Report

Toronto 2008: Slow food, fast festival

Every year, people grumble. Every year, someone points out how much worse it is than before. And every year, there are films that pull everyone out of the doldrums and guarantee it all continues. Welcome to the world of film festivals, and to this season’s Toronto International Film Festival in particular: bigger, brighter, more overwhelming, less intimate, and in the end, exactly as satisfying as the films each audience member happens to stumble into.

topics: art film, film festivals, film history, genre films, independent film, international film, world cinema

Insider

Film Arts Foundation's legacy of advocacy enters a second stage through SFFS

When The Big Book of Bay Area Film History is written one day, chapters will certainly be devoted to the groundbreaking experimental filmmakers of the postwar era, as well as to the delicious poison-pen letters Alfred Hitchcock shot and signed here. The Francis Ford Coppola-Saul Zaentz-George Lucas trinity will certainly get its due. But the longest chapter should go to the entity that’s had the widest and deepest influence on the local filmmaking scene: a nonprofit organization formed by 15 independent filmmakers in 1976 called Film Arts Foundation (FAF). FAF provided members with equipment, classes and a bimonthly magazine, and, for many years, hosted a film festival notable for showcasing the best of the region’s legion of documentary, experimental and fiction filmmakers. Most critically, early on the institution evolved into a mentor to makers. That legacy of support, advice and advocacy is front and center as the San Francisco Film Society (publisher of SF360.org) takes on several of Film Arts’ key functions, notably the fiscal sponsorship program, effective Aug. 19.

topics: bay area, digital filmmaking, directors, exhibitions, experimental film, film festivals, film history, filmmakers, san francisco film society

Report

SFFS carries on Film Arts Foundation's legacy with new filmmaker services programs

The San Francisco Film Society, publisher of SF360.org, announced today at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas the launch of a new set of programs to support local independent filmmakers. Through an agreement signed with Film Arts Foundation (FAF), the programs carry on the traditions of FAF in the areas of professional education, career development, membership services, fiscal sponsorship, grantmaking, and the management of information resources.

Graham Leggat, Executive Director of SFFS, said he was pleased that "a new, vitaminized Film Society" is able to consolidate so much support for filmmaking under one roof, and spoke of the changes as a "transition of services" as opposed to a "merger" or "acquisition."

topics: bay area, directors, film history, filmmakers, independent film

Found

Vertigo Celebrates 50 Years of Acrophobia, Fear of Flying and San Francisco

Not many movies call for a celebration of their anniversaries (did anyone celebrate the 50th anniversary of Citizen Kane?), but Vertigo is an exception, especially in this self-absorbed, any-excuse-for-a-party town, for what many have called “the ultimate San Francisco film.” Celebrations have already occurred in the way of screenings, and more are planned, notably a renovation of one of the movie’s key locations.

The actual birthday of Alfred Hitchcock’s magnum opus can be traced to Friday, May 9, 1958, the day of the world premiere, which took place at the Stage Door theater On May 8, the day began, typically, overcast and gray. A train from Los Angeles pulled into the station at Third and Townsend, and off stepped Kim Novak. A crowd of fans and reporters was waiting for the film’s star, who, at the age of 26 had already been featured on the cover of Time. The overcast light only highlighted the fact that her blond hair had a hint of lavender that day.

topics: bay area, film history, genre films