The Usual Pomp and Ceremony at Cannes
By Roxanne Messina Captor

You may have wondered how we pick the films that show at the San Francisco International Film Festival each year. The process is multifaceted, but it does involve keeping an ear to the ground and being dedicated to learning about any and all great new fare that appears on the map of world cinema. We are determined to search far and wide and to examine offerings from all corners of the world. In picking films each year, we attempt to present a feast of movies that will be at once rare and satisfying to every palate: a gourmet's delight.

A key element of this process is access. In part we gain access to interesting fare by attending other established international events. One such venue is the Cannes Film Festival which took place this May amidst the usual pomp and ceremony as well as a huge amount of additional security made necessary by the events of last September. The festival is now in its 55th year. It is in some ways a thermometer that allows us to gauge the film world's state of health. The good news from Cannes this year is that cinema is alive and well!

In viewing films at Cannes we constantly thought about how our San Francisco Film Festival audience would enjoy them.

Abbas Kiarostami bridged the world of the master filmmaker and that of the adventurous newcomer by presenting an experimental film, Ten. It marked a departure from his previous body of work both in its subject--women and their take on life in Iran--as well as in its unusually fluid structure. Another venerable master, Im Kwon-Taek presented a spellbinding film, Chihwaseon, an invitation to explore 19th-century Korea through its depiction of the life of artist Ohwon Jang-Seung.

Cannes screened its first full-length Palestinian film, Elia Suleiman's Divine Intervention. A film that confronts the viewer with the dizzying reality of daily life in the troubled region, it is an experience that at times verges on the surreal. Renegade French director Catherine Breillat's Sex Is Comedy was shown. It is modernist in its reflexivity as it follows a filmmaker and her struggle to obtain what she needs from her cast and crew. Breillat's Brief Crossing (Breve traversée) was shown at the Festival in 2002.

This fall we will head to the Toronto Film Festival to uncover more works of artistry. We look forward to discovering an array of works to titillate every palate in the weeks and months ahead as we forge ahead with our one and only mission: to bring you the very best of world cinema today.