The british are coming!  The british are coming!  Oh look, it’s not just the British, but the Irish, Australians, and South Africans are coming as well, and their armed with loaded canisters of film.  Let’s not fight them, people, lets come together and welcome them with our open cinematic hearts to the Vogue Theatre (3290 Sacramento Street) from February 2nd through the 9th.

This year’s lineup offers films both new and old.  While the newer films look interesting and feature a lot of things I find visually appealing in my movies i.e., Irish bare knuckle fighting (Knuckle), anything with Guy Pearce (33 Postcards), sport documentaries (Fire in Babylon), and revenge thrillers (Route Irish), it’s the older films that have really grabbed my attention.

This year the MBFF will be showing all 7 parts of the renown Seven Up documentary series, as well as a newly restored version of the 1926 silent doc, The Great White Silence.  While those films alone have me amped up for some series cinema watching, I’m even more excited for this year’s focus on directorial firsts.  Being that I am a big fan of director Nicholas Roeg‘s earlier work (The Man Who Fell To Earth, Don’t Look Now, Walkabout), I have no plans of missing a chance at seeing his 1970 debut, Performance.  Besides Roeg, some other director first films being screened are Stephen Frears‘ (High Fidelity, The Queen, Dangerous Liaisons) 1971 crime/comedy starring Albert Finney, Gumshoe, as well as Mike Figgis‘ (Leaving Las Vegas, Hotel, Internal Affairs) 1988 crime/drama starring Tommy Lee Jones, Sting, and Melanie Griffith, Stormy Monday.

Schedule, showtimes and ticket info can be found after the jump Read More…

What this festival lacks in quantity (only 5 films) it more than makes up for in quality, which makes the fact that this is the film’s last year even more disheartening.  I for one am truly grateful for being introduced to many fantastic German films over the past few years and this year is no exception.  Check out my mini guide to all the films playing at this year’s fest after the jump

The festival will be at The Castro Theatre on Saturday, January 14th and then move to the Arena Theater in Point Arena on Sunday, January 15th.  All five films will be shown at The Castro Theatre. Read More…

Preminger, Vidor, Sturges, Fuller, Dassin, Huston, plus Bogart!  Dashiell Hammett, Alan Ladd, and Gloria Grahame.  Name-dropping of this caliber can only mean one thing; It’s film noir time at the Castro Theatre.

It seems fitting that this year’s 10th annual Noir City Film Festival should run for 10 days.  From January 20th to the 29th the Castro Theatre will be once again feature an impressive line-up of some great noirtastic twists and turns with all the dialogue heavy banter we noir fans love.  Expect saucy vixens, fedora donning thugs, deceit, heartbreak, guns, cigarettes, and  melodrama.  Aside from the names mentioned at the top of the post, this year’s highlights also include a live on-stage interview with Angie Dickenson (The Killers, Point Blank, Dressed To Kill), a 1940s themed gala, and two versions of The Maltese Falcon.

Complete film schedule and ticket info after the jump Read More…

San Francisco kicks off the 2012 film festival season with the German Gems annual showcase of hard to find German films.  If you haven’t attended this festival in previous years I strongly urge you to do so this time around, because Unfortunately, the third annual German Gems will also be its last.    As can be expected, we at Filmbalaya.com will have spoiler-free reviews on all the films leading up to the festival.

All of the San Francisco screenings will take place at The Castro Theatre on Saturday, January 14th.  From there, the festival moves down the Mendocino coast to the Arena Theater in Point Arena.  Follow the jump for the full schedule and ticket information Read More…

Still not sure as to what you should or shouldn’t see at this year’s South Asian Film Festival?  Don’t fret, were here to help.  Hopefully our guide below will help you navigate through this year’s schedule and you will be able to get the most movie enjoyment for your buck.

3rd I South Asian’s Film Festival is being held at both the Roxie and Castro Theaters from November 9th to the 13th.  For information on showtimes click on the reviews.

