Endless Poetry[/caption]
The 60th San Francisco International Film Festival wrapped after screening 181 films from 51 countries, and the audience voted Endless Poetry and Dolores their favorite narrative and documentary feature films.
The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Endless Poetry (Chile/Japan/France), with Geremy Jasper’s Patti Cake$ (USA) also scoring highly with Festival audiences. The Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Peter Bratt’s Dolores (USA), a 2016 SFFILM Documentary Film Fund winner for postproduction, while Rina Castelnuovo-Hollander and Tamir Elterman’s Muhi – Generally Temporary (Israel/Germany) also resonated with Festival audiences.
The festival hosted 249 screenings of 181 films from 51 countries, which were attended by some 200 filmmakers and industry guests from 15 countries. Over two weeks, the 60th SFFILM Festival showed 66 narrative features, 36 documentary features, two New Visions features, two television series, and a total of 75 short films. Nearly $40,000 in prizes was awarded by Golden Gate Awards juries.
“What an amazing year,” said Noah Cowan, SFFILM Executive Director. “Through partnerships local, national and global, we were able to create a special birthday celebration for the city of San Francisco, Bay Area audiences, and our followers online. We are grateful to the many people who took this journey with us, and we can’t wait to do it again!”Dolores
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ENDLESS POETRY and DOLORES Win San Francisco International Film Festival Audience Awards
[caption id="attachment_21985" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Endless Poetry[/caption]
The 60th San Francisco International Film Festival wrapped after screening 181 films from 51 countries, and the audience voted Endless Poetry and Dolores their favorite narrative and documentary feature films.
The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Endless Poetry (Chile/Japan/France), with Geremy Jasper’s Patti Cake$ (USA) also scoring highly with Festival audiences. The Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Peter Bratt’s Dolores (USA), a 2016 SFFILM Documentary Film Fund winner for postproduction, while Rina Castelnuovo-Hollander and Tamir Elterman’s Muhi – Generally Temporary (Israel/Germany) also resonated with Festival audiences.
The festival hosted 249 screenings of 181 films from 51 countries, which were attended by some 200 filmmakers and industry guests from 15 countries. Over two weeks, the 60th SFFILM Festival showed 66 narrative features, 36 documentary features, two New Visions features, two television series, and a total of 75 short films. Nearly $40,000 in prizes was awarded by Golden Gate Awards juries.
“What an amazing year,” said Noah Cowan, SFFILM Executive Director. “Through partnerships local, national and global, we were able to create a special birthday celebration for the city of San Francisco, Bay Area audiences, and our followers online. We are grateful to the many people who took this journey with us, and we can’t wait to do it again!”
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PBS To Release DOLORES – Sundance 2017 Documentary on Labor Activist Dolores Huerta
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Dolores Huerta appears in Dolores by Peter Bratt[/caption]
The documentary Dolores sheds light on an enigmatic, intensely private woman who is among the most important yet little-known workers’ rights activists in American history – Dolores Huerta. “Dolores,” premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year in the US Documentary Competition category, and will be released in theaters in the Fall and make its broadcast premiere on PBS in 2018.
In the copious volumes written about Cesar Chavez and how he formed the first farm workers’ union in America, there’s little mention of Dolores Huerta, although she was his equal partner and co-founder of the union. With unprecedented access to Dolores and her children, the film reveals the raw, personal stories behind the public figure. It portrays a woman both heroic and flawed, working tirelessly for social change even as her 11 children longed to have her at home.
“Dolores” was written, produced and directed by Peter Bratt, produced by Brian Benson, and executive produced by Carlos Santana, Regina K. Scully, and Janet MacGillivray Wallace. Benjamin Bratt served as consulting producer. This is the second film for 5 Stick Films Inc, the Bratts’ production company with partner Alpita Patel.
“In the 1970s, the national grape boycott Dolores Huerta helped organize played out in the small rural Minnesota farming community where I grew up—supported by our Catholic Church, along with tens of thousands of religious organizations across the country,” said Lois Vossen, INDEPENDENT LENS executive producer. “More than 40 years later, Dolores is still an indefatigable architect for social change on behalf of poor, under-represented people, urging them to seek self-determination with her refrain ‘Si Se Puede’ (‘Yes We Can’).”
“We are thrilled and inspired to be partnered with PBS and INDEPENDENT LENS for the release of our film ‘Dolores’,” said Peter Bratt. “Part of our mandate at 5 Stick Films is to create socially relevant content which not only entertains, but also provides an alternative point of view for what it means to be mainstream. This is exactly the kind of work that PBS has been focused on since its inception: opening up new worlds to its viewers, using media to educate and captivate people with an immense diversity of perspectives. As longtime champions of arts education and public access for all, they are the perfect partners to illuminate and share Dolores Huerta’s compelling story and important work with the rest of the world.”
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DOLORES, I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, DEAN Among Lineup for Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival
Dolores Huerta[/caption]
The 17th Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival (MVFF) will be taking place March 16 to 19, 2017.
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Hip Hop Indie Film PATTI CAKE$ is Centerpiece of San Francisco International Film Festival Lineup
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Patti Cake$[/caption]
The 60th San Francisco International Film Festival‘s Centerpiece film will be Patti Cake$ (USA 2016), first-time feature director Geremy Jasper’s dynamic and inspiring film which tells the story of Patricia “Patti Cake$” Dombrowski, a big girl with a big mouth and big dreams of hip-hop superstardom. Patti Cake$ was a Spring 2014 SF Film Society / KRF Filmmaking Grant winner.
