San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Reel Local News:
Nion McEvoy becomes president of the SFFilm board of directors.
A member of the SFFilm board of directors since 2016, Nion McEvoy becomes the new president of the board in January. McEvoy is the chairman and CEO of Chronicle Books and the founder of the McEvoy Center for the Arts, a San Francisco arts exhibition space. He is also a film producer, whose projects include “Chasing Coral,” for which he served as associate producer, and the Mr. Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” which he executive-produced.
“Nion is uniquely qualified to lead SFFilm,” says outgoing board President David Winton. “He has deep roots in the film industry and is a notable producer in his own right. He is also closely connected with the Bay Area’s filmmaking and creative community and will ensure SFFilm continues to grow as one of the most dynamic cultural institutions in the country.”
SFFilm is also adding to its executive team with the addition of Elizabeth O’Malley as managing director of the organization. An arts administrator who has previously worked for the Sundance Institute, Skirball Cultural Center and Laguna Playhouse, O’Malley most recently was the executive director of San Francisco’s Roxie Theater.
Writing takes the spotlight in BAMPFA film series: BAMPFA’s series “In Focus: Writing for Cinema” begins Jan. 16 with the addition of a title that did not make it into the program guide, Jan Troell’s “Everlasting Moments.” The 2008 Swedish drama recounts how a working-class woman’s life changes after she wins a camera. Troell’s wife, Agneta UlfsäterTroell, who conceived the story along with her husband, will attend the screening and discuss the film with UC Berkeley Professor Linda H. Rugg.
The BAMPFA program, which runs through Feb. 27, features filmmakers, writers and scholars offering their insights into the art and craft of screenwriting. San Francisco-based film historian David Thomson pairs with Booker Prizewinning novelist Michael Ondaatje (“The English Patient”) for two evenings of Carol Reed films, 1948’s “The Fallen Idol” on Jan. 23 and 1951’s “Outcast of the Islands” on Feb. 13. Among the other pairings are director James Ivory and Sonoma State Professor Ajay Gehlawat, who will discuss the filmmaker’s 1975 drama “Autobiography of a Princess,” in which the daughter of a maharajah remembers her father, on Feb. 20. https://bampfa.org
Film series highlights foreignlanguage films: A friendship with the village bully complicates the life of a good-natured dog groomer in “Dogman,” an Italian drama for which star Marcello Fonte won the acting prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Singer-songwriter, actor, lawyer, activist and politician Ruben Blades takes center stage in the Panamanian documentary “Ruben Blades Is Not My Name.” A choir director leads a double life as a bow-and-arrow-toting eco-warrior in the Icelandic black comedy “Woman at War.” These three are among the films that make up “For Your Consideration,” Friday, Jan. 4, through Jan. 10, at the Smith Rafael Film Center, a series highlighting films submitted by their respective countries for best foreign language film Academy Award consideration.
The dozen films in the program are culled from the original long list of 87 films. Two films in the program, Germany’s “Never Look Away” and Denmark’s “The Guilty,” are on the short list of nine films from which the five nominees will be named on Jan. 22. https://rafaelfilm.cafilm.org San Francisco Clay Theatre screens “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” along with a live shadow cast by the Bawdy Caste, 11:55 p.m. Monday, New Year’s Eve. http://www.landmarktheatres.com Filmmaker Sam Green (“Utopia in Four Movements”) is among the stars of “Pop-Up Magazine Winter Issue,” a night of film, photography, sound and animation, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1, Paramount Theatre, Oakland. https://www.popup magazine.com
The Roxie hosts the 2018 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour, Friday through Sunday, Jan. 4-6, a compendium of seven shorts in a variety of genres that include short film Grand Jury Prize winner “Matria” and short film jury award, U.S. fiction, “Hair Wolf.” www.roxie.com
Pam Grady is a Bay Area freelance writer.