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Presidio Kabuki Presidio Kabuki Presidio
Head ‘em up, move ‘em out

For some reason, my Scooter turned right on Polk, then left on Filbert to the Presidio and through the Presidio to the Film Society. I was going to a nine o”clock wrap up meeting. As I approached the building, it looked freakin” deserted. Wait a minute, the meeting is at the Kabuki!

I walked in late and Graham Leggat, the Executive Director, was going over some specifics of the load-out. We have to have all our stuff out of the building by 1:30. He then launched into an extended, gracious and heartfelt thank you to all us staff, as only he can do.

That left the load-out. The Publicity gang started moving boxes of file folders, the file cabinet, lamps, chairs and all. Richard had it totally organized and in no time we were back in the Presidio.

Nice Festival.

Would you do it again?

That’s what Tiffany, our National Publicist, asked me once the Festival dust had cleared.

Publicists three: Tara, Cindy, Tiffany

Continue reading “SFIFF50 DAY SIXTEEN — Friday” →

Paste up, La Vie en Rose

Last Red Carpet before the spectacular La Vie en Rose, described by the director (short, chubby, 30ish, with an eyebrow ring, a backwards cap and an entourage of about eight French people) as a portrait of Edith Piaf, not a bio-pic. It’s now in distribution in the US after playing in many major Festivals, including Bro Tom‘s Atlanta Film Festival. La Vie en Rose is a must-see, Piaf fan or not.

Non, je ne regrette rien.

Day off
Continue reading “SFIFF50 DAY FOURTEEN — Wednesday” →

Sorting, Cooking

I spent the afternoon sorting press clippings to get ahead of Bill, who is targeting clippings to be sent to individual filmmakers.

Then on to my real fun, cooking Cotelettes de Porc au Cidre and Kale Mashed Potatoes for Carol and Sarah before they went to see Gardins in Autumn.

When they left I took a “half-hour nap,” and was conked out until 2am.

Audience of One

A watching day, not a working day.

Visit these links for a full description of Audience of One, then an irreverent review/commentary. They will get you in the mood to relate to my comments below.

Michael Jacobs, the director was present for a Q&A after the film. It was amazing to me that he shot the film by himself and put it together with the help of a part time editor.

Imagine, he heard about Richard Gazowsky, pastor of the Voice of Pentecost Church in San Francisco who had been told by God to make the finest movie ever made. Jacobs went to a service and said to himself, “I want to make a film about this guy,” and asked Gazowsky for permission to document the making of Gravity: The Shadow of Joseph.

Okay, it’s one thing to follow a guy around San Francisco for a while, but Gazowsky was going to Italy with his whole cast and crew to film for two weeks. When Jacobs confirmed that they were actually going, he bought his own ticket and followed.

Now that takes balls!

I hope Jacobs gets distribution, so you all can see it. It’s bizarre and funny and sad, and like nothing you have seen before.

Members Screening, Kubuki x 2, Bushi Tei, Last Days of Yassar Arafat

The last Sunday of the Festival, Film Society Members are treated to a Bonus film at 9:30am. This truly is a bonus — not a Festival film — and this year it was Lars von Trier‘s new film The Boss of It All, a low budget deadpan farce and really good. It’s playing in San Francisco now, and I highly recommend it.

After, we had brunch at Bushi Tei, a very cool, nontraditional Japanese restaurant up Post Street from the Kubuki. Our waiter, a twenty-something caucausian, was extremely cordial and perfectly correct, but obviously new at the job. His plight was complicated by some kind of transition in their beverage license, so he had to serve our wine in — very elegant — coffee cups. The food was superb, both visually and in the mouth.

We continued the day with The Other Half, a Chinese film about a young lawyer who interviews battered and estranged women in a Chinese industrial town. I thought it sensitive and interesting; Carol and Sarah didn”t.

Carol and Sarah stayed on for The Last Days of Yassar Arafat, which I had seen, an excellent documentary.

