I consider it both an ultra cool and crazy bold decision to cater an entire film festival towards one specific type of film. Doing this can, and often will, alienate a lot of people. Honestly, how many people anxiously await the Bicycle Film Festival, or the Queer Women of Color Film Festival who aren’t either avid cyclists or black gay females?
As a film enthusiast, I don’t go to festivals based solely on whether or not my race, and/or lifestyle match the festival’s program. I seek out festivals hoping to find that diamond in the ruff movie that will most likely never get a wide release. That movie that should have been nominated for an Oscar but you know never will. Last year’s Green Film Festival had a few of those movies and had I been the type of person to judge a book by its cover I never would have seen them.
My point is, you shouldn’t attend a film festival based on name alone. Take the Green Film Festival for example. My initial instinct upon hearing about this festival dedicated to exploring green issues and sustainable living was that it was secretly, or overtly, in cahoots with Green Peace and that all of their films would be propagandist shit. How wrong I was. Two Werner Herzog narrated features (one of which featured him voicing a plastic bag), a Brazilian doc, Hauling, which ended up being in my top 10 docs of the year, and a life-changing doc in Bag-It that will forever change the way I view my environment were some of last year’s highlights. As a film fan I am pretty stoked for this year’s lineup.
The 2nd Annual Green Film Festival goes for a week, from March 1st to the 7th and takes place at the SF Film Society Cinema in Japantown.
This year’s highlights, a complete film schedule, and the festival trailer can all be found after the jump
Some highlights that I’m looking forward to are Ian Cheney‘s acclaimed documentary on our loss of natural light in The City Dark, and Guy Hustwit‘s doc on city landscaping, Urbanized. I’m also looking forward to seeing Sushi: The Global Catch for no other reason than I looove sushi! Aside from those films and many more, there will also be panel discussions, lots of Q&As with filmmakers, and partying. Check out the festival guide here for more info.
Thursday, March 1st:
7:00pm The Island President
Friday, March 2nd:
5:00pm Who Bombed Judi Bari?
7:45pm You’ve Been Trumped
9:45pm Local Hero
Saturday, March 3rd:
1:00pm Sushi: The Global Catch
1:00pm Panel discussion on the future of film funding
3:30pm On Coal River
4:30pm Panel discussion on storytelling for change
5:30pm Walking The Tiger
8:00pm The City Dark
Sunday, March 4th:
1:00pm Cafeteria Man
1:00pm Panel discussion on gaming for good
3:00pm Blood In The Mobile
5:00pm Alma
7:00pm Minds in the Water
Monday, March 5th:
5:30pm Green Fire:: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time
7:45pm Urbanized
Tuesday, March 6th:
5:30pm Taste The Waste
8:00pm Urban Roots
Wednesday, March 7th:
5:30pm Future of Hope
7:30pm Just Do It: A Tale of Modern-Day Outlaws
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Adam…we are black queer femmes, studs, ags, black queer women, asian studs, queer api women, api transmen, straight white cisgender men and white transgender men, queer and trans LatinX, two-spirit Native American & First Nations people, plus a bunch of straight people of color and straight white people who are our moms, dads, siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandmothers, loves, friends and allies. the thing about specificity is that it allows us to build strong bridges between seemingly disparate communities (and negate the fact that most international film festival don’t identify the majority of their content as what it truly is), and show some amazing films from around the world. our identification is so that our multiple communities can find us where they need us and if other people get to enjoy the show and learn something too, then we are blessed.