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SFIFF Giveaway: Unmade Beds and Closing Night Party

Leanne Maxwell — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:01:27 GMT

Unmade Beds and Closing Night Party">

The San Francisco International Film Festival's Closing Night event is sure to be an exciting one. We have a pair of tickets to give away to lucky entrant number 7 who emails us (sfistevents@ gmail.com) with their full name and Closing Night in the subject. You must be 21+ to enter.

CONTEST CLOSED. Congratulations, Z.F.!

Unmade Beds looks to be a very colorful and whimsical indie flick. "When a wide-eyed young Spaniard arrives in London searching for the father who abandoned him at birth, he lands in the creative hotbed of an underground squat filled with a multicultural collective of expats and colorful free spirits. The squat is also home to a beautiful Belgian haunted by memories of a recent failed love affair and seeking to restore her faith in romance. Separately they pursue momentous encounters and romantic adventures in an exquisitely tender tale of modern youth adrift in a foreign city."

Director/writer Alexis Dos Santos is expected to attend, along with lead actors Déborah François and Fernando Tielve.

7 p.m. // Castro Theatre (429 Castro St) // $12.50

The Closing Night Party will follow the film at Mezzanine. Exotic drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be served, and music inspired by Unmade Beds will be played.

9:30 p.m. // Mezzanine (444 Jessie St) // $60-125 (includes film)

SF Appeal is also doing a giveaway for this event. Increase your odds!

SFIFF Live and Onstage Events

Leanne Maxwell — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:08:58 GMT

There are two remaining Live and Onstage events at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival.

On Sunday, photographer Mary Ellen Mark will deliver this year's State of Cinema Address, in which she will take the audience on a private tour of her film-set images, discussing the legendary figures in the frame as well as what was going on around them, and how what she experienced has informed her photographic and film work. She will also show and discuss her photo-essay Twins and screen its companion short film, made with her husband, Martin Bell, and discuss photography and cinema with the audience. SF Appeal is currently doing a giveaway for this event!

1 p.m. (Sunday, May 3) // Kabuki (1881 Post St) // $10-12.50

Next Tuesday, at The Lost World with Dengue Fever, Cambodian pop band Dengue Fever will provide a live soundtrack to the silent film The Lost World, a prehistoric adventure flick based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book of the same name. The film, which was a smash hit upon its release in the mid-Roaring Twenties, features stop-motion sequences by animation pioneer Willis O’Brien, who later animated King Kong, accompanied by outlandish costumes and sets. This annual event tends to be hugely popular, so buy tickets in advance, and line up early!

8 p.m. (Tuesday, May 5) // Castro Theatre (429 Castro St) // $15-20

Ferlinghetti Premiere at SF International Film Festival

Leanne Maxwell — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:46:37 GMT

Ferlinghetti Premiere at SF International Film Festival">

Christopher Felver’s documentary about local icon and the world's most-read poet, Ferlinghetti, who is also the publisher and owner of the famed City Lights Books, premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival last night. Felver's long-time friendship with Ferlinghetti resulted in some great, rare interviews with his subject, along with testimonials from Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, Anne Waldman, Dennis Hopper, Amiri Baraka, Dave Eggers, Jack Hirschman, and others, which are interspersed with archival photos, video and audio. Ferlinghetti turns 90 this year, and he's still writing, painting, publishing, and speaking out.

Ferlinghetti is also showing tomorrow at Kabuki at 4:30 p.m. and at the Pacific Film Archive on May 6 at 6:30 p.m.

SFIFF Giveaway: Every Little Step at Castro Theatre on Sunday

Leanne Maxwell — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:32:29 GMT

Every Little Step at Castro Theatre on Sunday">

The eighth person to email us (sfistevents @ gmail.com) with their name and "Every Little Step" in the subject is the winner!

CONTEST CLOSED. Congratulations, RK!

Every Little Step chronicles the grueling 2006 auditions for the revival of The Chorus Line, which is about a grueling audition. The filmmakers "seamlessly interweave audition scenes with vintage footage, interviews and snippets from unearthed 1974 audiotapes" and "the echoes between the present-day process and the musical are endless." How very meta!

That concludes our giveaways for today, but you can find more ticket opportunities to the four Castro Sunday screenings over at SF Appeal!

