50th San Francisco International Film Festival Presents SFIFF/Online
Innovative Four-Program Initiative to Showcase Digital Broadband Exhibition, Production, Networking, Community Building and Explore Vast New Frontiers
San Francisco, CA – The 50th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 26–May 10) continues its ongoing exploration of new digital tools and audience formations with a suite of four SFIFF50/Online projects that showcase digital exhibition, production, networking and community building.
International Online
Designed by San Francisco Film Society and Jaman (www.jaman.com), International Online is a new concept in the online presentation of Festival films. International Online will offer online screenings of a selection of five to eight SFIFF50 films at better-than-DVD quality. The films selected will be available worldwide for download to a limited number of viewers during an exclusive window of time following their SFIFF theatrical screenings. SFIFF will use International Online to share films from the vibrant San Francisco Bay Area film and media scene with Festival fans around the world. The full list of titles and download dates are available at http://fest07.sffs.org/online.
SFIFF50 GreenWorld Contest and Yahoo! Video Partnership
SFIFF50 has teamed up with Jumpcut and Yahoo! Video to present an online competition of short films focused on the conversations, changes, leadership, vision and imagination necessary to create a world that is truly sustainable. Visit www.jumpcut.com/groups/greenworld to view digital works in various forms and genres, from fictional suspense drama and romantic comedy to investigative reportage and personal essays to animated and experimental work. The contest began on March 15, and the winner will be announced May 9 at the SFIFF50 Golden Gate Awards Ceremony and will receive a $1,000 cash award. The winning and runner-up entries will also be featured onscreen at the May 9 SFIFF50 celebration and performance, Halou, Tarentel and the GreenWorld, at Mighty.
Additionally, SFIFF50 has partnered with Jumpcut and Yahoo! Video to launch a branded video channel featuring content from the San Francisco Film Society. The SFFS Channel on Yahoo! Video is available at http://video.yahoo.com. The channel will feature content and creative programming from the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival. In addition, the channel will continue throughout the year with programming drawn from the Film Society’s full slate of events content including interviews with directors of the SFIFF films, clips from the television show SF360 Movie Scene and the second San Francisco International Animation Festival in October 2007.
SFIFF50 Global Reach
The San Francisco Film Society and the Institute for Next Generation Internet present SFIFF50 Global Reach, which consists of two programs, Digital Pathway Global Studio Project and the SFIFF/Online Directors Forum, taking place on Friday, May 4 at the SFSU Westfield Campus, located at 835 Market Street.
The Digital Pathway Global Studio Project is a collaboration of the Digital Sister Cities initiative, bringing the local Bay Area Video Coalition and the Paris-based Reseau together with five new media centers in New York for real-time production via emerging wireless environments and next-generation Internet connectivity. The event will take place at 10:00 am–12:00 noon, San Francisco and 7:00–9:00 pm, Paris time.
SFIFF50/Online Directors forum will invite SFIFF50 directors to take part in a live international high-definition multicast across the next-generation Internet. Audiences in Tokyo, Toronto, Paris and Dublin will interact with San Francisco audiences and guests to discuss filmmaking in the age of universal communications. The multicast will take place 2:00–3:30 pm, San Francisco; 5:00–8:30 pm, Toronto; 10:00–11:30 pm, Dublin; and 11:00 pm–12: 30 am, Paris.
SFIFF50 is archived and streamed with the support of CineGrid, Yahoo! and the Digital Media Council. Additional information is available at www.sffs.org or www.ingi.org.
Festival History Site
To commemorate 50 years of Festival history, the San Francisco Film Society has launched a Web site chronicling the event’s evolution from its inception in 1957 to this year’s golden anniversary. Showcasing a trove of priceless archival materials, the History site features audio and video podcasts of film luminaries including Jacques Tati, Shelley Winters, Clint Eastwood and Dolores del Rio; interviews with former Festival staff and affiliates; a photo gallery of rarely seen images from Festivals past and a gallery of exceptional photographs by Pamela Gentile and other sharp-eyed SFIFF shooters; and incisive articles on great Festival moments ranging from Truman Capote’s appearance in 1974 to a press conference with Liv Ullman. In addition, the site functions as an encyclopedia of information on nearly 6,000 films screened over the years, most accompanied by program notes, film stills and credits. The History site (http://history.sffs.org/) is an excellent resource for historians and film buffs alike.
