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Crew Call Sept 11 The hills are alive with the sounds of commercials being shot—indian summer and all. While the dreaded double dip may be upon us, and the esteemed Kerner Optical has closed, the activities at some rental houses and vendors suggests life goes on.
In point of fact, the film business is doing well in general. Aside from a slight drop in 2010 (there was a larger dip in 2005, ironically), box office revenues have marched up steadily from 4.5 billion in 1992 to an estimated 11 billion today, not excluding rental, DVD, streaming, television views and peripherals.
Speaking of peripherals and expendables, we welcome aboard JCX, which just moved to new digs on 23rd St in SF and joined CineSource as an advertiser. If we can only bridge the film shooting and film showing with a slew of post work, we will be golden.
Welp, the fall festival and gathering season is upon us and we, at CineSource for one, hope to get away from the small screen to see some big dramas.
The SF Film Society kicked opened its new digs at the New People's Cinema, a Japan-mod mall in Japantown, with the Hong Kong film festival and the opening party was mobbed. No wonder, the film "Merry-Go-Round" was partially shot in San Francisco and concerns an herbalist who goes back to Hong Kong for her family business and meets young woman fleeing gringolandia.
October is one of the richest months for Bay Area film-lovers. Mill Valley Film Festival runs form October 6th to16th in Mill Valley and San Rafael. See our interview with Director of Programming Zoe Elton. Next up is the Arab Film Festival, October 13th to 23rd in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose, plus Los Angeles. Then there is a three-day children's film fest for ages 3-18, October 21st-23rd, is the result of a partnership between the Film Society and the New York International Children's Film Festival.
Plus, the Film Society is also offering two series or mini-festivals, Taiwan Film Days, October 13-16, followed by French Cinema Now, October 27–November 2. Check out our new blog, launching Monday, October 3rd, for more on each of these festivals, including capsule reviews of select films.
Meanwhile, the Director's Guild of America will have its annual mixer October 11, hosted by the indomitable DGA director Paul Martin. Sadly, we won't be having those cool events at Kerner Optical, like we did last year. Alt filmmaker Bruce Bailey is coming to town for a showing at MOMA Sep 29 while not far away Rob Nilsson will demo his new film about Trotsky at Dolby Labs on Potrero Ave.
Of course, Oakland is big in the Hollywood press with the debut of Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian’s adaptation of "Moneyball", starring Brad Pitt as the genuis behind the Oakland A's. As big a film as it is, it's quite Oakland insomuch it follows an impoverished team using smarts and gumption, to crack player's statistical code, take chances on them and apply new strategies.
Meanwhile, Oakland's Kurt Norton and Pleasanton's Paul Mariano, both in the criminal defense attorney or investigator trade, recently showed "These Amazing Shadows," their 88-minute documentary about National Film Registry and its efforts to preserve America's films. Started in 2008 and chock full of fantastic clips and interviews with actors like Tim Roth interested in film preservation as well as Christopher Nolan, Debbie Reynolds, Rob Reiner, George Takei and John Lasseter. It debuted at the Sundance Film this January and has shown at other festivals and in theaters in San Francisco, Boston and New York.
In Berkeley another ex-lawyer-type filmmaker Abby Ginzberg who has made a lot of "law oriented films,' about prominent civil rights lawyers federal judges , completed "Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice" about the child of immigrant farm workers who became a fierce advocate for the rights of farm workers and the poor the first Latino to sit on the California Supreme Court, in 1981. The film showed on KQED on Sept 24 and Sept 27.
There is also talk afoot of a film museum with the first meeting for roundtable discussions and brainstorming sessions happening on September 30, 10:00 am – 3:30 PM at the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking 925 Mission St. Considering their object is to highlight filmmaking in San Francisco, CineSource salutes them and wishes them luck.