The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the
San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in international film and video production with an emphasis on work that has not yet secured U.S. distribution. In 2009, it served around 82,000 patrons, with screenings held in San Francisco and Berkeley.
["San Francisco Film Festival Bucks Economic Trends to Set New Records for Revenue and Attendance." sffs.org. 7 May 2009. San Francisco Film Society. 29 June 2009 ]
In March 2014, Noah Cowan, former executive director of the
Toronto International Film Festival, became executive director of the SFFS and SFIFF, replacing
Ted Hope
Ted Hope (born 1962) is an American independent film producer based in New York City. He is best known for co-founding the production/sales company Good Machine, where he produced the first films of such notable filmmakers as Ang Lee, Nicole Ho ...
. Prior to Hope, the festival was briefly headed by
Bingham Ray Bingham Ray (1 October 1954 – 23 January 2012) was an American independent film executive.
Career
He was a co-founder of indie film distributor October Films and president of United Artists from 2001 to 2004. At the time of his death, he was exec ...
, who served as SFFS executive director until his death after only ten weeks on the job in January 2012. Graham Leggat became the executive director of the San Francisco Film Society on October 17, 2005. The
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
-born Leggat died on August 25, 2011 from cancer, aged 51.
The 63rd edition of the festival, originally scheduled for April 2020, but was ultimately postponed to 2021 due to the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic.
History
Founded in 1957 by film exhibitor Irving "Bud" Levin, the SFIFF began as a philanthropic effort to secure San Francisco's place in the international arts scene as well as expose locals to cinema as an art form.
's ''
Throne of Blood'' and
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
's ''
Pather Panchali'' were among the films that screened at the first festival.
One obstacle in the early years was the lack of support from the major Hollywood studios, suggested reasons being the growing threat of international films' appeal and a fear that the festival would draw commercial attention away from the Oscars.
It was not until 1959 that a major American film,
Henry King's ''
Beloved Infidel
''Beloved Infidel'' is a 1959 DeLuxe Color biographical drama film made by 20th Century Fox in CinemaScope and based on the relationship of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sheilah Graham. The film was directed by Henry King and produced by Jerry Wald ...
'', starring
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...
and
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
During her international film career, Kerr won a G ...
, played at SFIFF.
Honors and Tributes
Irving M. Levin Directing Award
The Festival's directing award is named after SFIFF's founder, Irving Levin. From 2003 to 2014, the award was known as the Founder's Directing Award. Prior to 2003, the award was known as the Akira Kurosawa Award. Recipients include:
*
Mira Nair, 2016
*
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and ''The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for Be ...
, 2015
*
Richard Linklater
Richard Stuart Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for films that revolve mainly around suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies '' ...
, 2014
*
Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman (born October 23, 1936) is an American film director and screenwriter who has directed fifteen films over a career spanning more than six decades. He has been described as a "maverick" and an "iconoclast," notable for his versati ...
, 2013
*
Kenneth Branagh, 2012
*
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...
, 2011
*
Walter Salles, 2010
*
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...
, 2009
*
Mike Leigh, 2008
*
Spike Lee, 2007
*
Werner Herzog, 2006
*
Taylor Hackford, 2005
*
Miloš Forman
Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech and American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the United States in 1968.
Forman ...
, 2004
*
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New H ...
, 2003
*
Warren Beatty, 2002
*
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
, 2001
*
Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami ( fa, عباس کیارستمی ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of ...
, 2000
*
Arturo Ripstein, 1999
*
Im Kwon-taek, 1998
*
Francesco Rosi, 1997
*
Arthur Penn, 1996
*
Stanley Donen, 1995
*
Manoel de Oliveira
Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira (; 11 December 1908 – 2 April 2015) was a Portuguese film director and screenwriter born in Cedofeita, Porto. He first began making films in 1927, when he and some friends attempted to make a film about Wo ...
, 1994
*
Ousmane Sembène, 1993
*
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
, 1992
*
Marcel Carné
Marcel Albert Carné (; 18 August 1906 – 31 October 1996) was a French film director. A key figure in the poetic realism movement, Carné's best known films include '' Port of Shadows'' (1938), ''Le Jour Se Lève'' (1939), '' The Devil's Envoys ...
, 1991
*
Jirí Menzel, 1990
*
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best ...
