The San Francisco International Film Festival, which began modestly with a handful of subtitled art-house films in 1957 when only a few well-educated Americans had even heard of Ingmar Bergman, is now roaring into the final weekend of its 2018 edition.
Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman Tribute: They're a queer dynamic duo if ever there was one. Rob Epstein cut his filmmaking teeth as part of the team behind the pioneering LGBTQ history doc "Word Is Out." Joining up with partner Jeffrey Friedman, Epstein has produced a breathtaking array of queer-interest docs including 1984's Oscar-honored "The Times of Harvey Milk"; 1989's "Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt"; 1995's "The Celluloid Closet," based on Queer Cinema pioneer Vito Russo's book and slide show; and 2000's "Paragraph 175," on the German laws enabling the persecution of gay people. In recent years the team has shifted to a mix of fact and fiction, with such hybrid titles as "Howl" and "Lovelace."
The Festival's tribute will feature the pair's latest doc, "End Game," about the human journey from life to death. (Castro, 4/15)
The Mel Novikoff Award: The Festival annually honors film scholars and exhibitors with this award named after the gay man who saved the Castro Theatre, as well as helped to invent the modern thematic double-bill programs that are the Castro's signature offerings.
The 2018 Mel Novikoff Award goes to New York-based film scholar Annette Insdorf, who conducts film history sessions at New York's 92nd Street Y. Insdorf will appear in an onstage Q&A, followed by a screening of Ernst Lubitsch's dark 1942 satire "To Be or Not To Be." Jack Benny and Carol Lombard are Josef and Maria Tura, stars of a small Polish theatre troop whose fortunes are at a low ebb just as Nazi bombs rain over Poland. Austrian-born American genius filmmaker Billy Wilder claimed that one of his biggest early influences came from "the Lubitsch touch," as well displayed in "To Be or Not To Be" as anywhere in the director's oeuvre. (SFMOMA, 4/14)
Manhunt (2017): Hong Kong, China action master John Woo returns to the big screen with a drug company lawyer finding himself caught between a body dead under suspicious circumstances and a dedicated cop. (Castro, 4/13)
Bad Reputation: A film tribute to pioneering female musician Joan Jett, with archival footage featuring Jett and other edgy performers including Iggy Pop, Blondie and Kenny Laguna. (Castro, 4/14)
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot: Openly gay Portland, Oregon-raised director Gus Van Sant returns with this tall but true tale of veteran quadriplegic Portland cartoonist John Callahan (Joaquin Phoenix). The film traces the relationship between its hero's alcoholic excesses and the inspiration for his demon-inspired art. (Castro, 4/15)