Michael Tully’s Ping Pong Summer is a tidal wave of ’80s nostalgia that follows a shy, hip-hop and table tennis loving kid named Rad Miracle (Marcello Conte) on a family vacation in Ocean City, Maryland. Rad meets a quirky sidekick named Teddy (Myles Massey) and tries to overthrow Lyle (Joseph McCaughtry), the jerk king of the local fun center, to win the heart of his crush, Stacy (Emmi Shockley). The film looks, sounds, and feels just like those cheesy B-movies from the early Nickelodeon days, a delight to any child of the era.

In our video interview we chat with Tully about how autobiographical the film is, coming up with the idea for the film way back in 1992, casting non-actors in the child roles, creating an artifact from the ’80s, and more. Ping Pong Summer is available tomorrow, June 6th, in theaters and on demand.

This past Thursday we chatted with the stars of Alex of Venice, which closed out this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival at the Castro Theatre. Director Chris Messina, stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Don Johnson, and SFIFF57 Director of Programming Rachel Rosen spoke with us about Messina’s directorial debut, the festival buzz, and why Winstead will never call Don Johnson “Daddy”.

In Submarine director Richard Ayoade’s stylish Dostoyevsky adaptation The Double, Jesse Eisenberg impresses yet again in a dual performance as Simon, a pushover office drone, and his cocky, better-in-every-way doppelganger James. Though Simon has worked at the office for seven years, no one seems capable of remembering him, due to his socially awkward, subservient nature. New hire James–who looks and dresses exactly like Simon–begins to take over the office and bend their co-workers to his whim (including Simon’s crush played by the radiant Mia Wasikowska), Simon finds himself so trampled and transparent he might as well be nonexistent.

The film resembles a steampunk version of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, while also paying homage to myriad other weirdo auteurs like David Lynch and Orson Welles. Eisenberg is the perfect choice for the role(s), exuding the pitiful weakness of Simon and the brash dominance of James with equal adeptness. Ayoade’s taken a surprising turn following up Submarine, an entertaining teen comedy, with a dark, brutal, depressing film like The Double, but he proves he’s more than capable of handling such artfully ambitious material. The fact that the film is clearly derivative but feels uniquely Ayoade’s on the same token is astonishing.

One of the best singer-songwriters of a generation is given the tribute treatment in Nickolas Rossi’s Heaven Adores You, an intimate, revealing music doc about the life and art of indie legend Elliot Smith which made its world premiere at SFIFF57. Rossi, also an experienced DP, marries Smith’s hauntingly earnest music and lyrics with incredibly cinematic footage of Portland, the city synonymous with Smith’s legacy. Using a collection of photos, videos, and accounts from the people closest to the soft-spoken Smith, the film follows his story from childhood, through his prolific music career in which he moved millions, to his untimely death in 2003 to unexplained stab wounds.

Instead of following the tabloid route and sensationalizing the mystery of Smith’s death, Rossi lets the music dictate the form of the film. There’s a prevalent sense of Smith’s presence throughout the film, something most music docs are sorely missing. Audio of Smith’s guest appearances on radio shows has the chilling effect of making it feel as if he’s sitting right next to you, talking into your ear. Fans will be delighted at the tastefulness of the production, while the uninitiated will find a well-crafted introduction into the life and work of one of the greats.

The movie poster for Of Horses & Men is a hilarious head-scratcher: A depressed-looking man (Ingvar E. Sigurdsson) is mounted on a white-haired horse, head down in despair, as a black stallion takes his steed from behind. It doesn’t become clear just how emblematic the poster is until you’ve immersed yourself in Benedikt Erlingsson’s off-kilter, picturesque exploration of the bestial equity between man and horse. Later on, he mirrors the shocking horse-sex scene with one involving humans; surprisingly, the latter is no less cringe-worthy, and that’s sort of the point.

Erlingsson seamlessly weaves together a collection of short film-sized stories that take place in a small, horse-dependent village in Iceland. The quirky vignettes are comedic, grotesque, and strangely beautiful. In one, an alcoholic rides his horse into the ocean to catch a passing Russian boat and secure a jug of unearthly strong vodka. Another follows a Spanish tourist (Juan Camillo Roman Estrada) as he gets lost in the snow overnight with his horse and wrestles with the idea of resorting to the classic “Tauntaun” method of survival. What bumps the film up from minor to major achievement is its expert cinematography, which captures the majesty of horses unlike any movie I’ve seen, while capturing the stunning Icelandic landscape just as well. The film feels like a Nat-Geo special gone horribly wrong, in the best, left-field way possible.

In Jeremy Ambers’ Impossible Light, the first-time filmmaker follows the conceptualization, design, and construction of the gigantic piece of public art known as The Bay Lights. The project, dreamed up by Illuminate the Arts founder Ben Davis and designed by light artist Leo Villareal, had a crew of intrepid workers brave great heights, stringing thousands of LED’s up and down the suspension cables of San Francisco’s utilitarian western span of the Bay Bridge, sometimes under punishing weather conditions. That wouldn’t be the team’s biggest hurdle, however, as navigating a serpentine process of acquiring permits and raising funds almost squashed the project before they could hit the “on” switch.

Ambers takes the time to highlight the smallest details of the giant production, from the design of the clamps that hold the lights in place to the strategic placement of the lights themselves (so as not to distract on-bridge drivers). This attention to detail is fascinating and impressive, considering the 70 minute runtime. Ambers was essentially a one-man film crew, climbing to the bridge’s highest point with a camera strapped on, and the resulting footage is spectacular (and harrowing). In reality, there was no human antagonist vehemently opposing the project, but Ambers does his best to create a sense of urgency without the benefit of a human conflict angle. An uplifting film for a universally inspirational work of public art.

Tomorrow night, the 57th annual San Francisco International Film Festival (April 24-May 8) kicks off its program of 168 films representing 56 countries. Seeing every film in that span of time is a veritable impossibility (though San Francisco is full of sun-depraved cine-maniacs ready to jump at the challenge), so we’re going to take a look at some of the highlights in the festival’s catalog for anyone planning on hopping over to the Bay Area and joining in on the fun.

