You’ll have another chance to catch SXSW breakout “Booksmart” before it hits cinemas May 24. Olivia Wilde’s feature debut about overachieving, college-bound BFFs determined to cram four years of fun into one night will screen at San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF). Scheduled to run from April 10-23, SFIFF’s slate this year includes “a total of 163 films, including 46 narrative features, 40 documentary features, 4 new vision features, 3 episodic programs, [and] 70 shorts,” according to The Playlist. “All told, nearly half of the films in this year’s program are directed by women.”
Among those set to receive tributes this year are Laura Dern, Claire Denis, and Laura Linney. The latter stars in Opening Night’s “Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City,” a Netflix original series. Set in present-day San Francisco, the revival of the 1993 miniseries sees Mary Ann (Linney) reuniting with her daughter Shauna (Ellen Page) and being pulled back into the orbit of Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis).
Awkwafina-starrer “The Farewell” is SFIFF’s Centerpiece Film. Written and directed by Lulu Wang, the comedy centers on a family that decides not to tell their grandmother she’s terminally ill.
This year’s Closing Night Film is “Official Secrets,” a thriller that sees Keira Knightley playing British whistleblower Katharine Gun, who leaked information to the press about an illegal NSA spy operation.
Other features screening at the fest include Lila Avilés’ “The Chambermaid,” a drama about woman who cleans rooms at an upscale Mexico City hotel, and Petra Costa’s “The Edge of Democracy,” a documentary exploring Brazil’s political history.
Documentary filmmaker Madeline Anderson will be honored with The Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award, which recognizes a filmmaker whose main body of work falls outside the realm of narrative feature filmmaking. “Anderson is credited with being the first American-born Black woman to produce and direct a televised documentary film, the first to direct and produce a syndicated television series, and the first African-American woman to join the film editors union, among other firsts,” the source notes.
Head over to The Playlist to check out SFIFF’s complete program.
