film Foundation, the only two 35mm screenings at this year's SFJFF.

To Be Or Not To Be (1942)

WHO: Ernst Lubitsch directed this.

WHAT: Though it was a critical and commercial flop in its day, over the years To Be Or Not To Be has grown to join just about everyone's short list of Ernst Lubitsch's greatest comedies. Though its subject matter of a Polish theatre company contending with Hitler's invasion would seem to suggest a comic arena in which the Jewishness of its characters would be integral to the plot and the humor. And it is. But thanks to Hollywood protocols during World War II, the word "Jew" is never uttered in the film, and the characters' religions are identified only by cues such as star Jack Benny's widely-known Jewishness and lines like Felix Bressart's "What you are I wouldn't eat." Bressart plays a character actor named Greenberg, whose greatest wish is to portray Shylock in a production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. His character is fascinating from a perspective of seeking the Jewish essence of To Be Or Not To Be. There's a terrific essay on this topic by Joel Rosenberg which I shall excerpt the concluding paragraph of:

Lubitsch's aim of creating a film that would capture the complexity of the era and be remembered long after other films of the period were forgotten was, in a sense, perfectly realized. "What is the only picture," Lubitsch asked, "that is still remembered from the last war? It is not Griffith's Hearts of the World, or any of those sad ones. It's Chaplin's Shoulder's Arms." Lubitsch knew that laughter expressed the health of a society, and that the task of the filmmaker was to create a reality that violated the neat boundaries we tend to draw between comedy and high seriousness. And in offering us (or, I should say, offering up) Greenberg, Lubitsch made telling allusion to the doubly vanished Jew: the Jew who was then disappearing from Europe, and the Jew who, in that otherwise noble era of classic Hollywood cinema, ad all but disappeared from the American screen.

WHERE/WHEN: Tonight's 7:30 PM screening ends a short run at the Stanford Theatre.

WHY: To Be Or Not To Be is far too infrequently revived on Frisco Bay cinema screens. It's played at the Stanford a few times over the years, but I can't recall it playing other venues for quite some time. It was even left out of a otherwise-substantial 2007 Lubitsch retrospective at the Pacific Film Archive for some reason. The most recent screening I can think of outside of Palo Alto was in 2004, when it screened as part of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Unfortunately I missed it then.

The 2013 SFJFF doesn't include any films from the classic Hollywood era, but it does have an expansive program of films (and television) by and about Jews from all over the world. Lincoln Spector has already previewed a few of the selections, but he hasn't seen the three films I'm most excited about, all of which coincidentally screen on the same day at the Castro Theatre, July 29th. These are Jerry and Me, an Iranian filmmaker's essay film on her personal connection to the comedy of Jerry Lewis over the years, which screens with another documentary about Jews in Iran Before the Revolution (not to be confused with the Bertolucci film from 1964.) And The Last Sentence, a drama about Sweden's shameful neutrality during World War II, directed by one of the most respected veterans of that country's filmmaking scene, Jan Troell, who is expected to be on hand for the Castro screening of the film- an event the auteur's fans will want to take a Monday afternoon off in order to catch. Last but not least, First Cousin Once Removed, an exploration of Alzheimer's made by one of America's most under-appreciated documentarians, Alan Berliner (his insomnia doc Wide Awake is tremendous, and what I've seen of his early experimental collage films are great as well). Berliner will also be at the Castro in person to receive the SFJFF's annual Freedom of Expression Award, and it's hard to think of a more deserving man.

HOW: To Be Or Not To Be screens via a 35mm print, on a double-bill with Preston Sturges's Unfaithfully Yours.

Frako Loden Only Has Two Eyes

It's impossible for any pair of eyes to view all of Frisco Bay's worthwhile film screenings. I'm so pleased that a number of local filmgoers have let me post their repertory/revival screening highlights of 2011. An index of participants is found here.

The following list comes from critic and teacher Frako Loden, who writes for documentary.org, The Evening Class, and elsewhere.

Al Momia (The Night of Counting the Years) (Shadi Abdel Salam, 1969) - Pacific Film Archive showed this magnificent, mysterious film about an Egyptian clan that has been surreptitiously selling off mummy treasures.