Patang (The Kite) – “All around well acting, a subtle but effective script, and some beautiful cinematography converge to create one of the finest foreign dramas I’ve seen in quite some time.” – Adam

Big In Bollywood – “There is not one iota of any emotion other than happiness to be found within the playful behind the scenes look at the overnight mega-success of Omi Vaidya. This movie exists to show people that documentaries could be a lot of fun.” – Adam

Semshook – “Reminded me most of both Sean Penn‘s Into The Wild and Danny Boyle‘s 127 hours, minus the self-mutilation.” – Adam

Ashes – “Ashes is the directorial debut of actor Ajay Naidu (The Indian nerd in Office Space.)  The story takes place in Brooklyn and is quite dark.” – Adam

Delhi Belly – “A fart joke focused farcical romp of an antics infused Bollywood extravaganza. ” – Adam

I Am Sindhutai Sapkal – “The dramatization of the real life mother to over 1,000 children, with all but 3 being adopted.” – Adam

Play Like A Lion: The Legacy of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan – “If you are already somewhat familiar with Ali Akbar Khan or Alam Khan, which I was not, you might really enjoy this film.” – Nick

Way of Life – “A feature-length documentary that feels more like one of those films you might see at an awards ceremony before the honoree is presented with a lifetime achievement award.” – Adam

What Is Time? – “The filmmakers’ intentions to raise awareness towards the plight of Sri Lankans as they struggle to rebuild their lives after such an epic natural disaster (tsunami) failed to make the desired impact on me.” – Adam

Films we haven’t seen yet:

The Family Circus: Local Shorts – A collection of short films followed by a live performance

Gamperaliya (Changing Village) – Award winning 1964 saga of family and class conflict

A Letter of Fire – A mixture of Eastern and Western traditions with TV soap opera and experimental theatre.

Flying Fish – A film about Sri Lanka’s civil war

The Boxing Ladies + Shorts – 4 short films regarding gender and sexuality

The Image Threads (Chitrasutram) – A surrealist tale

Pudhupettai – A crime thriller

“Everybody was kung-fu fighting” From November 16th to the 22nd San Francisco’s 4-Star Theatre (Clement St @ 23rd Avenue) will play host to the Chinese American Film Festival.  With an admission price of just $5.00 for any one of the 19 films and a fairly good mix of different genres there really is no good excuse as to why you shouldn’t make it to at least one of these screenings.  As for me, I’m mostly excited for the action flicks, Bodyguards and Assassins, My Kingdom, and the Chinese animated answer to that kung-fu fighting Jack Black Panda, Legend Of A Rabbit.

The complete schedule along with trailers for most of the films can be found after the jump Read More…

Wow!  Want to see a great French film, or just a great film in general?  From what we’ve seen so far, this year’s French Cinema Now program is one of the strongest festivals San Francisco has to offer.  No matter which day or film you decide to see, chances are you won’t be disappointed.  Okay, so maybe it just so happens that the 5 films we saw from the festival are the only good ones, but I doubt it.  I’m sure there could be one or two stinkers in there, but we haven’t seen them yet.

Hopefully, our mini guide will help you decide which films to see at this year’s festival.  Click on the film’s title to see the full review, and for a complete schedule you can click on the French Cinema Now icon on the sidebar under “Current Festivals”.

The Kid With A Bike – a brilliant, subdued, and humanist piece about a young boy at risk of becoming sucked into the darker sides of society, and those around him. By the Brothers Dardenne.

Le Havre – Aki Kaurismäki’s stylized and eccentric tale of a northern Maritime city in France, xenophobia, cancer, and alcoholism… with a colourful and musical face. An extremely unique adventure, and a must see.

Bachelor Days Are Over – Katia Lewkowicz’s character driven film about a man about to be married and his reluctance to do so. Very believable interactions from very complicated, well-made characters.

The Long Falling – A dark Belgian film about numerous people dealing with abuse and murder.

The Minister - This talky yet well-paced drama isn’t made for everyone, which is exactly why it’s one of the better films of 2011.

With the arrival of the 3rd I South Asian Film Festival comes yet another opportunity for Bay Area inhabitants to check out some of the best that South Asia has to offer up.  My theory is that since last year’s films were nothing to scoff at that this year’s selections shouldn’t be all that different.  With an emphasis placed on quality, last year the festival screened such worthwhile films as Gandu, Four Lions, In Camera, and The Blue Tower.

This year’s line-up looks to be just as strong.  Already I have been hearing a lot of good things about the documentary selections, particularly Big in Bollywood, and Way of Life.  Aside from the documentary field some other films that are catching my eye are Pudhupettai, a film to which the press release describes as “South India’s answer to Amores Perros and City of God”, Delhi Belly, which is being described as “The Hangover meets Snatch”.  This one also comes with a warning of “Adults Only”.  I love me some controversy! And then there’s Patang.  This film doesn’t benefit from any comparisons to any other films, but supposedly it has been making quite a stir at both the Tribeca and Berlin film festivals.

All the film’s will take place at the Roxie and The Castro Theaters.  The festival runs from November 9th to the 13th.  As always, be sure to check back with us as the festival nears for our guide of which films to see and which ones you might want to avoid.

Schedule and ticket info after the jump Read More…