One of the most-anticipated events of this year's San Francisco International Film Festival features an unconventional but delightful collaboration: On one side is the silent film comedy titan Buster Keaton. On the other, Merrill Garbus, better known as the multi-instrumentalist leader of the musical group tUnE-yArDs. (Read our profile of Garbus.) On Monday, April 23, Garbus and Keaton will come together at the Castro for an evening that promises to ......
—The Bay will be well-represented on the Riviera this year, which is something of a coup as Cannes is often light on American films. Director Walter Salles' epic adaptation of "On The Road" will make its World Premiere, giving audiences a first chance to see if Kristen Stewart's time at Beat Boot Camp paid off. The heavily-anticipated lineup for the festival was announced this morning. (Ironically, the real list shares 18 titles with a much-discussed fake program that was ......
Rachel Rosen, the San Francisco Film Society's Director of Programming, laughs into the phone when I ask her if her organization has anything special planned for the 55th installment of the San Francisco International Film Festival. "I think once a person—or a festival—gets to be a certain age, it just seems more fitting to celebrate the round numbers. We'll blow it out for the 75th year." There is no need ......
It's no secret that the documentaries featured at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival represent some of the best and—most surprising—work in the lineup. Let's explore the options as we continue our series of Sneak Peaks for SFIFF 55, which begins a week from today. (Earlier editions focused on special events and narrative features.) The documentaries highlighted here aren't the only ones worth seeing—but these are films I've already ......
In the latest—and maybe last?—chapter of the struggle between Lee Hirsch's documentary "Bully" and the Motion Picture Association of America's Ratings Board, the film's rating has been changed from an "R" to a "PG-13." Bay Area residents will be able to see the "Bully" for themselves starting this weekend, when it opens in theaters across the country. As we first reported at the beginning of March, the MPAA had given ......