The Battle of Chile Parts I, II, III (Patricio Guzmán, 1975-78) - Another PFA-hosted masterwork, part of the SFIFF, that had me enthralled for over four hours.

Went the Day Well? (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1942) - At last I got to see this weird "what if" propaganda about Nazis infiltrating an English village.

Every year the San Francisco Silent Film Festival leaves me with the most vivid memories of films gone by. Il Fuoco (The Fire) (Giovanni Pastrone, 1915) was my first big-screen look at the astonishing Italian diva Pina Menichelli that ignited my fascination with Black Romanticism. The Great White Silence (Herbert G. Ponting, 1924) documented Capt. Robert Falcon Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole. The orphan film Origin of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” (1909) reduced me to helpless laughter thanks to Stephen Horne's piano accompaniment. Lois Weber's 1916 social-problem Shoes was a revelation. And Upstream (1927) could have been a completely mediocre film for all I cared--I was just thrilled to see a John Ford film thought to be lost forever.

Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960) - The Jewish Film Festival had Kirk Douglas on the Castro Theatre stage for a brisk and hilarious Q&A.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the California Film Institute continued their "A Century Ago" series with a half-dozen films from 1911 at the Rafael. I'm hooked as of this year.

My first visit to Telluride this summer happened to be guest-programmed by Brazilian musico-political legend Caetano Veloso. His choice of the Les Blank-style documentary Nordeste: Cordel, Repente e Canção (Tânia Quaresma, 1975), about the vernacular arts of Northeastern Brazil, was one of the most rewarding screenings there. I also finally got to see the triumphant ending of the restored, fully tinted A Trip to the Moon (Fr: Georges Melies, 1902) as the climax of another great Serge Bromberg program.

Carl Martin Only Has Two Eyes

It's impossible for any pair of eyes to view all of Frisco Bay's worthwhile film screenings. I'm so pleased that a number of local filmgoers have let me post their repertory/revival screening highlights of 2011. An index of participants is found here.

The following list comes from Carl Martin, the keeper of the Film On Film Foundation's Bay Area Film Calendar.

this year's short list was modest compared to years past. still tough to winnow down to ten:

april 3, pfa: north beach
the fragment of dion vigne's film i'd seen before is brilliant. i'd heard the complete film was even more so--but how could it sustain its frantic energy for 17 minutes? it could!

april 27, kabuki #1: salvador
i've never been an oliver stone fan but this early buddy movie (?) has just the right tone of general nonpartisan political cynicism. james woods is a lunatic. a first-rate print, well projected.

may 13, castro: out of the blue
finally allowed to direct again after the last movie, dennis hopper made a film almost as radical and disruptive, yet, to its benefit, with more confidence and cohesion. linda manz. linda manz!

june 5, red vic: the great muppet caper; june 19, castro: the muppets take manhattan
i hadn't seen these first two muppet sequels since their original releases, and they had me choked up from scene one. masterful puppetry, masterful command of cinema's emotive possibilities. plus great songs and cameos. lovely prints. (the new muppet movie was ok but they shot the dang thing with a video camera!)

july 1, roxie: tex
matt dillon: a dumb mug awash with pathos-inducing, vulnerable bravado. this movie tore my damn heart out. followed by the somewhat cathartic over the edge, an earlier, nearly as good effort (as screenwriter) from tim hunter.

august 1, roda theatre: the juggler
the early part of the day is a dead time for repertory. but that's when i'm most alert, most receptive, before the drowsiness of early evening cycles in. thank you, sfjff, for showing this lovely print of a heartbreaking film at mid-day. i felt every twist of the emotional wrench. kirk douglas gives one of his finest performances as a charismatic man revealed to be quite mad--the only sane response to the madness of his world. too bad the ending's a bit pat.

august 5, pfa: king queen knave
usually i don't like to "read the book" before i "watch the movie" but when i read nabokov's novel five years ago i had no idea who skolimowski was, let alone that he'd adapted it. oddly, some of the clunkier material from the book, such as the robot mannequin sequence, reveals itself to be cinematic gold in this hilarious sex comedy. the print, alas, was faded.

