FILM ARTS FORUM
SFFS Film Arts Forum: Sundance Confidential
Monday, December 7, 7:30 pm (7:00 pm door)
Monday, December 7, 7:30 pm (7:00 pm door)
KINOTEK
Catherine Galasso: Lightning Never Strikes the Same Place Twice
December 12–13, 8:00 pm
December 12–13, 8:00 pm
SF360 FILM+CLUB
Steven Severin: Music for Silents
Tuesday, January 12, doors 7:00 pm, show 8:00 pm
Tuesday, January 12, doors 7:00 pm, show 8:00 pm
Releases
The Wedding Song, Directed by Tunisian-French Writer-Director Karin Albou, Opens on SFFS Screen at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas October 9
Story of Intense Friendship Between Muslim and Jewish Teenagers Is Bold, Frank, Gorgeously Crafted Take on Adolescent Female Bonding and Sexuality Set During a Time of Political Upheaval
9/1/2009
The Nazi occupation of Tunisia strains the bonds of friendship between a Muslim woman and a Sephardic Jewess who are both preparing for their marriages in Karin Albou’s The Wedding Song (Le chant des mariées, France/Tunisia 2008) opening Friday, October 9 on SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.
Tunis, 1942: Against the Allied bombs and the goose steps of the Nazi occupiers, two teenage girlfriends, one Muslim, the other Jewish, cling to the bond they’ve shared since childhood. Between these two, there are no secrets. In her bold second feature, The Wedding Song, Karin Albou returns to the themes of her first, La petite Jerusalem: mapping the intersection of Jewish and Arab cultures and exploring female sexuality. Nour (Olympe Borval) is engaged to handsome Khaled, a physical attraction that Myriam (Lizzie Brocheré) takes vicarious pleasure in abetting. Myriam, for her part, has opportunity Nour lacks, namely an education, until the outspoken girl gets herself expelled from school. Outside the female quarters, the world shared by Jews and Arabs is being split by German promises of liberation—they’ll rid Tunis of the French and the Jews. Myriam and her mother Tita (played by director Albou) are no longer safe, and Tita attempts to marry her reluctant daughter to a wealthy doctor to save them both. How thoroughly Jewish and Arab female worlds are merged is evident in the elaborate, intimate preparation of the bride for her wedding night, “Oriental style;” how thoroughly politics have infused the personal is evidenced by what happens after the wedding. Marriage, like friendship, becomes a test of ethics and courage. — Judy Bloch, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Written by Albou. Photographed by Laurent Brunet. With Lizzie Brocheré, Karin Albou, Simon Abkarian, Olympe Borval. In French, Arabic and German with English subtitles. 100 min. Distributed by Strand Releasing.
For screeners and interviews contact hilary@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit: http://download.sffs.org/press/02_SFFS_Screen.
At the Sundance Kabuki all seats are reserved and an amenities fee is in effect for most shows. Tickets are available through the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas box office, at kiosks in the lobby and online at sundancecinemas.com/kabuki with print-at-home capability. San Francisco Film Society members receive discounted admission only to SFFS Screen programs and only at the box office, not online or at the lobby kiosks.
Coming soon to SFFS Screen
September 4: The Beautiful Person Loosely based on a famous 17th-century French novel, Christophe Honoré’s new film tracks an ensemble of Parisian high school students as they navigate through the turbulent imbroglios of young love.
September 11: Tony Manero Set in 1978 Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship, Pablo Larraín’s drama focuses on a man whose obsession with John Travolta’s character from Saturday Night Fever reflects the troubled state of Chilean society at that time.
September 18: The Headless Woman Lucrecia Martel, a major figure in contemporary Argentine cinema, directs this complex and exquisite film about a bourgeois woman who may have been involved in a hit-and-run accident.
September 25: You, the Living Roy Andersson continues to display his unique take on humanity in this dryly humorous, surreal and unforgettable amalgamation of encounters and tableaux covering various facets of existence.
October 2: Oblivion Heddy Honigmann’s sharp, tender, funny stories of ordinary Peruvians reflecting on politics and governmental corruption are woven together in a documentary about pride and self-respect, glory long gone, love, art and politics.
October 16: Birdwatchers Tensions escalate when a tribe of indigenous Guarani Indians attempts to reinhabit their ancestral land—which lies on the border of a wealthy landowner’s fields—in Marco Bechis’s powerful critique of contemporary life in the Amazon.
