San Francisco Film Fest Defines Scope of Modern Cinema; "Wilde" Leads 1998 Festival Lineup, "Box" Closes

by Carl Russo

Just 500 miles from Hollywood, but worlds apart in its concerns, the 41st San Francisco International Film Festival is set to unspool 174 films from 45 countries that define the scope of modern cinema. Organizers have unveiled the lineup for the 1998 event.

The two-week affair, running April 23 through May 7, boasts a prestigious list of independent film premieres, retrospectives and guests, with special attention given to artists sharing Bay Area roots.

"We've gone for the edgy. We've gone for films that audiences may not immediately go 'Yummy' about," cautioned Peter Scarlet, Artistic Director and chief programmer. While that might explain the fest's preponderance of bleak Eastern European epics over recent years, a sense of the fantastic sets the tone on opening night. A local sound stage will be the scene of a Salome/Parisian café-themed opening night bash on April 23 following the North American premiere of Brian Gilbert's Oscar Wilde bio-pic, "Wilde." Stephen Fry stars in the Sony Pictures Classics release.

San Francisco director Wayne Wang returns to the festival that launched his successful films "Smoke" and "Blue in the Face" to close the fest on May 7 with his latest production, "Chinese Box." Starring Jeremy Irons, Maggie Cheung and Gong Li, the Trimark release is a political love story set in Hong Kong during the final days of British rule.

The glitz arrives in the form of Academy Award-winner Nicholas Cage, this year's recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award which honors "an actor whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity." The onstage tribute and interview will include a screening of "Birdy," Alan Parker's 1984 film that featured the Bay Area-raised Cage in his breakthrough lead role.

While technically not a competitive festival, several independents from around the world will converge on San Francisco with fingers crossed. The Skyy Prize (sponsored by Skyy Vodka) will be awarded by a jury of critics and industry pros to one of 13 features presently lacking a U.S. distributor. Two of the competing films were made by well-known actors who crossed over to helm. San Francisco-based Joan Chen cast herself as the title character in the Mandarin-language film "Xiu Xiu." She plays a novice horse breeder in rural Tibet during the end of the Cultural Revolution. Veteran French thesp Michel Picolli stayed behind the camera to direct the ensemble of "So There," which follows the misadventures of a multigenerational French family. Other films vying for the Skyy Prize include Sylvie Verhyde's "A Brother" (France), Christohper Nolan's "Following" (UK), Georgi Khaindrava's "Graveyard of Dreams" (Georgia), Lee Chang-Dong's "Green Fish" (South Korea) and Eduardo Milewicz' "Life According to Muriel" (Argentina).

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This year's Golden Gate Awards commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed 50 years ago in San Francisco. Documentaries dealing with human rights were invited for submission. Of the 112 winners in 31 categories, 10 are North American premieres, including Sonia Herman Dolz' "Black Tears" (Netherlands) and Isabella Sandri's "Spirits of 1000 Years" (Italy). Critics Emanuel Levy and Gavin Smith will be included on the jury to hand out the Grand Prize Awards for Best Documentary, Best Short, Best Bay Area Documentary and Best Bay Area Short on May 7. Photographer/filmmaker Robert Frank will be the recipient of the second annual Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award, which honors "the lifetime achievement of a director working outside the bounds of narrative filmmaking. Frank's "Cocksucker Blues" and "Me and My Brother" will screen, as well as a collection of his short films. This year's Akira Kurosawa Award for lifetime achievement in film direction will be given to the renowned Korean director Im Kwon-Taek. Audiences will be treated to rare stateside screenings of his films "Mandala," "Surrogate Mother," Sopyonje," "The Taebeck Mountains," and "Ticket." Other tributes include a ceremony honoring the groundbreaking career of Adrienne Mancia, longtime film curator of the New York Museum of Modern Arts; an evening with Hollwood Blacklist survivor John Berry, a tribute to Warren Sonbert's Estate Project for Artists with Aids; screenings of favorite past SFIFF films hand-picked by local "name" filmmakers, and a celebration of music in film. [For advance tickets and information, call: (415) 569-9700. The festival's web site is at www.sfiff.org/fest98] Login to recommend this article » posted on April 6, 1998 Films to Snag Login to Leave a Comment »