San Francisco Film Society and Jaman Announce the Launch of The International Online at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival

Online Screenings of Select Feature-Length Films During Landmark 50th SFIFF

January 22, 2007

Graham Leggat, executive director of the San Francisco Film Society, and Gaurav Dhillon, chief executive officer of Jaman, Inc., a premier online community for world cinema, announced the launch of The International Online, an exciting new concept in the online presentation of Film Festival feature films.

Unveiled as an innovative new element of the landmark 50th San Francisco International Film Festival, which runs April 26 to May 10, 2007, The International Online will offer online screenings of a select group of SFIFF feature films at better-than-DVD quality.

The films selected for The International Online will be available worldwide for download to a select number of viewers during an exclusive window of time following their last SFIFF theatrical screening.  SFIFF will use The International Online to showcase films from the vibrant San Francisco Bay Area film and media scene to Festival fans across the country and around the world.

“The groundbreaking partnership with Jaman enables us to give the San Francisco International Film Festival a truly radiant worldwide reach,” said Leggat. “For the past 50 years, the International has been bringing the world to San Francisco. Now The International Online will bring our films and filmmakers to the world.”

“We’re extremely honored to be partnering with the San Francisco Film Society to create The International Online,” said Dhillon.  “Together we are providing an exciting new way for the Festival’s fans through out the world to discover, enjoy and share in this historic 50th anniversary celebration.”

About Jaman

Jaman is the place where people discover, enjoy and discuss world cinema. Jaman is pioneering social cinema on the Web by delivering better than DVD quality video over the Internet to a growing online community of fans and filmmakers from around the world. Jaman.com, Inc., is headquartered in San Francisco, California and is backed by luminaries in technology and media.

Join Jaman—Join the world.

Founded in 1957, the vanguard San Francisco International Film Festival is the longest-running film festival in the Americas. Held each spring for fifteen days, the International is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in the country’s most beautiful city, featuring 25 juried awards and more than 220 films and live events with upwards of 100 participating filmmakers and diverse audiences of 80,000+ people.

The landmark 50th International runs April 26–May 10, 2007 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinema, the Castro Theatre, The Museum of Modern Art 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 satellite venues.

For tickets and information go to www.sffs.org, call 925.866.9559 or visit the Main Ticket Outlet at the Sundance Kabuki Cinema (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. The Film Society’s year-round programs and events are concentrated in four core areas: Internationalism and Cross-Cultural Exchange; Educating and Inspiring Bay Area Youth; Showcasing Bay Area Film Culture; and Exploring New Digital Media.

 In early 2006 the Film Society unveiled SF360, a broad-spectrum series of initiatives designed to showcase the extraordinary vitality and variety of the Bay Area film and media scene, including www.SF360.org, SF360 San Francisco Movie Night, SF360 Film+Club and the television show SF360 Movie Scene.

The Film Society runs an acclaimed Education Program that each year introduces international cinema and media literacy to several thousand teachers and students (ages 8–18).  The Film Society will present the second annual San Francisco International Animation Festival in October 2007, the eleventh annual New Italian Cinema festival in November 2007 and a new SF International Youth Media Festival in early 2008.