October 23: The Vanished Empire Karen Shakhnazarov’s coming-of-age drama, set in the 1970s, profiles a group of young Russians dealing with love in turbulent times. The main character, a callow youth, can be seen to represent Russia at this turning point in her history.
For full, complete and up-to-date information on all SFFS Screen programming, including buying tickets, visit sffs.org. Information and tickets are also available at sundancecinemas.com.
The San Francisco Film Society is a nonprofit arts and education organization dedicated to celebrating film and the moving image.
SFFS Screen, the innovative exhibition partnership with Sundance Cinemas, enables the Film Society to present its acclaimed film programs and events at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas year-round on a daily basis.
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Tunis, 1942: Against the Allied bombs and the goose steps of the Nazi occupiers, two teenage girlfriends, one Muslim, the other Jewish, cling to the bond they’ve shared since childhood. Between these two, there are no secrets. In her bold second feature, The Wedding Song, Karin Albou returns to the themes of her first, La petite Jerusalem: mapping the intersection of Jewish and Arab cultures and exploring female sexuality. Nour (Olympe Borval) is engaged to handsome Khaled, a physical attraction that Myriam (Lizzie Brocheré) takes vicarious pleasure in abetting. Myriam, for her part, has opportunity Nour lacks, namely an education, until the outspoken girl gets herself expelled from school. Outside the female quarters, the world shared by Jews and Arabs is being split by German promises of liberation—they’ll rid Tunis of the French and the Jews. Myriam and her mother Tita (played by director Albou) are no longer safe, and Tita attempts to marry her reluctant daughter to a wealthy doctor to save them both. How thoroughly Jewish and Arab female worlds are merged is evident in the elaborate, intimate preparation of the bride for her wedding night, “Oriental style;” how thoroughly politics have infused the personal is evidenced by what happens after the wedding. Marriage, like friendship, becomes a test of ethics and courage. — Judy Bloch, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Written by Albou. Photographed by Laurent Brunet. With Lizzie Brocheré, Karin Albou, Simon Abkarian, Olympe Borval. In French, Arabic and German with English subtitles. 100 min. Distributed by Strand Releasing.
For screeners and interviews contact hilary@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit: http://download.sffs.org/press/02_SFFS_Screen.
At the Sundance Kabuki all seats are reserved and an amenities fee is in effect for most shows. Tickets are available through the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas box office, at kiosks in the lobby and online at sundancecinemas.com/kabuki with print-at-home capability. San Francisco Film Society members receive discounted admission only to SFFS Screen programs and only at the box office, not online or at the lobby kiosks.
Coming soon to SFFS Screen
September 4: The Beautiful Person Loosely based on a famous 17th-century French novel, Christophe Honoré’s new film tracks an ensemble of Parisian high school students as they navigate through the turbulent imbroglios of young love.
September 11: Tony Manero Set in 1978 Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship, Pablo Larraín’s drama focuses on a man whose obsession with John Travolta’s character from Saturday Night Fever reflects the troubled state of Chilean society at that time.
September 18: The Headless Woman Lucrecia Martel, a major figure in contemporary Argentine cinema, directs this complex and exquisite film about a bourgeois woman who may have been involved in a hit-and-run accident.
September 25: You, the Living Roy Andersson continues to display his unique take on humanity in this dryly humorous, surreal and unforgettable amalgamation of encounters and tableaux covering various facets of existence.
October 2: Oblivion Heddy Honigmann’s sharp, tender, funny stories of ordinary Peruvians reflecting on politics and governmental corruption are woven together in a documentary about pride and self-respect, glory long gone, love, art and politics.
October 16: Birdwatchers Tensions escalate when a tribe of indigenous Guarani Indians attempts to reinhabit their ancestral land—which lies on the border of a wealthy landowner’s fields—in Marco Bechis’s powerful critique of contemporary life in the Amazon.
October 23: The Vanished Empire Karen Shakhnazarov’s coming-of-age drama, set in the 1970s, profiles a group of young Russians dealing with love in turbulent times. The main character, a callow youth, can be seen to represent Russia at this turning point in her history.
For full, complete and up-to-date information on all SFFS Screen programming, including buying tickets, visit sffs.org. Information and tickets are also available at sundancecinemas.com.
The San Francisco Film Society is a nonprofit arts and education organization dedicated to celebrating film and the moving image.
SFFS Screen, the innovative exhibition partnership with Sundance Cinemas, enables the Film Society to present its acclaimed film programs and events at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas year-round on a daily basis.
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