The Film Threat team headed up the west coast in April to attend the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFilm). Managing Editor Alan Ng and new writer Tiffany Tchobanian covered the fest’s wide array of LGBT, foreign, and downright weird films making the festival circuit and all hoping to head into theaters in the coming months.
Amazingly Film Threat reviewed over 40 films with Alan and Tiffany on the ground hopping from theater to theater and our staff of reviewers at home.
SFFilm 2018 Films Reviewed: American Animals, Angels Wear White, Bad Reputation, Beast, Boundaries, A Boy, A Girl, A Dream, Claire’s Camera, The Cleaner, Damsel, Eighth Grade, Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Half the Picture, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, The Human Element, I Am Not a Witch, The Judge, A Kid Like Jake, Leave No Trace, Lots of Kids, A Monkey, and A Castle, Loveling, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, My Life With James Dean, The Next Guardian, No Date, No Signature, Pick of the Litter, Ravens, The Rescue List, Robin Williams: Come Into My Mind, Scary Mother, The Third Murder, Those Who Are Fine, Three Identical Strangers, Un Traductor, Tre Maison Dasan, Tully, What Will People Say?, The White Girl, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, The Workshop, and Wrestle.
Alan Ng
Years attending SFFilm: First Year.
SFFilm 2018 Films Reviewed: American Animals, Angels Wear White, Claire’s Camera, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, A Kid Like Jake, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, No Date, No Signature, The Rescue List, Tully, What Will People Say.
Fave SFFilm 2018 Film: The Rescue List
Best Celebrity Interview: My only interview was with Jason Sudeikis about his film, Kodachrome coming to theaters and Netflix. I wasn’t able to speak to the writer or director, so I only have the film from the actors perspective.
Many of your contemporaries go on to character actor and supporting roles, but you seem to garner a lot of leading roles. Is this pretty calculated or it was a pretty much luck?
Jason: Oh God, I think it’s a little bit of both. You can calculate all you want and at the end of the day, it usually comes down to finding the right stories. The right people said “no” enough times and then I get asked and I said “yes.” So, I just follow the stories.
Tales from scouring San Francisco: Most of the films I saw at the Castro Theater. It’s a beautiful theater with its ornate decorations and working pipe organ harkening back to the time going to the theater was an event. It reminded me of the El Capitan theater in Hollywood, but without the corporate backing of Disney. Lastly, the seats are the most uncomfortable of the fest. If you’re six foot tall and obsessive about not invading the personal space of others, it’s a tough two-hour journey.
The Dolby Laboratory is the exact opposite with its comfy, cushioned seats and a short trailer showing off the technological accomplishments of this theater. The color black is really black. Amazing.
Most Surprising Thing About SFFilm 2018: The first was Neil Gaiman and John Cameron Mitchell’s film How to Talk to Girls at Parties. It’s one the weirdest film I saw at the fest…saw this year for that matter. The Q&A afterward with Gaiman and Mitchell was just as weird. The surprising thing about it was the Twitter firestorm that brewed from our coverage and we had nothing to do with it.
The premiere of How to Talk to Girls at Parties @SFFILM featured a Q&A with @neilhimself and director John Cameron Mitchell. Film Threat's Alan Ng was delighted to attend. Read his review. #HTTTGAP #SFFILMFestival #FilmThreatSFFILMFestival https://t.co/wgaj5l2flB pic.twitter.com/xzy7efeEpf
— Film Threat (@FilmThreat) April 7, 2018
The second came from The Miseducation of Cameron Post. I was a little worried about the response to my review. The film hit close to my Christian upbringing and I wasn’t sure how it would be received. Then this tweet came along.
This reviewer completely understood the film and the choices made within it. https://t.co/WHyRbziQYm
— Trevor Duke- Moretz (@TrevorDMoretz) April 8, 2018
Tiffany Tchobanian
Years attending SFFILM Festival: First year. Actually, this is the first film festival I’ve ever attended, so the whole experience was new to me. The festival publicist and volunteers were all very sweet. I look forward to covering more festivals in the future.
SFFILM Festival 2018 Films Reviewed: The Human Element, Leave No Trace, Beast, Un Traductor, The Children Act, Mary Shelley, Damsel, and Boundaries
Best SFFILM Festival 2018 Post-Screening Experiences: It’s a tie. Filmmakers and brothers, Rodrigo Barriuso and Sebastián Barriuso, offered interesting insights on their film, Un Traductor, which was based on their parents. Rodrigo Santoro’s performance was even more impressive after learning that he didn’t know how to speak Spanish or Russian. He is in 100% percent of the film speaking two languages that he doesn’t know and he is absolutely brilliant. The brothers’ excited energy was refreshing. Producer Duncan Kenworthy was present for The Children Act’s Q & A. He was hilariously candid, which made it all the more fun and fascinating. He gushed about Emma Thompson’s phenomenal performance and dished on her busy schedule, explaining why the film won’t be released until August or September. I think he may have overshared, but I was happy to hear more about her.
Favorite SF FILM Festival 2018 Film: The Children Act
Best Celebrity Interview: I attended the screening and panel for HBO’s Barry. Stars Henry Winkler and Sarah Goldberg were present for the panel. I had the chance to interview them on the red carpet beforehand. Mr. Winkler is so lovable! He is every bit as wonderful as he seems to be on TV. I’ll always cherish our chat. His laugh is heartwarming and infectious. He was hilarious, considerate, and informative during the post-screening Q & A too. Even if he wasn’t my only celebrity interview, I know he still would have been the best.
Looks like #BillHader wasn't joking about #BarryHBO Season 2 after all ☺️ YAY! @hwinkler4real https://t.co/2mGh1mYzPE @HBO @realalecberg #Barry
— Talk TV with Tiffany 🙏🏻💙🇺🇦💛🌻 (@TalkTVwTiffany) April 13, 2018
Best Post-Screening Panel Scene Stealer: Shana Feste had to cast her own dog, Loretta, in Boundaries after the star dog bit their young actor. They brought Loretta on stage with them and she hogged all the attention. After a few stretches, she pawed up at Feste and sweetly sat on her lap for the remainder of the Q & A. It was adorable.
