San Francisco International Film Festival 2011 : 05/01 – 05/05 Round-Up

If you are looking for films from today, Sunday, the 30th, you can see them here. Below are choice picks for the FINAL week of the San Francisco International Film Festival! Get your butt out there.

Full festival details and movie listings here.


American Teacher

If you’re an average American, you know that teachers are underpaid and underappreciated. This film certifies this, by chronicling the stories of four teachers throughout the United States.
Directed by Vanessa Roth – USA

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 6:30 (Kabuki)
Thu, May 5 @ 3:45 (Kabuki)

the ballad of genesis and lady jaye

A combination of HD and 16mm, Marie Losier’s first feature film documents a love story between Losier and her former love and muse, Lady Jaye. Plenty of sound collages and whimsical sets.
Directed by Marie Losier – USA

SHOWTIMES
Thu, May 5 @ 6:30 (Kabuki)

the black power mixtape

Sweden — land of the blue-eyed, blonde-haired lasses and lads! This collage-style documentary exposes recently redscovered Swedish footage from the 1967-75 Black Power Movement, with commentary by leading African American artists, activists, musicians, and scholars.
Directed by Goran Hugo Olsson – SWEDEN

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 6:00 (New People)

The Cave Of Forgotten Dreams

Warner Herzog becomes the first filmmaker allowed into Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc caverns in Southern France, site of the world’s oldest prehistoric art. Listen to his soothing (?) voice narrate about centuries-old drawings, and see it all in 3-D.
Directed by Werner Herzog – USA

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 6:00 (New People)

Cinema Komunisto

Ah, the Yugoslavian film industry — perhaps as tumultuous as its political past — and just as much influenced by it, including direct intervention from President Josip Broz Tito, to create and recreate the nation’s history, in a 1982 revision of history kind of way.
Directed by Mila Turajlic – SERBIA

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 6:30 (PFA)
Wed, May 4 @ 3:15 (Kabuki)

detroit wild city

Detroit is a city that evokes as much dread as it does curiosity, depending on who you ask. This documentary explores how complex Detroit’s present situation, and its future, is and can potentially be.
Directed by Florent Tillon – FRANCE/USA

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 2:45 (New People)
Wed, May 4 @ 8:40 (PFA)

the dish and the spoon

When one tries to make the most out of heartbreak, beautiful things can happen. Two young, hurting souls explore how to act the part of happy lovers.
Directed by Alison Bagnall – USA

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 3:30 (Kabuki)

la dolce vida

A classic Fellini of high society life in postwar Rome. Newly restored and beautiful.
Directed by Federico Fellini – ITALY/FRANCE

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 12:30 (Castro)

end of animal

Explore darkness with the U.S. Premiere of this South Korean, genre-hopping film in which “a pregnant teenager finds herself in a taxi with a passenger who counts down to cataclysm.”
Directed by Jo Sung-hee – SOUTH KOREA

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 4:15 (Kabuki)

kinyarwanda

An atypical, well-rounded film documenting of the Rwandan genocide, through narratives from Tutsi and Hutu perspectives.
Directed by Alrick Brown – USA/RWANDA

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 12:30 (Kabuki)
Tue, May 3 @ 8:00 (New People)
Thu, May 5 @ 5:00 (Kabuki)

the journals of musan

When refugees escape to new lands, transitions are different on even basic human needs. With The Journals Of Musan, N. Korean defector Seung-chul discovers the difficulties of assimilation, even with a shared language.
Directed by Park Jung-bum – SOUTH KOREA

SHOWTIMES
Fri, Apr 29 @ 9:15 (Kabuki)
Sun, May 1 @ 8:30 (New People)
Mon, May 2 @ 1:00 (Kabuki)

the light thief

“An electrician affectionately known as Mr. Light finds himself in a difficult position when a politician embraces his dream of generating wind energy for his impoverished town. This allegory of a man confronting injustice dramatizes the challenges facing the economies of Central Asia.”
Directed by Aktan Arym Kubat

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 8:45 (PFA)

microphone

Ahmad Abdalla’s second feature film explores Alexandria music scene, and about the struggle of succeeding as an artist in the Egyptian city.
Directed by Ahmad Abdalla – EGYPT

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 8:45 (PFA)

mind the gap

“A series of experimentally minded shorts from established masters such as Jay Rosenblatt, Peter Tscherkassky and Kerry Laitala and relative newcomers such as Zackary Drucker — and featuring Jonathan Caouette’s (Tarnation) newest work — this program will be sure to surprise and confound and illuminate worlds real and imagined.”

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 9:45 (Kabuki)

position among the stars

A film that follows an Indonesian family dwelling in the countryside, Position Among The Stars explores how traditional Islam and Western materialism clash.
Directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich – NETHERLANDS

SHOWTIMES
Wed, May 4 @ 9:00 (Kabuki)

the salesman

A used car salesman in his 60’s ponders the meaning of life as he ages.
Directed by Sebastien Pilote – CANADA

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 6:15 (Kabuki)
Tue, May 3 @ 8:50 (PFA)
Thu, May 5 2 2:00 (Kabuki)

yves saint laurent l’amour fou

“Few figures loom larger in the annals of 20th-century style than legendary French fashion designed Yves Saint Laurent. Thoretton’s film documents his high-glamour, high-drama career via surviving business and life partner Pierre Berge — just as the latter prepares to sell off much of their astounding art collection in ‘the auction of the century’.”
Directed by Pierre Thoretton – FRANCE

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 7:00 (Kabuki)
Thu, May 5 @ 8:15 (Kabuki)

Written by
Vee Hua 華婷婷

Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the Editor-in-Chief of REDEFINE, Interim Managing Editor of South Seattle Emerald, and Co-Chair of the Seattle Arts Commission. They also previously served as the Executive Director of the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences.

Vee has two narrative short films. Searching Skies (2017) touches on Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States; with it, they helped co-organize The Seventh Art Stand, a national film and civil rights discussion series against Islamophobia. Reckless Spirits (2022) is a metaphysical, multi-lingual POC buddy comedy for a bleak new era, in anticipation of a feature-length project.

Vee is passionate about cultural space, the environment, and finding ways to covertly and overtly disrupt oppressive structures. They also regularly share observational human stories through their storytelling newsletter, RAMBLIN’ WITH VEE!, and are pursuing a Master’s in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the Native American Studies Department at the University of Minnesota.

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