WSOTW Special's blog

Here's a rundown off all the narrative films I was able to screen at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival (in order of viewing,) a trailer if available, and accompanied by a one sentence review -

"Pearblossom Hwy" (USA)
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A disappointing sort-of-sequel to a film I really liked - 2010's "Littlerock" - whose characters seem to be lacking character this time around.
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Here's a rundown off all the documentaries I was able to screen at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival (in order of viewing,) a trailer if available, and accompanied by a one sentence review -

"Rent-a-Family, Inc." (Japan)
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Very interesting doc about a Japanese entrepreneur who rents out "family members" to others who wish to "save face" at family and corporate events while having his own family issues.
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The 56th San Francisco International came to a close at the magnificent Castro Theatre with a showing of Richard Linklater’s “Before Midnight”, the third in Linklater’s series of “Before…” films. Preceded by “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset”, the film continues the story of Jesse and Celine, now a middle-aged, two child couple on vacation in Greece. Things are not quite right between the two, and there is much to be said between them. So they talk. For two hours. And it is absolutely enthralling.

Made a rare weekday excursion into the city to catch the new documentary “Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay”. Jay is one of the more interesting hybrid entertainers (magician/actor/author) of the last few decades so I welcomed the opportunity to get a peek “inside the box”.

Saturday found me back at the Festival with the hopes of catching a film or two before hopefully getting access to the Festival’s Centerpiece event.

Seeing as how my first day at the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival didn't end until 3am, I was in no particular rush to head back down to the Kabuki Cinemas on Sunday and catch a few more Festival flicks. Upon checking the schedule, I was pleased to see that a film that SFFS Programmer Sean Uyehara RAVED about on our preview show was screening at 4:15pm. Perfect. Or so I thought.

Well, it actually rose Thursday night but Saturday was my first day at the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival and what a long, but enjoyable, day it turned out to be.

I arrived in the afternoon prepared to begin the long, fruitless search for free parking. I packed enough provisions, extra blankets and water as I knew the search might take days. Imagine my surprise to find an open, unmetered, non time-restricted parking space directly across from a police station just blocks from the Festival venue! Could this be a good sign of things to come? We’ll see…

What is? Our coverage of the 56th Annual San Francisco International Film Festival, that's what! Stay tuned...

Now that the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival has come to close, I've taken some time to look back on the over 25 films I had a chance to screen and anoint the "Best of Festival" award. This one was easy...

The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival closed with a screening of "Don't Stop Believin' - Everyman's Journey," Ramona Diaz's new documentary chronicling the journey of Arnel Pineda. His trek from a Phillipine cover band to lead vocalist for the classic rock band "Journey" (via You Tube) is an incredible story.

Diaz got a "heads up" from a Phillipine emigration official and jumped on the opportunity to capture