NAME OF FESTIVAL: San Francisco International Film Festival
SINCE: 1957
WHERE: San Francisco, California, U.S.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Founded in 1957, the San Francisco International Film Festival is the longest-running film festival in the Americas. Held each spring for two weeks and highly anticipated by its loyal, passionate audiences, SFIFF is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in one of the country's most beautiful cities, featuring some 150 films and live events with more than 100 filmmakers in attendance and nearly two dozen awards presented for excellence in film craft.
San Francisco International Film Festival
Benh Zeitlin, director of “the highly imaginative and much acclaimed independent narrative feature” Beasts of the Southern Wild, will be the recipient of the inaugural Graham Leggat Award at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19 – May 3). Zeitlin is a director, animator, composer and a founding member of Court 13. He lives in New Orleans where dogs, cats, ducks, chickens and a 350-pound swine run wild in his home. Director of […]
Jeff Orlowski’s Chasing Ice (USA 2012), Don Coscarelli’s John Dies at the End (USA 2012) and Daryl Wein’s Lola Versus (USA 2012) have been added to the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19 – May 3) schedule. Featuring breathtaking displays of remote and beautiful landscapes that may never be seen again by human — or any — eyes, Chasing Ice chronicles the quest of photographer James Balog to create his project the Extreme […]
Judy Davis, described as “one of cinema’s great performers,” will be the recipient of the 2012 Peter J. Owens Award at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19 – May 3). The award will be presented to Davis at Film Society Awards Night, Thursday, April 26 at the historic Warfield Theatre. Davis will also be honored at An Evening with Judy Davis at the Castro Theatre, Wednesday, April 25, 7:30 pm. An onstage […]
The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival announced the complete schedule of films and events for the festival running April 19 – May 3, 2012, at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, SF Film Society Cinema, the Castro Theatre and SFMOMA in San Francisco and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. The Centerpiece screening will be Lynn Shelton’s relationship comedy Your Sister’s Sister, starring Emily Blunt, Mark Duplass and Rosemarie DeWitt. Still grief-stricken a year after his brother’s […]
The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19 – May 3) will present the 2012 Mel Novikoff Award to “the little known yet enormously influential Pierre Rissient for his tireless work behind the scenes on behalf of international cinema.” Rissient is described as being revered by filmmakers of all ages around the world, from Clint Eastwood, who frequently shows him the rough cut of his work, to Werner Herzog, who calls him “the yeast […]
The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19 – May 3) will open with Farewell, My Queen (Dans les adieux à la reine, France 2012), Described as Benoît Jacquot’s extraordinarily atmospheric historical drama about the turmoil at Versailles in the early days of the French revolution, starring Diane Kruger as Queen Marie Antoinette and Léa Seydoux as her reader. Sumptuous and intimate, Benoît Jacquot’s portrayal of court life at Versailles during four crucial days […]
Kenneth Branagh will be the recipient of the Founder’s Directing Award at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19 – May 3). “We are thrilled to honor Kenneth Branagh for his remarkable directorial achievements and multifaceted career at this year’s Festival,” said Melanie Blum, the San Francisco Film Society’s interim executive director. Branagh is currently receiving a lot of attention for last year’s Academy Award-nominated performance as Sir Laurence Olivier in My Week […]
The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19 – May 3) announced the films in competition for the New Directors Prize and the Golden Gate Awards for documentary features. The International will award $70,000 in total prizes this year. The New Directors Prize of $15,000 will be given to a narrative first feature that exhibits a unique artistic sensibility and deserves to be seen by as wide an audience as possible. The GGA documentary […]
The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19 – May 3) will present the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award to veteran documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Kopple will be presented with the POV award Sunday, April 22, 3:30 pm at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, preceding the screening of her masterful landmark documentary Harlan County, USA (USA 1976). “Barbara Kopple is a pioneering documentarian who brings the highest level of craft to her work whether she […]
Author Jonathan Lethem will deliver the ninth annual State of Cinema address at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19 – May 3). Each year, the Film Society invites a public figure to discuss the intersecting worlds of contemporary cinema and visual arts, culture and society, images and ideas. This year, New York Times bestselling novelist, essayist and short story writer Jonathan Lethem investigates the “ecstasies of influence” constituting the cinematic experience. From […]
The San Francisco Film Society is now accepting submissions for the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival. Works in all genres, forms and lengths are considered. The final deadline for short films is Monday, December 5; and the final deadline for features is Monday, December 12. The Festival’s Golden Gate Awards include a juried award for Best Documentary Feature with a $20,000 prize; Best Bay Area Documentary Feature with a $15,000 prize; and awards totaling […]
54th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21 – May 5) with 265 screenings of 193 films from 48 countries came to close on Thursday. Eleven films were in juried competition for the 15th annual $15,000 New Directors Award which was given to director Park Jung-bumʼs The Journals of Musan (South Korea). The Salesman by Sébastien Pilote (Canada) was awarded the FIPRESCI prize. The jury described it as “a first feature with a precise sense […]