Film Festivals

FESTIVAL OVERVIEW: The Cinequest film festival takes place annually in my hometown of San Jose, CA. Ranked in recent memory by The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide as one of the top ten film festivals in the world (and don't think they'll let you forget it), Cinequest rides on the tension of celebrating "mavericks" of independent cinema whil... 

Since 1982, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival has presented Asian-themed films from all over the globe. Presented by the Center for Asian American Media, the festival annually showcases cutting-edge narrative and documentary features, short films and videos, and a variety of other programs and special events. The festival... 

The younger sibling of San Diego's infamous summertime Comic-Con, the Bay Area's own WonderCon gets the jump—by a few precious months—on Hollywood's moneyed summer movie season. Since WonderCon moved from Oakland to San Francisco, the studios have taken to sending out talent to represent their slates of genre movies at increasingly fren... 

With roughly 100 feature programs each year (plus short films), the San Francisco International Film Festival traditionally emphasizes great foreign films without U.S. distribution, with a good showing of domestic independents and a smattering of great retrospective choices. The festival annually awards an Akira Kurosawa Award for lifetime achievem... 

Since 1999, SF Indiefest has provided a venue for quirky and "homeless" films. Though some of those films end up with distributors or even a wide release, the fest prides itself on championing little films from the heart and the guts (Sundance's shadow, the Slamdance Film Festival, provided some inspiration in this regard). In fact, SF Indie hosts... 

Since 1976, the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival (a.k.a. Frameline, the sponsoring organization) has presented the best in queer cinema. Narrative and documentary features, programs of narrative and documentary shorts, foreign films, animation, and gala events are among the typical offerings. Every year, a Frameline Award is presented... 

Established in 1998 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Association Film Festival (or UNAFF) is a product of the collaboration between the grassroots nonprofit United Nations Association (UNA) and the Stanford Film Society. Perhaps more than any other film festival, U... 

Since 1969, Comic-Con International has gathered industry professionals and celebrities, vendors, and fans to celebrate the world of comics. Over the years, Comic-Con has increasingly catered to pop-cultural areas related but not limited to comic books: science-fiction, horror, animation, card and video games. In recent years, Hollywood has learned... 

Every year since 1996, The San Francisco Silent Film Festival has presented a knockout program of classic silent film, rarely projected onto our nation's big screens. The festival resides at San Francisco's most impressive movie palace, the historic and sprawling Castro Theatre (equipped with the Mighty Castro Wurlitzer), and the fest's reputation...