september 9, pfa: payday
no punches are pulled in this dissection of country music's seedy underbelly, back when country music was good. now it's even more cynically commercial, but, worst of all, bland. rip torn--bland he is not.

september 14, pfa: ice
a ballsy super-low-budget agit-prop feature that really seems to embody its own convictions and contradictions. the first part of zabriskie point meets... it happened here, maybe? why the hell is it called ice?

december 2, roxie: hi-riders
i was surprised the same auteur lay behind the ultra-schlocky joysticks and this considerably more interesting work. it's shamelessly exploitative, to be sure, with a breast count to rival its body count, but dean cundey's photography elevates it, and the finale is shockingly effective. this original print had, shall we say, lots of character.

Lincoln Spector Only Has Two Eyes

It's impossible for any pair of eyes to view all of Frisco Bay's worthwhile film screenings. I'm so pleased that a number of local filmgoers have let me post their repertory/revival screening highlights of 2011. An index of participants is found here.

The following list comes from Lincoln Spector of Bayflicks. With his permission, I extracted the Frisco Bay repertory events from his previously-published list of Best Movie-Going Experiences of 2011:

Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm, Castro, June 11. Hollywood made a lot of long epic movies in the 50s and 60s. Many of them were shot in large formats, and initially presented in 70mm roadshow presentations—a great way to see a big film. Some of these movies were pretty good. A few were excellent. Too many of them are unwatchable. But only one stands out among the greatest masterpieces of the cinema: David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia—as perfect a blending of medium and story as you can find. Seeing this film this way wasn’t a new experience for me last summer, but an old, beloved one. Had it been my first such experience, it undoubtedly would have made number 1.

Four Noir Features in One Day, Castro/Noir City, January 22. It was dark. It was dangerous. Lust, greed, and fear hung heavily in the air. It was enough to drive you crazy. On one dark and scary winter day, I sat through two double bills of vintage noir, all about people who were out of their minds (a festival-long theme last year). I loved three out of the four movies, but the best was easily Don’t Bother To Knock, which gave Marilyn Monroe one of her first starring roles. She plays a babysitter who really should not be trusted with a child. She shouldn’t be trusted with a grown man like Richard Widmark, either.

Three Charlie Chaplin Mutual Shorts, Castro/Silent Film Festival Winter Event, February 12. Forget, for a moment, the mature Charlie Chaplin of The Gold Rush and City Lights. It was the short subjects he made a decade earlier that won him more populsilarity than anyone could have imagined before he stepped in front of a movie camera. The three shorts presented that day, The Pawnshop, The Rink, and The Adventurer reminded me and hundreds of other people of just how amazing he was in his third year as a filmmaker. The early Chaplin character could be exceptionally selfish and cruel–even sadistic. Yet you root for him. That’s star power. Donald Sosin provided piano accompaniment.

Upstream, Castro/San Francisco Silent Film Festival, July 14. How often do you get to see a newly discovered John Ford movie (actually, this was my second). Thought lost for decades and recently found in New Zealand, Upstream is not the sort of picture you associate with Ford. But this amusing and entertaining trifle about the residents of a theatrical boarding house–a story with a love triangle at the center–showed that he was considerably more versatile than we generally assume. Rather than merely accompanying the film on a piano, Donald Sosin put together a jazz sextet that rocked the house.

Serge Bromberg and the History of 3D, Castro/San Francisco International Film Festival, May 1. In 2011, the Festival gave its Mel Novikoff Award to film restoration expert, distributor, and entertainer Serge Bromberg. After a brief Q&A where he discussed preservation and set some nitrate film on fire, he presented, narrated, and occasionally accompanied some rare, historic 3D shorts. Among the filmmakers whose works were presented were George Mêliés and Chuck Jones. With the exception of the first two-reeler, all of the films were presented digitally.

