SPECIAL EVENTS
SFFS Film Arts Forum—Thinking Outside the Doc Box
Monday, February 8, 7:30 pm
Monday, February 8, 7:30 pm
SF360 FILM+CLUB
A Sneak Preview of a Film About Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
Sunday, February 28, 8:00 pm, doors 7:00 pm
Sunday, February 28, 8:00 pm, doors 7:00 pm
Releases
52nd San Francisco International Film Festival to Present Sergio Leone's Once upon a Time in the West in a Beautifully Restored Widescreen Print
Partnership with The Film Foundation and American Express Brings Premiere of Newly Restored, Epic Paean to the American West Starring Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson to the Castro Theatre
3/31/2009
The 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival (April 23–May 7), in an ongoing partnership with The Film Foundation and American Express, will present the spectacular new restoration of Sergio Leone’s Once upon a Time in the West (USA/Italy 1968), Sunday, May 3 at 12:30 pm at the Castro Theatre. This is the San Francisco Bay Area premiere of the restoration, which was made possible with the support of Martin Scorsese’s nonprofit organization The Film Foundation and the Rome Film Festival in association with Sergio Leone Productions and Paramount Pictures. “The sweep of this movie is quite unlike anything I've seen before or since, and the opportunity to see it in the way it was meant to be seen, beautifully restored and projected on a big screen, is not to be missed,” states Scorsese.
Sergio Leone reinvigorated the American Western with the unique vision of a brilliantly observant outsider. Unlike the well-groomed characters depicted in traditional studio Westerns, the inhabitants of Leone’s frontier are dusty, sweaty and grimy. Frame-filling close-ups linger on nuances of facial expression, communicating more with a look than with pages of dialogue. In his masterpiece, Once upon a Time in the West, Leone casts icon of gallantry Henry Fonda radically against type as the darkest of villains, and brings European stylistic reinterpretations perfected in his low-budget spaghetti Westerns to the quintessential cowboy movie location—John Ford’s favorite—Monument Valley. While this film employs and references the archetypal characters and themes of the Western, it goes far beyond a reiteration of cinematic clichés; instead, it is a riveting and emotional exploration of the genre’s mythologies. With Jason Robards, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Woody Strode and Jack Elam. Ennio Morricone composed the haunting score. The screenplay is drawn from a story by Leone, Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci.
Once upon a Time in the West was shot in the Techniscope format, which has not been in use since the early 1970s. A photochemical restoration has been made using the original negative so as to preserve the beauty of the photography and director Leone’s original vision, and the color was retimed to capture the rich earth tones of the original photography. The audio was restored from magnetic master tracks.
Once upon a Time in the West will be presented as part of the Preservation Screening Program, created by The Film Foundation and American Express to provide public access to motion pictures that have been preserved and restored with funding from the foundation. Through this program, today’s moviegoers are connecting with film art and culture of the past, developing an appreciation for our shared cinematic history and the importance of film preservation.
Tickets for this premiere screening at the Castro are $10.00 San Francisco Film Society members/$11.00 seniors, students and persons with disabilities/$12.50 general. For tickets and information go to www.sffs.org or call 925-866-9559.
San Francisco Film Society
The San Francisco Film Society is a nonprofit arts and education organization dedicated to celebrating the world of film and media in four core areas: Internationalism and Cross-Cultural Exchange; Educating and Inspiring Bay Area Youth; Showcasing Bay Area Film Culture; and Exploring New Media.
SFFS shows the best of world cinema year-round on its SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas and presents the San Francisco International Animation Festival, New Italian Cinema and French Cinema Now annually in the fall. In all, the Film Society presents more than 300 days of programming each year, reaching a total audience of more than 100,000 people. Its acclaimed youth education program introduces international cinema and media literacy to more than 7,000 teachers and students annually.
The Film Society publishes a daily online magazine, SF360.org, with broad-ranging news and features on Bay Area film culture and provides crucial support to the Bay Area filmmaking community through SFFS filmmaker services including grants & residencies, fiscal sponsorship, production assistance and development, networking and conference events, and professional-level filmmaker classes and workshops.
52nd San Francisco International Film Festival
The 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 23–May 7, 2009 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, the Castro Theatre and Landmark’s Clay Theatre in San Francisco; and the Pacific Film Archive Theater in Berkeley. Held each spring for 15 days, the International is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in the country’s most beautiful city, featuring 25 juried awards, 200 films and live events with upwards of 100 participating filmmakers and diverse audiences of 75,000+ people.
For tickets and information, go to www.sffs.org or call 925-866-9559.