, 1989
*
Robert Bresson, 1988
*
Michael Powell, 1987
*
Akira Kurosawa, 1986
Peter J. Owens Award
Named for the longtime San Francisco benefactor of arts and charitable organizations Peter J. Owens (1936–91), this award honors an actor whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity.
Recent recipients include:
*
Ellen Burstyn, 2016
*
Richard Gere, 2015
*
Jeremy Irons, 2014
*
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...
, 2013
*
Judy Davis, 2012
*
Terence Stamp, 2011
*
Robert Duvall, 2010
*
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...
, 2009
*
Maria Bello, 2008
*
Robin Williams, 2007
*
Ed Harris, 2006
*
Joan Allen, 2005
*
Chris Cooper
Christopher Walton Cooper (born July 9, 1951) is an American actor. He has appeared in several major Hollywood films, including '' American Beauty'' (1999), ''October Sky'' (1999), '' The Bourne Identity'' (2002), ''Seabiscuit'' (2003), '' Cap ...
, 2004
*
Dustin Hoffman, 2003
*
Kevin Spacey, 2002
*
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. She is known for playing Betty Rizzo in the film '' Grease'' (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series ''The West Wing'' ( ...
, 2001
*
Winona Ryder, 2000
*
Sean Penn, 1999
*
Nicolas Cage, 1998
*
Annette Bening, 1997
*
Harvey Keitel, 1996
Kanbar Award
Recipients of the Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting include:
*
Tom McCarthy, 2016
*
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader (; born July 22, 1946) is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first received widespread recognition through his screenplay for Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' (1976). He later continued his collabo ...
, 2015
*
Stephen Gaghan, 2014
*
Eric Roth, 2013
*
David Webb Peoples
David Webb Peoples (born February 9, 1940) is an American screenwriter who wrote ''Blade Runner'' (1982), ''Unforgiven'' (1992), and ''12 Monkeys'' (1995). He was nominated for Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA awards. He won the best screenplay ...
, 2012
*
Frank Pierson, 2011
*
James Schamus, 2010
*
James Toback, 2009
*
Peter Morgan
Peter Julian Robin Morgan, (10 April 1963) is a British screenwriter and playwright. He is the playwright behind '' The Audience'' and '' Frost/Nixon'' and the screenwriter of ''The Queen'' (2006), '' Frost/Nixon'' (2008), ''The Damned United ...
, 2008
*
Robert Towne, 2007
*
Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière (; 17 September 1931 – 8 February 2021) was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing '' Heureux Anniversaire'' (1963), and was later conferred an Honorary ...
, 2006
*
Paul Haggis, 2005
Mel Novikoff Award
Named in honor of San Francisco film exhibitor Mel Novikoff (1922–87), this award is given to an individual or organization notable for making significant contributions to the Bay Area's film community.
Recent recipients include:
*
Janus Films
Janus Films is an American film distribution company. The distributor is credited with introducing numerous films, now considered masterpieces of world cinema, to American audiences, including the films of Michelangelo Antonioni, Sergei Eisenstein ...
and
The Criterion Collection, 2016
*
Lenny Borger
Lenny or Lennie may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Lenny (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Lennie (surname), a list of people
* Lenny (singer) (born 1993), Czech songwriter
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''L ...
, 2015
*
David Thomson, 2014
*Peter von Bagh, 2013
*Pierre Rissient, 2012
*
Serge Bromberg Serge may refer to:
*Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric
*Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme
*Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name)
*Serge (post), a hitchi ...
, 2011
*
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
, 2010
*Bruce Goldstein, 2009
*
James Lewis Hoberman, 2008
*
Kevin Brownlow, 2007
*Anita Monga, 2005
*
Paolo Cherchi Usai, 2004
*
Manny Farber, 2003
*David Francis, 2002
*
Cahiers du cinéma
''Cahiers du Cinéma'' (, ) is a French film magazine co-founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca.Itzkoff, Dave (9 February 2009''Cahiers Du Cinéma Will Continue to Publish''The New York TimesMacnab, Ge ...
, 2001
*
San Francisco Cinematheque, 2001
*
Donald Krim, 2000
*
David Shepard, 2000
*
Adrienne Mancia, 1998
Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award
The POV Award honors the lifetime achievement of a filmmaker whose work is crafting documentaries, short films, animation or work for television.
