OCTOBER

October 17
BENEFIT SCREENING
Full Battle Rattle
7:30 pm, Premiere Theatre, Letterman Digital Arts Center

Tony Gerber, Jesse Moss (USA 2008)
Tony Gerber, Jesse Moss in person

Deep in the Mojave Desert lies the Fort Irwin National Training Center, where soldiers about to go to the Middle East receive a unique type of preparation. Shown with Adam Keker's short film On the Assassination of the President.

October 17-23
Under the Bombs
Sundance Kabuki Cinemas

Philippe Aractingi (Sous les bombes, France/Lebanon/England/Belgium 2007)

Improvised during the actual bombing of Lebanon in 2006, Phillipe Aractingi’s raw and heart wrenching Under the Bombs sets aside the politics of the situation to depict war’s ravages.

October 21
Fear(s) of the Dark
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre di Sciullo, Lorenzo Mattotti, Richard McGuire (Peur(s) du noir, France 2007)
Codirector and cowriter Charles Burns in person

This highly anticipated, beautifully scary animated portmanteau of animated films portrays a collection of dark nightmares in black, white and gray. It’s “...a loving exploration into the surreal atmosphere of your creepiest dreams.”

October 23
Pighunt
Landmark’s Clay Theatre

Jim Isaac (USA 2008)
Cowriter/coproducer Robert Mailer Anderson and cowriter Zack Anderson expected to attend

Deep country bliss turns into a verdant hell when John (Travis Aaron Wade), his girlfriend, and a group of buddies head out from San Francisco for a weekend of pig hunting. S.F.'s own writer/producer Robert Mailer Anderson and director/producer Jim Isaac have come up with a darkly comic hell ride with a uniquely Northern California sensibility.

October 24–30
Fraulein
Sundance Kabuki Cinemas

Andrea Štaka (Das Fräulein, Switzerland/Germany/Bosnia/Serbia 2006)

Winner of the Golden Leopard at Locarno, this tender film centers on three women who come from a country that no longer exists—Yugoslavia—and the sorrow and longing that comes with such a heritage.

Secrecy
Landmark’s Opera Plaza Cinema

Peter Galison, Robb Moss (USA, 2008)
Robb Moss in person

The SFIFF51 hit returns for a one-week run. The seduction and power of secrets are at the core of this fascinating and timely documentary exploring why the U.S. government spends more time and money than ever before to keep information away from the American public.

October 25
MEET THE MAKER
Meet the Maker: Practice and Craft with Robb Moss
11:00 am, Ninth Street Screening Room, 145 Ninth Street

Robb Moss, the codirector of Secrecy, will discuss the different facets of making an investigative documentary, the possible methods of presentation and representation used in the film, among other topics.
$10 Member, $15 General Public.

SFFS FOCUS: INVESTIGATIVE DOCUMENTARY/Secrecy
PANEL DISCUSSION
Need to Know: Uncovering Government Secrets
This panel discussion (following the 2:00 pm screening) probes the provocative questions raised in Secrecy. Phil Bronstein, executive vice president and editor-at-large of the San Francisco Chronicle, will moderate with panelists Moss; Robert Rosenthal, executive director of the Center for Investigative Reporting, Berkeley; and Ben Wizner, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, San Francisco.
Admission is free

October 31–November 6
Delwende
Sundance Kabuki Cinemas

S. Pierre Yameogo (Léve-toi et marche, Burkina Faso/France/Switzerland 2005)

Based on true events, Delwende is a vibrantly photographed and fiercely feminist tale of patriarchal injustice and a woman’s courage in the great tradition of Sissoko’s Finzan and Sembene’s Moolaadé.

NOVEMBER

November 13–16
3RD SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL
Latest trends and voices in international animation.

November 15
3RD SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL
Meet the Maker: Practice and Craft with Gene Deitch
10:00 am Ninth Street Independent Film Center Screening Room, 145 Ninth Street

Maverick animator Gene Deitch discusses his 50-plus years in animation.
$10 Member, $15 General Public.

November 16–23
NEW ITALIAN CINEMA
Seven new features in competition by emerging directors and a two-film retrospective by a leading Italian filmmaker, plus Opening Night and Closing Night special screenings and celebrations with filmmakers in person.