Kirk Douglas & Spartacus, Castro/San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, July 25. Last year, the Jewish Festival gave its Freedom of Expression Award to Hollywood star, living legend, executive producer, and stroke survivor Issur Danielovitch—better known to the world as Kirk Douglas. The stroke slurred his speech but not his enthusiasm, and didn’t keep him from talking about the importance of free expression in a democracy, and that how without it we are all slaves. Then they screened Spartacus–one of the great roadshow productions of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Like Lawrence of Arabia, this picture requires something like the Castro to make it work its best. My only regret: They screened it in 35mm as no 70mm print is currently available.

runners-up, listed in chronological order by screening date

The Leopard, Castro, February 20
The Battleship Potemkin, Castro, March 18
Screenwriter Frank Pierson and Dog Day Afternoon, Kabuki/San Francisco International Film Festival, April 30.
Days of Heaven, Cerrito, August 11
Elevator to the Gallows, Pacific Film Archive, November 4

Maureen Russell's Two Eyes

Since my own two eyes were not nearly enough to see and evaluate all the repertory/revival film screenings here on Frisco Bay, I'm honored to present local filmgoers' lists of the year's favorites. An index of participants is found here.

The following list comes from film buff, SFFS member and Noir City/SFSFF volunteer Maureen Russell:


1) WAKE IN FRIGHT (OUTBACK)
Ted Kotcheff, director (Australia, 1971)
Once lost film, rediscovered print, restored
Director in person for Q&A 4/30/10
When I attend many screenings during a festival, not many of the films get stuck in my head. I was so taken with this film, I went across town just for the Q&A I found out director Ted Kotcheff was doing – worth it! This film caught me like I woke up on the floor with flies, empty beer bottles everywhere and broken furniture and … I like a good film with a protagonist getting caught in a downward spiral.

2) THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC
Carl Th. Dreyer (France, 1928)
An Oratorio with Silent Film; Music by Richard Einhorn
At the Paramount Theatre, Oakland
Presented by the Pacific Film Archive, Paramount Theatre and Silent Film Festival
December 2, 2010
I’d seen this film once maybe 25 years ago and the images stayed with me. A rare treat to see a beautiful print with a small orchestra and huge choir, which I was sitting directly behind.
The lead actress is amazing, plus there’s Antonin Artaud as the cool monk. Dreyer’s use of the closeup is something else. This was a perfect way for my first visit to Oakland’s incredible art deco Paramount Theatre.

3) ROTAIE
Mario Camerini, director (Italy, 1928)
Live accompaniment by Stephen Horne
July 2010
A charming and beautiful film of a young couple, in love but without money, who find a lost wallet filled with cash. Neo-Realist yet dreamlike, beautifully shot and acted. Stephen Horne’s piano accompaniment fit the film perfectly.

4) METROPOLIS
Fritz Lang, 1927
restoration to original cut, found footage in Argentina not seen since film’s original release
live accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra
July 2010
I’d heard the buzz about the restoration with found footage, and it was great to go to the SF premiere during the Silent Film Fest with a full house. I’d seen this film a number of times over the years in different edits, but this time it really made sense – no holes in the story. And the driving score by the Alloy Orchestra really added to the drama. I was not disappointed.

5) CRY DANGER (1951) Robert Parrish, director, USA
Restored premiere, with co-star Richard Erdman in person (best wise cracking noir lines)
THE MOB (1951)
1/23/10 double feature
Noir City festival theme: Lust & Larceny
The Castro Theatre, San Francisco
This was one of the strongest nights at last year’s record attendance premier noir film fest. It was a treat to see Cry Danger restored.

6) JOHNNY COOL (1963) – “Rat Pack noir”
COP HATER (1958)
May 22 double feature
I STILL WAKE UP DREAMING: NOIR IS DEAD! / LONG LIVE NOIR! Rare B Noirs from Hollywood’s Poverty Row - The Roxie
A very fun double feature. Johnny Cool had the Italian tough man brought to the US to take out some business competition, featuring appearances by Sammy Davis Jr. and many who starred in favorite tv shows after appearing here.
Cop Hater had one tough femme fatale.

