Anticipating SFIFF.

The San Francisco International Film Festival will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, so while it's still a month away - it runs April 26 through May 10 - there's a lot of news coming out early:

Updated through 3/26.

• The Opening Night Film will be Emanuele Crialese's Golden Door.

• Spike Lee will be presented with the San Francisco Film Society's Directing Award on May 2. The Boston Globe's Wesley Morris will interview him; then, Acts II and III of When the Levees Broke will be screened.

• This year's Peter J Owens Award goes to Robin Williams on May 4. There'll be an onstage interview followed by a screening of The Fisher King.

• The Kanbar Award for Excellence in Screenwriting goes to - who else this year - Peter Morgan. May 5. Following his onstage interview, there'll be a screening of The Deal, Morgan's collaboration with Stephen Frears prior to The Queen, which also stars Michael Sheen as Tony Blair. The screening could hardly be timelier, as many speculate that by May it should be clearer as to when Blair will be leaving office, making way the other half of "the deal," Gordon Brown, to begin his struggle in earnest to ward off what appears to be quite a serious challenge from Tory David Cameron.

• The fest will present the world premiere of Fog City Mavericks: "Iconoclastic filmmakers featured in this celebratory documentary include George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, Francis Ford Coppola, Brad Bird, Bruce Conner, Sofia Coppola, Carroll Ballard, Chris Columbus, Clint Eastwood, John Korty, John Lasseter, Walter Murch and Saul Zaentz. Several of these mavericks, including Lucas, Kaufman, Zaentz, Korty and Dominic Angerame, will appear for a special introduction and post-screening Q&A."

Online viewing tips. At the site, click "Featured Videos" to launch the "San Francisco Film Society Video Player" for "SFIFF trailers, appearances by filmmakers and actors and short films about the San Francisco International from past Festivals."

Update, 3/26: Heddy Honigmann, whose Forever will be screening at SFIFF and Full Frame (April 12 through 15) and who'll be receiving this year's Outstanding Achievement Award and an accompanying retrospective at Hot Docs (April 19 through 29), will also be honored with SFIFF's Golden Gate Persistence of Vision award.

Posted by dwhudson at March 24, 2007 2:43 PM