53rd San Francisco International Film Festival 22 April - 6 May 2010

EVENTS/

Photo by Pamela Gentile

Since 1991, this educational outreach program has been exposing a new generation of viewers to the best in international and independent cinema, bringing thousands of Bay Area students to Festival screenings and engaging them with filmmakers from around the world. One of the first and largest of its kind, the Schools at the Festival program was founded by the late Robert S. Donn, a retired SFUSD teacher with a tremendous passion for film.

Each year more than 3,000 elementary, middle and high school students and their teachers participate in the Festival by attending private weekday matinee screenings, while dozens of local and visiting filmmakers from around the world visit Bay Area classrooms to share their work and interact with students.

Tickets are offered at a subsidized rate ($1.00 per person for public school students and teachers and $2.50 per person for all other schools) to selected screenings and may be purchased only through the Schools at the Festival office prior to the Festival. For ticket reservations and information, contact Keith Zwölfer at kzwolfer@sffs.org or 415-561-5040.

Fifteen narrative features, documentaries and shorts programs have been carefully selected for this year's Schools at the Festival program to suit a broad range of curricula and grade levels. Targeted subject areas include foreign languages such as Chinese, French, Spanish and German, as well as issue-based programming for school subjects such as language arts, environmental studies, ethics, history, journalism, politics, science, social studies and world affairs.

All participating students are encouraged to submitt an essay to the 2010 Schools at the Festival Student Essay Contest.

2010 Schools at the Festival

The following are the Schools at the Festival programs selected for the 2010 San Francisco International Film Festival. All screenings take place at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, 1881 Post Street (at Fillmore), San Francisco.

To reserve seats and buy tickets, contact Keith Zwölfer at kzwolfer@sffs.org or 415-561-5040.

After the Storm
10:00 am Wednesday, April 28
Directed by Hilla Medalia (USA, 89 min)
In 2007 a group of New York theater artists traveled to New Orleans to stage a production of the musical Once on This Island as a benefit to renovate a hurricane-damaged recreation center.Once on This Island is a highly acclaimed Broadway adaptation of the popular fairy tale The Little Mermaid that weaves the story of a black peasant girl on a mythical Caribbean island who survives a hurricane and then must discover her purpose in life. It was a perfect parallel to the story of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina .Oscar winner James Lecesne and renowned theater director Gerry McIntyre cast the musical entirely with young people from the stricken city. From auditions through performances, After the Storm follows the drama of the musical's production as well as in each young actor's life in the wake of Katrina. The focus is not on rescues, evacuations and losses, but on survival, hopes and dreams as the film explores the cultural landscape of New Orleans and depicts how this unique American city is beginning to piece itself back together again. Exploring how art can be used as a tool for healing and growth, filmmaker Hilla Medalia gently explores the young actors' personal experiences during Katrina, as well as their daily lives and how they are coping with a struggling school system, limited job opportunities and the loss of family members and friends. Presented through the eyes of these talented teenage artists, the film demonstrates the power a community wields by sharing its story both locally and beyond.
Suggested Subjects: African American Studies, American History, The Arts, Drama, English, Environmental Studies, Health, Music, Middle School, Peer/Youth Issues, Social Studies
Grades: 6-12

A Brand New Life
10:00 am Tuesday, May 4
Directed by Ounie Lecomte (South Korea/France 2009, 92 min)
In Korean with English subtitles
Drawing on her childhood memories, director Lecomte creates an intimate portrait of an emotionally bereft nine-year-old and her irrepressible cohort at a South Korean Catholic orphanage, featuring an unforgettable performance by the film's young lead.
Program Note: Mild profanity
Suggested Subjects: Asian Studies, ESL, Hearing Impaired, Middle School, Peer/Youth Issues, Social Science, Social Studies, Women's Studies
Grades: 6-12

Brownstones to Red Dirt
10:00 am Tuesday, April 27
Directed by Dave La Mattina and Chad N. Walker (USA 2009, 85 min)
In 1990 the NYPD declared the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn an "Impact Zone," where, in just three square miles, there were 139 murders. At the same time, across the Atlantic Ocean in the African nation of Sierra Leone, a brutal 11-year civil war resulted in a devastated country and thousands of orphaned children. Today, the Respect pen pal program is attempting to bring these two groups of children together through the simple act of writing letters. This moving documentary shows how that experience not only helps shape the children's lives, but also shows them that even if they can't count on the world, they can count on each other. Brownstones to Red Dirt captures seemingly average students from vastly different worlds whose inspirational growth shows that no child's future is predestined.
Suggested Subjects: African Studies, African American Studies, Elementary School, English, Middle School, Peer/Youth Issues, Political Science, Social Studies, World Affairs, World History
Grades: 4-8

Cargo
10:00 am Monday, April 26
Directed by Ivan Engler and Ralph Etter (Switzerland 2009, 107 min)
In German with English subtitles
A doctor signs on to a cargo freighter, little knowing what the ship is actually carrying in this suspenseful, stylish and atmospheric science fiction dazzler that potently combines environmental concerns with outer space chills.
Program Note: Mild profanity, brief violence
Suggested Subjects: Arts/Media, ESL, German, Hearing Impaired, Science
Grades: 9-12

Colony
10:00 am Thursday, April 29
Directed by Carter Gunn (USA 2009, 85 min)
*Thanks to the generous support of the Goldman Environmental Prize, tickets for this screening are free (but tickets are still required).
This compelling and beautifully photographed documentary explores the mystery surrounding the sudden vanishing of honeybees-a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder-with widespread repercussions for humans.
Suggested Subjects: Environmental Studies, Middle School, Science, Social Studies
Grades: 7-12

