SEEN is the Film Society's photo page chronicling recent SFFS events.


Braden King flew in from New York to introduce the opening night screening of Here at Film Society Cinema and lead a insightful question and answer session afterwards with a near full house that included many crew members and friends. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 5.14.12


Anita Monga, artistic director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (left, with Rachel Rosen, SFFS director of programming) announced the full program for the 17th edition taking place July 12–15 at the Castro Theatre. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 5.14.12


Film writer Adam Hartzell watched Hang Sang-soo’s The Day He Arrives seven times in the past seven days, every day of its week-long run at Film Society Cinema, and posted his evolving observations on the Asian cinema enthusiast site VCinema. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 5.11.12


Virginia McCarthy, who has worked as script supervisor for Curtis Hanson, Todd Field and Michael Apted, has just signed on to work with writer/director Ryan Coogler when he starts production this summer on Fruitvale, the true story of Oscar Grant. Coogler received a $100,000 Spring 2012 SFFS/KRF FilmmakingGrant this month. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 5.2.12


In August San Francisco Film Society Director of Publicity Hilary Hart and filmmaker Aurora Guerrero, whose debut feature film Mosquita y Mari played at SFIFF55 following its world premiere at Sundance, will team up to teach Film Festival Marketing and Publicity 101 at San Francisco Film Society. PHOTO BY KEITH ZWOLFER, POSTED 5.1.12


Ryan Lattanzio, winner of the third ‘From College to Cannes’ contest, supported by the San Francisco Film Society, the Consulate General of France in San Francisco, the French American Cultural Society and Semaine de la Critique, heads to the Cannes Film Festival next month. From left: Romain Serman, French Consul General; Joanne Parsont, SFFS director of education; Sophie Suberville, French American Cultural Society executive director; Lattanzio. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 4.30.12


Writer/director Ryan Coogler and cast members Melonie Diaz and Michael B. Jordan workshopped the script for Fruitvale, the true story of Oscar Grant who was fatally shot by a BART policeman, at the second round of Off the Page, a project development program of San Francisco Film Society’s Filmmaker360 supported by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. From left: Tamara Badgley Horowitz, SFFS Grants & Residencies Coordinator; Coogler; Diaz; Jordan; Michele Turnure-Salleo, director, Filmmaker360. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 4.24.12


Writer/director Ryan Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan spent two days developing the script for Fruitvale, the true story of Oscar Grant, who was shot and killed by a BART policeman on New Year’s Day 2009, at the the Film Society's second Off the Page program, a script workshop funded by San Francisco Film Society and the Kenneth Rainin  Foundation. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 4.24.12


Programmer Sean Uyehara and Karolina Sobecka, a leading figure in the production of interactive installations, at the opening of Sobecka’s KinoTek show, Human Moves, Animal Visions, which runs through May 3 at SuperFrog Gallery at 1746 Post Street. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 4.21.12


Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, senior scientist of the Pesticide Action Network, hosted the Causes & Impacts: The Threat of GMOs salon discussion featuring Micha X. Peled, director of the documentary Bitter Seeds, Frank Plughoff of Labelgmos.org in an impassioned discussion about the issue of genetically modified foods and the dangers they pose to farmers and consumers around the world. From left: Ishii-Eiteman, Peled, SFFS Filmmaker Education Manager Michael Behrens and Plughoff. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 4.21.12


The entire staff for the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival met at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas to prepare for Opening Night on April 19. PHOTO BY GEORGE F. GUND, POSTED 4.19.12


Lydia Dedes and her father Chris stopped by Festival headquarters to pick up their tickets for Opening Night of the San Francisco International Film Festival at the Castro Theatre. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 4.19.12


Five student filmmakers were selected as finalists for the Beyond Film School audience award, which was awarded to Paula Lima of Academy of Art University for Angelito. From left: Tara Diego, CSU Monterey Bay, Monterey Meltdown; Daniela Ricci, USF, Anxiety: A Tax; Lima; Sabrina Wong, CCSF, Grandpa; Brian Andrews, Ex’pression College of Digital Arts, Hominid. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 4.11.12


