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SF International: Better Than Ever by Doniphan Blair
Anne Lai, director of SFFILM for the last few years, including through the pandemic and a move. photo: D. Blair
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THE IN-PERSON FILMS AND 70 LIVE
events of the San Francisco International Film Festival, which goes from April 13th to the 23rd, are a welcome relief, given the festival only came back partially live last year.
Incredibly diverse and edge-cutting, this year's SFFILM includes entries from Ukraine, notably “Mariupolis 2”, by a filmmaker killed on the job, and Oakland, with a documentary about its basketball great, Stephan Curry, directed and produced by local luminaries Peter Nicks and Ryan Coogler, respectively. At the March 22nd press conference, the stellar lineup was announced by the charismatic but laid-back Anne Lai, who helmed the festival through the last few difficult years, which included a pandemic and a move.
This year’s festival—the 66th, cue the spooky music—is the product of almost 100 programmers paring over 4,000 submissions from about 50 countries to 90 films. Although that’s about 75% of last year’s run, they didn’t want to depend getting massive amounts of people into theaters, and this year’s festival is also available on line.
“Going virtual did have benefits,” noted programming director Jessica Fairbanks. Last year, in fact, they got their biggest audience ever and over half the films were directed by female or non-binary filmmakers, with a similar split for those of color.
Although the lovely new office building on 9th Street is not as cool as their previous digs in Chinatown, it is more practical, with the Ninth Street Independent Film Center down the block and plenty of parking.
And they have room for Film House, the work space for filmmakers supported through their generous scholarship programs. As America’s longest-running festival, SFFILM is deeply committed “film as an art form and as a meaningful force for social change,” according to its site.
That spirit is desperately needed in San Francisco itself, as the city enters another period of radical change. After three decades growing into one of the richest cities in the world, the city is suffering from a houseless, mental health and thievery crisis—so leave nothing in your cars and be aware at night.
Nevertheless, San Francisco’s world-famous culinary, art and night life is still stellar, almost back from pre-pandemic levels, as illustrated by the festival. Viewed at the deluxe, vintage Castro and new Dolby and other theaters around the Bay—while based out of the CGV Cinemas at 1000 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco—SFFILM 66 is shaping into another fantastic festival.