57th San Francisco International Film Festival Complete Program Announced

SFIFF57

SFIFF57 Runs April 24 – May 8

The San Francisco Film Society today announced the complete schedule of films and events that will make up the 57th San Francisco International Film Festival, running April 24 – May 8 at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, New People Cinema and the Castro Theatre in San Francisco and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley.

Download the Festival program here.

Browse the full public program info at festival.sffs.org.

SFIFF 2014 by the Numbers:

168 Films
74 Narrative Features
29 Documentary Features
65 Shorts
56 Countries Represented
40 Languages
3 World Premieres
5 North American Premieres
5 U.S. Premieres
45 Women Directors
200 Filmmakers and Industry Guests Expected

Highlights from today’s press conference included these announcements:

The SFIFF57 Centerpiece film is Palo Alto, directed by Gia Coppola and based on the collection of short stories by James Franco. Coppola is expected to attend the screening and the Centerpiece Party that follows.

Pixar’s John Lasseter will be the recipient of the George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award, given to a worthy member of the filmmaking community for their outstanding and unique contributions to the art of cinema. Lasseter will be presented with the award at Film Society Awards Night, May 1. Read the full press release for more details.

Stephen Gaghan will be honored with the 2014 Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting, and the Festival will screen his acclaimed film Syriana on May 3.

Film historian and prolific author David Thomson will receive the Mel Novikoff Award at SFIFF57, which acknowledges an individual or institution whose work has enhanced the filmgoing public’s knowledge and appreciation of world cinema. Thomson has selected Preston Sturges’ The Lady Eve to screen as part of his tribute on May 4, which will also consist of an onstage conversation with author Geoff Dyer.

Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award will be given to pioneering filmmaker and installation artist Isaac Julien, with a tribute program that will include a screening of his recent work Ten Thousand Waves on April 27. The POV Award each year honors the achievement of a filmmaker whose main body of work is outside the realm of narrative feature filmmaking; crafting documentaries, short films, television, animated, experimental or multiplatform work.

The SFIFF57 lineup features an unprecedented number of films supported by the San Francisco Film Society’s Filmmaker360 program, including Kat Candler’s Hellion (SFFS/KRF grant winner: $70,000 for postproduction), Sara Colangelo’s Little Accidents (SFFS/KRF grant winner: $50,000 for postproduction), Josef Wladyka’s Manos Sucias (two-time SFFS/KRF grant winner: $45,000 for production, $90,000 for postproduction), Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child (Off the Page screenwriting workshop participant), Jesse Moss’ The Overnighters (SFFS project development program) and Michael Tully’s Ping Pong Summer (SFFS/KRF grant winner: $50,000 for postproduction).