Two major film festivals coming up in San Francisco offer lots of music and dance. The 59th S.F. International Film Festival runs April 21–May 5, and the 21st S.F. Silent Film Festival, June 2–5.
The International Festival has moved from the Sundance Kabuki Cinema in Japantown to the spectacular new Alamo Drafthouse Mission Theater and restaurant complex for the first time. Here are some of the music-related films:
Kevin Cheuk and Chung Lau have composed the music for Hong Kong Trilogy: Preschooled, Preoccupied, Preposterous, written and directed by the great cinematographer Christopher Doyle (Hero, Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love, many others). 6 p.m., April 22 and 6:45 p.m., April 25, New Mission.
Mr. Gaga (Tomer Heymann, Israel/Sweden/Germany/Netherlands, 100 min.), 6 p.m., April 26, Roxie; 6:30 p.m., April 28, BAMPFA. Documentary feature in the Global Visions section about a modern dancer's creative process, the film tracks the four decades-long career of renowned choreographer Ohad Naharin, artistic director of Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company. Naharin created a dance technique he called Gaga before Lady Gaga became famous. The documentary includes excerpts from such Naharin works — some seen during the company's tour to the Bay Area — as Echad Mi Yodea, Tabula Rasa, Hole, Sadeh 21 and Last Work, which just premiered a few months ago.
Miss Sharon Jones! (Barbara Kopple, US, 2015), 6 p.m., April 22, Castro. The rip-roaring R&B/funk/soul singer Sharon Jones has long earned her exclamation point. The South Carolina native spent years working as a corrections officer at Rikers Island and singing in wedding bands before hooking up with Brooklyn bassist, bandleader and producer Gabe Roth (cofounder of Daptone Records) and manager Alex Kadvan.
Sonita (Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, Germany/Switzerland/Iran, 2015), 6:15 p.m., April 27, New Mission; 8:45 p.m., April 29, BAMPFA. A teenage refugee from Afghan, Sonita composes and performs rap music in Iran, trying to avoid being sold into marriage under the Afghan "bride price" system. The film has won both a World Cinema Grand Jury Prize and an Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Soundbreaking (Maro Chermayeff and Jeff Dupre, US, 2016), 9:15 p.m., April 27, Victoria Theater; 3 p.m., April 29, Roxie; 9:30 p.m., April 30, New Mission. A wide-ranging documentary about recording music, with focus on the role of the music producer (such as the late George Martin), and how magnetic tape and multitracking revolutionized how we hear popular music. Interviews with producers include Martin, Brian Eno and Quincy Jones, and musicians such as Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, and Annie Lennox.
Radio Dreams (Babak Jalali, US/Iran, 2015), 9 p.m., April 28, Victoria Theater; 6:30 p.m., April 29, BAMPFA. At a Farsi-language radio station in San Francisco, a much-anticipated visit is awaited from Metallica and of the real-life Afghani band Kabul Dreams, which will be performing live after the screening in the Victoria Theater.
Contemporary Color (Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross, US, 2016), 8 p.m., April 29, free outdoor screening at PROXY. David Byrne, of Talking Heads, is seen in this concert film/backstage documentary working with a color guard team practicing "the sport of the arts."
The Music of Strangers (Morgan Neville, US, 2015), 6:30 p.m., May 3, New Mission; 4 p.m., May 5, BAMPFA. Story of Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble, initially drawn from the Central Asian "Silk Road" countries and regions of China, India, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula, the composition of the group eventually broadened to include talents from all over the globe. Footage includes scenes from Ma’s career, including his performance as a seven-year-old prodigy in the White House, as well as the backstories of such ensemble members as Damascus-born clarinetist Kinan Azmeh; Iranian exile and acclaimed kamancheh player, Kayhan Kalhor; Wu Man, master of the Chinese stringed instrument, the pipa; and Spanish bagpiper Cristina Pato, known as "the Jimi Hendrix of Galicia."
At the Silents, every event has live accompaniment, some by illustrious soloists, others by bands specializing in the genre. Some of the interesting offerings in the Castro Theater, where all screenings take place:
A Woman of the World, 1925, accompaniment by Donald Sosin, 1 p.m., June 3. Pola Negri stars as the countess who shows up in the home of American relatives, shocking all with drinking, smoking, flirting ... and a tattoo.
Mothers of Men or Every Woman's Problem, 1917, with accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, 4:30 p.m., June 3. Made two years before the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote, this melodrama depicts a future in which a woman holds high political office. Dorothy Davenport Reid plays an ardent suffragist who ascends from judge to governor. Filmed entirely in Santa Cruz and the Bay Area, the film is early evidence of Northern California’s progressive roots. This newly restored film makes its world premiere here, before going to London's BFI National Archive.
Varieté, 1925, with the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra, 7:15 p.m., June 3. A retired trapeze artist leaves his family and runs away with a nimble seductress to Berlin. They team up with another trapeze artist and become the lead attraction at the city’s famed Wintergarten.