San Francisco International Film Festival 2011: 04/21 – 04/23 – Opening Week Round-Up

The San Francisco International Film Festival opens on the evening of Thursday, April 21st.
Here are our recommended picks for the opening days, April 21st through April 23rd!

Full festival details and movie listings here.

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the colors of the mountain

Soccer is a way of life in Latin America. What happens when soccer-playing youth come too close in contact with contended territories? The Colors Of The Mountain explores that idea.
Directed by Carlos Cesar Arbelaez – COLOMBIA

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 23 @ 1:00 (Kabuki)
Sun, Apr 24 @ 6:30 (Kabuki)

hot coffee

Do you remember when a foolish (or is it brilliant?) consumer spilled hot coffee and turned around to sue McDonald’s for millions? Director Susan Saladoff does, and uses that case as a jump-off point to explore the ludicrous nature of the American legal system.
Directed by Susan Saladoff – USA

SHOWTIMES
Fri, Apr 22 @ 6:30 (New People)
Mon, Apr 25 @ 6:30 (Kabuki)
Tue, Apr 26 @ 2:00 (Kabuki)

the light thief

“An electrician affectionately known as Mr. Light finds himself in a difficult position when a politician embraces his dream of generating wind energy for his impoverished town. This allegory of a man confronting injustice dramatizes the challenges facing the economies of Central Asia.”
Directed by Aktan Arym Kubat

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 23 @ 7:15 (Kabuki)
Mon, Apr 25 @ 9:15 (Kabuki)
Sun, May 1 @ 8:45 (PFA)

microphone

Ahmad Abdalla’s second feature film explores Alexandria music scene, and about the struggle of succeeding as an artist in the Egyptian city.
Directed by Ahmad Abdalla – EGYPT

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 23 @ 7:15 (Kabuki)
Mon, Apr 25 @ 9:15 (Kabuki)
Sun, May 1 @ 8:45 (PFA)

mind the gap

“A series of experimentally minded shorts from established masters such as Jay Rosenblatt, Peter Tscherkassky and Kerry Laitala and relative newcomers such as Zackary Drucker — and featuring Jonathan Caouette’s (Tarnation) newest work — this program will be sure to surprise and confound and illuminate worlds real and imagined.”

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 23 @ 4:45 (Kabuki)
Sun, May 1 @ 9:45 (Kabuki)

mysteries of lisbon

Set in baroque, old-world Portugal, Mysteries Of Lisbon is based on a 19th-century Portuguese novel and is “like Dickens filtered through a surrealist’s gaze.”
Directed by Raul Ruiz – PORTUGAL/FRANCE

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 23 @ 12:15 (Kabuki)

pink saris

Documentary filmmaker Kim Longinotto captures the life and works of Sampat Pal Devi, founder of India’s Gulabi Gang, which defends the rights of untouchable women and fights for other social needs of repressed women.
Directed by Kim Longinotto – ENGLAND/INDIA

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 23 @ 1:00 (New People)
Thu, Apr 28 @ 6:15 (Kabuki)