SFFS / New People Cinema: Michael Hawley Celebrates the Partnership

In what must surely be the most celebratory news of 2011 for Bay Area cinephiles, the San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) announced last week that it will be partnering with Japantown's chic subterranean movie house, the New People Cinema. What this means is that for the first time in its 54-year history, SFFS will finally have a year-round exhibition venue it can call home. The news comes nearly a year after Landmark Theaters declared its intention to shutter the Clay Theater, which sparked months of negotiations by the SFFS to purchase or lease it. Those negotiations broke down over a numb

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Michael Hawley, SFFS, VIZ Cinema,

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FRAMELINE35 2011—Jackson Scarlett Reviews the Punk Docs

The intersection of queer and punk is both broad and well-traveled and so it stands to reason that there are quite a few films representing same at this year's Frameline. I previewed a few of the more punk and punk-leaning docs appearing in the festival this year and a few selections stood above the rest.The first of these, Miwa: A Japanese Icon, is certainly less "punk" per se but nonetheless guided by a spirit of resistance and irreverence that is punk's hallmark. The French-made doc candidly (and a bit cheekily) presents Akihiro Miwa (Miwa to his fans) as a sort of elder statesman of Jap

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Frameline, Jackson Scarlett,

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HOLEHEAD 2011—Jackson Scarlett Wraps It Up

"No man knows what he will do when driven by hunger." Falsely attributed to Alexander Pearce—so called "cannibal convict" of Tasmania and subject of his own 2008 DTV shocker Dying Breed—this epigram could easily have been spoken of devoted fans of Another Hole In The Head ("Holehead"), San Francisco's annual indie horror / sci-fi / fantasy feast. Genre fans, driven, insatiable, and hungry for gore, consume any and all offerings shoveled their way—a casualty of their insatiable hunger being that, like the cannibal convict, they seldom remember the name of their last meal.Doubtless the most c

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Holehead, Jackson Scarlett,

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FRAMELINE35 2011—Michael Hawley's Documentary Capsule Reviews

As mentioned in my previous entry, the 35th anniversary edition of the Frameline SF International LGBT Film Festival launched Thursday, June 16 and runs right up through Gay Pride Day on Sunday, June 26. Along with the eight narrative features previously reviewed, in addition I've had the chance to preview six documentaries. All were seen on DVD screener and, where applicable, I've noted any special guests that are expected to attend the screenings.Angel (France, dir. Sebastiano d'Ayala Valva)—A South American boxer turned Parisian transsexual prostitute makes a poignant journey home in thi

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Frameline, Michael Hawley,

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FRAMELINE35 2011—Michael Hawley's Narrative Feature Capsule Reviews

The 35th anniversary edition of the Frameline SF International LGBT Film Festival launched on Thursday, June 16 and continues right up through Gay Pride Day on Sunday, June 26. I've had the chance to preview 14 films from the line-up: the eight narrative features below and six documentaries I've placed in a separate entry. All were seen on DVD screener and where applicable I've noted any special guests that are expected to attend the screenings.These 14 capsule reviews represent only a fraction of the 80 feature films Frameline will show this year, so if you haven't already done so, check o

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Frameline, Michael Hawley,

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INDEX: SF360

FestivalsA Strandful at Frameline31 (06/08/07)ReviewsCinemachismo, Sergio de la Mora (02/27/07)A Flanders Reader (05/06/07)Guillen's Top Five From Another Hole in the Head (05/25/07)The Prodigy, The Roxie, Delirium, God (05/30/07)InterviewsMichael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine (02/23/07)Once Again—A Date With Carney, Hansard, and Irglova (06/01/07)Dennis Nyback and Bad Bugs Bunny (06/06/07)Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart (06/18/07)Marc Huestis on the Runway (07/30/07)A Mighty Wurlitzer Player: Edward Millington Stout III (08/01/07)Jeffrey Blitz and Reece Thompson on Rocket Science (08/08/

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SF360,

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CHRISTOPHER & KATE STATTON: The SF360 Interview

Belatedly, though no less enthusiastically, I announce the SF360 publication of my conversation with Christopher and Kate Statton, the husband-and-wife co-directors of San Francisco's legendary Roxie Theater.With one foot in Boise, and the other still in San Francisco, I'm especially grateful for the opportunity to continue working with Susie Gerhard and her team. To celebrate our ongoing collaboration, I'll take the opportunity of the publication of the Statton conversation to draft an index of my work with SF360.

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Christopher Statton, Kate Statton, SF360, Susie Gerhard,

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