Father of My Children
12:15 pm Thursday, April 29
Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve (France 2009, 110 min)
In French with English subtitles
A wheeling-dealing French film producer juggles career ambition, familial demands and the prospect of financial ruin in this deftly unfolding narrative by the writer/director of All Is Forgiven (SFIFF 2008).
Program Note: Brief violence, mild profanity
Suggested Subjects: Arts/Media, Ethics/Religion, ESL, French, Hearing Impaired, Peer/Youth Issues
Grades: 9-12

Flights of Fancy (two shows)
10:00 am Friday, April 30; 10:00 am Wednesday, May 5
Total running time 78 mins
In English and French with English subtitles (subtitles read aloud for younger audience members)
A flying circus mouse, a bagel-crazed pigeon and an aerodynamically challenged artist are just a few of the high-flying highlights in this collection of live-action and animated short films for children and family audiences.
Suggested Subjects: Arts/Media, Elementary School, English, Peer/Youth Issues
Grades: 2-6

It's a Short World After All
10:00 am Thursday, May 6
In Farsi, Hindi, Turkish, Portuguese and English with English subtitles
Total running time 73 mins
Collected from many corners of the world, this compilation of short films explores a variety of cultures and communities and the complicated ways in which we connect and communicate.
Program Note: Mild profanity
Suggested Subjects: Arts/Media, English, Ethics/Religion, Latin American Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Middle School, Peer/Youth Issues, Political Science, Social Studies, World Affairs, World History.
Grades: 7-12

Joann Sfar Draws from Memory
11:45 am Wednesday, April 28
Directed by Sam Ball (USA 2010, 50 min)
In French with English subtitles
*Tickets for this presentation are only $1.00 per person.
What's the best way to tell a story? Sometimes, you have to start by drawing the people you know best. Joann Sfar Draws from Memory tracks a popular young graphic novelist, animator and filmmaker's odyssey through the unusual Algerian and Jewish family stories that inspire his work. We follow the artist into a whimsical universe, where lost worlds collide exuberantly and the dead reach out to us from beyond the page. This work-in-progress screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers about the art of storytelling and the sometimes celebratory sometimes treacherous connection between art and life.
Suggested Subjects: Animation, Arts/Media, English (Creative Writing), Fine Art (Drawing and Painting), French, Jewish Studies, Social Studies.
Grades: 9-12

Last Train Home
12:30 pm Tuesday, May 4
Directed by Lixin Fan (Canada/China 2009, 87 min)
In Mandarin with English subtitles
This visually stunning documentary draws viewers into the lives of a family of migrant factory workers on a grueling holiday journey back to their rural village-and the resentful child they left behind-in an intimate portrait of modern China.
Program Note: Mild profanity
Suggested Subjects: Asian Studies, Chinese, ESL, Hearing Impaired, Peer/Youth Issues, Social Studies, World Affairs
Grades: 8-12

Mugabe and the White African
12:30 pm Monday, May 3
Directed by Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson (England 2009, 94 min)
Covertly filmed on location in Zimbabwe, this award-winning film documents a white farmer's court battle with President Mugabe to keep his farm against the backdrop of Mugabe's reelection campaign. Program Note: Some violence and mild profanity
Suggested Subjects: African Studies, Journalism, Political Science, Social Studies, World Affairs, World History
Grades: 9-12

Northless
12:30 pm Wednesday, May 5
Directed by Rigoberto Pérezcano (Mexico 2009, 93 min)
In Spanish with English subtitles
The melancholy misadventures of a quiet young man who tries again and again to cross the border from Mexico into the U.S.
Program Note: Mild profanity
Suggested Subjects: ESL, Hearing Impaired, Latin American Studies, Spanish, World Affairs
Grades: 9-12

The Oath
12:15 pm Wednesday, April 28
Directed by Laura Poitras (USA 2010, 96 min)
In English and Arabic with English subtitles
In the second film of her post-9/11 trilogy, Poitras unfolds a complex portrait of two men once close to Osama bin Laden: an Al Qaeda insider driving a cab in Yemen and his brother-in-law, a Guantanamo Bay detainee. Filmed on location in Yemen and Guantanamo.
Program Note: Mild profanity
Suggested Subjects: American & World History, Ethics/Religion, Journalism, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science, Social Studies, World Affairs
Grades: 9-12

Presumed Guilty
10:00 am Monday, May 3
Directed by Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith (Mexico 2009, 91 min)
In Spanish with English subtitles
A young man wrongfully convicted of homicide does all he can to pursue justice in a system in which guilt is presumed and the conviction rate is 95 percent, in this taut documentary exposé of Mexico's criminal justice system.
Program Note: Mild profanity and brief violence
Suggested Subjects: Ethics/Religion, Hearing Impaired, Latin American Studies, Political Science, Spanish, World Affairs
Grades: 9-12

Talkin bout My Generation
12:45 pm Thursday, May 6
Total running time 80 mins
People still try to put 'em down. And today's young people still do get around. But now they're getting around with cameras in their hands, and they are making great films in every genre from noir to comedy to mockumentary to an action-packed, stop-motion miniseries starring a LEGO James Bond. Program Note: Mild profanity and brief violence
Suggested Subjects: African American Studies, Arts/Media, Middle School, Peer/Youth Issues, Social Studies
Grades: 7-12

Schools at the Festival is made possible by the generous support of:

The Dexter F. & Dorothy H. Baker Foundation
Tin Man Fund
Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund
The San Francisco Foundation