Take Two

Holiday film preview, part II

I don’t know about you, but I know what I want for Christmas (and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, for that matter): Some decent movies. Hope springs eternal, especially at this time of year. It’s Hollywood custom now to reserve the majority of its prestige titles for an annual late onslaught, the idea being that award-bestowing organizations’ voters naturally gravitate toward whatever is freshest in their memories. In the indie sector, too, there are some goodies timed for holiday gifting.

So, here’s part II of our glancing, far-from-exhaustive preview of what we’ve got to look forward to between now and New Year’s Day.

topics: activism, art film, bay area, cinephiles, critics, documentary, exhibition, experimental film, genre films, hollywood

Experience

Feast your eyes: a holiday film preview

I don’t know about you, but I know what I want for Christmas (and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, for that matter): Some decent movies. Hope springs eternal, especially at this time of year. It’s Hollywood custom now to reserve the majority of its prestige titles for an annual late onslaught, the idea being that award-bestowing organizations’ voters naturally gravitate toward whatever is freshest in their memories. In the indie sector, too, there are some goodies timed for holiday gifting.

So, here’s a glancing, far-from-exhaustive preview of what we’ve got to look forward to between now and New Year’s Day.

topics: activism, actors, animation, art film, awards, bay area, castro theatre, children's issues, comedy, critics, critics year end polls, cult cinema, directors, distributors, documentary film, dramatic films, music, musicals, roxie, world cinema

Experience

New Italian Cinema's fact, fiction, fascination

Is it soccer or politics that is Italy’s reigning national sport? Certainly the former is more beloved—but the latter arguably offers even more unpredictably suspenseful gamesmanship. The Italian political landscape frequently makes our own look flat as a Kansas cornfield. Unsurprisingly, then, that the 13th edition of San Francisco Film Society’s New Italian Cinema festival, finds the political and personal mixing more frequently than you’d find in any assortment of U.S. narrative films.

That’s certainly personified by this year’s tributee, mid-career writer/director Marco Risi. Son of the late Dino Risi, popular craftsman of robust comedies, Marco has demonstrated a strong social consciousness in the diverse projects he’s produced since the early 1980s.

topics: art film, audiences, italian cinema, san francisco film society, world cinema

Experience

A tour through Taiwan Film Days

For the regular film festival attendee, Taiwanese Cinema has been associated with three names: Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang and the late Edward Yang. But for three days starting November 6, the San Francisco Film Society offers a chance to see contemporary Taiwanese cinema beyond the work of those three masters.

Two of the films screening in Taiwan Film Days were official Oscar entries for the Best Foreign Language film from Taiwan. Opening-nighter Cape No. 7 (Wei Te-sheng, 2008) was 2009’s submission; it follows an unlikely rock band—unlikely in that the ages of the members range from about that of the Jonas Brothers to about the Rolling Stones.

topics: art film, asian cinema, authors, bay area, san francisco film society, world cinema

Experience

William Klein's restless mind on view at the PFA

William Klein is best known as a photographer and expat New Yorker who moved to Paris in 1948 and never looked back—well, with the notable exception of New York (life is good and good for you in New York…), a mid-1950s exhibition and photobook. It was a much-debated sensation at the time for both its unconventional technique (Klein played liberally with focus, overexposure and wide angles) and rather shocking, vivid, un-pretty view of the Big Apple’s denizens. Today, it’s considered a game-changing landmark in the medium. His subsequent fashion photography (notably for Vogue) was also strikingly innovative. His images have been shown at leading museums around the world, including San Francisco Museum of Modern Art not long ago.

But in 1965 Klein got interested in filmmaking—initially abandoning still photography entirely for it.

topics: activism, art, art film, film history, filmmakers, french cinema, pacific film archive, photography, world cinema

Experience

Telluride reveals titles in its 36th edition

The Telluride Film Festival announced its full lineup for its 36th festival, which opens Friday, Sept. 4, and runs through Labor Day Weekend. Founded in 1974 by James Card, Tom Luddy and Bill and Stella Pence, the festival takes place in a mountain village in Colorado, and is currently programmed by directors Luddy and Gary Meyer and managing director Julie Huntsinger out of offices in Berkeley, California. The festival had already announced its Guest Director for 2009, Alexander Payne, and its special celebration of legendary film critic Manny Farber. Further tributes go to Margarethe von Trotta, Viggo Mortensen and Anouk Aimée. The festival offers 24 new features in its main program alongside its always strong revivals, as well as 29 shorts and 10 documentaries in its Backlot program, which focuses on filmmakers and other artists.

topics: actors, art film, audiences, authors, awards, bay area, film festivals, french cinema, genre films, world cinema

Platform

Judy Bloch moves on after 29 years at PFA

For nearly 30 years Judy Bloch has been behind the classy film publications at the Pacific Film Archive, producing some of the best film annotation in the world, as a writer, editor and guiding presence. She recently retired from UC Berkeley and took a job managing publications for SFMOMA. We asked her about her life and times at PFA.

topics: art, art film, authors, avant-garde, bay area, critics, directors, pacific film archive, world cinema