Every spring, for two weeks, filmmakers and film lovers gather in the city to sample the best that world cinema has to offer. Most of the screenings are at the Sundance Kabuki in Japantown, while others are held at the Castro, the Clay, and across the Bay at the Pacific Film Archive. It’s a film festival tradition that has gone on longer than any other in North American. Before Sundance, before Telluride, before the New York Film Festival, this city was celebrating the art of international film. And the San Francisco International Film Festival’s (SFIFF) appeal remains, even in the age of multiplexes, DVDs, and Netflicks.
In 1956, Irving “Bud” Levin decided that it was time the United States had a film festival to compare with Cannes and Berlin. ”There had been talk of a film festival in San Francisco for several years,” says SFIFF Creative Director Miguel Pendas, “but most of the people interested in doing that were thinking more of a small art film kind of festival. Bud had worked with the Italian consul, Pierluigi Alvera, to organize an Italian film festival the year before. Alvera said, ‘You should have an international film festival,’ and that’s part of what inspired Levin to do this.”
Levin grew up in movie theaters. His father, Samuel Levin, had founded a theater chain that included the Coronet, the Vogue, the Metro, and the Balboa theaters, which Irving later inherited and ran. Levin’s widow, Irma, (who passed away in February), reminisced about her husband’s love of film in a 2005 interview for the Film Festival’s oral history site. “He loved the movies,” she said. “That was his whole life. He wasn’t a sportsman. Everything was movies.”
Naturally, there were obstacles, the most obvious being a lack of funding. The festivals Levin hoped to emulate—Cannes, Berlin, Venice—were supported with government money. “In San Francisco,” observes Pendas, “the city administration was supportive, but did not back it up with funding. This was the first major festival that was started by a person and not by a government.”
With the help of local businesses, nonprofits, some foreign consulates, and many volunteers, Levin’s dream became a reality. The 1957 San Francisco International Film Festival was the American premier for films, such as Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood and Lucino Visconti’s Senso. Actor Franchot Tone was master of ceremonies. Attendees included director Frank Borzage and former child star Shirley Temple Black. It has since become a San Francisco institution, a groundbreaking event that has introduced what are now standard festival fare, such as tributes and retrospectives.
On April 22, the SFIFF will celebrate its 53rd opening night.
“The festival has always existed to showcase the best in world cinema to the Bay Area,” says Rachel Rosen, director of programming. “What there’s a little bit more of this year are the programs with live elements. We have a section in the festival that includes extended clips and conversations with people. We’re going to do one this year with T Bone Burnett, who was recently involved with the score for Crazy Heart. He’s going to talk about his music in film and musical moments in other films. This is part of what makes the festival experience unique. Not only are there people and films brought together, but it won’t ever happen again in exactly this way.”
For Executive Director Graham Leggat, the festival’s mission is rooted in both the past and the present. “The idea is to present an insightful survey of contemporary cinema with nods to various classics or historical rediscoveries,” says Leggat. “But its main point is to present a portrait of contemporary society as it’s coming into being, through what we see in cinema today.”
Part of that can involve “a look at something made new.” Leggat points to one of the programs in this year’s festival, the live performance of an original Stephin Merritt score to the silent film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. “It’s our stock in trade to match an excellent contemporary with a beloved silent,” say Leggat.
He is also excited about a tribute to director Walter Salles. “It will feature his fantasia on road movies and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, material that he will be putting together specifically for us. We’ll get an amazing look inside the mind of one of the world’s best contemporary directors.”
And the festival is still about going. It’s about leaving your house, sitting in a darkened theater, and watching—with an audience—remarkable films that you may not be able to see with an audience again.
In an age when movies can be brought home on DVD, or downloaded and watched in your living room, that’s becoming an exceptional experience. Leggat speaks of it with the love of a true and passionate moviegoer. “The festival cuts through the sort of banal multiplex films, and animates all the great hopes and desires that people have about film-going,” he says. “It returns people to the best feelings that they have in a movie house. It brings to life the wonder and pleasure and joy that the best of film-going has, which so often they miss out on in the multiplex, or watching it at home on a DVD.
“It’s the difference between getting takeout and going to a family picnic.”