This Spring’s Film Society Artist in Residence, Iraqi filmmaker Oday Rasheed, met with SFFS staff and interns for an enlightening and wide-ranging discussion about filmmaking in Iraq and life in Baghdad since the U.S. invasion. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 4.9.12


Academy Award-nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis made sure that Filmmaker Education Manager Michael Behren’s jacket was perfectly fitted before the Film Society’s master class Character Comes First: Costume Design in the Movies. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 4.6.12


On the second day of his two-week artist-in-residency at SFFS Iraqi director Oday Rasheed presented his melancholic sophomore feature Qarantina, about a family living in present day Baghdad, at SF Film Society Cinema, followed by an illuminating Q&A moderated by journalist Terry McCarthy. From left: Rasheed, SFFS Director of Education Joanne Parsont and McCarthy. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 4.4.12

March 29th marked the inauguration of Off the Page — the new script-workshopping program from Filmmaker360 — with the support of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Three actors (Matthew Jones, Alia Shawkat and Blake Bashoff) flew in to workshop Ross, the upcoming project from director Matthew Lessner and producer Carlton Evans which is a recent SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grant recipient. From left: Evans, Woods, Jones, Lessner, Shawkat and Bashoff. PHOTO BY MICHELE TURNURE-SALLEO, POSTED 3.30.12


Film Society programmers Rod Armstrong, Rachel Rosen, Audrey Chang and Sean Uyehara presented the complete program for the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival at a press conference at the Fairmont San Francisco March 27. PHOTO BY BILL PROCTOR, POSTED 3.29.12


Steve Paquin, a Filmmaker360 intern at the Film Society, was among the lucky film aficionados (including out-of-towners Leonard Maltin, Manohla Dargis of the New York Times and Kenneth Turnan of the Los Angeles Times) who saw the premiere show of Kevin Brownlow’s 5 1/2 hour restoration of Abel Gance’s masterpiece Napoleon with Carl Davis conducting the Oakland East Bay Symphony at the Paramount Theatre, presented by San Francisco Silent Film Festival. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 3.28.12


The SFFS Global Threats Film Series kicked off at SF Film Society Cinema with a screening of the spectacular documentary The Island President followed by an in-depth Q&A with director Jon Shenk and journalist Mark Hertsgaard moderated by SFFS Director of Programming Rachel Rosen. The Island President opens in San Francisco on March 30. From left Rosen, Shenk, Hertsgaard. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 3.28.12


Director Alive Wu was joined by spotlight honoree Joan Chen, and fellow cast members Michelle Krusiec and Lynn Chen for a Saving Face reunion at San Francisco Film Society Cinema hosted by the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 3.16.12


Terence Davies, at SF Film Society Cinema to introduce a preview screening of his exquisitely nuanced new film The Deep Blue Sea (opening March 30) and a new 35mm print of The Long Day Closes, with longtime SFFS member Jim Gunn. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 3.16.12


English director Emily James was at San Francisco Film Society Cinema for the SF Green Film Festival closing night screening of her behind–the-scenes documentary about environmental activists, Just Do It: a Tale of Modern-Day Outlaws. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 3.16.12


Producer Bonni Cohen, director Jon Shenk, producer Richard Berge and SF Green Film Festival founder/director Rachel Caplan were at SF Film Society Cinema for the SFGFF opening night presentation of The Island President. The stirring documentary plays again at SFFSC on March 20, on the first program of the SFFS Global Threats Film Series. Following that screening there will be an in-depth Q&A with the filmmaker and special guest Terry Tamminen, ranked #1 on the Guardian’s list of “Top 50 People Who Can Save the Planet,” moderated by journalist Mark Hertsgaard. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 3.2.12


The students in the University of San Francisco’s “Inside SFIFF” class are getting a behind-the-scenes look at how a major international film festival is produced, runs and serves its various constituencies from San Francisco Film Society staff members. As part of this semester-long class, students will attend, review and analyze a series of SFIFF55 films, and meet with guest filmmakers at the Festival. PHOTO BYJOSLYN THORESEN, POSTED 2.28.12