My notes:

Documentary

A film by Sherine Salama

“For many years I”ve traveled between Australia and Palestine,”

Yassar Arafat makes public appearances and conducts press conferences, but he very rarely grants private interviews. Ms Salama, through her political connections in Palestine, was promised an interview. She arrived from Australia, at the President’s Compound in Ramala in September 2003, but it wasn”t until November of 2004, after a few trips back and forth, that she was able to interview Arafat. Hers was the last interview of Arafat’s life. Although about 80% of the film is waiting, the setting, the Palestinian people and the scenes of Arafat himself are enlightening and interesting. He passed away in Paris on November 11, 2004. The scenes of the delivery of his casket back to the Compound in Ramala are amazing.

“To this day the exact cause of Arafat’s death is unknown.”

Big day. Long day.

Home day, Clip clip, Clay, C: Delirious

I spent most of the day at home, catching up with stuff, Hung a kitchen grid, put cleaning junk in the bathroom drains, changed batteries in the pepper grinder, hey, a welcome relief.

For my official duties, I clipped and pasted at home, then spent the evening until 10 o’clock passing out press tickets at the Clay Theater, which was hosting Festival films for this night.

Meanwhile, Carol and Sarah took in the Centerpiece film at the Kabuki, Delirious, starring Steve Buscemi, and were delirious with delight.

Scooter, Castro, Robin Williams

In the morning I went to the Kabuki to take some pictures. When I parked my scooter and pushed the kick-stand down, CLANK! the kick stand fell on the pavement and led me to a new lunch spot.

The evening found me at the Castro wrangling the red carpet again for a Tribute to Robin Williams. He is the recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award for acting. On stage he was interviewed by Armistead Maupin, the author of the three volume Tales of the City, (SF gay scene in the 70’s) among other books and TV series. Carol read all three as soon as we moved to San Francisco.
The interview was preceded by a clip reel, featuring mainly his serious roles; Good Will Hunting, Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, and so on.

Interview is an overstatement, I think Armistead got maybe two questions in. Robin got off on a ramble about things San Francisco and then Britney Spears vagina. We all know about the picture of her, pantyless, getting out of a limo. Williams remarked that in the photo, her vagina was pixilated, and envisioned her pixilated vagina as a black hole sucking in all manner of mentionable and unmentionable items and creatures. And on and on, Robin Williams live for an hour is something to behold and I was laughing until it hurt.

And I”m not even a fan.

After, The Fisher King was screened. Carol and Sarah stayed for that, but I left. Too many late nights for this old man.

Paste up, Awards Night, Warriors

You”re no doubt tired of hearing about my paste-up and sorting, but that’s what I”m doing between films and events. It’s my sole responsibility and I feel it’s valuable. Clips are sent to the stars, directors, etc to document the coverage and are used to lure stars, directors etc to the next festival. And they become part of the archive of SFFS.

Okay, it’s totally boring to read about, so on to Awards Night.

AWARDS NIGHT

This is a big deal, although my part in it was humble and hidden. We assembled at the Westin St. Francis Hotel at 4pm to prepare for the seven o”clock event. A ballroom and two large anti-rooms were lushly decorated for cocktails, the red carpet and the awards ceremony. In the main room, 68 tables for ten (at $5,000 per table) were set up for the event. The décor was suitably luxurious and guests were expected in black tie.
Continue reading “SFIFF50 DAY EIGHT — Thursday” →

Paste up, Pix, Spike Lee

I caught up with my leftover paste-up at home this morning. My work desk in the back room is a mess, the dining room table in front is big, but the kitchen table has the best light, so I set up there. And the red stool is just the right height — not standing, not sitting, like I’m back working at the drafting table in one of the animal show barns Ohio State used for architecture students back in the day — for that kind of work.

An Evening with Spike Lee
The Program Guide says:

Join us for a special evening honoring the unconventional filmmaking genius of Spike Lee, recipient of this year’s Film Society Directing Award. Retrospective film clips from Lee’s singular career will be followed by an onstage interview conducted by Boston Globe film critic Wesley Morris and a screening of Acts II and III of Lee’s four-act Hurricane Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke.

The Directing Award was first won by Akira Kurosawa in 1986, and then presented to such icons as Clint Eastwood, Warren Beatty, Robert Altman, Milos Forman, in this century, Werner Herzog winning it last year. Pretty good company. Continue reading “SFIFF50 DAY SEVEN — Wednesday” →