The Film Foundation
The Film Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1990 by Martin Scorsese. The foundation is dedicated to protecting and preserving motion picture history, and provides substantial annual support for preservation and restoration projects at the nation’s major film archives. Since its inception, the foundation has been instrumental in raising awareness of the urgent need to preserve films and has helped to save over 525 motion pictures. Joining Scorsese on the board are Woody Allen, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, Curtis Hanson, Peter Jackson, Ang Lee, George Lucas, Alexander Payne, Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg. The Film Foundation is aligned with the Directors Guild of America whose President and Secretary-Treasurer serve on the foundation’s board.
American Express
Historic preservation has long been the hallmark of American Express’s involvement in the community, reflecting the company's recognition of the importance of cultural sites and monuments to a sense of national and local identity, and the role that their preservation can play in attracting visitors and revitalizing neighborhoods. American Express extends its support of preservation beyond physical sites by supporting organizations such as The Film Foundation for the Preservation Screening Program.
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Sergio Leone reinvigorated the American Western with the unique vision of a brilliantly observant outsider. Unlike the well-groomed characters depicted in traditional studio Westerns, the inhabitants of Leone’s frontier are dusty, sweaty and grimy. Frame-filling close-ups linger on nuances of facial expression, communicating more with a look than with pages of dialogue. In his masterpiece, Once upon a Time in the West, Leone casts icon of gallantry Henry Fonda radically against type as the darkest of villains, and brings European stylistic reinterpretations perfected in his low-budget spaghetti Westerns to the quintessential cowboy movie location—John Ford’s favorite—Monument Valley. While this film employs and references the archetypal characters and themes of the Western, it goes far beyond a reiteration of cinematic clichés; instead, it is a riveting and emotional exploration of the genre’s mythologies. With Jason Robards, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Woody Strode and Jack Elam. Ennio Morricone composed the haunting score. The screenplay is drawn from a story by Leone, Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci.
Once upon a Time in the West was shot in the Techniscope format, which has not been in use since the early 1970s. A photochemical restoration has been made using the original negative so as to preserve the beauty of the photography and director Leone’s original vision, and the color was retimed to capture the rich earth tones of the original photography. The audio was restored from magnetic master tracks.
Once upon a Time in the West will be presented as part of the Preservation Screening Program, created by The Film Foundation and American Express to provide public access to motion pictures that have been preserved and restored with funding from the foundation. Through this program, today’s moviegoers are connecting with film art and culture of the past, developing an appreciation for our shared cinematic history and the importance of film preservation.
Tickets for this premiere screening at the Castro are $10.00 San Francisco Film Society members/$11.00 seniors, students and persons with disabilities/$12.50 general. For tickets and information go to www.sffs.org or call 925-866-9559.
San Francisco Film Society
The San Francisco Film Society is a nonprofit arts and education organization dedicated to celebrating the world of film and media in four core areas: Internationalism and Cross-Cultural Exchange; Educating and Inspiring Bay Area Youth; Showcasing Bay Area Film Culture; and Exploring New Media.
SFFS shows the best of world cinema year-round on its SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas and presents the San Francisco International Animation Festival, New Italian Cinema and French Cinema Now annually in the fall. In all, the Film Society presents more than 300 days of programming each year, reaching a total audience of more than 100,000 people. Its acclaimed youth education program introduces international cinema and media literacy to more than 7,000 teachers and students annually.
The Film Society publishes a daily online magazine, SF360.org, with broad-ranging news and features on Bay Area film culture and provides crucial support to the Bay Area filmmaking community through SFFS filmmaker services including grants & residencies, fiscal sponsorship, production assistance and development, networking and conference events, and professional-level filmmaker classes and workshops.
52nd San Francisco International Film Festival
The 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 23–May 7, 2009 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, the Castro Theatre and Landmark’s Clay Theatre in San Francisco; and the Pacific Film Archive Theater in Berkeley. Held each spring for 15 days, the International is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in the country’s most beautiful city, featuring 25 juried awards, 200 films and live events with upwards of 100 participating filmmakers and diverse audiences of 75,000+ people.
For tickets and information, go to www.sffs.org or call 925-866-9559.
The Film Foundation
The Film Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1990 by Martin Scorsese. The foundation is dedicated to protecting and preserving motion picture history, and provides substantial annual support for preservation and restoration projects at the nation’s major film archives. Since its inception, the foundation has been instrumental in raising awareness of the urgent need to preserve films and has helped to save over 525 motion pictures. Joining Scorsese on the board are Woody Allen, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, Curtis Hanson, Peter Jackson, Ang Lee, George Lucas, Alexander Payne, Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg. The Film Foundation is aligned with the Directors Guild of America whose President and Secretary-Treasurer serve on the foundation’s board.
American Express
Historic preservation has long been the hallmark of American Express’s involvement in the community, reflecting the company's recognition of the importance of cultural sites and monuments to a sense of national and local identity, and the role that their preservation can play in attracting visitors and revitalizing neighborhoods. American Express extends its support of preservation beyond physical sites by supporting organizations such as The Film Foundation for the Preservation Screening Program.
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