The 47th San Francisco International Film Festival Issues Call for Entries

San Francisco International Film Festival, the celebration of film art and filmmakers, which has presented the best in world cinema since 1957, announces its call for entries for its 47th Festival to run April 15–29, 2004. The 15-day Festival presents 200 films from 50 countries and reaches an audience of nearly 95,000 film lovers, filmmakers, industry representatives and journalists. Narrative features, documentaries, shorts, animation, experimental, youth-produced works and television productions on film, video and digital media, which have been completed after April 30, 2003, may be submitted. The Festival highlights current trends in international film and video production with an emphasis on work that has not yet secured U.S. distribution.

Entry Information
Filmmakers are encouraged to access comprehensive information and eligibility requirements and to complete the entry form online at the San Francisco Film Society Web site, www.sffs.org, beginning September 2. Requests for entry forms and eligibility requirements may be sent by email to gga@sffs.org (for Golden Gate Awards) or programming@sffs.org (for narrative features); by fax to 415-561-5099 or by mail to Programming Department, San Francisco Film Society, 39 Mesa Street, Suite 110, The Presidio, San Francisco CA 94129, USA. The entry deadline for all submissions is 5:00 pm PST, Wednesday, November 12, 2003.

Narrative Features
Narrative features over 40 minutes long, which will not have been screened or broadcast on television in the San Francisco Bay Area prior to April 30, 2004 are eligible for consideration. First features by emerging filmmakers are eligible for the SKYY Prize, which includes a $10,000 cash award. The SKYY Prize was established in 1997 by the Festival and premier sponsor SKYY Vodka to recognize a director whose film exhibits a unique artistic sensibility. At the 46th Festival the SKYY Prize went to Jose Henrique Fonseca of Brazil for THE MAN OF THE YEAR. Honorable mentions went to PIEDRAS, THE OLIVE HARVEST and GIRLIE.

Golden Gate Awards
Documentaries, shorts, animation, experimental, youth-produced works and television productions may be submitted for consideration for the Golden Gate Awards competition which presents cash prizes totaling over $20,000. Entries will be reviewed by panels of dedicated media professionals for nomination as Official Selections for the competition. Last year’s submissions exceeded 1,600 films and videos from over 46 countries.

Distinguished international juries will convene during the Festival to select 14 Golden Gate Award winners and bestow cash prizes up to $5,000. At the 46th Festival additional in-kind prizes were donated by Apple, Eastman Kodak and Alpha Cine Labs. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences recognizes San Francisco International Film Festival as a qualifying festival for the short film and documentary short subject categories for the 76th Annual Academy Awards©. Recent Golden Gate Award winners, which have gone on to further acclaim include THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND, DAUGHTER FROM DANANG and RIVERS AND TIDES.

VirginMega Audience Award
Audience Awards will be given to the Best Narrative Feature and the Best Documentary Feature. The 2003 VirginMega Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature was a tie between WHALE RIDER and THE CUCKOO. The VirginMega Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to HEART OF THE SEA: KAPOLIOKA’EHUKAI.

The Golden Gate Awards and the SKYY Prize will be presented at the Golden Gate Awards ceremony on Wednesday, April 28. The VirginMega Audience Awards will be announced on Closing Night, Thursday, April 29, 2004.

The San Francisco Film Society, presenter of the 47th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 15–29, 2004), is a nonprofit arts and educational organization dedicated to celebrating international film and the moving image.