San Francisco Film Society Gearing Up for Historic 50th Anniversary of San Francisco International Film Festival

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, City of San Francisco, SFFS Board of Directors, Corporate Sponsors and Community Partners Lining Up to Celebrate the Longest-Running Film Festival in the Americas

September 5, 2006

San Francisco, CA—The San Francisco Film Society is marshalling unprecedented support as it begins its countdown to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco International Film Festival. The first film festival from Alaska to Argentina to reach the half-century mark, SFIFF50 will take place from April 26 to May 10, 2007.

In early August, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences awarded SF International its major three-year foundation grant. Greg Beal, program coordinator for the Academy’s grants, said this year’s choice of SFIFF was “easy.”  “It’s the 50th anniversary,” he stated. “Everyone’s excited about being a part of San Francisco’s 50th. [It’s] one of the most important film festivals in the world.”

With the support of Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Film Commission, SFIFF50 will celebrate its Opening Night gala in the magnificent Rotunda at San Francisco City Hall.  “No film festival in the Americas has done more for its city and the people in it for as many years as the San Francisco International,” said Mayor Newsom. “We cannot express how proud we are to be the First to Fifty in 2007.”

This past spring SFIFF sponsorship revenue saw a year-over-year increase of 41 percent with 29 percent from new partnerships; hundreds of local businesses including hotels, restaurants and airlines donated more than a million dollars in goods and services; fourteen consulates and international institutions underwrote filmmaker travel from overseas; 40 community organizations copresented Festival programs; 600 volunteers worked many thousands of hours; and a newly recruited Citizen Media Corps enthusiastically reported on the happenings of the Film Society via blogs, vlogs and podcasts. Since October 2005, membership in the Film Society has increased by 30 percent.

The Film Society board of directors has recently added three new visionary executives to its rolls. Frank Caufield, Jennifer Feikin and Timothy Mott, three business leaders with a wealth of experience from the innovative technology industries of Silicon Valley, join an active 16-member group under the long-time leadership of Chairman George Gund III.

As he leads the organization into its 50th anniversary year, Executive Director Graham Leggat said, “We have a historic and moral obligation to knock everybody’s socks off.” Visionary from its inception in 1957, the International has shown some 6,000 films from more than 120 countries to roughly two million people and earned worldwide recognition as an extraordinary showcase of cinematic excellence. SFIFF50 will honor that storied tradition, emphasizing the Festival’s acknowledged strengths in documentary, experimental, and international work while energetically embracing new platforms and new audiences.

On September 10, The San Francisco Film Society will launch a Web site chronicling the first fifty years of the International Film Festival. The site will showcase streaming audio and transcripts of oral histories from former Festival staff and affiliates, audio and video podcasts of tribute honorees at the International from Jacques Tati to Shelley Winters to Clint Eastwood, photo galleries of pictures taken at the Festival, and articles on some of the SFIFF’s greatest moments. In addition, the site will serve as an encyclopedic resource of information on films screened at past Festivals, equipped with a searchable database of more than 5,700 titles, accompanied by program notes, film stills and credit information. While the Web site will certainly function as a resource for film lovers and history buffs, users will also be invited to contribute by submitting anecdotes about their experiences at the Festival; these stories will later be featured on the site as part of the SFIFF Collective Memory.

In early 2006 the Film Society launched its SF360 series of initiatives. Drawing on the vitality and variety of the Bay Area film and media scenes, SF360 initiatives include SF360.org, a daily online magazine copublished with indieWIRE; the “one city/one film” SF360 Movie Night; SF360 Live panels and discussions; and SF360 Film/Club screenings. SFIFF49 extended its reach into the community via the SF360 Satellite screening and discussion program. Events were held at non-traditional venues across the city, strategically chosen to bring the Festival to new and underserved audiences.

The Film Society’s year-round education program has served 6100 Bay Area students since October 2005. Over the past 15 years, the organization’s groundbreaking Schools at the Festival initiatives have reached more than 30,000 students from 500 institutions.

SFIFF50 CALL FOR ENTRIES: Filmmakers of narrative features, documentaries, shorts, animation, experimental, youth-produced and television works on film, video and digital media, which have been completed after January 1, 2006, are invited to answer the call for entries for the SFIFF50. The Festival highlights current trends in international film and video production with an emphasis on work that has not yet secured U.S. distribution. Submission form and information. Primary Deadline: Friday, November 10, 2006, Final Deadline: Friday, December 8, 2006.

SFIFF50 Golden Gate Awards competition for documentaries, shorts, animation, experimental, youth-produced and television works bestows 14 Golden Gate Awards and cash prizes totaling $28,500, including $10,000 for best documentary feature. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes the San Francisco International Film Festival as a qualifying festival for the live action, animated and documentary short categories of the 79th annual Academy Awards.

First features by emerging filmmakers are eligible for the $10,000 New Directors Prize, established in 1997 by the Festival to recognize a first film with a unique artistic sensibility. Narrative features are also eligible for the FIPRESCI Prize, awarded by members of the International Federation of Film Critics. The San Francisco International Film Festival is one of only three North American film festivals selected to award the FIPRESCI Prize.

The Film Society has a full calendar of events leading up to next spring’s 50th including Film in the Fog, SF360 San Francisco Movie Night, San Francisco International Animation Showcase and New Italian Cinema.

The San Francisco Film Society, presenter of the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 26 –May 10, 2007), is a nonprofit arts and education organization dedicated to celebrating international film and the moving image.