Opening up the festival tomorrow night at the Castro Theater is Hossein Amini’s The Two Faces of January, a Greece-set suspense thriller starring Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen, an American couple on holiday who find themselves inextricably linked to a shifty tour guide (Oscar Isaac) after a fatal accident in a hotel room forces them to frantically find a way out of the country. Evoking Hitchcock’s touristic action-romance romps, the film should send the festival on its way nicely.

Speaking of being on holiday, Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip to Italy (pictured above) looks to walk on the lighter side of vacationing. A sequel to 2011’s The Trip, the film stars English funnymen Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing inflated versions of themselves as they, like in the first film, take a culinary tour of expensive restaurants, making each other chuckle along the way with improvised chatter and–of course–spot-on Michael Caine impressions.

On the darker side of traveling lies Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, about a sociopath Japanese office assistant who flies to Fargo, North Dakota in search of a buried treasure she glimpsed in the famous Coen Brothers movie. For some reason, she believes a suitcase full of money buried in the snow by Steve Buscemi in a fictional movie exists in real life…and that totally piques my interest for some reason…

The film that’s got me frothing in anticipation more than any other is Night Moves (pictured above), by ridiculously talented writer/director Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff, Wendy and Lucy). It’s a safe bet that, like her previous films, we’ll be treated to a smorgasbord of deliciously cinematic imagery to support a wholly unique script (set, as in all her previous efforts, in Oregon). The political thriller stars Jesse Eisenberg and Dakota Fanning as environmentalist lovebirds who, with marine veteran Peter Sarsgaard, hatch a plan to blow up a dam. This one looks to be a less contemplative and more narrative-driven movie than we’re used to seeing from Reichardt, which excites me to no end.

The fest’s centerpiece presentation is the Bay Area-set teenage drama Palo Alto, directed by Gia Coppola and starring Emma Roberts, James Franco, and Jack Kilmer. Based on a book of short stories written by Franco about his experience growing up in the titular Bay Area community, the film aims to be a more authentic take on teenage life than your typical high school drama, casting appropriately-aged actors in all roles and eschewing tropes like stereotypical clique dynamics.

Richard Linklater is set to receive the Founder’s Directing Award at SFIFF, and he’s bringing Boyhood, his much buzzed-about coming-of-age movie, along with him. We’ve all heard by now that the film is pretty good and that it took  an unprecedented 12 years to make, which is reason enough to check out the film at the festival, but sweetening the deal is that a career highlight reel of the indie pioneer will also be shown, and Linklater will participate in an on-stage interview. Doesn’t get much cooler than that!

There are two films with the word “Summer” in the title playing at the festival, but seriously, they couldn’t be any more different. Stanley Nelson (Freedom Riders) chronicles the rise of the Civil Rights movement in his powerful documentary Freedom Summer, focusing on the significant, eruptive events in Mississippi in the summer of 1964. Director Michael Tully’s nostalgia comedy Ping Pong Summer (pictured above), set in a 1985 Maryland beach town, follows 13-year-old Rad Miracle (Marcello Conte) as a simple family vacation turns into one of the most memorable summers of his life.

Closing out the festival is actor-turned-director Chris Messina’s Alex of Venice, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the titular workaholic attorney, whose negligence of her family drives her husband (Messina) to walk out of their lives. As Alex’s strictly organized life begins to spiral out of control, she scrambles to restore some semblance of order, in the process discovering what’s truly important to her. The film also stars Don Johnson as Winstead’s father in a standout role.

For more information and ticketing info, visit sffs.org

The San Francisco Film Society announced today that Jeremy Irons will be the recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award for excellence in acting at the 57th annual San Francisco International Film Festival. Previous recipients include Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall, Sean Penn, Nicholas Cage, and more.

The film legend (The French Lieutenant’s Woman, The Lion King, Dead Ringers) will receive the award at the Film Society Awards Night, where Richard Linklater (Founder’s Directing Award), screenwriter Stephen Gaghan (Kanbar Screenwriting Award), and the recipient of the George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award will also be honored.

From the SFFS press release:

“Jeremy Irons is the perfect choice to receive the Peter J. Owens Award, SFIFF’s top honor for the actor’s craft,” said Noah Cowan, Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society. “He embodies the international spirit that defines our festival, and the phenomenal work he has done on screens big and small is an inspiration. We are thrilled to pay tribute to an actor whose range, depth and wonderful sense of humor have delighted lovers of world cinema for decades.”

Irons will also be honored at An Evening with Jeremy Irons at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, Wednesday April 30, 7:30 pm. A screening of a film featuring one of his iconic performances will follow an onstage interview and a selection of clips from his impressive career.  

Stay tuned for more news and coverage coming out of the festival.

The San Francisco Film Society has announced the winners for their 2014 Documentary Film Fund with awards totaling more than $75,000. All films are in postproduction, and since its inception the fund has awarded over $300,000 to filmmakers with non-fiction documentary films. Previous winners include Cutie and the Boxer, American Promise, and Narco Cultura.

Below are this year’s winners, with descriptions provided by SFFS.

The Joneses, Moby Longinotto
$30,627

The Joneses is a portrait of Jheri, a 73-year-old transgender trailer park matriarch, who lives in bible belt Mississippi. Reconciled with her family after years of estrangement, and now living with two of her sons, Jheri embarks on a new path to reveal her true self to her grandchildren. Will their family bonds survive?

Romeo is Bleeding (pictured), Jason Zeldes
$22,500

Donte Clark’s poetic voice was honed on the violent street corners of a struggling city. Yet rather than succumb to the pressures of Richmond, CA, Clark uses his artistic perspective to save his city from itself.

$22,500

In a new America where the promise of education, safety and shelter are in jeopardy, three Detroit men fight to build something lasting for themselves and future generations.

“We are thrilled to continue our tradition of supporting innovative documentary films that feature compelling stories told through a strong visual aesthetic,” said Michele Turnure-Salleo, director of Filmmaker360. “This round of winners has captivated us with their striking and charismatic characters, and we can’t wait to see the finished films and experience the unique and fascinating worlds their subjects inhabit. Our deepest thanks go to Jennifer Battat, whose generous support has been critical to the growing success of the Documentary Film Fund.”

