San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
SFFilm: A guide to this year’s hybrid festival
Programming a film festival in 2021 has an inherent difficulty: Because of the coronavirus pandemic, filmmakers toiling away in 2020 were challenged like never before.
Worries about budget and resources are a constant in independent filmmaking; adding COVID19 protocols to the mix affected everything from where to film to whom you hire for your crew and whom you cast.
So it’s quite the first San Francisco International Film Festival for programmer Jessie Fairbanks, who took over for longtime programmer Rachel Rosen this year. To her surprise, she found the quality of work she had to choose from to be inspiring.
“I think that in general the pandemic has made us rethink how we are approaching the stories we are amplifying,” Fairbanks said.
Earlier in a released statement, Fairbanks noted that “we were continuously amazed and inspired by the original and provocative work being produced around the world under incredible, challenging circumstances.”
That work will be on display from Friday, April 9, through April 18. Under new festival Director Anne Lai, Fairbanks put together a program of 103 films from 41 countries (consisting of 42 features, 56 shorts and five midlength films), which includes 13 world premieres, 15 others that are North American premieres and five more that are U.S. premieres. A point of pride for Fairbanks is that 57% of this year’s films were directed by women, and 57% by filmmakers of color.
Most will be available to stream from home throughout the 10 days of the festival, and some will get drivein screenings at Fort Mason Flix.
“We’re really excited to share a program that more accurately reflects the world around us and includes so many diverse storytellers.” she said.
In recognition of the extraordinary circumstances imposed by the pandemic, SFFilm is taking the rare step of paying all the filmmakers whose films were selected an “honorarium.” The amount was not disclosed.
The program is neatly divided into seven categories: big nights, international narratives, U.S. narratives, international documentaries, U.S. documentaries, midlength films and shorts.
Midlength films — between 39 and 60 minutes — is a new category. Too long to be a short, too short to be a feature, they’re “an art form in their own right,” Fairbanks said.
The same program is also organized into nine Spotlight categories, including Bay Area voices, from “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It” to “We Are as Gods,” a documentary about Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand (both streaming throughout the festival). Other spotlight programs include familyfriendly offerings and Cine Mexicano — five films from or about Mexico, including the Sundance darling “Son of Monarchs,” set to stream throughout the festival.
Drivein screenings have become standard at film festivals during the pandemic, and
their popularity makes it likely they will survive into future years. In addition to big nights (see below), SFFilm will feature new films resembling oldschool drivein genre fare, like a horror movie (the bloodygood British “Censor,” 10 p.m. April 15) and a raunchy teenage comedy (“Supercool,” 9:30 p.m. April 17).
Festival at a glance
When: April 918
Where: Online and at Fort Mason Flix drivein, 2 Marina Blvd., S.F.
What: 103 films from 41 countries (42 features, 56 shorts, five midlength films), plus live performances.
Tickets: Festival streaming passes $75 general public/$50 members. Online individual programs $12/$8. Drivein screenings $70/$55 per carload (Opening night: $100/$75). Full schedule and more information at sffilm.org
Big Nights
Opening night — “Naked Singularity”: The world premiere of Chase Palmer’s adaptation of Sergio De La Pava’s bestselling legal thriller stars John Boyega (“Star Wars,” “Small Axe”) as a crusading public defender who stumbles onto a drug heist, and how it reflects the treatment of the disadvantaged in the legal system. Costarring Olivia Cooke (“The Sound of Metal”).
6:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. Friday, April 9, Fort Mason Flix. Streaming Friday, April 9, through April 18 Centerpiece film — “Socks on Fire”: Filmmaker Bo McGuire profiles his homophobic aunt and drag queen uncle, and while it is available to stream at home, you might want to make the effort to get to the drivein, where it will be preceded by a live drag performance by season 12 “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contestant and Bay Area native Rock M. Sakura and genderfluid Oakland performer Freddie. McGuire will host the program.
6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 10, Fort Mason Flix. Streaming Friday, April 9, through April 18 Closing night — “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street”: A documentary about the classic children’s television show, part of a strong lineup of familyfriendly films.
6:30 p.m. April 17, Fort Mason Flix. Streaming April 1718
Special live event
Fantastic Negrito live with “Lost Landscapes”: The Grammywinning Oakland blues, R&B and roots musician is set to perform a live score to accompany Rick Prelinger’s foundfootage documentary.
Prelinger, who runs the Internet Archive, has profiled the Bay Area through home movies, old commercials, corporate training films and other types of found footage to tell an era’s story in its own voice. The film, however, has been updated by cofilmmaker alex cruse, for a newly edited cut making its world premiere at the festival.
6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 15, Fort Mason Flix
2021 award winners
George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award: East Bay filmmaker and acclaimed documentarian Peter Nicks will receive the festival’s recognition, named after the late San Francisco Film Society executive director and philanthropist, for “distinguished service to cinema as an art form.”
Nicks’ “Homeroom,” a documentary about Oakland High
School’s class of 2020, is the completion of his Oakland trilogy (“The Waiting Room,” “The Force”) and will screen at the festival following its world premiere at Sundance.
6:30 p.m. April 16, Fort Mason Flix. Streaming Friday, April 9, through April 18
Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award: Dash Shaw, an artist and animator with a unique vision, gets an award meant to honor artists whose work is distinctively outside the mainstream. His “Cryptozoo,” which was partially funded through SFFilm Makers, the festival’s artist development program, won the Sundance Film Festival Next Innovator Award.