The CAAM team introduced the full program for the 30th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival at the morning press conference at SF Film Society Cinema. Quentin Lee’s White Frog, featuring Joan Chen, will open SFIAAFF on March 8 at the Castro Theatre. From left: Festival and Exhibitions Director Masashi Niwang, Quentin Lee, Festival Managing Director Christine Kwon. For more information visit caamedia.org. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 2.10.12


Indie-GoGo cofounder Danae Ringelmann, filmmaker Tiffany Shlain and attorney George Rush shared insights into the ever-evolving digital distribution landscape at SFFS Film Arts Forum: Digital Distribution Now. Michael Behrens, SFFS filmmaker education manager, moderated the panel in front of a packed house at the Little Roxie. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 2.9.12


Beverly Thorman, Dolly Talaga, Judy Nelson and Ninfa Dawson, SF Film Society volunteers with decades of experience between them, are prized core volunteers at several other film festivals in the city, including the Mostly British Film Festival, at the Vogue through February 9. PHOTO BY HILARY HART, POSTED 2.8.12


SFFS board member Todd Traina hosted a by-invitation-only screening of Another Happy Day at SF Film Society Cinema, followed by a late night reception at nearby Bushi Tei restaurant. The Traina-produced autobiographical dramedy written and directed by Sam Levinson (son of Barry) features an all-star cast including Ellen Barkin, Kate Bosworth, Ellen Burstyn, Thomas Haden Church, Ezra Miller, Demi Moore and George Kennedy. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


The Sundance Film Festival 2012 awards night ceremony started off on a sober note as festival director John Cooper acknowledged the sudden death on January 23 of SFFS executive director Bingham Ray and read a eulogy written by Ray’s longtime poker buddies Magnolia Pictures chief Eamonn Bowles, Sony Classics SVP Tom Prassis, Sawyer Studios head Arnie Sawyer and producer Ben Barenholtz. Cooper choked up more than once while reading the tribute. SFFS program director Trevor Groth was later quoted as saying that 2012 SFF may well be remembered by many people as Ray’s last festival. PHOTO BY MICHAEL READ


Benh Zeitlin arrived in Park City on January 19, little known in the film world. Eleven days of excitement about his mythical film, Beasts of the Southern Wild, began at the screening for Sundance volunteers on day one of the festival, continued at six more sold out screenings and culminated with the winning of the grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic film competition at the SFF awards ceremony. Beasts received two SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants in the past two years, totaling $105,000. PHOTO BY MICHAEL READ


At the Sundance Film Festival awards night ceremony, director Benh Zeitlin celebrates with the cast and producers of Beasts of the Southern Wild as the film wins the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic award on Saturday, January 28, 2012. PHOTO BY MICHAEL READ


Berkeley-based filmmaker Mark Kitchell’s A Fierce Green Fire, documenting pivotal moments in the history of environmental activism played multiple sold out shows at Sundance 2012. At one Q&A, Kitchell was accompanied by Lois Gibbs, former housewife and president of the Love Canal Home Owners Association, whose career as an environmental activist was launched by the 1970s fight for accountability over the Love Canal contamination. SFFS was fiscal sponsor of the inspiring documentary based on New York Times environmental journalist Philip Shabecoff's book. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Quvenzhané Wallis, the extraordinary young actress who plays the lead in Benh Zeitlin’s astonishing debut feature Beasts of the Southern Wild was all smiles before another sold out screening at Sundance 2012. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Director Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild was the sensation of Sundance 2012. Early in the festival Fox Searchlight won the bidding war for distribution rights to Zeitlin’s stunning debut. SFFS’s Filmmaker360 was an early supporter of the film providing project development and $105,000 in grants from the SFFS/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grants over the past two years. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


The cast and crew of Mosquita Y Mari (from left: actress Venecia Troncosco, director Aurora Guerrero, actress Fenessa Pineda) attended screenings of the beautifully shot story of a complex budding friendship between two Chicana high schoolers in the NEXT section of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The auspicious first feature film received an $88,000 SFFS/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grant for postproduction in 2011. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Editor Ken Schneider prowled the streets of Park City between screenings of A Fierce Green Fire, Mark Kitchell’s documentary about the crucial moments in the history of the environmental movement. SFFS was fiscal sponsor for the project, which was shot and edited over the past four years and had it’s world premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2012. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


