Were you snoring next to SFist Wendy at the movies the other night? Our fellow SFisters weren’t alone in the lyrical department this week. We signed on for the SFIFF's In the City of Sylvia, a film described as “simple” and “classical.” More importantly for us – since we love all things French (or almost) – the film was set in Strasbourg. It wasn’t until we already had our ticket and were ready to......

Every time we see an Errol Morris film, we're always astonished by his subjects' self-incrimination and displays of delusion. We had suspected that Morris is drawn to delusional people as subjects, or at least, the unusually obsessed. With Standard Operating Procedure, screened at the SFIFF on Tuesday, April 29th, Errol Morris once again attempts to answer the question that recurs in many of his movies, "What were they thinking?" In a pre-screening chat with......

What we love most about watching films at SFIFF is being able to experience something different than your own life. Take for instance, Just Like Home. How else can one know what it's like to live in a small Danish town consumed by the mystery of whom, exactly, is wandering the streets naked? That is the central premise of Just Like Home. A man is seen walking around at night nude and the repercussions this......

Psst! Anyone out there holding onto one of the sacred 1000 journals? If so, add to it already and pass it on! Or send it back to Someguy. Inquiring minds across the world want to see these 1000 journals! SF Int'l Film Fest's screening of 1000 Journals at Kabuki on Saturday was very warmly received by a large audience, and questions abounded at the Q&A with filmmaker Andrea Kreuzhage and Someguy, the creator of The......

You know that movie we're not talking about whose marketing campaign sucks? And the fine folks of SF parodied on 24th Street? That we reported on over a week or so ago? Well, now, in addition to Fametracker and Hollywood Elsewhere, Berkeley is getting in on the act. And in typical fashion, a week later. ...

The photographer being manhandled at around 20-25 seconds in is Luke Thomas of Fog City Journal. (Or so we're told.) Then, at the end, the camera operator receives a serious (and seriously questionable) smackdown by an SFPD officer. ...

The title of Nobuhiro Yamashita's A Gentle Breeze in the Village poignantly conveys the tone of this film. Witnessing the gentle coming of age of young Soyo (played by Kaho), the oldest of the students in her small, combined elementary and middle school, personifies for the viewer the lush yet gentle breeze that reverberates throughout the beautiful landscape shots of the Japanese countryside. Oh, to be young and going to the beach and playing with......

Last night's screening of Wayne Wang's A Thousand Years of Good Prayers on opening night of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival was a sheer delight. The film is based on Bay Area author Yiyun Li’s book of short stories. Wayne Wang was there to present the film to us, and then he and star Henry O answered questions after the film. Afterwards, everyone headed over to the Asian American Art Museum for......

Mills High School English teacher David Lista, 35, of Belmont has admitted to filming underage girls using the bathroom at the high school where he taught. it seems he was arrested yesterday afternoon after a Mills technology coordinator came across Lista's cinematic restroom work while checking the school computer server. Police then searched Lista's home, which turned up a "small amount" of methamphetamine as well. Ouch. But this wasn't the first time Lista's alleged......

Well, it's been fun. The trailers, the megawatt celebrity sightings, the lights, the cameras, the not being invited to cast/crew parties -- SFist will miss it all. As most of you know, Gus Van Sant's biopic Milk -- the story of assassinated San Francisco Supervisor and gay rights advocate, Harvey Milk -- started shooting in January. This past Sunday, the production came to an end. Alas. For those of you who weren't able to......

*CLUB: San Francisco's 6th annual DJ Dreamteam lineup -- which consists of local legends Miguel Migs, Mark Farina, David Harness, Julius Papp, Taj, Rooz, Icon, Dirtyhertz, a-tn-nae, Smoove, Mancub, Kapt'n Kirk, M3, Aaron Jae, Shooy, and Motion Potion -- will have you up off your ass and busting out your choicest vogue moves on the dance floor. 10 p.m. // 1015 [1015 Folsom] // $15-$25 FILM: Cringe-worthy cult film heralded as "one of the......

Bay Area filmmakers Arne Johnson and Shane King present Girls Rock! The Movie, a highly moving documentary about Portland's Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls, a place for girls ages eight to eighteen to learn an instrument, form their own bands, write songs, make friends, and then perform in front of 700 people -- all in a week's time. The film is opening in seven cities today -- San Francisco, Berkeley, Portland, New York,......

We just got word that Gustaf Van Sant needs more extras this Sunday for Milk. You know what that means, don't you? Time to throw on your hippest and tightest '70s duds revealing the most chest hair possible in order to help the poor Palme d'Or winner out. You will help him out this coming Sunday, won't you? Good. According to event organizers: WE ARE INVITING PEOPLE BACK TO BE IN THE MOVIE ONE......

*FILM: The 5th Annual San Francisco Irish Film Festival kicks things off with Garage by director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Mark O’Halloran. This is followed by a reception with the Consul General of Ireland, Emer Deane. According to LS, "other highlights include Speed Dating, a romantic comedy about a lovelorn amnesiac; the award winning Irish-language feature film Kings, and finally The Undertaking, a documentary about Irish American undertaker and poet Thomas Lynch, who is......