7) Western noir double feature
NOT NECESSARILY NOIR series – the Roxie Theater
TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN
Written by then-blacklisted screen scribe Dalton Trumbo. Great performance by its star, Sterling Hayden, with Sebastian Cabot too.
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis.
DAY OF THE OUTLAW
Atmospheric psychological black and white western set in the winter, with fog and snow, photographed by Russell Harlan. Great acting starring Robert Ryan against a sadistic band of outlaws led Burl Ives! And if it wasn’t enough seeing Burl Ives heading the outlaws, a young Tina Louise co-stars. Directed by Andre DeToth.

8) Special event: CLUB FOOT Presents: A Generous Illusion, Post-Punk SF (1978-82)
July 29, 2010. Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library, Main Library.
This special evening included films and videos of actor/musician Richard Edson, Christian Marclay's Bachelors Even, Bruce Geduldig's Childhood Prostitute (starring JoJo Planteen from Inflatable Boy Clams) and much more, compiled and curated for this presentation. Standing room crowd for rare videos and films of live music performances.


9) HUNGRY HEARTS
E. Mason Hopper, director (US, 1022)
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Castro Theatre
7/26/10
Restored melodrama of immigrants arriving in New York. I enjoyed the new commissioned score performed live on stage by the Moab Strangers, composer Ethan Miller, innovative Bay Area psychedelic and folk heroes and even a female Gamelan band

10) DANGER ON TIKI ISLAND
Mystery Science Theater 3000 work over this film which set on an island with issues like virgin sacrifices and mutating man-eating plants, a guy with dwarf servants, etc. Commentary from the MST3K Cinematic titanic crew which includes Joel, Crow, Tom Servo and others from the TV show.

2/2/10 – San Francisco – SF Sketchfest – The Castro Theatre- Danger on Tiki Island aka Brides of Blood (1968) My first time seeing this group live, it was fun to laugh along with the full house at the Castro.

Adam Hartzell: SF Jewish Film Festival Preview

Adam Hartzell writes on the 29th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival:

There's an oft-repeated story that Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement (otherwise known as Flight of the Conchords) were turned down for funding by New Zealand public television because their humor was "Too Wellington". That is, their humor would be missed by everyone outside of the nation's capital. (I've heard this story most often on Radio National New Zealand, their NPR equivalent, but here's a citation of someone else who cites the rumor.) Ironically, it took the U.S., a country that many argue enforces mediocrity by requiring entertainment to be constrained within the confines of what 'Middle America' would find interesting, to see that the world was way more Wellington than New Zealand public television ever realized.

The mistake made by that rumor of an ill-fated bureaucratic choice is that people will have trouble relating to difference. In this way, a mundane mainstream must be reached because too much fringe causes too much confusion. This is why we ended up with so many TV shows and films based in San Francisco where everyone is white and nobody is Gay. J Lo had to be a white wedding planner because everyone knows there ain't no Latinas in San Francisco. But there are media that show the lie to that argument, TV shows and films that demonstrate that people from diverse backgrounds can appreciate stories from experiences other than a white Protestant lens. TV shows from the very beginning of TV like The Goldbergs show the window-sized holes in these arguments.

If you are not now yelling inside your head 'Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg!' after reading that reference, you are like me before seeing Aviva Kempner's documentary Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg. Kempner's documentary is screening at this year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (the 29th edition, held from July 23rd through August 10th this year) along with a special screening of a collection of episodes from The Goldbergs TV show. This is all part of Kempner receiving the festival's Freedom of Expression Award for her contribution to Jewish Cinema. I was unaware of Gertrude Berg's pioneering radio, TV, and stage-work and that The Goldbergs was considered the progenitor of the TV sitcom.

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg challenges the belief that people can't relate to backgrounds different from their own by bringing past fans of the show, an African American and a Greek Orthodox American, who found the aspects of Jewish culture portrayed on The Goldbergs transferable to their own lives, their own families. As much as I enjoy this documentary, I do have peccadilloes about the use of stock images in the documentary that are disjointed enough from the narration that they throw me off it. For example, during one narration of a young adult Berg driving in a car with her father, the generic stock footage is of a man driving without a young female passenger in the seat next to him. Perhaps we are supposed to impose an image of Berg into the seat, but without any person in the actual seat, it distracted more than complemented the narration for me. A few seconds later we are meant to impose Berg walking alongside the car with images of no one walking along the side of the car (and too fast for someone to 'walk' along side at that). I know this can be seen as poetic license, asking the viewer to enter the film by filling up the stock image with an image of Berg, but it didn't work for me. Regardless of these moments where the documentary lost me, Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg is an otherwise engaging doc that reveals much for both those familiar with Berg's work and those previously ignorant like me.

