Innovative docs, fractured fairy tales, Disney ditties, dinosaurs, and at least one scene-stealing camel highlight the Fest’s fifty-second year. Our critics take a peek at some of the more buzz-worthy entries below.
THE 52ND SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL runs April 23–May 7. Main venues are the Sundance Kabuki, 1881 Post, SF; Castro, 429 Castro, SF; Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft, Berk; and Clay, 2261 Fillmore, SF. Satellite venues are Premier Theater, Letterman Digital Arts Center, Bldg. B, One Letterman Drive, Presidio, SF; and Roxie, 3117 16th St, SF. Tickets (most shows $12.50; special programs vary) and additional information at www.sffs.org.
>>52 pick-up
SFIFF rides again, with a quietly terrifying North Korea doc
By Cheryl Eddy
>>In the realms of the real
Sacred Places and Z32 — SFIFF’s unconventional docs
By Max Goldberg
>>Unhappily ever after
The film fest’s fractured, freaky, and feminist fantasies
By Kimberly Chun
>>Oaktown fugue
Everything Strange and New: stillness interrupted
Lynn Rapoport
>>Tune Boom
SFIFF’s catchy ditties and dino-riffs
By Dennis Harvey
>>Shots in the dark
Our short, sharp takes on other SFIFF flicks