March 29, 2005

48th San Francisco International Film Festival to Celebrate New Directors in the Skyy Prize Competition; 11 Directorial Debuts from Around the Globe Contend

The 48th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21 - May 5) is proud to present, for the ninth year, the SKYY Prize competition for narrative films by international filmmakers making their feature film directorial debut. A jury of film industry professionals will judge the 11 eligible films representing 14 countries. The winning filmmaker will be announced at the Festival's Golden Gate Awards on Wednesday May 4, 2005. The SKYY Prize—which offers a $10,000 cash award—is sponsored by SKYY Vodka.

Executive Director Roxanne Messina Captor says, "The Skyy Prize looks to discover exciting and innovative features by first-time filmmakers from a variety of countries. This year we have an extraordinary line up of films in competition. Our world-class jury will have a tough challenge deciding a winner."

This year's jury will consist of internationally known film professionals: Dan Handler, author and alter ego of LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS; Richard Beggs, Oscar-winning sound and music editor for films including, ADAPTATION, APOCALYPSE NOW. THE GODFATHER III and LOST IN TRANSLATION and Pierre Menahem, a leading international sales agent and principal of Scalpel, a Paris based film distribution sales company.

2005 SKYY PRIZE CONTENDERS

CHAMPIONS (Marek Najbrt, Czech Republic, 2004)
A group of hard-luck Czech men idle their time, avoid and mistreat their families and try to ignore their lack of financial prospects by hatching an unlikely gambling scheme regarding the World Hockey Championships.

DUCK SEASON (Fernando Eimbcke, Mexico, 2004)
Adolescence has rarely been shown as truthfully on screen as in this charmingly low-key film about a day in the life of two 14-year-old best friends, a winner of a record seven major awards at the recent Guadalajara Film Festival.

THE FOREST FOR THE TREES (Maren Ade, Germany, 2003)
Maren Ade's compelling drama etches an incisive portrait of a woman who has little sense of who she is and even less of how others see her—she simply, achingly wants to belong.

HARVEST TIME (Marina Razbezhkina, Russia, 2004)
This stunning film harks back lovingly but truthfully to the 1950s era of Soviet realism when a girl and her tractor made beautiful music together. Not quite, says Marina Razbezhkina in this tragic story of a woman who is trapped by heroism.

IN CASABLANCA, ANGELS DON'T FLY (Mohamed Asli, Morocco/Italy 2004)
This directorial debut is the shattering story of three men who leave their traditional Berber village in search of a decent livelihood in contemporary Casablanca. What they find instead is a place where "a man with no money is worthless"—the universal plight of the immigrant.

IN THE BATTLEFIELDS (Danielle Arbid, France/Belgium/Lebanon, 2004)
Twelve-year-old Lina perilously straddles the boundaries between childhood and adulthood, kindness and cruelty, and has too much civil war within her home to care much about the bombing of 1983 Beirut outside, in this courageously blunt and moving debut feature.

KEPT AND DREAMLESS (Vera Fogwill and Martin Desalvo, Argentina/Spain/ France, 2004)
A drug-addicted mom and her nine-year-old daughter—independent, unbowed, slightly off-kilter and united against all challenges—fight through Argentina's economic crisis in this winning tribute to postmodern motherhood.

ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (Miranda July, USA, 2004)
Performance artist (and former Berkeley resident) Miranda July makes her feature debut with this whimsical, Magnolia-like look at the difficulty of finding and keeping love. In July's modern world, everyday people speak innermost thoughts, act on secret impulses and yield moments that are sad, hilarious and often surreal.

MOUTH TO MOUTH (Alison Murray, England/Germany, 2004)
Atom Egoyan executive-produced this feature, in which a woman falls in with SPARK (Street People Armed with Radical Knowledge), a youth cult roving about Europe. Stakes are raised when her mother decides to join as well.

OMAGH (Pete Travis, England,/Ireland, 2004)
The devastating bombing of the Northern Ireland town of Omagh in August of 1998 is depicted with documentary-like precision and impeccable performances in this searing drama, cowritten by Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, The Bourne Supremacy).

WAVES (Francesco Fei, Italy, 2004)
A consistently compelling, surprising and moving portrait of the relationship between two people—one is blind while the other is traumatized by a large birthmark on her left cheek. Together, they try to find a future.

All 11 films will be screened during the 48th San Francisco International Film Festival, April 21-May 5. Previous SKYY Prize winners have included SQUINT YOUR EYES (Andrzej Jakimowski, Poland, 2004); THE MAN OF THE YEAR (José Henrique Fonseca, Brazil, 2003); THE WILD BEES (Bohdan Sláma, Czech Republic, 2002); THE BUSINESS OF STRANGERS (Patrick Stettner, USA, 2001); EENY MEENY (Alice Nellis, Czech Republic, 2000); XIAO WU (Jia Zhangke, China 1999).

The 48th San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 21—May 5, 2005 at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres, the Home of the Festival, the Castro Theatre, the Palace of Fine Arts, Kanbar Hall at the Jewish Community Center and the Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco; the Pacific Film Archive Theater in Berkeley; and Landmark's Aquarius Theatre in Palo Alto. Tickets for San Francisco Film Society members will be available on March 29 and for the general public on April 5. To purchase tickets and for ticket information log on to www.sffs.org, call 925.866.9559 or visit the Main Ticket Outlet, located in the atrium of the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres, 1881 Post Street or the Satellite Ticket Outlet at the Virgin Megastore, 2 Stockton Street. For up-to-date Festival information log on to www.sffs.org or call 415.561.5000.

The 48th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21—May 5, 2005) is presented by the San Francisco Film Society, a nonprofit arts and educational organization dedicated to celebrating international film and the moving image.