This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(March 2020) |
SFFILM, formerly known as The San Francisco Film Society, is a nonprofit arts organization located in San Francisco, California, that presents year-round programs and events in film exhibition, media education, and filmmaker services. The San Francisco Film Society rebranded as SFFILM in 2017. [1] Leadership for each of the SFFILM's areas of activity is currently provided by Executive Director Anne Lai and Director of Programming Jessie Fairbanks. [2]
SFFILM presents more than 300 films annually through various festivals, series and individual screenings.
Running for 11 days each spring, the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM Festival) was founded in 1957 by San Francisco theater operator Irving "Bud" Levin, who had attended film festivals in Cannes and Venice and decided it was time for the United States to have its own. The San Francisco International Film Festival is among the longest running film festivals in the Americas. The SFFILM Festival celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007. [3]
SFFILM's Education programs serve more than 11,000 students and teachers every year, from kindergarten through college, to develop media literacy, cultural awareness, global understanding and a lifelong appreciation of cinema. Since its launch in 1991, the SFFILM Youth Education program has reached a total of more than 95,000 Bay Area schoolchildren and 3,000 teachers from more than 350 educational institutions. All programs are designed to meet the Visual and Performing Arts Content Standards for California public schools.
FilmHouse provides 4,800 square feet of office space free of charge to narrative and documentary filmmakers working at any stage of production.
Awarded twice annually through a partnership between SFFILM and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the SFFILM/KRF Filmmaking Grants are open to filmmakers of narrative feature films that have a significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community.
A grant awarded annually to documentary feature films in postproduction.
The Roxie Theater, also known as the Roxie Cinema or just The Roxie, is a historic movie theater, founded in 1912, at 3117 16th Street in the Mission District of San Francisco. It is a non-profit community arthouse cinema.
Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, particularly early ones, relate to arts in other disciplines: painting, dance, literature and poetry, or arise from research and development of new technical resources.
The Ann Arbor Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Established in 1963, it is the fourth-oldest film festival in North America and the oldest experimental film festival. It has become one of the premier film festivals for independent and, especially, experimental filmmakers to showcase their work. The Ann Arbor Film Festival attracts over 3,000 entries from filmmakers in more than 60 countries, and distributes over $20,000 in cash awards. As an early example of the traveling festival concept beginning in 1964, each year the Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour presents a collection of short films at more than 30 art house theaters, universities, galleries and cinematheques throughout the world.
The Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF) is an annual nonprofit international festival dedicated to the exhibition of underground and avant-garde cinema, video, and performance.The festival offers an opportunity for independent artists who are frequently overlooked by other conventional, market-driven film festivals to showcase and be recognized for their work though jury and audience awards. In addition to screenings, the festival also hosts events to build community amoungst the audience. Founded in 1993, the festival is widely regarded as the longest running festival of its kind.
The San Francisco International Film Festival, organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in international film and video production with an emphasis on work that has not yet secured U.S. distribution. In 2009, it served around 82,000 patrons, with screenings held in San Francisco and Berkeley.
Silver Lake Film Festival ran from 2000 to 2007. It was a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization established to provide a showcase for cutting-edge independent film, music, digital, and other arts in Los Angeles, California. The Festival was held annually at various venues throughout Los Angeles’ Eastside, showcasing well over 200 narrative features, documentaries and short films. In 2005, in addition to its annual event, SLFF launched a very successful monthly series of short films with curated programs from an international array of filmmakers that is consistently SRO. The 7th annual edition ran for ten days, May 3–12, 2007, and included such varied programming as MP4Fest and MusicFest, along with curated film programs on architecture and design, urban sustainability, and an ASCAP Music Lounge along the lines of those at Tribeca and Sundance Film Festivals.
The Frameline Film Festival began as a storefront event in 1976. The first film festival, named the Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films, was held in 1977. The festival is organized by Frameline, a nonprofit media arts organization whose mission statement is "to change the world through the power of queer cinema". It is the oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, national, and international artists and the Bay Area's diverse communities. YBCA programs year-round in two landmark buildings—the Galleries and Forum by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki and the adjacent Theater by American architect James Stewart Polshek and Todd Schliemann. Betti-Sue Hertz served as Curator from 2008 through 2015.
Rea Tajiri is an American video artist, filmmaker, and screenwriter, known for her personal essay film History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige (1991).
International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Filmmaker Services, Education, and Public Programs and Events.
Youth in Arts is a non-profit organization that provides visual and performing arts instruction to public and private school students and enriches the community with cultural events. Youth in Arts has been providing arts education to students in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1970. It is based in San Rafael, Ca. The Artists in Schools program brings artists into classrooms to teach visual and performing arts in extended residencies or shorter workshop programs and also provides training for teachers and parents in supporting students' learning and development through the arts.
The Camden International Film Festival, stylized as CIFF, is an annual documentary film festival based in Camden, Rockport, and Rockland, Maine, in the United States that takes place mid-September.
San Francisco Cinematheque is a San Francisco-based film society for artist-made cinema. It was created in 1961 by a group of filmmakers, including Bruce Baillie and Chick Strand. This screening program grew into Canyon Cinema before being split off into a sister organization, originally named the Foundation for Art in Cinema, during the 1970s.
The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) is a non-profit arts organization based in New York City, founded in 2001 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff following the September 11 attacks as a means to revitalize the arts community in lower Manhattan. TFI launched its first program in 2002, the Tribeca Film Festival.
The School of Cinema is an academic unit in the College of Liberal & Creative Arts at San Francisco State University, a public research university in San Francisco. It has Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Arts, and Master of Fine Arts in cinema programs. These programs have been frequently included in the annual "Top 25 American Film Schools" rankings published by The Hollywood Reporter.
Noah Cowan was a Canadian artistic director, who served as the executive director of SFFILM from March 2014 to May 2019. He oversaw the organization's exhibition, education, and filmmaker services. Before joining SFFILM, Cowan was the artistic director of TIFF Bell Lightbox, and also worked as the co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival from 2004 to 2008.
The Kenneth Rainin Foundation is an American family run foundation based in Oakland, California. The foundation funds early childhood education programs in Oakland, various arts programs around the San Francisco Bay Area, and research into inflammatory bowel disease.
Dyana Winkler is an American director, producer and writer. She was named one of Variety's 2018 top 10 documentary filmmakers and is best known for her work on the documentary film United Skates.
The San Francisco Independent Film Festival, known as IndieFest, is an annual film festival, held in January or February, that recognizes contemporary independent film. It is run by SF IndieFest, a non-profit organization, and based at the Roxie Theater in the Mission District.
Black Mothers Love & Resist is an American documentary film released in 2022.