Thank You

On behalf of San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF), I would like to thank all of you who attended and participated, supported, or made a contribution physically and or financially that ensured this summer’s event and reassures future festival events.

Upon review of our first film festival as Co-Directors, Katera and I have gained a personal perspective on my mother’s vision twelve years ago at the conclusion of her first film event.  “This is a necessary platform for black film that needs to be cultivated and sustained.”

-

DSC_0220.JPG

-

Chienze Anyaene was a stand out in a yearlong film making program at the New York Film Academy, in Los Angeles, CA. where, upon successful competition; “She immediately enrolled in the Masters Degree program to master the art of film making.  Anyaene is the first student in the history of the New York Film Academy to shoot a feature film while in school. She’s today the youngest female film maker in Nigeria, and she is also the first student in the history of Kodak to shoot a feature film on 35MM raising the bar for the Nollywood film industry Founder of Xandria Productions, Anyaene is a first time feature director, her credits include 12 short films, two commercials, and one music video...  ”

-

-

From left to right: H.L.T. Quan & C.A. Griffith, directors of Mountains That Take Wing-A Conversation with Angela Davis & Yuri Kochiyama-On Life, Struggles, and Liberation, were presented the  2010 St. Clair Bourne Award, established by Ave in 2008 in honor of the man and in recognition of the special abilities of a gifted documentary filmmaker to identify and capture a culture.  Congratulations on your success ladies!!!

-

ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL (SFBFF)

-

The mission of the San Francisco Black Film Festival is to celebrate African American cinema and the African cultural Diaspora and to showcase a diverse collection of films – from emerging and established filmmakers. This is accomplished by presenting Black films, which reinforce positive images and dispel negative stereotypes, and providing film artists from the bay area in particular and around the world in general, a forum for their work to be viewed and discussed. SFBFF believes film can lead to a better understanding of and communication between, peoples of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles, while simultaneously serving as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times.

From its modest beginnings in 1998 with $3,000 in funding, SFBFF has grown from a one-day event with an audience of 300 to a five day multiple venue cultural celebration drawing over 2,000 people. It is comprised of film screenings, panel discussions, hands-on workshops, the Urban Kidz film series, opening and closing programs, and the Melvin Van Peebles Award ceremony, which recognizes an emerging filmmaker for risk taking.

An early proponent of the global perspective, the festival has always been ahead of its time. Long before popular culture paid lip service to ‘going global’; we were walking the walk, presenting global motifs and topics from filmmakers around the world.

-

SFBFF proud to Co-present with The San Francisco Silent Film Festival

 

 

Saturday, July 17, 2:00 pm

The Flying Ace

Directed by Richard E. Norman

With Lawrence Criner, Kathryn Boyd

USA, 1926, 65 minutes

 

Richard E. Norman was among the first to produce films starring African-American actors in positive roles.

Between 1920 and 1928, the Norman Film Manufacturing Co. produced six feature-length films as part of a movement to establish an independent black cinema at a time when blacks were demeaned in mainstream movies. The Flying Ace is the only Norman film that survives and its story of a crime-fighting ace pilot is still a crowd-pleaser! New 35mm print from Library of Congress

 

Rita Regan from Norman Studios will introduce the program.

 

Live piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin

 

The Silent Film Festival's international reputation for excellence in programming and presentation

The 15th anniversary San Francisco Silent Film Festival will be held at the historic Castro Theatre July 15-18. We will mark the occasion with the biggest event and most diverse selection of films (representing seven countries), musicians, and special guests in our history. Already the nation’s largest annual exhibition of silent film, with attendance over 13,000, the Silent Film Festival is also one of the most popular events in the City’s vibrant film festival scene. It is a destination for archivists, historians, and classic-film lovers from across the country.