The 2008 film festival season kicks off in San Francisco

January 14, 2008

Though San Francisco winters are relatively mild, sightseeing can sometimes be a bit daunting when the weather occasionally turns grey and the city streets are crowded with bustling umbrellas. However, a rainy day can make the perfect excuse for hiding out in a warm movie theater, and San Francisco is a city bursting with options for film buffs, especially for adventurous ones.

Aside from the plush multi-plexes showing the latest big-budget releases, and the indie single-screens reviving cult classics, there’s a myriad of fascinating film festivals that run in the city every year. Festivals can provide excellent opportunities to see once-in-a-lifetime screenings of films that you won’t ever be able to catch on DVD or cable, from rare European gems to American Noir, new guerrilla-style productions to ocean-themed cinema. So check out the festival offerings below, and discover something you may never have seen before… or will ever see again.

Berlin and Beyond

January 10-16
Castro Theater

Presented by the Goethe-Institut of San Francisco, Berlin and Beyond has showcased new films from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for 13 years. Tickets for individual films are $10 for adults, and $8 for students and seniors.

This year’s program includes the Oscar-winning drama The Lives of Others (2007, Best Foreign Film), Cannes 2007 best screenplay winner The Edge of Heaven, and Late Bloomers, touted as "the most successful film of the last 25 years of Swiss films." Also notable is And Along Came Tourists, an offbeat and poignant drama about a German teenager who faces the challenges of working — and falling in love — at a youth hostel in modern-day Auschwitz.

Noir City: The San Francisco Film Noir Festival

January 25 - February 3
Castro Theater

"The most fabulous film noir festival on earth" returns to darken the Bay City and delight the most dedicated movie-goers in the world. Presented by the Film Noir Foundation, whose mission is to "rescue and restore America’s noir heritage," this year’s Noir City festival continues the foundation’s six-year tradition of unearthing an astounding roster of rarities not available in any "home entertainment" format. Come see Noir on the big screen — as it was made to be seen! The $12 double-feature admission is good for two back-to-back screenings.

Highlights include a double-feature tribute to San Francisco’s dark side with D.O.A. and a new 35mm print of The Story of Molly X, plus a special screening of Conflict, a rare Humphrey Bogart thriller not available on DVD.

San Francisco Ocean Film Festival

February 1-3
Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center (just steps away from the San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf Hostel)

Swimmers braving the waters of the North Pole, sea birds coming back from extinction in Bermuda, and eco-savvy fishermen in Papua New Guinea are just a few of the stars that will be gracing the giant screen when the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival (SFOFF) returns to the Cowell Theatre at Fort Mason, February 1-3. Now in its fifth year, SFOFF 2008 features more than four dozen documentary and animated films from around the world, including deep dives into marine science, coastal cultures, ocean exploration, and saltwater sports. Programs include talks by filmmakers and content experts. Tickets are $10 for regular programs.

This year’s festival includes the global premiere of 19 Arrests, No Convictions by celebrated San Francisco filmmaker Judy Irving, best known for The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. 19 Arrests depicts the colorful life of bar owner George Farnsworth, the oldest person to swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco on New Year’s Day. Science of Big Waves explains the physics behind cresting waves at Mavericks (located just four miles from the Point Montara Lighthouse Hostel).

San Francisco Independent Film Festival

February 7-19
Castro Theater, Roxie Cinema, and Victoria Theatre

Celebrating it’s 10th anniversary this year, the San Francisco Independent Film Festival is the flagship event for SF Indiefest, a nonprofit organization that presents music and film festivals year-round (including Another Hole in the Head horror film festival in late spring, A Mighty Ruckus free music festival in the summer, and the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival in the fall). The festival showcases "entertaining and provocative work," and puts on lively festival parties at local underground hot spots, which in the past have included roller disco and Big Lebowski-themed nights.

Though the screening schedule is still being finalized, the festival will be opening with Shotgun Stories, which just received a nomination for the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award, and closing with Gus Van Sant’s 2007 Cannes award-winning Paranoid Park.