A Mechanics' Institute series appreciates Leo McCarey's genius with comedy.
Lisa Fruchtman moves from feature-film editing to documentary film directing with a hopeful story out of Rwanda.
When filming a public figure, the rights to privacy as well as publicity need to be considered.
Amir Bar-Lev follows a family's continuing fight in 'The Tillman Story.'
The stories of an assassinated soccer star and the nation's most notorious criminal merge in a portrait of '80s-'90s Colombia.
Three vampire films capture more than the imagination.
Dolissa Medina uncovers more ashes in a new, historical piece on San Francisco and its many great fires.
Who's to say if it's a story problem or an audience problem?
Ruba Nadda speaks of sultry actors and tenacious directors in the making of 'Cairo Time.'
'Army of Crime’s' portraits in heroism remain admirably restrained, unlike so many Resistance fantasies.
Elliot Lavine speaks of noir, noirishness, and the series of potent, paranoid, and often genre-busting classics he brings to the Roxie.
Drawing from reality, and yoga practice, an independent production team catalogues childhood's end.
A filmmaker offers a script excerpt in appreciation of Jules Laforgue on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
The Lebanon War of 1982 informs Samuel Maoz's 'Lebanon.'
Johnnie To delivers on his trademark themes with 'Vengeance.'
Run, walk, bike, or bus to Sausalito for a festival filled with environmental (and other) surprises.
Scott Kirschenbaum's 80-minute doc aims to convey the experience of Alzheimer’s from the patient’s point of view.
Filmmakers working with Duvall, Murray and Spacek talk about humor, perseverance, and process.
Think summer's almost over? In the Bay Area, think again: Outdoor screenings are just getting started.
The looming prospect of a two-tiered internet may compromise the ability of independent filmmakers to fund, exhibit and distribute their films.
Memorable lines of dialogue are like the tips of icebergs, floating above vast, submerged mountains of character history, and more.
Director Ben Steinbauer and Bay Area-based producer Malcolm Pullinger talk about anger, RVs, and "going viral" with their new film.
The engrossing seascapes of 'Alamar' bring a deeper understanding of a father-son bond.
The Pacific Film Archive's Criminal Minds series offers a liberating mix of asocial outlaws and sordid stories based on the ripped-from-the-headlines exploits of real-life gangsters and killers.
Three Bay Area documentaries correct the historical record.
Every film needs one person devoted to the distribution and marketing of the film from the start, just as they have a line producer, assistant director, or editor.
Bob Ray brings his Down & Dirty Austin Film Tour to the Bay Area. And you can't stop him.
Three films document essential chunks of San Francisco's tragic and mythic past, told in empathetic but non-hagiographic testimony.
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival finds fans beyond its identity-based target audience with a wide array of international films and topics.
Tom Shepard and Andy Abrahams Wilson are redefining activist filmmaking with educational films, such as their documentary on the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park.
The maker of Bomb It offers hard-won advice on the marketing of film in the 2010s.


The Clay theater in San Francisco's Pacific Heights became the latest neighborhood movie theater to announce it would go dark. Wednesday's KQED Forum offered multiple takes on the fight to save the city's remaining historic single-screen theaters; listen to the podcast here.
SF Chronicle: "One of San Francisco's oldest movie houses plans to shut the lights for good this month. Landmark Theatres will walk away from the Clay on Sunday, leaving the Pacific Heights neighborhood without its single-screen theater. More at SFGate.
Shooting for Moneyball, with Brad Pitt playing the part of thrifty Oakland Athletic's owner Billy Beane, has drawn thousands of Bay Area residents for extra roles and provided a source of revenue for Oakland. More at KTVU.com.
"The nominees for the 31st Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards were announced today and ITVS programs received an impressive six nominations," reports Beyond the Box.
Two graduate students at Stanford University have won an Academy Award for their latest documentary short, "Dreams Awake," about a campus custodian.



In Yorgos Lanthimos' bizarre and enchanting world, children are ready to leave their walled-in, hyper-protective homes only when their 'dogtooth' comes out. Presented on the SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki.
Are there more iconic Hitchcock moments than 'North by Northwest's' corn-field airplane evasion scene or the Mt. Rushmore-set climax? The classic plays Smith Rafael.
Ken Russell's restored 'Tommy' brings Roger Daltry's traumatic youth back to digital life at the Castro.

YOUNGARTS 2011 offers cash awards and the opportunity to attend youngARTs Week, an all-expense-paid week of master classes, showcase performances, exhibitions, enrichment programs, and final adjudications. AWARDS: up to $10,000 plus college scholarships. ELIGIBILITY: Performing, literary, and visual arts students must be high school seniors in the 2010-2011 school year or graduates who are either 17 or 18 years old on December 1, 2007. PRESENTED BY: The National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. ENTRY FEE: $25 to $35. DEADLINE: October 1. WEBSITE: www.youngarts.org.
THE 83RD ACADEMY AWARDS are accepting films 40 minutes or less in length for Short Film Awards. ELIGIBILITY: Strict criteria based on commercial theatrical release and "Best of" award in Academy-recognized film festivals. DEADLINE: October 1. WEBSITE: www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/rules.
THE NEW YORK FESTIVALS INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION AND FILM AWARDS recognize "The World's Best Work" in news, sports, documentary, information, and entertainment programming as well as in music videos, infomercials, promotion spots, openings, and ID's. ELIGIBILITY For the 2011 competition, entries must have been first produced, released, exhibited, screened, aired, or shown online between September 1, 2009, and October 1, 2010. DEADLINE October 1, 2010. ENTRY FEE $350–$650. WEBSITE: www.newyorkfestivals.com.
MOVIES THAT MATTER FESTIVAL (March 24-30, 2011) is hosted by Movies that Matter Foundation, an initiative of the Dutch section of Amnesty International. It seeks animation, documentary, fiction films, Internet shorts, and music videos that stir the debate about human rights, human dignity and situations where these are at stake. LOCATION: The Hague, Netherlands. ENTRY FEE: None. DEADLINE October 15, 2010. WEBSITE: www.moviesthatmatterfestival.nl.
The California Documentary Project (CDP) is a competitive grant program of the California Council for the Humanities in partnership with the Skirball Foundation. CDP supports film, radio, and new media projects that document the California experience and explore issues of significance to Californians. PRODUCTION GRANT up to $40,000. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT GRANT up to $7,000. The online application will be made available on October 1, 2010. This year's grant application DEADLINE is November 1, 2010. WEBSITE: www.calhum.org/programs/doc_intro.htm.


This gorgeous photo was taken this morning at Telluride. Any Telluride veterans out there have a story to tell? Pls share.
I am relatively new to soccer. My son plays and I'm playing in a ladies league, but I am not very acquainted with the game's history or of the in...
for another take on soccer, drugs, and parallel lives of protagonists with the same name, the Italian film "One Man Up" (2001) is very good.
I was only mildly interested in the World Cup back in 1994, I mainly remember Alexi Lalas and his red hair and beard. I’m much more into it now, pr...
I remember Brazil's win in penalty shoot outs, and though I was very young, I thought it strange that the results of a soccer match could be fatal ...


