In Production

Connie Field readies magnum opus on anti-apartheid movement

By any measure, the long-awaited release of Have You Heard from Johannesburg? shapes up to be one of the major documentary events of 2010. Connie Field’s massive eight-and-a-half-hour series about the global human rights campaign that impelled South Africa to abolish apartheid in the early ’90s is beyond ambitious, encompassing 135 interviews spanning five continents and acres of archival footage from a vast array of sources. Now, maybe every doc maker has a crisis of confidence somewhere in the course of his or her project, but Field set herself up for a double scoop of nail-biting moments. “I would wake up in the middle of the night asking myself, ‘Why the hell am I doing this?’” the East Bay filmmaker confides. I believe that is what is called a rhetorical question.

topics: activism, african cinema, bay area, cinematography, digital filmmaking, directors, distribution, diy, documentary

Critic's Notebook

San Francisco Cinematheque fall program gets underway

A year after Jonathan Marlow took the helm as Executive Director, working in close collaboration with longtime veteran Steve Polta and program director Vanessa O’Neill, the organization is showing fresh signs of life. A smart new website design that corrals a grove of archival materials and useful pointers to kindred screenings is one indicator that the organization is recommitting itself as the public face of “visionary film” in the Bay Area.

P. Adams Sitney, author of the foundational Visionary Film study, himself takes part in the current Cinematheque calendar with a lecture-screening based on his new book, Eyes Upside Down. This time around, the Princeton professor convenes American avant-garde cinema under the sign of Emerson. His appearance confirms Cinematheque’s role in an ongoing conversation—one never far from San Francisco.

topics: bay area, cinematography, cinephiles, critics, cult cinema, curators, exhibition, experimental film

In Production

Simon and Gosling play Strachwitz’s tunes

Camera and sound gear in hand, Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling have tagged along with their old friend Chris Strachwitz from Texas to Cajun country, from Appalachia to pre-Katrina New Orleans. Their documentary in progress, tentatively titled No Mouse Music! The Story of Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records, pays tribute to the underappreciated career of the El Cerrito Pied Piper who’s pursued, recorded and released American roots music since 1960.

topics: activism, audiences, bay area, cinematography, cinephiles, diy, documentary film, latin cinema, music, world cinema

SFIFF52 Blogs: Keeping scores

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid changed my perception of the West, of good and bad guys, and taught me one of the many proper adult slang usages of the word "shit." I first saw it as a seven year old with my two older sisters sitting in the balcony at the Castro Theatre at a Saturday matinee in 1969.

Revisiting the film in a gorgeous new print I realized just how strange and wonderful a film it really is. Conrad Hall’s cinematography has odd surprising points of focus and non-focus throughout. The music feels often like Burt Bacharach may have banjoed up some cues originally intended for Casino Royale, and the incongruity of the Newman and Ross bicycle ride to "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" feels particularly bizarre and new, coming as it does, moments after a faux rape scene with Redford and Ross.

When I saw Laurie Anderson speak a week or so ago she told a great story of writing a letter to the not-yet-elected JFK asking him for advice as to how to win the class presidency at her high school. She was surprised when she received a telegram back. His advice was simple: Find out what the students want and promise it to them. She went on to win the election. JFK, again sent a telegram, as well as roses.

topics: castro theatre, cinematography, film history, music, san francisco international film festival, westerns

In Production

SFIFF52: "The Professionals" series unlocks door to filmmakers' mind-meld

The concentration on local filmmaking at this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival goes beyond the exhibition of films in the "Cinema by the Bay", shorts and documentary programs. "The Professionals," an ambitious array of panels, case studies and discussions, makes its debut as a forum for encouraging Bay Area moviemakers to engage with guests and colleagues. Though for many years at SFIFF, visiting directors routinely conducted post-screening Q&As, and also spoke to students lucky enough to attend matinees through the Schools at the Festival program, "The Professionals" marks the first time that local filmmakers have been actively invited to join their peers from abroad in conversation about contemporary filmmaking practices and issues.

topics: bay area, cinematography, digital filmmaking, directors, diy, documentary, drama, san francisco film society, san francisco international film festival, world cinema