Victoria Day (David Bezmozgis, Canada, 2009) may pose a similar challenge to folk theories espousing limitations on how much difference audiences, particularly U.S. audiences, can accept. English Canadian films are often discouraged from emphasizing their Canadian locality because such is believed to prohibit opportunities for distribution below the 49th parallel. To even name a film "Victoria Day" implies you've given up on your neighbors to the South. (Although intended to celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday in English-speaking Canada, Victoria Day has been appropriated in cultural practice to note the beginning of summer and, like many holidays, as an excuse to drink. Both appropriations are will utilized in this film.) But there is absolutely no reason why the trials of 16-year-old Ben Spektor can't resonate here in the U.S. Ben is played expertly by Mark Rendell, who will also be a lead character in Year of the Carnivore, the upcoming directorial debut of Sook-yin Lee from the CBC's Definitely Not the Opera. A begrudging effort to assist someone he despises leads him down a road of ambiguous responsibilities. Along the way, we are witness to thankfully non-clichéd portrayals of triads between Ben and his two friends and Ben and his Russian-émigré parents. This is a wonderfully subtle, impactful film.

Let me end where the SFJFF begins, with their opening film Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger (Cathy Randall, Australia, 2008). I missed an opportunity to see this film during my last trip to Melbourne when it was playing in the Camberwell suburb where I was staying.. And after watching (on DVD) this wonderful film in my apartment in the Richmond District (appropriately enough, a district of San Francisco believed to have been given its name from an Australian who felt it reminded him of his former Melbourne neighborhood of Richmond), I'm so grateful to SFJFF for giving me another chance to see it. The film follows an awkward teenage year of Esther Blueburger. Shunned for her odd behavior by the privileged pack at her private school, she finds herself embraced for such by the rebels at a public school she secretively attends. Interspersed with surreal moments of imagination, this is not an Améliesque romanticism of fantastic whimsy. (Mind you, I love Amélie. But too much romanticism, especially when imposed on youth, can pose problems. For a strong argument against emo-overshare, checkout Craig Shuftan's wonderful new book, and wonderfully titled, Hey Nietzche, Leave Them Kids Alone!, published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's publishing house. Tricia Rose's The Hip Hop Wars is a powerful companion book to Shuftan's since she presents an equally strong critique of romanticism's doppelganger, nihilism.) Esther, played strikingly well for a young debut by Danielle Catanzariti, battles against the cliques and confinements of teenage life. She eventually makes choices that result in her becoming that which she previously fought against, providing her an opportunity to take the very responsibilities she wished others would take. A slightly atypical coming-of-age film, I found myself embracing this gem from a country whose national cinema has been lacking in the eyes of my Australian friends. (Although everyone is raving about Aboriginal director Warwick Thornton's debut Samson and Delilah, so things could indeed be looking up down under.)

In fact, I found myself tremendously engaged with all three selections I screened prior to the beginning of SFJFF this Thursday. So if these three are any sign of what's on offer for the rest of the selections, this year's SFJFF should be the best I've ever attended.

Thanks Adam! The 29th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival opens at the Castro Theatre this Thursday, July 23rd and stays at that venue for a week. On August 1st, screenings move to the CinéArts theatre in Palo Alto, and to the Roda Theatre in Berkeley. Finally, the festival wraps up at the Jewish Community Center back here in Frisco August 8th and 9th, and at the Rafael in San Rafael August 8-10.

Jewish Film Festival lineup announced

The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival has announced the full program lineup and schedule for its 28th edition, running July 24th through August 11th at venues around Frisco Bay.

