23rd SF Independent Film Festival Feb 4-21, 2021
Next month you’re going to want to set Netflix, Hulu and Amazon aside and check out 80 excellent new independent and award winning films from around the world and around The Bay. The 2021 SF IndieFest is screening where ever you watch films Feb 4-21 .
HIGHLIGHT FILMS:
Opening Night Film THE BOOK OF VISION, executive produced by Terrence Malick. Director Carlos Hintermann describes his debut film as “a game of mirrors between two dimensions” with time jumps inspired by the type of storytelling in video games. Eva, a doctor and medical student, discovers an 18th century manuscript containing the emotions, fears and dreams of countless patients. As she immerses herself in its pages, she embarks on an intimate, sensorial journey through time.
Centerpiece Film SUMMERTIME, directed by Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting). A slam poetry musical set in the electric streets of an LA heat wave, SUMMERTIME follows the lives of 25 young Angelenos as they intersect over the course of a single day. A skating guitarist, a tagger, two wannabe rappers, an exasperated fast-food worker, and a limo driver are but a few of those weaving in and out of each other’s stories, sharing their hopes and fears, and showing us what it really means to be young and full of dreams in the city of angels.
Vanguard Awardee Rodrigo Reyes’ film 499 which combines documentary and fiction, using magical realism to draw a parallel between the apocalyptic sacking of Tenochtitlan and the harsh reality of many modern-day Mexicans. The carefully crafted cinematography and the dream-like style of the film serve as a gentle backdrop for the restrained tenacity and stubborn hope of all the migrants, activists, and grieving mothers. In bringing these issues to the forefront, 499 can provide a way for a country and it’s citizens to finally start healing from centuries old wounds.
Closing Night Film PUPPY LOVE, starring Sean Penn and Robin Wright’s son Hopper Penn as a prophetic young dishwasher with brain-damage who through obscene circumstances s brought together with a homeless prostitute for a perverse journey through the gutter. Features Michael Madsen, Wayne Newton, Mickey Avalon and Patricia Arquette.
