Celebrated Film Festival Enters Golden Years

It’s comforting to know that even when small independent theaters are being swallowed up by impersonal multiplexes around the nation, San Francisco and the Bay Area have done much to foster a safe haven for some of our most unique cultural artifacts—perhaps none more so than film. Kicking off tomorrow, the San Francisco International Film Festival, the oldest and best-established vanguard for eclectic cinema on the festival circuit, is turning 50, and film lovers will have much reason to celebrate.

This year’s lineup promises to bring the goods—not just for all of the pomp and glory that comes with turning a half-century old, but because the lineup is equally befitting of the occasion. This year’s big attraction is the world premiere of Gary Leva’s “Fog City Mavericks,” a documentary celebrating San Francisco’s lasting effect in the realm of cinema and the directors who have helped to put the city on the map. The film features directors such as George Lucas, Clint Eastwood and Francis Ford Coppola, who situated themselves in San Francisco before making some of the most definitive American films of the later 20th century—milestones like “Star Wars,” “Dirty Harry” and “The Godfather,” respectively. “Fog City Mavericks” will also pay tribute to “Lost in Translation” director Sofia Coppola and Pixar mastermind Brad Bird, who are continuing the standards of cinematic excellence set by their predecessors.

And naturally, the festival will bring together and honor some of the biggest names in cinema today. This year, the one-time Irving M. Levin Award will be presented to George Lucas, who may or may not accept in a flannel shirt. Director Spike Lee (“Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X”) will also be present to inherit the Film Society Directing Award, an honor which has previously been bestowed upon such greats as Akira Kurosawa and Stanley Donen.

But as ever, the San Francisco International Film Festival is committed to ushering in the next crop of rising talents. This year, the Skyy Prize—an award recognizing innovation in filmmaking with an added $10,000 bonus—will be awarded to a first-time filmmaker featured in this year’s festivities. Saturday, April 28 will see the presentation of the Midnight Awards, a new category that honors compelling up and coming actors early on their careers. This year’s winners are two rising stars of independent film—Sam Rockwell (“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”) and Rosario Dawson (“Sin City,” “Clerks II”).

If all of this hobnobbing across the bay (or the simple fact the screenings are spread throughout several different movie theaters) interferes with your end of the semester crunch, then rejoice, for Berkeley’s own Pacific Film Archive will be showing select films from the festival’s lineup every day, starting this Friday and continuing on through May 10. Schedules are available now at Pacific Film Archive. So head to the BART or just take a quick walk down Bancroft and catch some of the most promising new voices in international film.

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