On an initial perusal of the offerings, three films jump out at me: my olympic summer is a terrific short that I saw and wrote about at Sundance earlier this year. Anvil! the Story of Anvil is another film that played Sundance. There was tinnitus-inducing word-of-mouth for this documentary about a persistent Canadian heavy metal band on the wintry streets of Park City. I figured that with that much positive buzz I'd surely have another shot at seeing it in Frisco, and here it is, to my mild surprise, at the SFJFF. None of the "you've gotta see this one" reviews I heard from festival volunteers and filmgoers mentioned that the band members are Jews.

Finally, Chris Marker's 1960 Description of a Struggle is the jumping-off point for Israeli filmmaker Dan Geva's new Description of a Memory. The Marker film won prizes at the Berlin Film Festival in 1961, and though it's little seen today, it still can stir up controversy on the occasions that it is. A program of both works plays one time only at the SFJFF, on the morning of August 9th at Roda in Berkeley.

What am I overlooking here?

Did you know ...

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(With sincere apologies to Jonas Mekas)

Did you know the Rafael Film Center has put out its latest calendar? That they're playing Roberto Rossellini's beautiful the Flowers of St. Francis for four days in early August? Did you know that Guy Maddin's latest short film, a tribute starring the neorealist's daughter Isabella called My Dad is 100 Years Old, will be paired with the 1950 classic at each screening?

Did you know the Rafael is showing American Graffiti for free this Saturday at 11AM? And that it's the Frisco Bay venue for both the indieWIRE: Undiscovered Gems series and the Sundance Institute Art House Project? Did you know that the Sundance Institute is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and that they're bringing to the Rafael prints of films like Allison Anders's Gas Food Lodging this July 9, Charles Burnett's To Sleep With Anger July 23, and Rob Nilsson's Heat and Sunlight August 2nd?

Did you know the Rafael also hosts the Mill Valley Film Festival October 5-15? And that they're warming up with a series called Global Lens starting September 21? And that they're also one of the venues for the Jewish Film Festival? Did you know that Israeli director Amos Gitai is receiving an award from the SFJFF this year? Did you know that I've never seen a single one of this Cannes regular's films? Or that I'll have a chance to remedy that situation on July 23 when the Castro plays House, News From Home/News From House and Free Zone, with several other opportunities to see those films in Berkeley, San Rafael and Mountain View in the subsequent weeks?

Did you know that the Silent Film Festival will be hosting a free event called Amazing Tales From the Archives on July 16th at 11AM, just before the 12:30 Castro screening of three Laurel and Hardy films directed by the entirely underrated Leo McCarey? Did you know that film archivists are my personal heroes, and yours too if you like seeing beautiful (or even halfway decent) prints of our cinematic heritage? Did you know that children 12 and under are admitted to all SFF events this July 14-16 for free?

Did you know that the Stanford Theatre is almost as wonderful a place to see a silent film as the Castro is? And that they're playing four silent films on Friday evenings as part of their newly-announced Summer schedule packed with Hollywood classics? That one of them is G.W. Pabst's second film made with Louise Brooks, Diary of a Lost Girl on August 4? And, of course, that this is the perfect compliment to the July 15 SFF screening of that pair's first collaboration, Pandora's Box, which will be preceded by rare trailers for lost Brooks film the American Venus?

Did you know that the Balboa Theatre is hanging onto the print of Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows for at least one more week? But that tomorrow is the last day to see Iron Island at the Roxie or the Death of Mr. Lazarescu or Lady Vengeance at the Lumiere? Did you know that I consider the latter film the most fascinating of Park Chan-wook's vengeance trilogy, combining the emotional trial-by-fire of Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance with judicious flashes of Oldboy-style narrative and visual gimmickry, with a final reel or two both shocking and self-critical?

Did you know that Artists' Television Access has all sorts of interesting-looking programs coming up? That the makers of the extremely controversial 9/11 documentary Loose Change will be at the Four Star July 13 to show the film and, hopefully, answer audience questions? That the Lark Theatre will be broadcasting the World Cup Final between France and Italy this Sunday at 11 AM? Or that the Edinburgh Castle will be as well? Did you know that the latter will also be the venue for a screening of a set of road movies by Frisco filmmakers on Monday, July 24? That it's free?