Recent recipients include:
*
Nathaniel Dorsky
Nathaniel Dorsky (born 1943 in New York City), is an American experimental filmmaker and film editor who has been making films since 1963. He attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio where he developed his interest in filmmaking. He won a ...
, 2018
*
Aardman Animations, 2016
*
Kim Longinotto, 2015
*
Isaac Julien, 2014
* Jem Cohen, 2013
*
Barbara Kopple, 2012
*
Matthew Barney
Matthew Barney (born March 25, 1967) is an American contemporary artist and film director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing. His works explore connections among geography, biology, geology and mythology as well ...
, 2011
*
Don Hertzfeldt
Don Hertzfeldt (born August 1, 1976) is an American animator, writer, and independent filmmaker. He is a two-time Academy Award nominee who is best known for the animated films ''It's Such a Beautiful Day'', the '' World of Tomorrow'' series, an ...
, 2010
*
Lourdes Portillo, 2009
*
Errol Morris, 2008
*Heddy Honigmann, 2007
*
Guy Maddin
Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film in ...
, 2006
*
Adam Curtis, 2005
*Jon Else, 2004
*
Pat O'Neill Pat O'Neill may refer to:
Sportspeople
* Pat O'Neill (American football) (born 1971), American football player
*Pat O'Neill (Dublin footballer) (born 1950), Dublin Gaelic footballer and manager
*Pat O'Neill (Galway footballer) (born 1956), Galway G ...
, 2003
* Fernando Birri, 2002
*
Kenneth Anger, 2001
*
Faith Hubley, 2000
* Johan van der Keuken, 1999
* Robert Frank, 1998
*
Jan Švankmajer, 1997
George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award
The George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award, given in tribute to the longstanding Film Society chairman of the board who died in 2013, honors filmmakers for their contributions to the art of cinema.
Recent recipients include:
*
Peter Coyote, 2016
*
Maurice Kanbar
Maurice Kanbar (March 1, 1929 – August 20, 2022) was an American entrepreneur and inventor who lived in San Francisco, California. He was particularly well known for his creation of SKYY vodka and was also noted for his extensive real estate i ...
, 2015
*
John Lasseter, 2014
*
Ray Dolby, 2013
Midnight Awards
The Film Festival's Midnight Awards were given from 2007–2011 to honor a young American actor and actress who have made outstanding contributions to independent and Hollywood cinema.
Recent recipients include:
*
Clifton Collins, Jr.
Clifton Craig Collins Jr. is an American actor. After starting in 1990, with small roles in film and on television, Collins gained attention for his performance as Cpl. Ramon Aguilar, a prisoner "serving" under an imprisoned general played by R ...
and
Zoe Saldana
Zoe (also ZOE, Zoë, Zoé, etc.) can refer to:
*ζωή (''zōḗ''), the Ancient Greek word for "life"
People
* Zoe (name), including list of persons and fictional characters with the name
Film and television
* ''Zoe'' (film)
* ZOE Broadcast ...
, 2011
*
Evan Rachel Wood and
Elijah Wood, 2009
*
Rose McGowan and
Jason Lee, 2008
*
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Isabel Dawson (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress. She made her feature-film debut in the 1995 independent drama ''Kids''. Her subsequent film roles include '' He Got Game'' (1998), ''Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Men in Bl ...
and
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as '' Lawn Dogs'' (199 ...
, 2007
60th Anniversary Gala Changes
In 2017, the
San Francisco Film Society made a "strategic move" to set its 60th anniversary SF Film Awards Night closer to awards season in early December.
Awards and Prizes
New Directors Award
This $15,000 cash award supports innovative thinking by independent filmmakers and shines the spotlight on an emerging director. Films in this juried competition must be the director's first narrative feature and are selected for their unique artistic sensibility or vision.
Golden Gate Awards
The Golden Gate Awards is the competitive section for documentaries, animation, shorts, experimental film, and video, youth works and works for television. Eligibility requires that entries have a San Francisco Bay Area premiere and be exempt from a previous multiday commercial theatrical run or media broadcast of any kind. The festival currently awards cash prizes in the following categories:
*Documentary Feature - prize: $20,000
*Bay Area Documentary Feature - prize: $15,000
*Documentary Short - prize: $5,000
*Narrative Short - prize: $5,000
*Animated Short - prize: $2,000
*Bay Area Short, First Prize - prize: $2,000
*Bay Area Short, Second Prize - prize: $1,500
*New Visions Short - prize: $1,500
*Youth Work - prize: $1,500
*Family Film - prize: $1,500
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes the San Francisco International Film Festival as a qualifying festival for the short films (live action and animated) competitions of the 81st annual Academy Awards.