The celebratory Centerpiece screening will take place on Wednesday, April 12, 7:30 pm at the historic Castro Theatre.
In addition to Patti Cake$, three documentary features, one narrative feature, one narrative short and three documentary shorts-all of which received funding or creative support through various SF Film Society artist development programs-will be included in this year’s Festival lineup.
San Francisco native Peter Bratt’s feature documentary Dolores and Oakland-based filmmaker Peter Nicks’ feature documentary The Force both received Documentary Film Fund Awards. Directing and screenwriting team Alex and Andrew Smith’s Walking Out was a SF Film Society / KRF Filmmaking Grant winner, and Andrew Smith is a current FilmHouse Resident. Joe Talbot, director of the narrative short American Paradise, is a current FilmHouse Resident and the feature film expansion of his short recently won a SF Film Society / KRF Filmmaking Grant. Mohammad Gorjestani, director of the documentary shorts Happy Birthday Mario Woods and The Boombox Collection: Zion I, and Mario Furloni and Kate McLean, co-directors of the documentary short Gut Hack, were all FilmHouse Residents during the development of their films. McLean’s FilmHouse residency also included the development of Festival documentary feature Bill Nye: Science Guy, on which she is a producer.
SAN FRANCISCO FILM SOCIETY-SUPPORTED FILMS IN THE FESTIVAL PROGRAM
Centerpiece: Patti Cake$ (Geremy Jasper, USA)
The unqualified breakout hit of this year’s Sundance Festival, Geremy Jasper’s debut feature erupts with head-nodding beats from the opening scene and features the dynamic and stirring performance of Danielle Macdonald as the title character, a young woman who uses her lyrics to escape, daring to dream of something better outside of her New Jersey working class life. She gathers an emotionally damaged multi-racial motley crew around her to create funny and invigorating musical sequences.
Spring 2014 SF Film Society / KRF Filmmaking Grant winner for packaging
Bill Nye: Science Guy (David Alvarado, Jason Sussberg, USA)
The effortlessly charming, bow-tie sporting scientist Bill Nye is beloved by all generations who grew up watching his show Bill Nye the Science Guy, but vilified by climate change deniers and religious fundamentalists. Skilled documentarians (and fans!) David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg travel along with Nye as he works tirelessly to make the world a better place through science advocacy and education and reflects on his life and career as one of America’s most famous science minds.
Kate McLean, a producer on the film, was a SF Film Society FilmHouse Resident during its development.
Dolores (Peter Bratt, USA)
Lifelong community organizer Dolores Huerta founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in 1962 and directed the decisive national boycott of Delano grapes. San Francisco native Peter Bratt’s vibrant historical documentary revisits those landmark accomplishments and Huerta’s tireless activism against poverty, pesticides, racism, and injustice. Huerta’s myriad battles and sacrifices as the lone woman on the UFW board and the mother of 11 children are integral to her story, and to the times.
2016 SF Film Society Documentary Film Fund winner for postproduction
The Force (Peter Nicks, USA)
For the powerful second chapter in his projected trilogy of films centered on the relationship between public institutions and community, Pete Nicks takes a powerful, immersive look at the Oakland Police Department. Filming from 2014-2016 with unprecedented access, Nicks captures a particularly turbulent time at the agency. Intended as a catalyst for conversation and change, Nick’s empathetic observational style avoids easy generalizations and upends expectations resulting in a rich, thought-provoking depiction of what policing looks like at a watershed moment.
2015 SF Film Society Documentary Film Fund winner for postproduction
Walking Out (Alex Smith, Andrew Smith, USA)
A moose hunting trip into Montana’s mountains, meant as a rite of passage and to bridge a growing divide between a divorced dad (Matt Bomer, A Normal Heart) and his young teenage son (Josh Wiggins, Hellion, Festival 2014), takes a dangerous turn under wintry conditions in Alex and Andrew Smith’s haunting adaptation of David Quammen’s short story, a thrilling, deceptively simple drama that packs an emotional wallop and features some of the year’s best performances.
Andrew Smith is a current SF Film Society FilmHouse Resident
Fall 2016 SF Film Society / KRF Filmmaking Grant winner for postproduction
SHORT FILMS
American Paradise (Joe Talbot, USA)
A desperate man plans a bank heist and comes up against the stark realities of white privilege in this extraordinary story inspired by true events.
Joe Talbot is a current SF Film Society FilmHouse Resident
Fall 2016 SF Film Society / KRF Filmmaking Grant for packaging of the feature film expansion of American Paradise
The Boombox Collection: Zion I (Mohammad Gorjestani, USA)
In this intimate portrait and performance piece, Oakland resident Stephen Gaines, frontman of underground hip-hop duo Zion 1, reflects on his legacy and the question of artistic integrity vs. mainstream success.
Mohammad Gorjestani was a SF Film Society FilmHouse Resident during the development of this film.
Gut Hack (Mario Furloni, Kate McLean, USA)
To treat his chronic gastro-intestinal problems, Josiah devises a bold biological experiment that involves the exchange of bodily excretions.
Mario Furloni and Kate McLean were SF Film Society FilmHouse Residents during the development of this film.
Happy Birthday Mario Woods (Mohammad Gorjestani, USA)
A bereaved mother in Oakland, CA, tends the grave of her son and remembers his life.
Mohammad Gorjestani was a SF Film Society FilmHouse Resident during the development of this film.