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? more ›

• 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, for this evening.
• Françoise Hardy's Birthday Party: Bardot a Go Go presents a tribute to French singer, actress and astrologer, Françoise Hardy. The Barbary Coasters and Helene Renaut cover her songs, while DJ Brother Grimm spins tasty French pop. Doors open at 8p.m. at Rickshaw Stop; $8.
• Ask a Scientist: Yes, yes, we always feature this event, but that's because a) tonight's topic is language, and b) we love it ever so. Come on down and ask this month's guest, Terry Deacon, all of your pressing questions about linguistics and language. Goes from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Axis Cafe; free.

The Centerpiece film at the San Francisco International Film Festival was the satirical romantic comedy Delirious. more ›

SFist interviews David and Edie Ichioka, makers of the documetnary "Murch" about film editor Walter Murch, now showing at the San Franicsco International Film festival more ›

more ›

Saturday: We can't wait to see the precursor to the U.S. National Rubik's Cube Championship at the Exploratorium this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Come by any time between 11 and 4 to see some of the best cubers in the business show their stuff, which, we assume, does not involve pulling apart the damned thing. You can watch this for free, with Exploratorium admission. more ›

closed the San Francisco International Film Festival Thursday night to a sell-out crowd. Despite the fact that public radio fans plus Robert Altman devotees do not equal red carpet spectacle, SFIFF did roll out the (albeit very short) red carpet guarded by velvet ropes, with staffers wearing head sets and staring officiously down their noses at the unwashed masses. There were even paparazzi hovering on the other side of the velvet rope, although when we passed by they were mostly just joking around with each other. We would have stuck around to gawk on the off chance that Lindsey Lohan might show up and have a wardrobe malfunction or some other US Weekly notable moment but those public radio fans move pretty fast in those Birkenstocks and we had to race inside to grab a seat before they were all filled with KQED tote bags, Patagonia jackets and hemp scarves. more ›

The opening night screening of a film festival is like having sex with a celebrity -- the experience itself is never that impressive, but it makes for a fun memory and it's nice to be able to say that you did it. more ›

It would have been hard to miss the fact that the San Francisco International Film Festival kicks off tonight, as their unstoppable PR machine has been busily garnering placement in every media outlet in town. Even your still occasionally shunned (believe it!) SFist is in on the fun, as we have 5 -- count them -- 5 staffers with all-access passes to the festival, eager to provide our readers with daily coverage of the films, events, and awards. more ›

With January's merger between AMC and Lowes theatres, the company they became, AMC Entertainment Inc, is required by U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys general of California to sell the Kabuki and 1000 Van Ness theatres. While the Van Ness property remains available, today the long-rumored purchase of the Kabuki by Robert Redford's Sundance Cinemas was officially announced. more ›

We hate to admit it, but all this modern mania for has simply passed us by. At this point, we're dreading the inevitable trip to the Embarcadero to watch the damn thing, borne solely out of our sense of obligation to stay on the cutting edge of anything related to buggery. (And even that motivation has waned, now that the movie's being advertised as a heterosexual love story.) Honestly, it's only barely opened and already jokes about its title are more passé than pretending that "Target" is pronounced like it's French. Le sigh. more ›

We told you once, and we'll tell you again: you have less than two weeks to submit an entry to the 49th San Francisco International Film Festival, (which will run April 20 to May 4, 2006). more ›

To live in the Bay Area is (frequently) to be able to count more than one aspiring filmmaker in one's circle of acquaintance. The next time you're at some dinner party/Zeitgeist get-together/orgy at the Power Exchange and someone starts blabbing on about their unfulfilled creative vision, remind them of the opportunities available to them to get said vision out there to the masses. more ›

Hello, Mr. Fancy Pants! The San Francisco International Film Festival has chosen Graham Leggat to be their new Executive Director (replacing Roxanne Messina Captor). We just want to burn our resume after looking at his, which includes the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the New York Film Festival, and Film Comment magazine. It'll be interesting to see what he brings to the 49th Festival (April 2006 - May 4, 2006), given the mixed response last year's roster seemd to inspire. more ›

Wow, we almost fell like real film writers when we realize that we've actually seen some of the movies we're recommending this week. First, there's tonight. SFist Krissy reviewed this "creative non fiction" film which attempt to answer the question "Why does so much music and writing come out of the south?" She dug it and we think you will too. If you come on Sunday Jim White (who appears in the film) will hit the Balboa at 8:30 for a short performance and discussion between showings. more ›

If the last few weekends have been movie famine, this weekend is movie feast. So many richly diverse options this weekend that you have no real reason to go out in the horrible sunlight until Monday morning. more ›

We're not going to insult your intelligence by implying that you might not have heard that opened this weekend, or that you aren't already going to see something at the final weekend of The San Francisco Documentary Film Festival. So, with those "givens" out of the way, what else is out there? more ›

Wow. After the splendor that was the San Francisco International Film Festival, we're just bushed. Still, we'll forge ahead and ourselves to see some movies this weekend, we guess. The things we do! more ›

Back on April 13, Gothamist published this great interview with director Todd Solondz. At the time, we wondered if he'd be screening his new film, , at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Sure enough, he did, and SFist BFF Steve Portigal made the misttake of mentioning he was going to see it. more ›

So far SFist has been covering the San Francisco International Film Festival as a spectator, but SFist Paolo has graciously agreed to offer his perspective as a festival participant. His short, "Elements" appears as part of the Youth Vocies and Visions program of shorts, which had its first screening on Saturday and will be shown again at the Kaubki at 12 PM this Thursday. more ›

If this review were an Edgar G. Ulmer movie, it would be covered in fog, have a sweeping orchestral score (public domain of course), and SFist would be a nihilistic outsider desperate for acceptance. more ›

In tech news, stoned graphic designers were stunned when they realized that they had no idea that Adobe was going to swallow Macromedia whole. South Park laughs to keep from crying. more ›

Y'all know that the first thing on your movie plate this weekend should be the San Francisco International Film Festival -- that's pretty much all we got going on. So many great movies this weekend and beyond, do youself a favor and break out of your usual routine and hit some of these fantastic shows and events. more ›

One of the many perks of SFist, (besides the private jet, sumptious office spaces, and Gavin calling round-the-clock "just to say 'hi'"), is that we are forced to get out of the house and go do awesomely cool stuff in the name of Web Journalism. The latest entry in this big-fun anti-hermit campaign is the San Francisco International Film Festival, which opens tonight and runs through Thursday May 5. You can see the entire calendar, buy tickets, and see the "scoop du jour" on the site for San Francisco Film Society, which presents the festival. Over the next week-and-a-half, 185 film representing 49 countries will be screened, with premieres, special events, and real live movie stars all over the place. more ›

SFist made a startling discovery this week. The Bay Area is a fame whore! How else can you explain there being eight (at least!) weekly TV shows named after our fair neck of the woods? How can one small area of this vast Golden State warrant that much coverage? How much TV time does the Bay Area really need? Do we really want to be seen as the Paris Hilton of Northern California? more ›