The Fairyland Journey

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By Noma Faingold. (updated October 10, 2025)

Andrew Durham had been reliably wearing several film industry production hats, but he had never much thought about directing a feature film until good friend Sofia Coppola presented the 2013 book, “Fairyland, a Memoir of My Father,” by Alysia Abbott to him.

Award-winning screenwriter/director Coppola had optioned the property and was a committed producer. She knew the unconventional father/daughter coming-of-age story, set in San Francisco, from the 1970s to the early 1990s, would resonate with Durham’s background, having grown up in the Bay Area during those tumultuous decades. Continue reading →

The Life of an Independent Film Producer

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By Noma Faingold  (June 13, 2025)

Prolific, award-winning independent film producer Marc Smolowitz has more than 60 credits in his three-decade career. He’s raised at least $30 million for projects in every genre. At any given time, he is the driving force behind 10 films in various stages of production, including at this very moment.

Photo by Noma Faingold

He doesn’t shy away from declaring why he’s had consistent success and longevity in the ever-changing indie film industry. “I’m fearless and relentless,” Smolowitz said. “I know how to do this job very, very well.”

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Isaac Julien Dreams A World

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By Noma Faingold (April 16, 2025)

Watching the 28-minute, 10-screen film/art installation, “Lessons of the Hour,” by British artist/filmmaker Sir Isaac Julien, isn’t as overwhelming as one might think. In fact, the flood of images, sounds and words, dedicated to the life of writer, orator, philosopher, and social justice activist Fredrick Douglass (1818-1895), a former slave, allows the viewer to absorb and interpret the immersive experience in their own way.

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Partners in Food and Film: An Interview

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An Interview with SIFF27 Culinary Excellence Award winner, Chef Susan Feniger and filmmaker Liz Lachman.

By Geneva Anderson

(March 20, 2024)

When Los Angeles filmmaker and Emmy award winner Liz Lachman (“Pin-Up,” “Getting to Know You”) set out to make her first feature-length film about partner, Chef Susan Feniger, opening her first solo restaurant in Los Angeles in 2009, she already had lots of footage.  The idea of capturing Susan’s journey in realizing “Street,” a dining concept that would bring a variety of global street foods together under one roof and doing this without her longtime business partner and co-chef Mary Sue Milliken, had been simmering for 13 years. Continue reading →

All The Beauty and Bloodshed

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By C.J. Hirschfield

(March 10, 2023)

The documentary feature All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is actually three movies in one. Directed by 2015 Academy Award winner Laura Poitras (Citizenfour), the film explores the art, life, and political activism of internationally renowned artist Nan Goldin, whose story could not be more compelling. Through her photos, slideshows, interviews and video footage, we get a real sense of what inspired both her art and her activism.

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More Loudly Anticipating the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

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Part Two- What I Will Be Seeing

By Meredith Brody

May 4, 2022

I learned my lesson early with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival: GO TO EVERYTHING.

The first year I attended, I cherry-picked only the movies I hadn’t seen before.  The ones I went to were such a revelation – both in the presentation and the group experience – that my heart hurt as I walked away.  What a MAROON I was. Even a movie I thought I knew well would be a fresh experience, featuring as it did not only live music, but one of the world’s great audiences. There’s a kind of euphoria that sets in when you commit to seeing everything on offer. Continue reading →

MAMA BEARS RISING

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By C.J. Hirschfield

March 30, 2022

Last month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a letter calling on professionals, including teachers and doctors, to report parents who give their trans children gender-affirming care. And even though the ACLU says it’s not legally binding, it is just another in a long line of assaults on trans and LGBTQ rights in that state.

But look out, Abbott. Texas trans kindergartner Kai and her mom—actually, lots of moms like her—are uniting and fighting for the rights of their LGBTQ kids. And guess what? They’re all devout and conservative Christians whose Mama Bears network of private Facebook groups exist in every state, numbering over 30,000 members at last count. Continue reading →

FLEE Brings Secrets to Animated Life

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By C.J. Hirschfield

More and more often, documentary filmmakers are turning to animation to tell stories—or parts of stories—that can’t be represented in any other way. In the case of the compelling new film FLEE, the storyteller spent much of his life since childhood in the shadows as an illegal Afghan refugee, and even now does not feel comfortable sharing his last name, or his face. It’s understood that traditional documentaries involve some degree of manipulation, and animated nonfiction films provide even more leeway to let imaginations take flight.

February 2022 Movies | Moviefone

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