Film '07: The best undistributed films of the year

What is it about Korean auteurs that have critics salivating and distributors running for the exits? Last year, Hong Sang-soo’s “Woman on the Beach” topped indieWIRE’s best undistributed films list for 2007. This year, Hong compatriot Lee Chang-dong’s “Secret Sunshine” was far-and-way the winner of the honor. Thirty-four of the 106 critics surveyed in the 2007 indieWIRE Critics’ Poll put the film on their list as one of the best undistributed films of the year. But, of course, it’s an accolade that cuts both ways: Call it a back-handed compliment, as Caveh Zahedi once did upon receiving his award for “Best Film Not Playing at Theater Near You,” or a paean for the sorry state of art-house film distribution.

topics: critics year end polls, independent film, lists

Film '07: A few words from SF360.org's contributors

The contributors to SF360.org were asked to ponder the best and worst movies of the past 365 days, to organize their thoughts about film moments into discrete categories, and/or offer prognostications for 2008. Compare/contrast our swoons and rants with your own, and please, let us know if we got it completely, unforgivably wrong. We offer these lists and notes for your year-end amusement.

topics: critics year end polls

Film '07 -- Bests and more from the Bay Area's scene-makers

The critics have spoken, and the American West is winning in many year-end polls. But a quick survey of Bay Area programmers, curators, distributors, and filmmakers reveals a much richer picture of 2007’s best movie events, from avant-garde showcases to locally programmed extravaganzas. SF360.org offered some of the Bay Area’s leading voices a chance to weigh in on their film favorites and disappointments for the year, as well as their hopes for the next. We present an edited selection of their comments here.

topics: argentine cinema, bay area, castro theatre, critics year end polls, digital filmmaking, film festivals, filmmakers, gay lesbian cinema, jewish cinema, midnight movies, queer cinema, roxie

SF Film Critics' Circle announces winners

The West has remained wild, at least minds of critics on both coasts this year. The San Francisco Film Critics Circle, which announced its awards last night, chose a different Best Picture than New York and Los Angeles critics, but joined them in recognizing another film based in the American West. The SFFCC gave its Best Picture award to “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” while LA gave its award to Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will be Blood,” and NY gave its honor to the Coen Bros. “No Country for Old Men.

topics: critics year end polls, san francisco film critics circle

15 docs on the Oscar short list

Fifteen documentary films have been selected for the “short list” of titles competing in the Best Documentary Feature category at the 80th Academy Awards, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Documentary Branch screening committee viewed the eligible documentaries in a preliminary round of screenings, according to AMPAS, and branch members will now select the five 2007 nominees from among the 15 titles on this shortlist.

[SF360.org Editor’s note: This article appeared originally in indieWIRE on Nov. 19, 2007.]

The full list is:
1. “Autism: The Musical,” directed by Tricia Regan
2. “Body of War,” directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro
3. “For The Bible Tells Me So,” directed by Daniel G. Karslake
4. “Lake of Fire,” directed by Tony Kaye
5. “Nanking,” directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman
6. “No End in Sight,” directed by Charles Ferguson
7. “Operation Homecoming – Writing the Wartime Experience,” directed by Richard Robbins
8. “Please Vote For Me,” directed by Wejun Chen
9. “The Price of Sugar,” directed by Bill Haney
10. “A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman,” directed by Peter Raymont
11. “The Rape of Europa,” directed by Richard Berge and Bonni Cohen
12. “Sicko,” directed by Michael Moore
13. “Taxi to the Dark Side,” directed by Alex Gibney
14. “War/Dance,” directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
15. “White Light/Black Rain,” directed by Steven Okazaki
Nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 and the Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2008.

topics: awards, critics year end polls, documentary, lists, oscars

Where does your best picture live?

If cities are chosen for their landscapes, their food, their schools, and industries, it seems only reasonable to assume they should also be measured by their tastes in films. Based on the following assessments by various cities’ critics’ organizations, which city should you live in?

San Francisco Film Critics Circle

Best picture: “Brokeback Mountain”
Best foreign language film: “Cache”
Best documentary: “Grizzly Man”

Southeastern Film Critics Association
Best picture: “Brokeback Mountain”
Best foreign language film: “Cache”
Best documentary: “March of the Penguins”

Toronto Film Critics Association
Best picture: “A History of Violence”
Best foreign language film: “The World”
Best documentary: “Grizzly Man”

New York Film Critics Circle
Best picture: “Brokeback Mountain”
Best foreign language film: “2046”
Best documentary: “Grizzly Man” and “White Diamond,” a tie

Chicago Film Critics Association
Best picture: “Crash”
Best foreign language film: “Cache”
Best documentary: “Grizzly Man”

Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Best picture: “Brokeback Mountain”
Best foreign language film: “Cache”
Best documentary: “Grizzly Man”

Boston Society of Film Critics
Best picture: “Brokeback Mountain”
Best foreign language film: “Kung Fu Hustle”
Best documentary: “Murderball”

topics: critics year end polls, oscars, san francisco film critics circle