Continuing with my survey of the diasporic dimension of San Franciscan film festival culture, Chi-hui Yang--Festival Director for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAF)--invited me to the offices of the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM)... More >>

Following is a personal interview with Gianni di Gregorio, director of Il Pranzo di Ferragosto (winner of the "Future Golden Lion" at the last edition of Venice Film Festival) and screenplay writer and assistant director of Gomorra. It was exclusively... More >>

"Breathless" was one of the many international premieres this year at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. And a strong one, walking away with one of the three Tiger Awards for best film by a newcomer. That "newcomer" was Yang Ik-June... More >>

Bruce Fletcher introduced me to David Gregory's feature directorial debut Plague Town when it had its world premiere at Dead Channels 2008 and encouraged me to interview Gregory, which I accomplished during the festival. I now offer up that transcript... More >>

This week is a special one in Japan, as this is the time that the whole nation revels in the annual short-lived beauty of the blossoming cherry trees. So while everyone is enchanted by these "Sakura" let's return to one... More >>

One of the pleasures of going to film festivals are the Q&A sessions afterwards.  If you read humour pieces regarding this aspect of the festival experience, they are often snarky little pieces about the awful questions fielded by audience... More >>

Pinning down Richard Stanley can be quite a job, whether you're talking about trying to find where he is or trying to make sense of the bewildering variety of reputations he has. He's been called a genius, a hack, an... More >>

Simone Bitton's Rachel took the bullet for Yoav Shamir's Hashmatsa / Defamation (2009), which I would have predicted to be the target of outrage at the 29th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF). By the time Defamation finally screened,... More >>

"Like the Loisada of New York or the Left Bank of Paris," Annice Jacoby writes in the introduction to her visually stunning publication Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo (Abrams, 2009:29), "the Mission is a café society that scoffs... More >>

Speaking with Diana Sanchez at the start of this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), she advised that one of her criteria for choosing Latino films for TIFF is to determine the films that most characterize the cinematic landscape... More >>