SF Film Festival Wrap Up

The SF Film Festival that ran from April 8 through the 18th pulled off a virtual trip to the movies and all treated Bay Area audiences to special screenings at the Fort Mason Flix Drive-In. There were a variety of narrative, documentary and short films showcased during the festival. The festival films ranged from Nudo Mixteco by Mexican director Angeles Cruz which was a trilogy of stories in a small indigenous Mexican village involving a lesbian woman having to go back to attend a funeral, a man who returns after a 3 year absence to find that his wife has taken up with another man and a domestic rape survivor trying to save her daughter from similar family abuse. A powerful slice of life was the Nigerian film “This Is My Desire” which focused on two Nigerian natives, a middle aged electrician and a young girl who want to leave the country yet are bounded by fate.

The documentary “Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It” was a fun ride looking at the amazing career of the the multi-talented and witty actress who won a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony and an Emmy. The unstoppable Moreno is still going strong on television and is turning 90 this year. Another fine documentary was Roberto Salinas film Cuban Dancer which follows a 15 year old dancer Alexis from his great promise as a future dance star to his challenges as his family immigrates to the U.S. The music documentary on British punk rock’s bi-racial star Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliche. She was one of the few bi-racial musicians in Punk who led the renowned band X Ray Spex back in the 70’s-80’s.

This year’s Music and Film event was the screening of The Lost Landscapes Of Oakland with a live film score performed by the dynamic, Grammy award winning musician Fantastic Negrito. The film was different scenes throughout different eras in Oakland. The film was forgettable but the most interesting footage was of the Black Panthers breakfast program in the 1970s. But Fantasic Negrito’s performance was amazing, funky and elevated the film screening experience for me that evening. Catch this artist when you can!!

Other films that were captivating was the new film that’s headed to the big screens “Naked Singlarity” starring John Boyega as an impassioned but voitile public defender who stumbles into a heist involving a SUV containing heroin worth millions of dollars. “Cryptozoo” was an imaginative, psychedelic animated fantasy about mythological beings and the heroine that comes to their rescue. “Strawberry Mansion” was an experimental film that combines fantasy, animation and a romance about an auditor in the future that audits both your finances and your dreams. “Supercool” was an outrageous send up of the teenage coming-of-age comedy. The Algerian crime drama Abou Leila was a tense nail biter about two policemen, one with mental issues, who go chasing after an elusive terrorist in the Sahara desert. The sensitive family drama Son Of Monarchs follows a Mexican native who grew up enchanted by Monarch butterflies and how his life parallels the monarch’s migration back to Mexico from the U.S. as he attends his Grandmother’s funeral.

SF Film did a fine job organizing, curating and presenting this year’s virtual festival despite COVID amid the challenges and expectations of continuing one of the U.S. major film festivals. Their website for their year round schedule is www.sffilm.org. Some of these films will be opening to US audiences in the near future.

Photo Image: A scene from Mariem Perez Riera’s film Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It, from the 2021 San Francisco International Film Festival. Courtesy of SFFILM.