Today, the San Francisco Film Society (and its new executive director Noah Cowan) announced the full lineup for the 57th annual San Francisco International Film Festival, running from April 24-May 8. Consisting of 169 films from 56 countries, the festival looks to present a broad selection of both domestic and world cinema features. 200 filmmakers and special guests are expected to attend.

Opening up the festival will be Hossein Amini’s The Two Faces of January, a Greece-set suspense-thriller starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, and Oscar Isaac. Gia Coppola’s Palo Alto will serve as the fest’s Centerpiece Film, while actor Chris Messina’s directorial debut Alex of Venice, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Don Johnson, will wrap up the festival’s 15-day run.

Receiving awards at this year’s festival will be Pixar’s John Lasseter (2014 George Gund Craft III of Cinema Award), Richard Linklater (Founders Directing Award), screenwriter Stephen Gaghan (Kanbar Award), and film historian David Thomson (Mel Novikoff Award), with more to be announced.

Some standouts: Kelly Reichardt’s (Meek’s Cutoff) environmental activist drama Night Moves starring Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, and Peter Sarsgaard, looks to be another excellent entry into the acclaimed indie filmmaker’s oeuvre;  The Skeleton Twins, a sibling drama starring SNL favorites Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader, who will be in attendance at the fest; Young & Beautiful, a drama from Francois Ozon (Swimming Pool) billed as “a portrait in four seasons and four songs”; and Boyhood, Linklater’s unprecedented coming-of-age story filmed over 12 years.

For the full schedule, check out sffs.org

The 57th Annual San Francisco International Film Festival, which runs from April 24-May 8, has announced its opening night film as The Two Faces of January, starring Oscar Isaac, Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst, which will be making it’s North American premiere at the fest. Closing out the festival will be Alex of Venice, the directorial debut of actor Chris Messina starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Don Johnson.

“We are delighted to offer these exceptional films by first-time directors who are best known for their work in other areas of the film world,” said San Francisco Film Society Executive Director Noah Cowan. “Championing talented artists who aren’t afraid of taking risks is at the heart of the Film Society’s mission and our ongoing support of filmmakers around the world. I can’t think of a better pair of films to kick off and wrap up what is going to be an amazing festival.”

The Two Faces of January (above) marks a directorial debut as well, in this caseof screenwriter Hossein Amini (Drive). Set in Greece, the thriller sees Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst play a couple who fall into a dangerous dilemma with an Athens tour guide (Oscar Isaac) following a murderous incident at their hotel.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars in Chris Messina’s Alex of Venice as a workaholic environmental lawyer whose husband (Messina) is fed up with being a stay-at-home father and decides to stay elsewhere. Winstead is left at home with her son and actor father (Don Johnson) and is forced to hold the family together all by herself.

For more festival info, visit sffs.org

The San Francisco Film Society will honor Richard Linklater with the 2014 Founder’s Directing Award at the 57th annual San Francisco International Film Festival, which runs from April 24-May 8. Linklater wowed the SFIFF festival goers last year with the excellent Before Midnight and looks to do the same this year with the ambitious Boyhood. His incredible catalogue of films also includes Slacker, Dazed & Confused, Waking Life, Before Sunset/Sunrise, and many more.

For more info, visit sffs.org

From the official press release:

San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Film Society announced today that filmmaker Richard Linklater will be the recipient of the 2014 Founder’s Directing Award at the 57th San Francisco International Film Festival(April 24 – May 8), honoring the quintessentially American director’s expansive body of work and celebrating the upcoming release Boyhood, his groundbreaking new film. The award will be presented to Linklater at Film Society Awards Night, Thursday May 1 at The Regency Center.

Linklater will also be publicly honored at An Evening with Richard Linklaterat the Castro Theatre, Friday May 2, 7:00 pm. An onstage interview and a selection of clips from his notable directing career will be followed by a screening of Boyhood. Filming over the course of 12 years, Linklater and his cast depict a young man’s journey from a 6-year-old boy to 18-year-old college freshman. The resulting film “has no precedent” according to the Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy. “Never has the long arc of the journey from childhood to college been portrayed as cohesively and convincingly as Richard Linklater has done.”

“Richard Linklater is one of our country’s great creative minds,” said San Francisco Film Society Executive Director Noah Cowan. “His curiosity about cinema’s endless possibilities and his landmark collaborations with many of the world’s most interesting actors mark him as a profound and important force in our medium. It is our great honor to welcome him here to accept the 2014 Founder’s Directing Award.”

One of the most profound and prolific American independent filmmakers of the last 20 years, Richard Linklater first burst onto the scene with his scrappy time capsule of Austin weirdness, Slacker (SFIFF, 1991). Since then Linklater’s work has graced international film festival lineups, helped launch the careers of a number of prominent movie stars (Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Parker Posey) and garnered multiple Oscar nominations. Boyhood is his 18th feature film.

The Film Society and its year-round programs in exhibition, education and filmmaker services will benefit from the Film Society Awards Night fundraiser honoring Linklater. The star-studded event will also honor the recipients of the Peter J. Owens Award for excellence in acting and the Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting. Honorees in recent years have included Harrison Ford (Owens Award 2013), David Webb Peoples (Kanbar Award 2012), Judy Davis (Owens Award 2012), James Toback (Kanbar Award 2009), Robert Redford (Owens Award 2009) and Robert Towne (Kanbar Award 2007). Victoria Raiser and Todd Traina are co-chairs of this year’s gala.

The Founder’s Directing Award is presented each year to a master of world cinema and is given in memory of Irving M. Levin, visionary founder of the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1957. It is made possible by Irving’s son and current SFFS board member Fred M. Levin and Fred’s wife Nancy Livingston. The award was first bestowed in 1986 on iconic filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, and for many years carried his name.

