Thousands of Bay Area Students to Get Exclusive Access at 49th San Francisco International Film Festival

School Outreach Program Brings Young People to the Theater and Filmmakers to the Classroom

March 28, 2006

San Francisco, CA—This year the San Francisco Film Society has expanded its Education Program. Since October of 2005 more than 1,500 students have attended SFFS Education Programs. In its ongoing effort to aid media literacy area wide and engage a new generation of viewers with the best in international and independent cinema, the Schools at the Festival program of the 49th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 20-May 4) will involve thousands of Bay Area students in Festival film screenings and coordinate student interactions with filmmakers from around the world.

Now in its 15th year, this unique outreach program creates a strong connection between the Festival and the local educational community, providing students of all ages the opportunity to participate in the Festival experience. Scheduled screenings for elementary, middle, high school and home school groups will be supplemented by special visits to classrooms by filmmakers whose work is being shown at the Festival.

A meaningful forum for education, understanding and awareness, Schools at the Festival introduces students to the art of filmmaking and celebrates both the differences and the shared values of the many cultural groups that make up the Bay Area community. The program aims to broaden insights into other cultures, enhance foreign language aptitude, develop skills for critical analysis of film and inspire a lifelong appreciation of cinema.

From the more than 227 films in the 2006 Festival, 17 feature films, documentaries and shorts programs have been carefully selected for the Schools at the Festival program to satisfy a broad range of curricula and grade levels. Targeted subject areas include foreign languages such as Chinese, French, German and Spanish as well as issue-based programming for subjects such as African studies, English, history, journalism, politics, social studies and health, with several programs well suited for ESL and hearing-impaired students.

Schools at the Festival screenings are open to all Bay Area high school, middle school, elementary school and home school classes and are scheduled as weekday matinees. All of the screenings will take place at the Kabuki 8 Theatres.

Elementary school groups will get to choose from two kid-friendly programs this year. The first, a program of Golden Gate Award–nominated short films entitled Friends—Lost and Found, includes a wonderful combination of animation, fiction and documentary works. The second, Viva Cuba, is a charming road movie about two best friends embarking on a cross-country journey in search of a far-off father. Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti’s film was Cuba’s candidate for the Oscars.

Representing a well-balanced mix of truth and fiction, programs for middle and high school students run the gamut from inspiring and enlightening narratives to in-depth cultural, historical and political explorations. Some highlights: Ian Inaba’s American Blackout, a stylish and provocative documentary looking at the historic and systematic disenfranchisement of black voters through the lens of the political career of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia); Eden, Michael Hofmann’s quiet exploration of friendship and the transformative power of food; in Favela Rising, filmmakers Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary take viewers into one of the toughest barrios in Brazil, where a drug trafficker turned social revolutionary musician leads his community into an art-inspired war against the drug trafficking army holding them captive; Ward Serrill’s crowd pleasing documentary The Heart of the Game looks at the politics of race, class and gender landing center court as it follows a high school girls basketball team in Seattle and their unconventional coach; Lili and the Baobab, Chantal Richard’s beautiful debut, delivers an intelligent narrative of personal transformation and a nuanced look at cross-cultural realities; Runners High, Justine Jacobs and Alex da Silva’s powerful documentary following the Students Run Oakland organization as they try and succeed in training at-risk East Oakland youth for the Los Angeles marathon; Thomas Allen Harris’s loving tribute to his stepfather, Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela, which documents the journey of a dozen young men who left South Africa in 1960 to carry on the fight against apartheid abroad.

Closing out the Schools at the Festival program on May 4 is the annual presentation of youth-made media, this year titled Youth Gone Wild, a collection of the best new works by film and videomakers aged 18 and under. The youth of today are out of control! Actually, they are the filmmakers of tomorrow, and they have a lot to say. Humor, fear and even loss are all explored in this eclectic collection of shorts that will make audiences reexamine their views on “those crazy kids today.”

To further the impact of the cinematic experience for students, the Schools at the Festival program will also be offering study guides to accompany a few select films. Developed by local educators and program staff, the study guides will allow teachers the opportunity to directly integrate film content into their curriculum, prepare their students for screenings beforehand and allow for directed discussion afterward.

In addition to the diverse selection of film screenings at the theater, the Schools at the Festival program will also send dozens of local and visiting filmmakers into Bay Area classrooms to screen all or portions of their work and interact directly with students. Filmmakers who have visited classrooms in the past include Jay Rosenblatt, Amanda Micheli, Les Blank, Lourdes Portillo, Michel Ocelot and Ousmane Sembène. For the 48th San Francisco International Film Festival, the Schools at the Festival program organized 13 filmmaker visits to schools, and welcomed more than 3,400 students from 59 Bay Area schools to 17 different film screenings.

In keeping with the San Francisco Film Society’s ongoing commitment to educational outreach, teachers and students enjoy a significant discount on Festival admission. All those participating in the program are eligible for a $2.50 ticket rate for Schools at the Festival screenings. Tickets for the program are available exclusively to Bay Area educators and students and may be purchased only through the Schools at the Festival office (contact Keith Zwölfer at 415.561.5040, kzwolfer@sffs.org). Schools at the Festival tickets cannot be purchased through the regular Festival box office.

One of the first and largest programs of its kind, Schools at the Festival was founded in 1991 by the late Robert S. Donn (1931–2003), a retired SFUSD teacher with a tremendous passion for film. The great success and impact of this educational program is due to Donn’s great vision, dedication and unflagging enthusiasm. The program is currently coordinated by Keith Zwölfer. Schools at the Festival is made possible this year by the generous support of Wells Fargo. Special support provided by the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Founded in 1957, the vanguard San Francisco International Film Festival is the longest-running film festival in the Americas. Held each spring for two weeks, the International is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in the country’s most beautiful city, featuring some 200 films and live events with more than 100 filmmakers in attendance, presenting some 22 awards and attracting a diverse audience of nearly 80,000 people.

The 49th International runs April 20–May 4, 2006 at the Kabuki 8 Theatres, the Castro Theatre 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, as well as several smaller venues. To purchase tickets and for ticket information log on to www.sffs.org, call 925.866.9559 or visit the Main Ticket Outlet at the Kabuki 8 Theatres (1881 Post Street) or the Satellite Ticket Outlet at Virgin Megastore (2 Stockton Street). For additional information log on to www.sffs.org or call 415.561.5000.

San Francisco Film Society, presenter of the flagship SFIFF, is a nonprofit arts and educational organization dedicated to celebrating the world of film and media in all its glorious forms. In early 2006 the Film Society unveiled SF360, a broad-spectrum series of initiatives designed to showcase the extraordinary vitality, variety and innovation of the San Francisco Bay Area film and media scene, including www.sf360.org, SF360 San Francisco Movie Night, SF360 InSchool Cinemas and the SF360 Festival of Festivals.

The Film Society will present the first annual San Francisco International Animation Festival from October 11–15, 2006 and a new SF International Youth Media Festival in 2007.

First to 50: SFIFF will hold its landmark 50th anniversary in April 2007.