San Francisco-based filmmaker Chris Columbus (“Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”) and acclaimed actor André Holland (“Exhibiting Forgiveness,” “Moonlight”) will receive honors during the San Francisco International Film Festival, kicking off this week.
Columbus’ 2005 version of the beloved Broadway musical “Rent” and his San Francisco-set romantic comedy “Nine Months” with Hugh Grant and Julianne Moore, will be screened during the festival; while Holland’s buzzy upcoming performances in “The Dutchman” and “Love, Brooklyn” receive the spotlight treatment.
The festival runs April 17-27 and kicks off with “Rebuilding,” starring Josh O’Connor as a Colorado farmer dealing with the aftermath of a catastrophic fire. It concludes with the San Francisco-set “Outerlands.”
For tickets and a full slate of the films and events, visit sffilm.org.
We recommend checking out these 10 films.
“Operation Taco Gary’s”: There’s an underappreciated art to making a film that is silly and out there yet manages to stay in full control, even with its rather ridiculous plot and its Russian doll-like jokes. This comedy by director/writer Michael Kvamme (a Santa Clara native) is a cult movie in the making and it pulls off the goofiness due in no small part to the leads — San Francisco native Simon Rex (“Red Rocket”) and Dustin Milligan of “Hot Frosty” and “Schitt’s Creek.” They’re perfect foils for each other as odd-couple brothers who grow more and more at odds with each other while on a road trip to Canada. And, yes, an abundance of taco consumption happens along the way. Screening: 8:30 p.m. April 20; Presidio Theatre, San Francisco.
“40 Acres”: Director R.T. Thorne’s Afrofuturistic feature debut grabs hold of you from Scene 1 and then shreds every nerve you have. But it has higher aspirations, too, as it links America’s racist past to its present and on to its dystopian future. Danielle Deadwyler gives one of her most searing performances yet as an alert, always on guard momma bear protecting her family on a farm targeted by famished, bloodthirsty creeps. It’s a remarkable directorial debut and a reminder that Deadwyler can do almost anything. Screening: 8:45 p.m. April 23, Premier Theater at One Letterman.
“The Chaplain and the Doctor”: The professional and personal relationship of chaplain Betty Clark and Dr. Jessica Zitter, both of whom work in the Palliative Care department at the Wilma Chan Highland Hospital campus in Oakland, could well be the antidote to our nation’s impersonal, perfunctory health care system. The dynamic and inspirational duo continue to minister to all the needs of their patients, a winning idea. Both plan to attend the fest’s two screenings. Zitter directs. Screenings: 6 p.m. April 21 at Marina Theatre, San Francisco; 4:30 p.m. April 23 at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley.
“The Tallest Dwarf”: Oakland filmmaker Julie Forrest Wyman wrestles with the damaging historical depictions of dwarfism while engaging in candid conversations with her family about her dwarfism and childhood. It results in an enlightening odyssey that uncovers the secret power and pride that comes when being part of a tight-knit community. Screenings: Noon April 26 at Premier Theater at One Letterman; noon April 27 at BAMPFA.
“The Track”: One of the fest’s best under-the-radar finds is director Ryan Sidhoo’s underdog documentary that pulls us into the scrappy worlds of three Sarajevo teens as they try to realize their Olympic dreams of competing in the luge event. Sidhoo poignantly contrasts Sarajevo’s past days of glory hosting the 1984 Winter Olympics with the sobering war-scarred reality of today as these athletes and a determined coach try to buck the odds. Screening: 8:30 p.m. April 23, Marina Theatre.
“Outerlands”: An abiding love for San Francisco combined with an empathetic understanding of the alienation that some newbies feel lend this assured character-driven drama a Bay Area resonance — a quality well suited for the fest’s closing night pick. Writer/director Elena Oxman’s perceptive and sensitive feature gives Asia Kate Dillon a chance to shine as Cass, a nanny and restaurant server who is nonbinary and adjusting to their new extended-stay house guest: an often pawned-off 11-year-old daughter of a co-worker that they’ve become involved with. Screenings: 6 p.m. April 27 at Marina Theatre; 5 p.m. April 27 at Premier Theatre at One Letterman (both sold out).
“The Last First Time”: An eager teen (Alejandro Quintana) from a small Mexico town wants to put his budding attraction to guys into motion while on a quick visit to the city for a college exam. Eduardo starts testing those waters with the confident, sexually experienced Mario (Carlos E. López Cervantes) and their fumblings turn into a wild night of clubbing and experimentation. Director Rafael Ruiz Espejo captures the chaos of a young desire unleashed and how that can be exciting, exhilarating and overwhelming, sometimes all at the same time. Screening: 8:30 p.m. April 24, Marina Theatre.
“Cactus Pears”: In Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s sensitive romance, two former childhood friends reunite years later in their Indian hometown after one of them returns to attend his father’s funeral. Their closeness leads to buried connections as they explore feelings of love and lust. Kanawade’s meditative, sexy drama fully acknowledges that society at large doesn’t want these two men together, but his film is intent more on showing the bloom of hope rather than the wither of despair, and that’s what makes it all that more special. What a beauty it is. Screenings: Noon April 19 at Presidio Theatre; 7 p.m. April 23 at BAMPFA.
“After What Happened at the Library”: Sometimes the very best things arrive in small form. Such is the case with this 15-minute fictionalized short inspired by the traumatic aftermath of a real event — when a group of Proud Boys in 2022 stormed a Drag Queen Story Hour program at the East Bay’s San Lorenzo Library and proceeded to hurl gay and transphobic slurs there. Kyle Casey Chu (aka Panda Dulce) caught the brunt of the hate buckshot that day and gives a lived-it performance portraying Max Chan (aka Akita YaHeart), hiding in an apartment. The disturbing event all but paralyzes Kyle on the couch as the viral loathing continues. But Akita isn’t down for the count and emerges to deliver a galvanizing interview when a TV reporter comes knocking. Directed by Syra McCarthy and co-written by Róisín Isner, it’s one of the most affecting and effective films in the lineup. Screening: 5:45 p.m. April 23 at Marina Theatre, part of the “Shorts 2: Under Precarious Circumstances.”
“Isle Child”: SFFILM always supports and recognizes emerging filmmakers, and one of the ways they do so is through the fest’s New Directors competition. One film that might nab the top prize is Thomas Percy Kim’s simple but sophisticated feature debut, an extension of his own award-winning short. Si, a high school senior who joshes around with his baseball teammates (not always in a jocular way) and lives with his adopted parents in a very comfortable neighborhood in Massachusetts, begins questioning that white-dominated life when he learns that his South Korean birth mom is critically ill. Kim’s movie looks at how we “fit in” and the push-pull desire to connect to our heritage that follows. Ethan Hwang’s performance as Si hits a homerun. Screening: 8:30 p.m. April 25, Marina Theatre.
Contact Randy Myers at [email protected].