The award has brought many of the world’s most visionary directors to the San Francisco International Film festival over the years. Previous recipients are Philip Kaufman, USA; Kenneth Branagh, England; Oliver Stone, USA; Walter Salles, Brazil; Francis Ford Coppola, USA; Mike Leigh, England; Spike Lee, USA; Werner Herzog, Germany; Taylor Hackford, USA; Milos Forman, Czechoslovakia/USA; Robert Altman, USA; Warren Beatty, USA; Clint Eastwood, USA; Abbas Kiarostami, Iran; Arturo Ripstein, Mexico; Im Kwon-Taek, Korea; Francesco Rosi, Italy; Arthur Penn, USA; Stanley Donen, USA; Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal; Ousmane Sembène, Senegal; Satyajit Ray, India; Marcel Carné, France; Jirí Menzel, Czechoslovakia; Joseph L. Mankiewicz, USA; Robert Bresson, France; Michael Powell, England; and Akira Kurosawa, Japan.

The 57th annual San Francisco International Film Festival has announced the slates for its 2014 New Directors Prize and Golden Gate Award for Documentary Feature. The festival runs April 24-May 8.

From the official press release:

San Francisco, CA — The 57th San Francisco International Film Festival(April 24 – May 8) today announced the films in competition for the New Directors Prize and the Golden Gate Award (GGA) contenders in the documentary feature category. SFIFF will award nearly $40,000 in total cash prizes this year. The New Directors Prize of $10,000 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 feature winner will receive $10,000 and the GGA Bay Area documentary feature winner will receive $5,000. A total of 25 countries are represented in this year’s competing feature films. Independent juries will select the winners, which will be announced at the Golden Gate Awards, Wednesday, May 7.

In conjunction with the announcement of the feature film competition slates, SFIFF has launched the sale of CineVoucher 10-packs. These discounted ticket bundles are now available for $120 for SFFS members and $140 for the general public. CineVouchers can be redeemed for film tickets beginning April 1 for SFFS members and April 4 for the general public. For more information and to purchase CineVoucher packages, visit sffs.org.

2014 NEW DIRECTORS PRIZE (NARRATIVE FEATURE) COMPETITION

The Amazing Catfish, Claudia Sainte-Luce, Mexico
Set in Guadalajara, The Amazing Catfish follows the quiet transformation of a solitary young woman informally adopted and absorbed into a rambunctious matriarchy in a state of crisis. Filmed by Claire Denis’ long-time cinematographer, Agnès Godard, Claudia Sainte-Luce’s debut feature, based loosely on events from her own life, blends a wry and moving naturalism with moments of inspired comedy.

The Blue Wave, Zeynep Dadak and Merve Kayan, Turkey/Germany/Netherlands/Greece
In this low-key, loosely plotted coming-of-age tale, a Turkish teenage girl wrestles with mood swings, unfocused restlessness, familial responsibilities, shifting friendships and romantic complications during a year of quiet tumult.

Difret, Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, Ethiopia
In a contemporary Ethiopian village, a 14-year-old girl is abducted from school in an attempt at forced marriage, a tradition in her community. Her efforts to free herself from a preordained future set off a legal firestorm in this powerful drama inspired by a true story that pits the law against an entrenched cultural mindset.

The Dune, Yossi Aviram, France/Israel
Delving into issues of identity and aging, this nuanced relationship drama portrays the personal crises faced by an aging gay cop in France and a younger Israeli man who is found on the beach, mute and without any identification.

History of Fear, Benjamín Naishtat, Argentina/France/Germany/Uruguay/Qatar
Paranoia runs rampant in this accomplished first feature, instilling a disorienting sense of dread in the viewer. Are the strange occurrences in an affluent Buenos Aires suburb evidence that the skittish residents are actually being targeted? Naishtat foregoes ready explanations or assurances in favor of foreboding suggestions in a film that is sprawling both in scope and implications but astonishingly exacting in its execution.

Manos Sucias, Josef Wladyka, USA/Colombia
A reluctant smuggler and his eager neophyte brother shepherd a dangerous narco-torpedo up the coast of Colombia, posing as fishermen. Paramilitary, guerrillas and hardscrabble desperation suffuse every inch of the jungle and waters that surround them, eager to separate the siblings from their only opportunity to escape the circumstances of their lives.

Of Horses and Men, Benedikt Erlingsson, Iceland/Germany
The relationship between man and beast is explored in a series of dryly humorous, linked episodes set in a small Icelandic hamlet. With its idiosyncratic portrait of village life, this remarkable debut features several unforgettable visual tableaux.

Salvation Army, Abdellah Taïa, Morocco
Adapting his autobiographical novel, director Abdellah Taïa tells the story of a gay Moroccan boy finding self-realization and personal strength within a society that shuns him. Shot by the brilliant Agnès Godard, the film takes the form of a diptych, telling the protagonist’s story in two different time periods and locales.

South Is Nothing, Fabio Mollo, Italy/France
Miriam Karlkvist took a well-deserved Shooting Star award at the Berlinale for her portrayal of an androgynous teenage girl negotiating life in a mafia-controlled town whose code of silence is destroying her family. Filmed in Reggio Calabria, this debut feature combines poetic realism with hard-edged cynicism.

Trap Street, Vivian Qu, China
What’s it like to be a 21st-century young adult-with access to gadgets, the Internet and other high-tech conveniences — within China’s surveillance state? First-time writer-director Vivian Qu’s taut, slow-building noir cleverly uses a simple boy-meets-girl tale to unearth a hidden world of government control lurking just under the surface.

White Shadow, Noaz Deshe, Italy/Germany/Tanzania
Inspired by news reports of the ongoing perils faced by albinos in Tanzania, Noaz Deshe’s film depicts a fractured and uneasy world, where superstition and the rule of law collide. An albino youth named Alias must learn to navigate through a culture not just unsympathetic to his condition, but actively violent towards it.

In addition to these 11 first features in competition, the New Directors section of SFIFF57 includes 14 out-of-competition films, which will be announced at the Festival’s press conference Tuesday, April 1.

2014 GOLDEN GATE AWARDS DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

Coast of Death, Lois Patiño, Spain
From the first entrancing images of trees being cut down in a fog-filled forest to the later blues of the sky and ocean fusing to erase the horizon, the always static frames of this documentary offer a meditative and prismatic view of Spain’s much storied and dangerous “Coast of Death.”

