SFBFF12 JUNE 17th-20th, 2010

 

“The little festival that could” is proving it will. With 35 films screening over 4 days the San Francisco Black Film Festival will produce its first major festival event since the unexpected loss of its founder and director Avé Montague. Thursday, June 17th, will be the first night of film, which will be held at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas. Friday, in The Fillmore, SFBFF will be screening at the Jazz Heritage Center’s Koret Screening Room. SFBFF12 will screen the majority of its’ films on Saturday and Sunday, downtown at Opera Plaza Cinemas, relying on San Francisco’s 60th Juneteenth Celebration, (one block away in Civic Center Plaza) to provide the festival atmosphere while they “bring it back to just film”.

Juneteenth is a celebration commemorating the final delivery of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, by Major General Gordon Granger after he landed at Galveston Texas, June 19, 1865; over 2 years late. San Francisco’s Juneteenth Celebration is the 2nd oldest and largest outside of Texas. This year SFBFF has collaborated with SF Juneteenth Committee Inc. to bring a cinematic component to the celebration. Films like Dynamite Gang which re-imagines the civil rights movement IF some turned to violence…or Burn: The Evolution of an American City (a documentary), the filmmaker and a journalist set out to tell the story of the little known ‘Worst recorded race riot in American history’, The 1921 Tulsa Oklahoma Race Riot. They are struck by the amazing complexity of what seems to be such a simple place. Pro-Black Sheep, a story about Rashad, who is a young, extraordinary, intellectual, discovered to be sending anonymous emails to black Leaders. Criticizing them for undermining the progress of black America. This film will stimulate and encourage healthy thought and conversation end about issues that have do and will affect the black community as a whole. While, A Choice of Weapons, which follows the story of San Francisco youth as they discover the threats of eviction, toxic waste, and redevelopment facing their Bayview Hunter’s Point. This film is “home grown” and relevant…

Sunday is feature heavy and promises to please. San Francisco has been waiting for Jelly! Jelly is a girl who thinks life should be like a John Hughes movie. After a terrible break up with the love-of-her-life, Luke, she throws herself into a life of emotionally driven predicaments. Trapped Haitian Nights is a psychological thriller that delves into the world of Voodoo and the fragility of the mind. This was the last Hollywood production shot in Haiti before the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010. Behind The Shallow Mind is the tale of a hairstylist who has been blindly forced into the streets by her family. She gets railroaded into a gang of simple minds where she becomes unaware of the dangers that surround her. And, Billy; starts with a young journalist sent to a retirement home to interview Billy, a 94 year-old Black man. He is reluctantly drawn into the story of his eventful life, dating back to his early recollections of a time when he left the United States to move to northern Manitoba. He recalls his struggle as a homesteader, the racism he endured, his love of a woman, and his gift of photography. Billy is the story of one man’s constant search for acceptance. These are just a hand full of the films screening during San Francisco’s 60th Juneteenth Celebration. These will be the best films (under the radar) that you will see in 2010! Some real gems!

SFBFF continues to serve as a bridge between worlds, forging cultural connections by presenting universal themes from filmmakers around the globe. The festival will keep on being San Francisco’s platform for local and international filmmakers to showcase their diverse, array of cinematic works, which serve to encourage a positive image of the African-American and those of the African cultural diaspora.  Tickets can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets. For a complete calendar of events, tickets, sponsorship opportunities, volunteer sign up, as well as addition information about films and trailers please visit the SFBFF website at www.sfbff.org.

ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL (SFBFF)

The mission of the San Francisco Black Film Festival is to celebrate African American cinema and the African cultural Diaspora and to showcase a diverse collection of films – from emerging and established filmmakers. This is accomplished by presenting Black films, which reinforce positive images and dispel negative stereotypes, and providing film artists from the bay area in particular and around the world in general, a forum for their work to be viewed and discussed. SFBFF believes film can lead to a better understanding of and communication between, peoples of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles, while simultaneously serving as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times.

From its modest beginnings in 1998 with $3,000 in funding, SFBFF has grown from a one-day event with an audience of 300 to an five day multiple venue cultural celebration drawing over 2,000 people. Comprised of film screenings, panel discussions, hands-on workshops, the Urban Kidz film series, opening and closing programs, and the Melvin Van Peebles Award ceremony, which recognizes an emerging filmmaker for risk taking.

An early proponent of the global perspective, the festival has always been ahead of its time. Long before popular culture paid lip service to ‘going global’, we were walking the walk, presenting global motifs and topics from filmmakers around the world.