SFBG. SFIFF.

"The oldest film festival in the United States and Canada, the San Francisco International Film Festival reaches its golden anniversary this year," writes Johnny Ray Huston, opening the San Francisco Bay Guardian's preview package. "That's half a century of bringing movies from all over the world to one area of America that doesn't assume America is the world." His recommendations: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's Daratt, Garin Nugroho's Opera Jawa and Veronica Chen's "gorgeous" Agua.

Updated.

"Critic James Quandt dubbed it new French extremism, though cinema brut works just as well," writes Max Goldberg. "In SFIFF films such as On Fire, 7 Years and Flanders, this tendency is toned down but still embedded in narrative and character."

SFIFF "is offering a rare treat this year with its presentation of Otar Iosseliani's latest film, Gardens in Autumn, and Julie Bertuccelli's documentary about Iosseliani, Otar Iosseliani, The Whistling Blackbird," notes Jason Shamai. "The critic J Hoberman described one of Iosseliani's recent ensemble films somewhat dismissively as a 'genteel circus,' but the tag can also serve as an affectionate characterization of his best work. His latest exercise in modulated hedonism may not have much to say on the politics of happiness, but sometimes that can be a blessing."

"At the Castro Theatre, [Kevin] Brownlow (the recipient of the SF Film Society's Mel Novikoff Award, whose latest movie, Cecil B DeMille: American Epic, also screens at this year's festival) will present 1929's The Iron Mask," alerts Jeffrey M Anderson. "When The Iron Mask was restored, the great modern composer Carl Davis, whose work currently graces a number of silent movies on DVD, recorded a 42-piece orchestral score worthy of the film's energy and its melancholy. Fortunately, as Brownlow will no doubt demonstrate, it's possible to see the film with new eyes."

Also, an overview of the debut features in the running for the SKYY Prize.

Dennis Harvey scans the Big Names in town to pick up awards; and recalls winners past.

Previewing the Notes to a Toon Underground program, Kimberly Chun spotlights the work of Kelly Sears.

Cheryl Eddy: "The boy-band phenomenon of the early millennium has thankfully faded, but there's still parody meat enough for Hong Kong heartthrob (and San Francisco native) Daniel Wu, who makes his writing and directing debut with Heavenly Kings."

Matt Sussman on Colossal Youth: "Over the past decade, [Pedro] Costa has made a trilogy of films with the working poor of Fontainhas, a sprawling slum outside Lisbon. Trading [William T] Vollmann's pained self-consciousness for a meticulous formalism that favors rehearsal over reportage, Costa's remove sets into relief the humanity of his subjects, rather than objectifying or patronizing them."

"It's a tricky thing [Heddy] Honigmann is doing, engaging people about a profoundly internal process with a documentary technique that's necessarily obtrusive and spoken aloud," writes Max Goldberg, previewing Forever. "Her gift as a filmmaker lies in the moment-by-moment flow of interview and observation. Patience and curiosity: these are the stuff of Honigmann's persistence of vision."

Updates: A bit of anticipation elsewhere, too...

Michael Fox has a state-of-SFIFF piece in the SF Weekly, where he also previews works by Bay Area filmmakers in the lineup and contributes to the weekly's collection of capsule reviews.

At SF360, Katherin McInnis talks with Kerry Laitala, winner of the New Visions Golden Gate Award in 2005, about her new film, Muse of Cinema.

Cathleen Rountree posts her festival catalogue notes for The 12 Labors and Agua.

Michael Guillén previews La Vie en Rose.

Posted by dwhudson at April 25, 2007 2:21 AM