The Last Season, Sara Dosa, USA
Every September, over 200 seasonal workers, many of them Cambodian, Lao, Hmong, Mien and Thai, descend upon the tiny town of Chemult, Oregon, to search the woods for the rare Matsuke, a fungus highly prized in Japan. This documentary examines the bond between two of these hunters, an elderly Vietnam vet and a survivor of the Khmer Rouge, during one unusually hard season.

The Overnighters, Jesse Moss, USA
Unemployed men and women across America want new oil jobs in North Dakota, but housing is at a premium. Enter Pastor Jay Reinke. Despite protests from his own congregation, he opens up his church to “overnighters” — people in search of a second shot at the American Dream. The film expertly and compassionately depicts the conflict between locals, these new residents and Pastor Reinke’s controversial policy.

Return to Homs, Talal Derki, Syria/Germany
Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance, this dispatch from the besieged Syrian city of Homs is both an elegy and a call to action. Filmed between 2011 and 2013, it presents a visceral eyewitness account of the conflict as a peaceful uprising descends into civil war and idealistic young men are transformed into revolutionary martyrs.

Soul Food Stories, Tonislav Hristov, Bulgaria/Finland
Muslim, Christian, Roma and atheist Communists live together peacefully in Satovcha, a Bulgarian village. They have differing theologies and politics, but are united by a love of food and the eternal mystery of being men and women. Beautifully shot, the film unfolds like a 10-course meal, with observations of food preparation and religious diversity laced into the recipes.

Stop the Pounding Heart, Roberto Minervini, USA/Italy/Belgium
This unique hybrid of documentary and narrative offers an evocative portrait of the quotidian lives of a devout young Christian goat farmer and the bullriding cowboy who lives nearby. As much a portrait of the East Texas town where they live as it is a relationship drama, the film combines ethnography and budding romance to compelling effect.

Three Letters from China, Luc Schaedler, Switzerland
Luc Schaedler’s latest work presents distinct and illuminating portraits of contemporary life in China. Attentively observing life on a parched farm, a grim industrial zone, a rural village and a booming megacity, the documentary expressively reveals the upheaval and uncertainty of a rapidly changing nation through the deeply engrossing stories of its people.

We Come as Friends, Hubert Sauper, France/Austria
South Sudan may have declared its independence but that hasn’t stopped multinationals and missionaries from laying claim to its natural resources and influencing its people’s religious beliefs. Employing intrepid techniques and striking visuals, documentarian Hubert Sauper (Darwin’s Nightmare) delivers another piercing examination of the human cost of neocolonialism that will provoke both thought and outrage.

In addition to these eight features by emerging filmmakers in the documentary competitions, the Golden Gate Awards also will include competitors in six other categories. These films will be announced at the Festival press conference on Tuesday, April 1.

The San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) and Kenneth Rainin Foundation (KRF) have selected 15 finalists for the latest round of SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grants; more than $300,000 will be awarded to one or more narrative feature film projects at any stage of production. SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grants are awarded twice annually to narrative films that will have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. More than $2 million has been awarded since the launch of the Film Society’s flagship grant program in 2009. Winners of the spring 2014 SFFS / KRF Grants will be announced in late April.

Previous grant winners include Destin Cretton’s Short Term 12, Bay Area native Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station (which just took home the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature), and Benh Zeitlin’s breakout Beasts of the Southern Wild.

“This is always an exciting time of year, when we get an early look at so many impressive projects at every stage of production,” said Michele Turnure-Salleo, director of Filmmaker360. “The talent on display here is inspiring, and it’s great to see so many new faces in the mix among the filmmakers we’ve worked with before. I’m particularly struck by the breadth of range in the subjects of these finalist projects, and it is immensely satisfying to see the increasingly international reach of our flagship grant program.”

SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grants are made possible by the vision and generosity of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. In addition to the cash grant, recipients will receive various benefits through Filmmaker360, the San Francisco Film Society’s comprehensive and dynamic filmmaker services program. These benefits, customized to every individual production, can include one-on-one project consultations and project feedback, additional fundraising assistance, resource and service recommendations, and networking opportunities, among many others

SPRING 2014 SFFS / KRF FILMMAKING GRANT FINALISTS

Ad Inexplorata
Mark Elijah Rosenberg, director; Josh Penn, producer — postproduction
Captain Stanaforth is a NASA pilot alone on a one-way mission toward the unknown.

Afronauts (Pictured at top)
Frances Bodomo, writer/director — screenwriting
In March 1965, the U.S. and the USSR rush to get the first man on the moon. Thousands of miles away, the Zambia Space Academy hopes to enter the race with their “spacegirl” Matha Mwamba. Based on true events.

Betamax
Terrie Samundra, writer/director; Xandra Castleton, producer — packaging
With the release of the first home video camcorder, a teenage Sikh boy and a squatter punk girl become unlikely friends and filmmaking collaborators. It’s complicated, but so is London, which is at the brink of race riots and a punk youth uprising in the summer of 1976.

Black Metal
Kat Candler, writer/director — screenwriting
After a career spent mining his music from the shadows, the lead singer of a metal band and his family experience a chain reaction of turmoil following the murderous actions of a teenage fan.

Chickenshit
Jessica dela Merced, writer/director — screenwriting
In struggling Detroit, a lonely middle-school girl befriends a daring group of boys who adventure through the ruins of the once majestic city. With their help, she devises a plan to track down and capture the arsonists responsible for a recent string of fires, including the one that claimed the life of her father.

Clash
Mohamed Diab, writer/director — screenwriting
In the wake of the recent Egyptian military coup, Hayman — a jaded, claustrophobic revolutionary — is stuck in an overcrowded truck with clashing brotherhood and military supporters. Engulfed in hatred and violence, he must learn to reconcile his love for Egypt in order to survive.

Five Nights in Maine
Maris Curran, writer/director/producer; Carly Hugo, producer — production
A young African American man, reeling from the tragic loss of his wife, travels to rural Maine to seek answers from his estranged mother-in-law, who is herself confronting guilt and grief over her daughter’s death.