*MUSIC: Hotel Utah launches a brand spanking new party, YEAR. The night is being labeled as an "innovative branded concept," hosted by KUSF radio personality and creative director for the Mill Valley Film Festival, Dennis "The Menace" Scheyer. Each month at YEAR, one year will be celebrated -- ranging from 1956 to 2006 -- and the playlist for that month's event will be the top hits from that year. Which year will be the......

Ooooh!!! You know we love the Asian-American Film Festival! We love the feature films by the young ambitious Asian-American directors, we love Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, we love the KQED-ready documentaries about identity and history, we love the beautifully shot foreign films, and we loooooooooove Music Video Asia! MAN, do we love Music Video Asia. (Plus -- a sing-along Colma The Musical!) The film festival starts in two weeks and runs......

*FILM: She Done Him Wrong (1933) screens at the Castro Tonight. What's is about? Well, according to CinemaSource, "Lady Lou works as a singer at the Gay Nineties saloon of Gus Jordan, who plays her with diamonds to keep her by his side. She runs afoul of stalwart Salvation Army captain Cummings, who warns her that she''s on the road to perdition. Though Lou herself steers clear of criminal activities, Gus Jordan runs a......

Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny shielding themselves from your gaze. By Gordon Elgart (based on his Twitter entries) Every year, we spend Saturday at WonderCon in Hall A, watching panels of filmmakers and actors prattle on about upcoming films, and show exclusive clips and trailers. This year, we kept a running diary. Ahem: 11:12 AM – We’re in a gigantic line for WonderCon. In the pre-registration line, which is significantly longer than the pay-at-the-door......

While we can't agree with Grandma Joy on her dismissive review of There Will Be Blood, because our love for self-indulgent vanity pieces knows no limits, we can agree that "Movies With Grandma Joy" is adorably informative, addictive. She even reenacts a violent scene from the PT Anderson gem, so be sure to check it out. While you're at it, Joy also reviews Juno and No Country For Old Men -- perfect viewing before......

Scott Beale over at Laughing Squid came across these adorable videos, which he dedicates to his "Super Mario Brothers obsessed" nephews, that bring together two important turning points from our youth: Legos and Super Mario Brothers. Check out more levels here. Each of them are worthy time wasters. Enjoy!......

SFist interviews Jeff Ross, founder of Indie Fest...

Recreating Harvey Milk's campaign poster for SF Supervisor, Penn is downright adorable. And surprisingly endearing. Aside from the obvious anal sex joke lingering above, your thoughts? Image credit: Tinobear......

Let's Get Lost (1988): Bruce Weber followed around jazz trumpeter and heroin addict Chet Baker on a year-long excursion, "from the West Coast, to the East Coast, to Europe--including a stop at the Cannes Film Festival--with interviews with Chet, colleagues and friends, including dueling insights from his third wife, a former British show girl, and three children in Oklahoma, and from old flame Ruth Young, a sardonically throaty torch singer." Screens tonight at 7......

Check out Ms. Siebel's latest filmic effort, the indie-ish romcom Till You Get To Baraboo. According to IMDB, it's about a young man learning how to "let go of worn-out dreams in order to make room for new love." One man, it seems, while attending a wedding in Vegas, comes across all of the snatch he's had over his life, learns about love, finds the Holy Grail, smells the scent of a woman, etc.,......

Starting this week, as we all know by now, Palme d'Or-winning writer/directer Gus Van Sant starts filming Milk on our pretty yet smelly streets. But Gustave needs your help, folks. On Monday night, Feb. 4, and Friday night, Feb. 8, he will require you use your thespionic skills during several march reenactments. If you go here and register, you will be used. All ages, races and genders are just dandy; however, you must be......

Undergoing a procedure to erase 30 years from its face, the Castro neighborhood is going retro, circa 1978, for the filming of Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic, Milk, which starts shooting this week. Already the Castro Theatre, right, and boutique shop Given, formerly Milk's camera store / campaign headquarters, are being renovated to get that '70s vibe. Rumor has it that Castro Street between 18th and 19th streets (i.e., the staphicenter) will be......

While walking along Post Street this morning, we came across the above "mysterious" sign at Taylor Street and wondered where the film shoot was. Then we happened to turn down Mason and encountered the film crew at Geary and Mason, as an SFist tipster noted earlier. The set-up was all still there on our walk back home this evening. We're guessing it was for a commercial of some sort. They filmed a Quaker Oats......

Paul Auster: Sure, metafictionist Auster wrote the screenplays to Smoke, Blue in the Face, and The Brooklyn Follies, but he also penned the phenomenal collection of PoMo detective-fiction tales, The New York Trilogy, his best work to date. Auster appears live with San Francisco International Film Festival Director Graham Leggat after a screening of his latest film, The Inner Life of Martin Frost. Witness him in action at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community......

Yes, by popular demand, San Francisco Film Society's SF360 Film will once again bring you the one, the only, "Trapped in a Closet" sing-along, the awesomest sing-along this side of the Buffy "Once More With Feeling" sing-along (sing it everyone: "Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes/They've got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses...") The show will be Friday, January 25, at 7:00 pm at Mezzanine....

The Orphanage -- A New Film From Spain...