This year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) opens tomorrow, April 9, and runs through April 18. As always, it’s a Can’t Miss for Bay Area movie fans. This year, you can attend at home: with the exception of a few drive-in events at Fort Mason, the movies can be streamed.
The menu at SFFILM includes 42 feature films and 56 shorts from 41 countries, with 13 world premieres and 20 North American or US premieres. Of the 103 total films, 57% have female directors and 57% are directed by BIPOC.
Besides the streaming, here’s what’s new in this year’s SFFILM:
- After years of programs impeccably curated by Bay Area treasure Rachel Rosen, Jessie Fairbanks takes over as Director of Programming. (And this is the first SFFILM fest for new SFFILM Executive DIrector Anne Lai.)
- A cross section of movies highlighted as Family-friendly films, something that more film festivals should do. Introduce the kids to good cinema!
- Mid-Lengths – a competition of five movies with hard-to-program running times of 30-50 minutes.
The festival’s Closing Night Film is Marilyn Agrelo’s documentary Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, the origin story of the beloved children’s show.
I’ve screened some of the films, and I’ll be recommending some indie gems soon.
The 2021 SFFILM opens tomorrow. Here’s the information of the program, schedule and tickets and passes. Throughout SFFILM, you can follow me on Twitter for the very latest coverage.