The Fixer
Ian Olds, cowriter/director; Paul Felten, cowriter; Caroline von Kuhn and Lily Whitsitt, producers — preproduction
An Afghan journalist is exiled from his war-torn country to a small bohemian community in Northern California. When he attempts to turn his menial job on the local police blotter into “Afghan-style” coverage of local crime, he gets drawn into the underworld of this small town — a shadow Northern California where sex is casual, true friendship is hard to come by, and an unfamiliar form of violence burbles up all around him.

IO
Clay Jeter, writer/director; Jason Berman, producer — production
One of the last survivors on a post-cataclysmic Earth, the idealistic daughter of a famous scientist races to find a cure for her poisoned world before the final Exodus shuttle abandons the planet forever.

Mobile Homes
Vladimir de Fontenay, cowriter/director; Danielle Lessovitz, cowriter — screenwriting
A young runaway must decide between defending the life she knows with the man she loves and protecting her young son from them both.

Oscillate Wildly
Travis Matthews, cowriter/director; Keith Wilson, cowriter/producer — packaging
When his disability check arrives much reduced, a hot-headed young gay man with cerebral palsy is forced to confront the disability he has let define his whole being.

The Other Kids
Chris Brown, director/producer — postproduction
The Other Kids takes a raw, intimate look into the struggles of six small-town teenagers as they push through their final days of high school.

Our Lady of the Snow
Tom Gilroy, writer/director — Screenwriting
When the Bishop decides to sell a gothic convent isolated in the snowy woods, the elderly nuns living there begin to have ecstatic visions, which he dismisses as faked. But as the visions spread to the convent’s teenaged atheist cook, inexplicable supernatural events follow, with no one sure of their cause.

Patti Cake$
Geremy Jasper, writer/director/composer; Dan Janvey, producer — packaging
Patricia Baccio, aka Patti Cake$, is a big girl with a big mouth and big dreams of rap superstardom. Stuck in Lodi, New Jersey, Patti battles an army of haters as she strives to break the mold and take over the rap game.

Snow the Jones
Alistair Banks Griffin, writer/director/producer — production
When teenage vagabond Lexi joins a traveling door-to-door sales crew, she discovers a world much darker than the one from which she was trying to escape.

“My biggest fear is for my mind to control me and not the other way around,”Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Silva told us at FilmHouse in San Francisco, when asked about the inspiration behind his 2013 psychological creeper Magic Magic, starring Juno Temple and Michael Cera. We spoke with him at the beginning of his tenure as the San Francisco Film Society’s 2014 artist in residence, which runs through the end of the week. Including student lectures, a screening of Magic Magic, an intimate artist talk, and filmmaker networking events, the residency program is an opportunity for emerging filmmakers to spread their knowledge across the Bay Area filmmaking community.

In Magic Magic, Temple plays Alicia, an American who travels to Chile to visit her cousin Sarah (Emily Browning). During her stay, Alicia’s mind begins to crack when her interactions with Sarah’s friends turn adversarial. The film also stars Silva’s brother, Agustin, Cera, and Catalina Sandino Moreno. Magic Magic is one of two collaborations Silva had with Cera last year, the other being kooky road trip movie Crystal Fairy, based on a real-life experience Silva had in with a girl named Crystal Fairy (played by Gaby Hoffmann).

During our chat we talked about Silva reconnecting with the real Crystal Fairy, the gift of spontaneity, his residence in San Francisco, questioning his craft, Juno Temple’s tortured acting style, and more.

For More info about Silva’s residence, visit sffs.org.

When I spoke to you last year at the San Francisco International Film Festival, you were hoping that the real Crystal Fairy was going to show up to the film’s screening that night, as you were led to believe she lived in the area.

Sebastian: She didn’t show up at that screening, but we eventually heard from her. Gaby emailed me that she had contacted the real Crystal Fairy and that she was living in Vermont. She sent me her number, and I was petrified. I wasn’t ready to talk to her, you know? I had no idea whether she liked the movie or not. I told Michael [Cera] that I had her number, and he said, “Let’s call her!” We called her on speakerphone, and she said she loved the movie. She freaked the fuck out.

She had no idea you made this movie about her, right?

Sebastian: No! I lost contact with her 13 years ago, but now she’s in my phone.

What I enjoy about this pair of movies you’ve made is that they depict Chile so differently.

Sebastian: One is “feel-good”, and one is “feel-bad”. Crystal Fairy is handheld, improvised, and Magic Magic is the most expensive movie I’ve made, with a rockstar DP, precious photography, artificial lighting…they were very different processes. They do share a lot of similarities; a girl comes to Chile in search of herself, and Michael plays an antagonist to them. There are a lot of similarities, but the movies make you feel very different.

You made Crystal Fairy fairly quickly, and filmed Magic Magic shortly thereafter. Do you think that, because the two processes were so disparate, you felt refreshed going into Magic Magic and that it helped that film?

Sebastian: Definitely. Crystal Fairy was the first movie where I explored improvisation so deeply. We had an outline, but we didn’t have a screenplay. I had to be so much more aware of my surroundings. I was making it on the go. You just feel so much more alive, and it was very challenging. That formula helped me to be more loose and open to change things in Magic Magic, which had a very rigid screenplay and shooting plan. Having shot Crystal Fairy so recently, it made me work more loosely. I’d delete entire scenes, shoot scenes on the front porch instead of the dining room. That spontaneity was a gift from Crystal Fairy, and I’m treasuring it.

I love the chemistry Michael has with Gaby and Juno, but I actually particularly enjoy the dynamic between he and your brother, Agustin.

Sebastian: It’s a great dynamic. He’s a good kid. Such a natural. He and Michael are great friends.

Gaby and Juno both give very intense performances, with Gaby’s character being an extremely positive person and Juno’s being a deeply tortured soul. 

Sebastian: Gaby’s a bit older than Juno, and Juno seems to be a more sensitive, fragile creature. For her, I think this character was a little bit of a spiritual burden, and she was sometimes overwhelmed by it. I’d give her directions to cry, act scared, act insecure, and it would bring her spirit down. Gaby’s character was ridiculous. She was preaching shit that she wasn’t doing herself, a forgivable hypocrite. They are very different women doing very different roles. It’s hard to compare them, in that sense. Gaby is one of those actresses who does a character. She doesn’t become Crystal Fairy. She’s doing a job. On the other hand, Juno started suffering like her character Alicia. When I asked her to cry, she couldn’t stop crying afterwards. She’d go to places that weren’t very healthy to get the emotions I was asking for.

