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The Film Society's fall calendar is filling up fast
with an unprecedented variety of activities. The agenda includes
our recurring series of extreme cinema, live film and musical performance,
new Italian features, a fun-filled outdoor screening and lots of
opportunities to talk about our favorite subject: cinema. And the
participants--either live or on film--include Sophia Loren, Philip
Glass and a large octopus.
Hybrid Film Thrives with Stimulating Discussion
Our monthly series at SFMOMA of film and talk has been a great success
as audiences turn out to see unique films and participate in discussions
with the filmmakers. Among the highlights this year so far have
been in-person appearances by Mike Figgis (Hotel), Steve Lisberger
(TRON) and Lynn Hershman Leeson (Teknolust). The series continues
September 12 with a screening of a recent Dogma film by Ole Christian
Madsen, Kira's Reason-A Love Story, followed by a discussion about
the film. Madsen's second feature (the first was Pizza King) won
the Danish equivalent of the Oscar for Best Picture and received
much praise at last year's Toronto Film Festival.
October 10 it's On Site and Sound, a special live cinematic performance
that fuses visuals and sound by Wet Gate and the Light Surgeons.
And November 14, Nakamura Takashi, the former collaborator of anime
wizard Hayao Miyazaki, will be here in person for a screening of
his new feature, A Tree of Palme.
How September 11 Affected Filmmakers
Bay Area filmmakers were as affected as anyone by September 11;
now we have a chance to hear their views. The Film Society hosts
a panel discussion September 18 at the Film Centre with Caveh Zahedi,
Lynn Hershman Leeson, Sophia Constantinou, Henry S. Rosenthal and
others.
Presidio Outdoor Screening Recalls the Past
In partnership with the Presidio Trust, we will be presenting a
first: an outdoor screening at the peak of Indian summer in San
Francisco's Presidio. Film in the Fog will be a frolicsome affair
that calls attention to the Presidio Theater's history of entertaining
servicemen on the base as they awaited being sent to war in the
South Pacific, Korea and Vietnam. The featured film will be Robert
Gordon's It Came from Beneath the Sea, a campy romp through Baghdad
by the Bay with a mutant octopus spawned in the era of unbridled
nuclear testing. This San Francisco sci-fi classic played at the
Presidio Theater May 21, 1956. The animation this was the work of
legendary special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen. A cartoon and
newsreel will add to the nostalgia.
Philip Glass Helps Us Start a New Series of Salons
The first of many regular gatherings of prominent people from the
worlds of film, literature, art, music and politics will take place
in the Palm Room at the San Francisco Film Centre. We're kicking
things off Sunday, October 13 at 12:00 noon, with composer Philip
Glass and producer Tom Luddy discussing the art and process of composing
music for film. Unfortunately, the salon is already sold out as
of this writing. Our first salon is a copresentation with San Francisco
Performances, which is presenting Philip on Film: Koyaanisqatsi
and Shorts October 13 and 14. These screenings will feature live
music played by Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble.
Dark Wave Offers New Thrills
Our series of international horror, fantasy and cult cinema is piling
up fans faster than Dario Argento piles up dead bodies. And this
year we're adding a new twist: Dark Wave at Midnight. In the wake
of our popular midnight screenings of extreme cinema at the Festival
this past spring, audiences are telling us they like to stay up
late on weekends to witness bizarre and gory activities. Dark Wave
runs Friday, October 18 to Sunday, October 20 at the Roxie Cinema,
with midnight screamings-make that screenings!-Friday and Saturday.
Opening the series is the Spanish supernatural thriller Intacto
starring Max von Sydow as a death-defying champion of Russian roulette.
Midnight shows feature the high-voltage zombie yakuza action film,
Versus, and the wide-angle gore and guns of Teenage Hooker Became
a Killing Machine in Daehakroh. There's more frights to discover
with Dark Water, the latest psychothriller from Hideo Nakata (The
Ring); the full-blooded monster movie, Kat; the chilling ghost story,
Inugami; soldiers stalked by werewolves in Dog Soldiers; and The
Unknown, Sweden's answer to The Blair Witch Project, Dogma style!
New Italian Cinema Sweeps Away
Our popular fall series of seven first-time films from Italy continues
with a very special addition this year. Preceding the New Italian
Cinema (NICE) series will be a four-film retrospective of the works
of Mimmo Calopresti, a rising star that enchanted audiences here
when he visited with his first feature, The Second Time (La seconda
volta), in 1996. Other Calopresti films to be reprised include I
Prefer the Sound of the Sea (Preferisco il rumore del mare) and
The Word Love Exists (La parola amore esiste).
Another treat will be the screening of Francesca and Nunziata,
the latest from another Italian director whose first film showed
at our Festival, Lina Wertmuller. Variety critic Dennis Harvey compares
this lush 19th-century period piece to Visconti's The Leopard and
Bertolucci's 1900. "Still stunning-in face and well-corseted,
cleavage-baring figure-at 66," he adds, "Loren is ideally
suited to the role of Francesca." Giancarlo Giannini plays
her lover, Prince Giordano Montorsi.
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