January & February 2016 Film Festivals

As 2015 winds down, the first part of 2016's film festival schedule becomes finalized.

From January 1 to 7, the Smith Rafael Film Center presents For Your Consideration - films from 15 countries which have been submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

The 20th Berlin & Beyond Film Festival will be held from January 14 to 17 at the Castro Theater and January 18 to 20 at the Goethe-Institut.  The schedule of films has not yet been posted.

Noir City will be held at the Castro Theater from January 22 to 31.  The schedule has been posted and includes quite a few films I have already seen including Rear Window, Humoresque, In a Lonely Place, Young Man With a Horn, Mickey One, Scarlet Street and The Red Shoes.

In it inaugural year, the Crest Theater in Sacramento is presenting the Noir Nights Film Festival on January 15 & 16.  The program consists of five noir classics - A Touch of Evil, Mildred Pierce, The Killing, Out of the Past and Leave Her to Heaven.  The program makes a point of stating that Mildred Pierce and Leave Her to Heave will be screened in 35 mm.  I didn't know the Crest had that capability.

The Mostly British Film Festival is screening from February 18 to 25 at the Vogue Theater.  The program has been posted and includes such classics as Night and the City, Rebecca, The French Lieutenant's Woman & The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

The San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF IndieFest) is screening from February 11 to 25.  If past years are any indication, the primary venue will be the Roxie Theater.  IndieFest is expanding their merchandise line.  They are selling a series of T-shirts made to look like the San Francisco Giants uniforms.  The name on the back is chosen from 10 famous film directors and the number is the two digit year in which they made their first feature film.  Coppola 62 refers to Tonight for Sure which Francis Ford Coppola directed in 1962.  The 10 directors whose names grace the shirts are Coppola, George Kuchar, David Lynch, John Cassavetes, Jim Jarmusch, Warner Herzog, Ava DuVernay, Richard Linklater, Gus Van Sant & Quentin Tarantino.  Shirts can be purchased on the SF IndieFest website.

The film schedule for IndieFest has not been announced yet.

On February 3, the PFA reopens for regular film programming.