You’re going to be here in San Francisco for a while as the SFFS artist in residence. You have a lot of activities lined up, including lectures for students. Have you ever spoken to students in this kind of forum before?

Sebastian: No, never. But I’ve done a lot of Q&A’s and press. It’s kind of the same. I didn’t prepare or anything. I wouldn’t know how to start a lecture. I’d rather go “Crystal Fairy” on them and improvise the lectures.

Would a younger you have enjoyed having access to a filmmaker like this?

Sebastian: It would have been nice to hear about stuff that isn’t easy, for instance. Tips I know are very useful for if you’re making your first feature, or writing your first script.

Do you think that watching a lot of movies keeps your filmmaking skills sharp?

Sebastian: I don’t really watch a lot of movies. I’m not a cinephile. I even question my craft every day. “What am I doing? Should I just paint?” It’s become my life and my craft, but I don’t completely love it. I find it very superficial at times. I have a love-hate relationship with making movies. I guess some filmmakers are sharper that way. I remember a Chilean filmmaker telling me, “If you want to shoot a car scene, just watch how Quentin Tarantino does it and copy it!” I’d never copy something. If I have to shoot a car scene, I’d figure it out on my own.

I love Michael’s character in Magic Magic, Brink.

Sebastian: He’s the best. I love Brink, too. Michael and I got so addicted to him. He’s such a closeted gay. Very creepy. I love him.

Was it your idea from the beginning to dye his hair dark?

Sebastian: Yeah. I wanted to transform him. I asked him to gain a lot of weight, but he said, “No fucking way.”

Tell me about your next project, Nasty Baby.

Sebastian: We’re locking picture at the end of March. We shot it in my neighborhood in New York, and I’m starring as the main character with Kristen Wiig and Tunde Adebimpe, the lead singer of TV On The Radio. I think we did a really good job. It’s very naturalistic and funny, but it gets a little dark. It’s not a comedy, it’s not a drama. It’s just a piece of life that goes wrong. By the end it becomes a sort of thriller.

This is your first time starring and directing, so that’s another unique filmmaking experience under your belt.

Sebastian: You want to keep it fresh, so that’s why I decided to act. It’s a very small movie so there was no risk. Co-starring with Kristen was very comfortable. She’s a great improvisor and made me feel very safe. The DP I work with on most of my films came from Chile, so I felt at home. Very comfortable. But it was very overwhelming to be directing and acting. I had no monitor to see what I was doing, see the takes. I had to just trust my co-actors. I told them, “If I’m embarrassing myself, just let me know I’m doing a shitty job.”

Today, the San Francisco Film Society announced its 11 finalists for the 2014 SFFS Documentary Film Fund awards, totaling more than $75,000. The fund supports feature-length documentaries in postproduction, and previous winners include Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson’s American Promise, Shaul Schwartz’s Narco Cultura, and Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer, which won the Sundance Directing Award for documentary and is up for an Oscar this year for Best Documentary Feature. This year’s winners will be announced in late March.

“This was a very competitive group of applicants, and we continue to be inspired by the quality of work we have encountered with the Documentary Film Fund,” said Michele-Turnure Salleo, director of Filmmaker360. “Our team is particularly drawn to projects that feature the intersection of a compelling subject and a creative aesthetic approach to the nonfiction form, and these finalists are fantastic examples of that quality. They all explore fascinating worlds and intriguing characters, and I can’t wait to get my hands on their final work samples as we head into the process of selecting winners.”

Since its launch in 2011, the SFFS Documentary Film Fund has distributed more than $300,000 to advance new work by filmmakers nationwide. Expected to grow in the coming years as further underwriting is secured, the 2014 Documentary Film Fund is made possible thanks to a generous gift from Jennifer Battat and the Jenerosity Foundation. For more info, visit sffs.org

2014 Documentary Film Fund Finalists

Anatomy of an American Dream — John Ryan Johnson, director
Antoine Hood is a charismatic 28-year-old former college basketball star and captain in the U.S. Air Force. He is a regional sales manager for Michelin and lives in a beautiful suburban house with his wife and son. For most, this is the American dream, but not for Hood, who could lose all of the above trying to play in the NBA … and he just might.

The Bolivian Case — Violeta Ayala, director
Trying to fly out of Bolivia, three Norwegian teenage girls are arrested with 22 kilograms of cocaine in their luggage, triggering a media storm that would change their lives forever.

The Dreamcatchers — Kim Longinotto, director, Teddy Leifer and Lisa Stevens, producers
The Dreamcatchers, Brenda Myers-Powell and Stephanie Daniels-Wilson, are two former prostitutes who use their inside knowledge to help women who are selling sex on the streets of Chicago, and to prevent very young girls from doing the same. This film reveals the true devastation of sexual exploitation: how it affects the women, their families and the communities where they live.

Gennadiy — Steve Hoover, director and Danny Yourd, producer
Gennadiy Mohkenko is an ex-firefighter who, since the fall of the Soviet Union, has been rescuing drug-addicted kids from the streets of Mariupol, Ukraine. Today, there aren’t many kids left, and the war has moved from the streets into homes, but he continues throwing his seemingly endless energy into it. Will he and his family have to pay a price for his devotion?

In Country (pictured above)— Mike Attie and Meghan O’Hara, codirectors
War is hell. Why would anyone want to spend their weekends there? In Country takes you deep into the world of Vietnam War reenacting. Fantasy and reality collide as combat veterans from Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan try to relive a war that most people want to forget.

The Joneses — Moby Longinotto, director and Aviva Wishnow, producer
The Joneses is a portrait of Jheri, a 73-year-old transgender trailer park matriarch, who lives in bible belt Mississippi. Reconciled with her family after years of estrangement, and now living with two of her sons, Jheri embarks on a new path to reveal her true self to her grandchildren. Will their family bonds survive?