Every Little Step // SFIFF // Castro Theatre (429 Castro St) // Sunday, April 26 at 9:30 p.m // Buy tickets

SFIFF Giveaway: A Woman Under the Influence at Castro Theatre on Sunday

Leanne Maxwell — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:42:19 GMT

A Woman Under the Influence at Castro Theatre on Sunday">

Here's our third giveaway for the SFIFF Sunday screenings at the Castro Theatre.

Email us (sfistevents @ gmail.com) with your full name, and please include "A Woman Under the Influence" in the subject heading. The fifth entrant who follows the directions will win a pair of tickets.

CONTEST CLOSED. Congrats, BG!

A Woman Under the Unfluence is one of John Cassavetes' most influential films, which set the stage for many of today’s family dramas and the contemporary independent film movement. The film also defined Gena Rowlands' career in her portrayal of an early 1970s housewife and mother beset by mental illness, which "echoes feminist accusations that many women were trapped in lives of claustrophobic domesticity." The print has been newly restored, and Gina Rowlands is expected to attend the screening.

A Woman Under the Influence // SFIFF // Castro Theatre (429 Castro St) // Sunday, April 26 at 5:45 p.m. // Buy tickets

SFIFF Giveaway: Le Amiche at Castro Theatre on Sunday

Leanne Maxwell — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:17:13 GMT

Le Amiche at Castro Theatre on Sunday">

And now for our second giveaway: Write a haiku with the words, "cult" and "housewives," and enter to win a pair of tickets to the 3 p.m. screening at Castro Theatre on Sunday. The winner will be notified by 12:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Here's your chance to see newly digitally restored 1960s cult gem, Le Amiche, which has been rarely screened in the U.S. Michelangelo Antonioni "masterfully weaves a web of relationships among an ensemble of desperate upper-class Italian housewives." The film was a breakthrough hit for Antonioni, which made him the world's most notorious cult filmmaker and largely overshadowed his earlier films.

Le Amiche | SFIFF | Sunday, April 26 at 3 p.m. at Castro Theatre; Tuesday, April 28 at 8:15 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive | Buy tickets

SFIFF Giveaway: The Tiger’s Tail at Castro Theatre on Sunday

Leanne Maxwell — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:29:22 GMT

The Tiger’s Tail at Castro Theatre on Sunday">

The San Francisco Film Festival starts tonight!

We have four giveaways that we'll be posting throughout the day for the Castro Theatre screenings on Sunday.

For our first giveaway, write a haiku with the words "unlucky" and "Irish," and enter to win a pair of tickets to Sunday's Noon screening of The Tiger's Tail. The winner will be notified by 11 a.m. tomorrow. Check your email and spam folder!

Contest Closed. Congrats, kpsf!

The Tiger's Tail is a new thriller by John Boorman that's set in gridlocked downtown Dublin. Real estate mogul Liam O’Leary (Brendan Gleeson) is being stalked by a doppleganger, who has designs on his bank account, his mansion in the suburbs, and his alluring wife (Kim Cattrall). The stalker slowly takes over O'Leary's whole existence, as "the boom times for turn-of-the-millennium Ireland come to an ominous end."

The Tiger's Tail | SFIFF | Friday, April 24 at 4:30 p.m. at Kabuki Sundance; Sunday, April 26 at Noon at Castro Theatre | Buy tickets

D tour to Screen at SFIFF This May

Leanne Maxwell — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:30:14 GMT

D Tour Trailer from dtour on Vimeo.

The San Francisco International Film Festival starts in less than two weeks! SFist will highlight various films in the line-up during the days leading up to the Fest.

D tour, the much-anticipated documentary about Bay Area musician Pat Spurgeon, follows Spurgeon's struggle with kidney failure and his search for a kidney donor while on tour with his band Rogue Wave. D tour addresses issues with the health care system, the lack of affordable insurance, and the importance of organ donation.

The film features performances by Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Nada Surf, Ryan Miller, John Vanderslice, The Moore Brothers, and of course Rogue Wave. Much of D tour's soundtrack features Spurgeon's solo work, The Phantom Drummer.

The Bay Bridged tells us that the May 1st screening of D tour will feature a Q&A with filmmaker Jim Granato and Pat, and might also include a short set by Rogue Wave.

D tour | SFIFF | Kabuki Sundance, 1881 Post St at Fillmore | May 1 at 9 p.m., May 4 at 3:15, and May 7 at 5:15 | Buy tickets