16th Another Hole In the Head – Dec 1-15

SF IndieFest’s ‘Another Hole in the Head’ Film Festival is a two week cinematic excursion into the realms of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and assorted other genres.

Taking its cue from other legendary festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, and Crazy Steve’s Bootleg Basement Extravaganza, Another Hole in the Head pulls together a diverse collection of films representing all varieties and budgetary considerations. From your buddy Keith’s skateboarding footage in an enchanted forest, to Burt Reynolds in Space, to tomorrow’s cult classic destined for Lionsgate, Another Hole in the Head provides a unique vehicle for independent cinema.

While 2019 marks the 16th anniversary of Another Hole in the Head, its heritage can be traced somewhat further back in the Bay Area’s illustrious past… Sometime during the late 1980’s, amidst the burgeoning microchip scene which permeated the auxiliary communities of greater San Francisco, several computer engineers huddled around a coworker’s cubicle for a viewing of the 8-bit classic, Technotician 5000–a binary program that both astounded and terrified, with visions of strange, pixelated, passiveaggressive restaurant reviews, and a dystopian society of human beings wandering a landscape of lifeless monoliths, controlled all the while by tiny machines welded to their hips.

Some decades before that–in the halcyon days of experimental film and cinéma vérité–amidst a haze of thai sticks and orange sunshine, a local commune hosted a screening of Virgo’s Kaleidoscope, a film of such magnitude and import that several audience members recalled it as “A two hour transcendent microcosm of like, life… or something…” and “Wow… dig.” [Recent evidence suggests that the projector did not, in fact, contain any film.]

Even going back to the city’s incipient formation in the early 1850’s, one can trace this festival’s genesis to the first screening of a zoetrope entitled Zeke Done Jumped My Claim, a Gothic horror story presented by grizzled prospector and renowned coot Horatio Black, which led to three days of riots and whiskey drinking. And if the past 15 years of the Another Hole in the Head Film Fest is any indication, 2019 should continue this storied tradition.

 — David Hogan