The 26th San Francisco Independent Film Festival
The 26th San Francisco Independent Film Festival
February 8 – February 18, 2024
Presented at the Roxie Theater and 4 Star Theater in San Francisco, and virtually at sfindie2024.eventive.org.
SF IndieFest is thrilled to announce the 26th anniversary of the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, February 8 to February 18, 2024. This year’s festival includes 55 shorts and 35 features from 15 countries. There are 34 films that are local to the Bay Area.
“For more than a quarter century, San Francisco Independent Film Festival has sought out new film discoveries for Bay Area film fans to enjoy. Now, with the age of computerized algorithms, a human touch is needed more than ever to curate a unique cinematic experience,” explains Festival Director Jeff Ross. “SF IndieFest continues to provide new and unusual alternatives to the Hollywood Industrial Complex. These are films you won’t find at the multiplex or on popular streaming services.”
Below are highlights of the festival’s programming. However, full program descriptions are at sfindie2024.eventive.org.
OPENING NIGHT
SISTERS
Director: Mar Novo
With their lives unraveling around them, three Mexican American sisters reunite, after years of estrangement, to complete their beloved grandmother’s pilgrimage through rural Mexico. With no hiking experience, little reception, and an old map, the sisters walk the sacred trail to Talpa de Allende and find help along the way from a local with a dark past. They must work together through their differences in order to reach the end and find their miracle.
Opening Night, Roxie Theater
Followed by a party, at Kilowatt, with three local bands performing: La Sombra, Los Sindes, Ritmos Tropicosmos.
CENTERPIECE FILMS
NO ONE ASKED YOU
Director: Ruth Leitman
Comedian and disrupter extraordinaire Lizz Winstead (co-creator of The Daily Show) and her team of activists crisscross the U.S. to support abortion clinic staff and bust stigma. Pop culture icons and next-gen comics fuel this six-year road film activating small-town folks to rebuild vandalized clinics, exposing wrongdoer politicians, domestic terrorists, and media neglect as the race to the bottom ensues.
Documentary Centerpiece, Roxie Theater
THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED
Director: Joanna Arnow
Fresh off its debut at Cannes, The Feeling That… tells the story of Ann, a morose New Yorker in her 30s, who feels stuck in all areas of her life. To her dismay, the years have gone by quickly in her long-term casual BDSM relationship, low-level corporate job, and quarrelsome Jewish family. As she begins to feel increasingly alienated, she wrestles with herself and her relationships.
Narrative Centerpiece, Roxie Theater
Co-presented with Jewish Film Institute
CLOSING NIGHT
TOKYO COWBOY
Director: Marc Marriott
Brash businessman Hideki arrives in Montana having convinced his Tokyo bosses he can turn a profitless US cattle ranch into a premiere-performing asset. Yet when his Hardee’s-burger-loving Japanese Wagyu-beef expert fails him, Hideki is poised to misfire magnificently unless he identifies a missing element that’s key to the transformation… himself.
Closing Night, Roxie Theater
SPECIAL SCREENINGS & EVENTS
25th Anniversary Screening of FIGHT CLUB
This early David Fincher masterwork, based on a best-selling novel by Chuck Palahniuk, offers a tale of masculinity and late capitalism. This special screening is preceded by an onstage conversation with Stuart Schuffman (Broke Ass Stuart) and Cacophony Society/Burning Man co-founder John Law about how the ideas of the influential arts-provocateurs The Cacophony Society influenced Fight Club before it was co-opted by folks who don’t understand satire.
Roxie Theater
ANTI-VALENTINE’S DAY 80s POWER BALLAD SING ALONG
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, and as society continues to return to a pre-pandemic norm, the Fest is pleased to announce the return of this mostly annual Karaoke-type favorite.
Roxie Theater
BIG LEBOWSKI SHADOW CAST
Another Fest favorite also abides. This year, this perennial revival screening takes place at the 4Star Theater with beloved local Rocky Horror Picture Show troupe Bawdy Caste performing live on stage while the film shows on screen behind.
4 Star Theater
