This year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) – the 59th edition – opens on April 21 and runs through May 5. As always, it’s a Can’t Miss for Bay Area movie fans.
The fest opens with Love & Friendship – director Whit Stillman leaves his preppy comfort zone for the 1790s with a period comedy starring Kate Beckinsale. The Closing Night film is The Bandit, documenting the real life bromance between Burt Reynolds and iconic stuntman Hal Needham that led to Needham’s Smokey and the Bandit movies (a cinematic subgenre unto itself). The Coen Brothers will appear at a screening of their debut Blood Simple. Mira Nair will receive an award at the screening of her Monsoon Wedding.
In the See It Here First category, SFFIF presents a number of high-profile movies that are likely to be in theaters later this year:
- Five Nights in Maine – a character-driven drama showcasing David Oyewolo, Dianne Wiest and Rosie Perez;
- Frank & Lola – a dark exploration of jealousy with Michael Shannon and Imogen Poots (and Emmanuelle Devos!);
- The Family Fang – Jason Bateman’s family dramedy starring Bateman, Nicole Kidman and Christopher Walken;
- High-Rise – a thriller with Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller and Elisabeth Moss;
- Our Kind of Traitor – a John le Carré adaptation with Ewan McGregor and Stellan Skarsgård;
- Southside with You – the re-imagination of Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date; and
- Miss Sharon Jones! – sure to be a festival crowd-pleaser, this doc from Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple (Harlan County U.S.A.) chronicles the salty Dap Kings frontwoman and her fight against cancer.
The calendar of this year’s festival includes a rich program of indies, documentaries and foreign films. Among the foreign choices, the Must See is the Greek comedy Chevalier from director Athina Rachel Tsangari. (In 2011, Tsangari brought her hilariously offbeat Attenberg to SFIFF.) Obviously a keen observer of male behavior, Tsangari delivers a sly and pointed exploration of male competitiveness, with the moments of drollness and absurdity that we expect in the best of contemporary Greek cinema.
I’ll be previewing SFIFF’s slate of docs on Wednesday.
The 59th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) opens on April 21 and runs through May 5. Here’s SFFIF’s information on the program, the calendar and tickets and passes.
Throughout San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF), I’ll be linking more festival coverage to my SFFIF 2016 page, including both features and movie recommendations. Follow me on Twitter for the very latest coverage.
