Queer Love Triumphs Over Fear in “Minister Chucky”

Posted on by

By Noma Faingold.       (June 11, 2026)

“Minister Chucky,” a short film about the unconventional Las Vegas wedding of a queer couple, officiated by a killer doll Chucky impersonator, from the eight-installment “Child’s Play” horror movie franchise, is funny until you consider the full context of the celebration and the subsequent plans for the pair to flee the United States under the bleak Donald Trump regime.

Filmmakers non-binary Graham Kolbeins and trans man Jonathan Andre Culliton documented their cheeky nuptials, along with their life choices before and after the festivities. The 11-minute film highlights love and resistance in times when the LGBTQ+ community is under attack.

Continue reading →

‘Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)’ directors Anna Fitch and Banker White

Posted on by

by Claire Wu

(May 18, 2026)

Created over the span of 16 years, “Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)” is a stunning patchwork of vérité footage, handmade dioramas and puppets, animation sequences and collages. This is not simply a film about grief, but rather a piece of ritual art that continuously meditates on all the highs and lows of Yo’s vibrant life and the integral role she played throughout the filmmaker’s lives as their dear friend.

Photo by Andy Mitchell

Continue reading →

It’s Time to Meet Michelle Satter, the Sundance Labs’ Resident Angel

Posted on by

By Geneva Anderson        (April 29, 2026)

Film Schools like to feature the successful alumni who attended their programs. But none have guided so many to success as the Sundance Labs program where new filmmakers are mentored by established cinema artists under the sensitive yet firm direction of one person.

Robert Redford and Michelle Satter at the Director’s Lab (2011). Photo by Fred Hayes.  Courtesy of Sundance.

Michelle Satter, one of the world’s most important and influential champions of independent film is the recipient of SFFILM’s 2026 Mel Novikoff Award and will be honored on Thursday, April 30, at a special evening that includes Satter in conversation with award-winning Oakland filmmaker Peter Nicks, followed by a screening of Benh Zeitlin’s 2012 film “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” a wildly successful project supported by both Sundance Institute and SFFILM. Continue reading →

10 Must-See World Cinema Films

Posted on by

By Geneva Anderson                                                              (April 24, 2026)

The 69th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM 69) returns to the Bay Area Friday, April 24, and runs 11 days through Monday, May 4, featuring 79 sharply-curated film programs from 40 countries screening in seven Bay Area theaters.   The world cinema line-up of 32 narratives and 11 docs is phenomenal, with original stories that crystalize into masterful portraits of individuals and place. Continue reading →

Clara Bow Runnin’ Wild- On Making “IT”

Posted on by

By David Stenn

(Editor’s note:The San Francisco Silent Film Festival will return to the restored Castro Theatre on Sunday, March 22 at 7pm with Clara Bow in “IT” live accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. Information and tickets here.  Best selling author David Stenn shares his chapter on the making of “IT” and we have added a gallery of stunning images at the end.)

Continue reading →

The Librarians: On the Front Line for Freedom

Posted on by

By C.J. Hirschfield

I know that I live in a bubble—my liberal community’s libraries don’t ban books, and even offer drag queen story time. But outside of this bubble exists a very real and growing threat to the flow of ideas that none of us can afford to ignore.

Be very afraid when a compelling new documentary often quotes from the dystopian novel Farenheit 451, and shows Nazis burning books as often as it does in an attempt to reflect current events. The parallels are both appropriate and chilling. Continue reading →

The Tale of Silyan

Posted on by

By C.J. Hirschfield

As the former CEO of Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, I appreciate a good folktale. As an aspiring  birder, I am fascinated by their remarkable species. And as someone who follows politics, I value learning about how governmental actions can have profound effects on the lives of working people.

National Geographic Film’s new documentary The Tale of Silyan checks all of these boxes for me—and is stunningly beautiful as well. Director/producer Tamara Kotevska, who also directed the 2019 Oscar-nominated Honeyland, weaves a tale about a down-on-his luck Macedonian farmer who creates a special bond with a wounded white stork—a story that very much parallels a beloved regional folk tale, in which a boy named Silyan is transformed into this regal bird. Continue reading →

‘Lands End’ Is Just the Beginning for Filmmaker Steve Peletz

Posted on by

By Noma Faingold

Steve Peletz, 65, underplays his high-risk activities. He’s been scuba diving for more than 40 years. He joins marine biologists on expeditions in remote, exotic waters off the coast of Costa Rica, Columbia, Mexico and the Galápagos Islands. As a volunteer “citizen scientist“ his task is usually to tag different types of sharks so they can be tracked.

In 2019, he took up swimming in the ocean, specifically with a group at China Beach on the West Side of San Francisco. Peletz brought his GoPro camera on virtually all of more than 1,000 swims. He combined his lifelong love of photography and the ocean into his first film, “Lands End,” a nine-minute short getting its world premiere at the Green Film Festival of San Francisco (October 24-30), at the 4-Star Theater. “Lands End” will be screened along with “The Last Dive” on October 26 at 3:30 p.m. Continue reading →

Messages for the Future

Posted on by

The United Nations Association Film Festival returns to the Bay Area with another urgent, globally expansive lineup. Running from October 16–26, the 28th edition of UNAFF brings 60 documentary films to venues across Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Stanford University. More than just a film festival, UNAFF is a civic forum—a space for dialogue, reflection, and action.

Continue reading →