Mythical Creatures — David Charles, director
Sundance New Frontier Lab project Mythical Creatures is the story of internationally acclaimed artist Gary Baseman. Baseman’s work uncovers the deepest and darkest secrets of his parents’ holocaust experiences in the Ukraine, reimagining them through his art and dream reality. His hybrid approach uses animation, stop motion, performance art and installation to bring the holocaust story to a diverse and new generation.

Rodents of Unusual Size — Quinn Costello, Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer, codirectors
Rodents of Unusual Size is an offbeat environmental documentary about giant swamp rats invading coastal Louisiana and the defiant people on the edge of the world who are defending their communities, culture and livelihoods from the onslaught of this curious and unexpected invasive species.

Romeo Is Bleeding — Jason Zeldes, director and Michael Klein, producer
Donte Clark’s poetic voice was honed on the violent street corners of a struggling city. Yet rather than succumb to the pressures of Richmond, CA, Clark uses his artistic perspective to save his city from itself.

Street Fighting Man — Andrew James, director and Sara Archambault, producer
In a new America where the promise of education, safety and shelter are in jeopardy, three Detroit men fight to build something lasting for themselves and future generations.

Western — Bill Ross and Turner Ross, codirectors
Eagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Mexico are border towns and the vision of the modern frontier. Cowboys and lawmen share the country while international business and multicultural bonds flourish. But when darkness descends, two men in Eagle Pass face a new reality that threatens their way of life.

This past Thursday in San Francisco, the San Francisco Film Society held their inaugural Fall Celebration, honoring four films that look to be contenders come Oscar season: Nebraska, Fruitvale Station, Her, and The Square. Patrons gathered at elite social club The Battery to celebrate cinema and raise money for the Society.

Filmmakers and actors from the films were in attendance to participate in a panel before the night’s festivities, including directors Alexander Payne, Ryan Coogler, Spike Jonze, and Jehane Noujaim, and actors Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station) and June Squib (Nebraska). The questions tossed at the star-studded panel covered a wide range of topics, from origin stories to locations to budgets to filmmaking processes.

Hometown Hero

Bay Area native Ryan Coogler was visibly proud and humbled to be in San Francisco representing Fruitvale Station, his debut feature which reconstructs 22-year-old Oscar Grant’s last day on earth, before he was shot and killed by a transit officer in a BART station in Oakland. Coogler remembered being deeply affected by the news of Grant’s death, but felt the media lost the human angle of the incident. “Nobody was really talking about the fact that Oscar was a human being,” he recalled. “He wasn’t just a symbol…he was a 22-year-old guy who had hopes and dreams and relationships, and it all got cut short.”

The movie was filmed mere miles from where the panel was taking place, which Jordan (who plays Oscar) emphasized was key. “It was very important–especially to Ryan,” he said. “[Ryan] just didn’t see the film being shot anywhere besides here, where it happened, where Oscar was from.” Coogler got the green light to shoot in the Bay Area with some help from an influential supporter. “It’s always easier when you have somebody like Forrest Whitaker writing a letter or making a phone call,” Jordan said about the film’s famous producer and mentor to Coogler.

When asked about the state and future of the film industry, Coogler seemed to have an optimistic outlook. “The studio films that we’ve seen succeed this year…some have been about comic book characters from pre-existing franchises that studios could put money behind. But, we’ve had others that have been incredibly human. The more we see projects that can make a lot of money and also have human connections…we’ll see studios doing more of those.”

Big Studios and Indies Get Along…in Nebraska

Alexander Payne’s Nebraska–a road trip movie about a father (Bruce Dern) who takes his son (Will Forte) with him on a pilgrimage from Montana to Nebraska to collect prize money he’s won from a lottery–is a studio film shot in gorgeous black and white, with no major stars in its cast, one of those “human” films Coogler was gushing about.

Payne, whose first film, Citizen Ruth was shot over 40 days, was blown away when he asked Coogler how long it took to shoot Fruitvale (20 days.) “It takes me 20 days just to walk to the bathroom!” he joked.

When asked if anyone at Paramount, the film’s distributor, questioned the bankability of the project, Payne assured us that there weren’t any studio heads poking around the production. “To Paramount’s credit, no one [questioned that.] They gave me carte blanche. Once we agreed [on the] 13 and a half million base budget, they left me totally alone.”

Something in the Way She Moves…

Her, Spike Jonze’s latest window into his brilliant, hyperactive imagination, follows a sad-sack writer named Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) as he begins to fall for an operating system named Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), something like a super-advanced version of “Siri” tailored to be Theodore’s perfect companion. Despite a premise absolutely dripping with social satire, Jonze insists no grand statements exists at the core of Her. “I wasn’t trying to make a comment or a satire about society,” Jonze explained. “…the character of the operating system is just a voice, but we tried to create a character that is a fully developed being with their own longings, needs, and passion.”

“One of the things that was important to us when we were designing the movie was to design this very warm world…a heightened version of the world we’re in,” Jonze said of the significance of place in cinema. He further elaborated on geography’s emotional significance: “L.A. is this place where the weather’s always nice, the ocean is there, the mountains are there…but even in that light, in this world, the loneliness and isolation maybe hurts in a specific way.”

The Never Ending Story

Documenting the lives of six protesters in the Egyptian uprising that started in 2011 in Tahrir Square (and continues to this day), director Jehane Noujaim’s The Square went through a major change earlier this year when the state of the revolution continued to evolve. The film premiered at Sundance, where it won the audience award, and concluded with president Mohammed Morsi stepping down, to the joy of the Tahrir protesters. But “the story kept changing,” Noujaim explained.

Morsi’s replacement turned out to be just as disagreeable as he was, so the people, outraged, returned to the square. “Initially, we [followed] the bringing down of a dictator to the election of a new president. That was the political continuum,” she continued. “The more interesting story was when all of our characters were back in the streets again.”

So, Noujaim and her crew returned to Tahrir, filmed additional footage, re-edited the film, showed it at the Toronto International Film Festival, and got another audience award. Despite the ever shifting political landscape in Egypt, Noujaim is positive the project is finished. “Our characters have gone through a full arc.”

For more info, visit SFFS.org