San Francisco Int'l Film Festival 2009

"The longest-running film festival in the Americas"

This year's festival is shaping up to be an amazing two weeks of films and tributes. Check the festival site tomorrow (March 31) for a complete listing of screenings.

Read my post about two of the three restored prints that the S.F. Film Society will be showing this year here.

Yep, I'm still not going to be there.

Featured Events:

Founder’s Directing Award-Francis Ford Coppola (via imdb.com)
Thursday, April 30, TBA Friday, May 1

Update [from SF Film Society e-mail]:

"On May 1, the Festival will honor the brilliant career of one of the seminal figures in American and world cinema, director and producer Francis Ford Coppola.

This iconic director has opened an exciting new chapter in an already encyclopedic career beginning with Youth Without Youth and continuing with the highly anticipated Tetro, which opens in mid-June. Read more.

In a variation on the Festival's standard interview format, Coppola will be joined onstage by a number of his esteemed friends and collaborators, who, in a moderated discussion, will cover all manner of subjects, cinematic and otherwise. Film clips, including the new Tetro trailer, and an extended audience Q&A will round out the night.

Tickets are on sale now to valid Film Society members. Buy now or call 925-866-9559."

Midnight Awards–Evan Rachel Wood and Elijah Wood
Saturday, April 25, 10:30 pm

Le Amiche (Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni)
Sunday, April 26, 3:00 pm

A Woman Under the Influence (Dir. John Cassavetes)
Sunday, April 26, 5:45 pm

Peter J. Owens Award–Robert Redford
Wednesday, April 29, 7:30 pm

Once upon a Time in the West (Dir. Sergio Leone)
Sunday, May 3, 12:30 pm

The Lost World with Dengue Fever
Tuesday, May 5, 8:00 pm

52nd San Francisco Internat'l Film Festival

Alas, my second favorite film festival in San Francisco (the Silent Film Festival being the first), is just around the corner. The 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival will be held this year from April 23 to May 7, but regrettably, I will not be able to attend.

On Sunday, April 26, the SF Film Society will show a restored print of Michelangelo Antonioni's Le Amiche (1955) at the beloved Castro Theatre at 3:00 p.m.

It will be followed by a screening of a new 35mm print of John Cassavetes' "A Woman Under the Influence." Gena Rowlands is expected to attend the event.

I. Want. To. Die.

"A Woman Under the Influence" (1974) is one of the greatest examples of American Independent cinema committed to celluloid. The performances in the film are riveting, particularly Rowlands'. It is the work of actors at the top of their game. No portrait of a mental breakdown has ever been more humanized or more fascinating on the silver screen.


You can be sure these tickets will be sold out in a heartbeat.

Here's the info:

Tickets are $10 for SFFS members and are on sale now. General public tickets are $12.50 and will go on sale on April 2 ($11 for seniors, students and persons with disabilities). Memberships must be valid through the end of the Festival to take advantage. CineVoucher 10-packs can be redeemed for tickets to these films.

a clip from "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974)