FIPRESCI Prize
Selected by the International Federation of Film Critics, the
FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...
Prize aims to promote film art, to encourage new and young cinema and to help films get better distribution and win greater public attention.
State of Cinema Address
Each year, the festival invites a prominent thinker to discuss the intersecting worlds of contemporary cinema, culture and society. Recent speakers include:
*
Boots Riley, 2019
*
Wesley Morris, 2016
*
Douglas Trumbull, 2015
*
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh (; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor. A pioneer of modern independent cinema, Soderbergh is an acclaimed and prolific filmmaker.
Soderbergh's direc ...
, 2013
*
Jonathan Lethem
Jonathan Allen Lethem (; born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. His first novel, ''Gun, with Occasional Music'', a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was publishe ...
, 2012
*
Christine Vachon, 2011
*
Walter Murch, 2010
*
Mary Ellen Mark, 2009
*
Kevin Kelly, 2008
*
Peter Sellars, 2007
*
Tilda Swinton, 2006
*
Brad Bird, 2005
*
B. Ruby Rich
B. Ruby Rich is an American scholar; critic of independent, Latin American, documentary, feminist, and queer films; and a professor emerita of Film & Digital Media and Social Documentation at UC Santa Cruz. Among her many contributions, she is ...
, 2004
*
Michel Ciment, 2003
Live Music & Film
The San Francisco International Film Festival also involves live music and film events, which usually feature contemporary musicians performing original scores to classic silent films. Music/film pairings at SFIFF have included:
*
Scott Amendola,
Matthias Bossi Matthias is a name derived from the Greek Ματθαίος, in origin similar to Matthew.
People
Notable people named Matthias include the following:
In religion:
* Saint Matthias, chosen as an apostle in Acts 1:21–26 to replace Judas Iscariot
* ...
,
Mike Patton, and
William Winant accompanying
Waxworks (1924 Film), Directed
Paul Leni, 2013
*
Merrill Garbus (tUnE-yArDs) with
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
short films, 2012
*
Tindersticks with the films of
Claire Denis, 2011
*
Stephin Merritt with
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916 film)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a 1916 American silent film directed by Stuart Paton. The film's storyline is based on the 1870 novel ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'' by Jules Verne. It also incorporates elements from Verne's 1875 novel ...
, 2010
*
Dengue Fever (band) with
The Lost World (1925 film), 2009
*
Black Francis
Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Fo ...
with
The Golem (1915 film), 2008
*
Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Michael Richman (born May 16, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970, he founded the Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic a ...
with
The Phantom Carriage
''The Phantom Carriage'' ( sv, Körkarlen, literally "The Wagoner") is a 1921 Swedish silent film directed by and starring Victor Sjöström, based on the 1912 novel '' Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!'' (''Körkarlen'') by Swedish author Selma Lag ...
, 2007
*
Deerhoof
Deerhoof are an American musical group formed in San Francisco in 1994. They currently consist of founding drummer Greg Saunier, bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki, and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez. Beginning as an improvised noi ...
with
Heaven and Earth Magic, 2006
*
American Music Club with
Street Angel (1928 film), 2005
*
Lambchop (band) with
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, 2003
*
Superchunk
Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, consisting of singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster. Formed in 1989, they were one of the ...
with
A Page of Madness
is a 1926 Japanese silent film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. Lost for 45 years until it was rediscovered by Kinugasa in his storehouse in 1971, the film is the product of an avant-garde group of artists in Japan known as the Shinkankakuha (o ...
, 2002
*
Yo La Tengo with
Jean Painlevé
Jean Painlevé (20 November 1902 – 2 July 1989) was a photographer and filmmaker who specialized in underwater fauna. He was the son of mathematician and twice prime minister of France Paul Painlevé.
Upbringing
A few days after Painlevé ...
short films, 2001
*
Tom Verlaine with classic silent short films, 2000
See also
*
San Francisco Film Society
Notes
External links
*
*{{official, http://festival.sffs.org
Film festivals in the San Francisco Bay Area
Film festivals established in 1957
1957 establishments in California