SFFS programmer Sean Uyehara spent six days in Park City, Utah at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival scouting films, from early morning to the wee hours, for the upcoming San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19–May 3) and the Film Society’s year round programming. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Thursday night director Benh Zeitlin introduced the preview screening of Beasts of the Southern Wild to a packed house of Sundance Film Festival volunteers. Last summer Beasts received a $55,000 SFFS/Kenneth Rainin Foundation grant to support postproduction. Beasts has it's first public SFF screening tonight 1/20 at the Eccles Theatre in Park City. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Following the preview screening of the Sundance Film Festival dramatic competition film Beasts of the Southern Wild for a packed house of SFF volunteers director Benh Zeitlin, lead actors Quvenhane Wallis and Dwight Henry, cowriter Lucy Alibar and other cast members (from right) were greeted with a standing ovation and answered questions at an extended Q/A that was finally cut off as midnight approached. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


SFFS Executive Director Bingham Ray and Stellan Skarsgård, who first met while working on Breaking the Waves, participated in an audience Q&A via Skype (Skarsgård from Sweden) following the opening night screenings of King of Devil's Island at SF Film Society Cinema. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Wim Wenders, SFFS Executive Director Bingham Ray and Francis Ford Coppola relaxed at Tosca Cafe following a screening of Wenders' 3D documentary Pina on December 19. PHOTO BY PAMELA GENTILE


Wim Wenders, director of Pina (right), welcomed special guest Francis Ford Coppola to a screening of his film hosted by the Film Society. PHOTO BY PAMELA GENTILE


SFFS Executive Director Bingham Ray moderated an audience Q&A with director Wim Wenders following the screening of his 3D documentary Pina on December 19. PHOTO BY PAMELA GENTILE


Special guests Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation and Laura Truffaut, daughter of director François Truffaut were at SF Film Society Cinema on December 16 to introduce the evening screening of The Bride Wore Black, Truffaut’s homage to his idol Alfred Hitchcock, starring the inimitable Jeanne Moreau. Bride plays through December 22. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Jale Yoldas, Tamara Badgley Horowitz and Michele Turnure-Salleo of the Film Society’s Filmmaker Services partnered with independent film attorney George Rush to host a filmmakers' holiday party at Noble featuring a heated karaoke competition. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Don Hertzfeldt, who received the Persistence of Vision Award at the 2010 San Francisco International Film Festival, was joined by SFFS director of programming Rachel Rosen for the SF premiere of the final film in his animated trilogy about a character named Bill. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Don Hertzfeldt was surrounded by admirers following two sold-out screenings of his newest film It’s Such a Beautiful Day at SF Film Society Cinema. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Tim Wagner (left) of Open Show and Danny O’Brien of the Committee to Protect Journalists introduced a screening Restrepo (SFIFF 2009) on December 7 at SF Film Society Cinema at a tribute to director/journalist Tim Hetherington, who was killed in Libya in April. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


SFFS Film Art Forum: Pitch Perfect panelists oversaw a lively and thoughtful session of pitching, critiquing and advising on December 5 at SF Film Society Cinema. From left: moderator Michael Behrens, producer Carlton Evans, literary manager Jennie Frankel Frisbie, SFFS Filmmaker Services director Michele Turnure-Salleo, producer David Winton and SFFS executive director Bingham Ray. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Susan Stern (Blessing), Dana Nachman and Chelsea Matter (The Human Experiment) and Robert James (Revolutionary Sex) refined their project pitches before a panel of experts at SFFS Film Arts Forum: Pitch Perfect. Nachman and Matter’s pitch was voted best of the forum. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


On a school visit organized by SFFS Youth Education on December 2, local filmmaker Theo Rigby led a thoughtful discussion about immigration and the rights of immigrants with the 7th grade class at Julia Morgan for Girls after a screening of his short documentary Sin Pais. PHOTO BY KEITH ZWÖlLFER


