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SF DocFest Out Does Itself by Tom Mayer
A mature Burning Man story, 'Sparks', which did well at SXSW, looks behind the scenes at the positives and negatives. photo: courtesy S. Brown & J. Deeter
The SF Indie Fest group has outdone itself, with over 60 films showcasing some of the best documentaries from around the globe in its 12th annual Documentary Film Festival.
Founded by mover-and-shaker Jeff Ross, SF Indie now runs DocFest, Hole in the Head Festival, and the SHNIT Indie Film Festival as well as IndieFest. It has moved the DocFest dates to June 6 to 23 and expanded its venues to include Roxie and Balboa in San Francisco, the New Parkway in Oakland, the Aquarius in Palo Alto, and the Rio in Santa Cruz.
This year opening night takes a look at Burning Man behind the scenes, as organizers and participants deal with a year of unprecedented challenges and growth. ''Spark: A Burning Man Story", directed by Steve Brown and Jessie Deeter, explores what happens when the laudable ideals of "freedom" and "inclusion" conflict with the realities of hierarchies and chaos. Screens June 6, at the Roxie, with post-party at SOMA Street Food Park including the director, drinks, DJs, live music and more.
Indeed, DocFest features loads of films of local provenance, not surprising considering the plethora of doc filmmakers here. "Life With Alex" is a stupendous investigation of non-human cognition, directed by Emily Wick, who lives in Oakland. It follows the African grey parrot Alex and his human colleagues, led by Dr. Irene Pepperberg, who changed forever what we know about how animals think. Includes never-before-released footage of Alex actually "talking," ie using English words to convey how he feels, which is often to be a condescending prig snubbing his fellow lab parrots.
Working in the sex cinema business is often not that glamorous but its a job for many mothers, artists and others who make the best of it. photo: courtesy S. Jude
"Public Sex, Private Lives" is an intimate look at the professional lives of porn performers Lorelei Lee, Princess Donna, and Isis Love. Directed by San Franciscan Simone Jude, who will be on hand at the screening, the film's world premiere, "Public Sex" captures the struggle to navigate lives as artists, daughters, mothers and writers while working in the adult film industry.
"Elena" follows a sister on a quest. After the Brazilian actress Elena Andrade moved to New York to flee the dictatorship and restart her career there, she lost touch with her family. Eventually, her younger sister, Petra Costa, the director of the film and actress in its recreations, sets out to find her. But when she finally does, she has to learn to let her go. "Elena" was associate produced by Oaklander Sara Dosa.
"Running for Jim" chronicles the story of Jim Tracy, a brutally-honest coach of a San Francisco high school cross-country team who took them to nine state championships and became the most decorated cross-country coach in California until he was diagnosed with fatal Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2010. Meanwhile, "The Last Ocean" is about another life-and-death race: Sausalito-resident David Ainley's to protect the Ross Sea in Antarctica, the most pristine marine ecosystem on earth, before commercial fishing destroys it.
Immediately after "Happily Ever After" was started, San Anselmo director Kate Schermerhorn embarked with her second husband on their honeymoon. Ironically, shortly after it was completed, the two divorced. Nevertheless, It features a fascinating and eclectic mix of couples, from a pair who dress alike every single day to a newlywed California mother-mother couple and a feisty English widow, all sharing their secrets to marital bliss. Schermerhorn will be present for what will be the World Premiere of her film.
Poetic, avant and queer filmmaker Tom Joslin (left) is featured in a DocFest three film retrospective. photo: courtesy T. Joslin Estate
Tom Joslin (1946-1990), one of the pioneers of queer and experimental film, is showcased with a lovely retrospective of three poetic and personal pieces: "Blackstar: The Autobiography of a Close Friend", "Architecture of Mountains" and "Silver Lake Life: The View From Up Here". Having played last year in New York, SF DocFest is excited to bring it to the West Coast where Tom spent so much of his life (June 16, Roxie).
DocFest's closing night (Roxie, June 20) film "Terms and Conditions May Apply" poses the provocative question: Does anyone read the privacy policies connected with every app or website they use? As it happens, these agreements allow corporations to do things with your personal information you could never imagine. After premiering at Slamdance 2013, "Terms and Conditions" will make its Bay Area premier at the DocFest.
In fact, there are four world and three US premieres at DocFest. In addition to "Public Sex" noted above, "Edible City" is a feature-length documentary that tells the stories of extraordinary people digging in the dirt to do something truly revolutionary: grow good local food in a manner that is environmentally sound and economically resilient and transforms their communities. Join yet another local filmmaker Andrew Hasse, out of Berkeley, for the World Premiere of his film with a post-screening discussion about growing local.
The surrealist conclusion to 'Elena' about a sister-on-sister search, starring and directed by Petra Costa. photo: courtesy P. Costa
"Perfect Strangers" follows a four-year journey culminating in the donation of a kidney. Ellie initially chooses Kathy, a 52-year old hospice nurse whose profile "jumps out" at her but a medical mismatch prevents them from moving forward. After three years, Ellie makes the difficult decision to go with an anonymous match arranged by the transplant center. Join director Jan Kraqitz, a professor at Stanford University, for the World Premiere.
"Petey and Ginger" is the US Premiere of director Ada Bligaard Soby's personal take on individual vs. collective crises, and what happens when the two come together. The documentary examines the lives of Petey, a SF-based musician and pornography worker, and Ginger, a fortune-teller. In the film, we experience a broken culture exposing shattered economic dreams and unfulfilled social promises, a reality that only music and friendship float freely above it all.
In "My Way to Olympia", Niko von Glasow, "Germany’s one and only short-armed director", travels around the world to meet athletes preparing for the 2012 Paralympics. Eager to learn, the director takes an upbeat and self-critical look at what pushes these athletes to their physical and mental limits and discovers how sport has given them the courage to face life. Their testimonials are so convincing that, with each encounter, the director’s own aversion to any kind of sporting activity begins to wane. This is its US Premiere.
"Trains of Thoughts" is an audio-visual essay, which reflects upon and compares metro systems from around the world. It is an exploration of a world inside the world as well as feelings, fascination, obsession, fear and themes—of survival, control & silence. "Trains of Thoughts" will make its US Premiere at SF DocFest after premiering at Karlovy Vary IFF in 2013.