The twelfth annual Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (SFiFF) will open on Wednesday, October 14th, 2020 with Zappa, an in-depth documentary directed by Alex Winter, which centers on the life, work, and politics of musician Frank Zappa. With found footage from the Zappa family trust and other archives, Winter gives us a groundbreaking look into the musician’s life, featuring appearances by his widow, Gail Zappa, and musical collaborators like Mike Keneally, Ian Underwood, Steve Vai, Pamela Des Barres, Bunk Gardner, David Harrington, Scott Thunes, and Ruth Underwood.
The festival (SFiFF) will close on Sunday, October 18th, 2020 with the new documentary MLK/FBI directed by Sam Pollard. Veteran film editor and director Pollard weaves a detailed account of the FBI wiretapping that dogged King’s activism throughout the ’50s and ’60s, and fueled by the racist paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover. Based on newly discovered and declassified files, documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and unsealed by the National Archives, as well as revelatory restored footage, MLK/FBI explores the government’s history of targeting Black activists, and urges us to remember that true American progress is always hard-won. An IFC Films release.
Santa Fe Independent Film Festival takes place October 14th-18th, 2020 with Drive-In Films and a Virtual Festival.