Performance artist Erin Markey caroused with Film Society programmer Sean Uyehara after the world premiere peformance of her KinoTek piece The Dardy Family Home Movies by Stephen Sondheim by Erin Markey, December 2 at SF Film Society Cinema. PHOTO BY BILL PROCTOR


San Francisco Film Commission Executive Director Susannah Robbins (right) welcomed the Film Society's new Executive Director Bingham Ray at a reception at Tosca Cafe. PHOTO BY BILL PROCTOR


The local film community came out in droves to the welcome reception at Tosca Cafe honoring new Film Society Executive Director Bingham Ray, including filmmakers Amanda Micheli and Christopher Upham. PHOTO BY BILL PROCTOR


Producer Hilary Armstrong welcomed special guests to the SF Film Society Cinema for the sold-out premiere San Francisco screening of California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown. From left: Armstrong, Anne Gust Brown, Governor Jerry Brown and Film Society Executive Director Bingham Ray. PHOTO BY PAMELA GENTILE


Governor Jerry Brown mingled with Film Society Executive Director Bingham Ray and board member Maurice Kanbar at a post-screening reception at SF Film Society Cinema after the SF premiere of California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown. PHOTO BY PAMELA GENTILE


First time director Giorgia Cecere (center) won the City of Florence Award for her film The First Assignment on Closing Night of New Italian Cinema at Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema.  The award, decided by audience ballot, was presented to her by Viviana del Bianco of New Italian Cinema Events and Rod Armstrong of the Film Society. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Uruguayan director Federico Veiroj, who arrived in San Francisco for a two week residency at the Film Society, was at SF Film Society Cinema for a screening of his latest feature A Useful Life. From left: Santhosh Daniel of Global Film Initiative, Joanne Parsont of SFFS and Veiroj. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Bingham Ray, executive director of SF Film Society, Fabrizio Marcelli, consul general of Italy and Daniele Luchetti, director of Our Life celebrated in style on opening day of the fifteenth New Italian Cinema festival in San Francisco. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Guest programmer Jay Wertzler presented 'Anthropomorphlolz,' a collection of weird-centric shorts from the farthest reaches of the animation universe, at the San Francisco International Animation Festival. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Director Eric Leiser used a canny hybrid life action/animation approach in Glitch in the Grid to portray the inner life of a reclusive artist struggling to find happiness. From left: producer Jeffrey Leiser, Eric Leiser, actor Jay Masonek, and Film Society programmer Sean Uyehara on Opening Night at San Francisco International Animation Festival. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


One of the highlights of Cinema By the Bay was the live performance of a new score for the 1926 silent film The Bat by virtuoso guitarist Ava Mendoza and drummer Nick Tumburro. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Editor Stephanie Challberg, director Mimi Chakarova and cinematographer Adam Keker were at Cinema By the Bay for the screening of their compelling investigative documentary The Price of Sex. PHOTO BY HILARY HART

Director Sam Burbank, with SFFS programmer Audrey Chang, screened his debut narrative feature, the quirky sci-fi comedy, Where's My Stuff? for a full house at the third annual Cinema By the Bay. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


SFFS and San Francisco Film Commission hosted the Cinema By the Bay Filmmaker Services Brunch at Medjool celebrating the work of incubated at FilmHouse. From left: Dalan McNabola, editor of Connected; Priya Desai, codirector of Match+: Love in the Time of HIV; Michele Turnure-Salleo, SFFS director of filmmaker services; Lisa Fructman, codirector of Sweet Dreams; Susannah Robbins, executive director SF Film Commission; and Matthew Baldwin, editor of Ghosts of Havana. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Joshua Moore's feature film directorial debut, I Think It's Raining, featuring a mesmerizing performance by Alexandra Clayton, had its US premiere at opening night of Cinema by the Bay. PHOTO BY HILARY HART


Denis Bisson, French cultural attache, Rachel Rosen, San Francisco Film Society director of programming and Katia Lewcowicz, director of Bachelor  Days Are Over, relaxed on French Cinema Days Opening Night just prior to the screening of the comedy about a man with a serious case of pre-wedding jitters. PHOTO BY HILARY HART