UK Director Mike Leigh To Be Honored At San Francisco FF

By Sandy Mandelberger, North American Editor

Acclaimed UK director Mike Leigh will be honored with inaugural Founder's Directing Award at the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival (24 April-8 May). The Founder's Award will be presented to Leigh at the Film Society Awards Night, the annual benefit gala, on Thursday, 1 May at the Westin St. Francis Hotel.

The Founder's Directing Award is presented each year to one of the masters of world cinema and is given in memory of Irving M. Levin, who founded the San Francisco International Film Festival, the longest-running film festival in the Americas, in 1957.

Mike Leigh will also participate at a public screening event on 30 April at the historic Castro Theater. The special event will include an onstage interview, a clips reel of his career highlights and a showing of TOPSY-TURVY (1999), kaleidoscopic and visually entrancing backstage comedy/drama portraying the tumultuous world of 19th-century theatrical impresarios Gilbert and Sullivan.

Leigh's history with SFFS stretches back to 1986 when SFIFF held the first US retrospective of the director’s gritty and unsparing, often bitingly funny work. That program presented Leigh’s lesser known works, including short films and television films produced for the BBC in the 1970s and early 1980s. Leigh triumphantly returned to SFIFF in 1989 with HIGH HOPES, the alternately hilarious and moving story of a working-class couple living in a tiny London flat.

Leigh is one of the UK and Europe’s most well-respected and loved directors. His film NAKED (1993) won him the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival that year. SECRETS AND LIES (1996) won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, as well as an unprecedented five Oscar nominations. In 2004, his film VERA DRAKE was a major international hit that perfectly blended his interest in class-conscious drama and social realism. He is also known as an “actors’ director”, having helped make household names of such discoveries as Tim Roth and Gary Oldman, while further propelling the careers of Jim Broadbent, Jane Horrocks, David Thewlis, Alison Steadman and others. Newcomer Sally Hawkins was honored last month at the Berlinale for her performance in his newest film HAPPY GO LUCKY.

"Mike Leigh is an extraordinary director who has forged a singular path in world cinema over a long and brilliant career," said Graham Leggat, executive director of the San Francisco Film Society. "We are delighted to welcome him back to the International on the heels of his well-deserved success with his latest comedy HAPPY GO LUCKY at this year's Berlinale."

For 22 years the San Francisco International Film Festival has honored a master of world cinema with its Founder's Directing Award. Previous European auteur recipients include: Werner Herzog, Germany; Milos Forman, Czechoslovakia/USA; Francesco Rosi, Italy; Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal; Marcel Carné, France; Jirí Menzel, Czechoslovakia; Robert Bresson, France; and Michael Powell, England.

10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival

Day 5

My stay in Thessaloniki was coming to an end. This was my last full day, and night, of watching films and meeting with their makers. After a morning of sitting in front of my laptop trying to catch up on the work I should be doing if I wasn't here – namely designing the next issue of our magazine to make sure it makes its print deadline. But with the sun shining outside and films beckoning not a lot of it was getting done, and the rest of my day's schedule was looking pretty full.


The first film of the day was something a nostalgia trip for me, taking me right back to my youth. HAIR: LET THE SUN SHINE IN, directed by Pola Rappaport, is a look at the revival of the great 60s' musical Hair. With a mixture of archive footage from the original show, auditions for the current revived productions and interviews with the show's creators, cast and producers it gave a great insight into the impact Hair had on a generation. The film also looked at events of the era that were the driving force behind the musical's creation and why they are still relevant in today's political climate. And there was the songs some of which have become classics, such as The Age of Aquarius and Let the Sun Shine In (which featured at the end of 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN) and, of course, the theme song. While the film may have its widest appeal to aging hippies it should be equally interesting to a new generation who missed out on the optimism of that era.


After that burst of cinematic sunshine it was a bit of a disappointed to see the skies covered in clouds and rain falling. So I scuttled off to the luxurious Electra Palace Hotel for one of the Just Talking events that are held every afternoon. A group of selected filmmakers get together with other delegates and members of the press for a semi-informal discussion. There is no fixed topic, as such, it is whatever arises out of the talk. Today's conversation turned to distribution and how difficult it is for independent documentarians to get their films seen outside of the festival circuit. Of course, the Internet was mentioned but no one seemed to have any clear ideas on how best to utilise despite places like www.indiepixfilms.com having an excellent model. After the event there was a chance for a bit more informal talking and networking over drinks and snacks.


There was just enough time after this to run across the square to the Olympion for the next screening – another double bill. This was held in the small upstairs cinema, which, unfortunately, doesn't have a very good digital projector, as I discovered from previous screenings. The first film was a 14 minute UK film called CITY OF CRANES, a mood piece on the solitude of crane operators who inhabit London's skyline. Made up of four three-minute stories, that originally showed on Channel 4's Three Minute Wonders, it was the shortest film in the festival, which, surprisingly, didn't have a dedicated shorts programme. This delicate, meditative film was followed by one of the slickest films I saw during the whole festival.


SEND A BULLET (MANDA BALA) by Jason Kohn looks at the state of Brazil's largest and wealthiest cities, Sao Paolo through four interconnecting stories. That of a frog farmer whose business is linked with a corrupt politician who has been stealing government funds destined for the poorest areas of the country; the prosecutors who are powerless to do stop the corruption; a criminal from the slums who robs banks and kidnaps the rich to get money to help the people in the slums; a young woman who was kidnapped and had her ears cut off to ensure the ransom was paid; a plastic surgeon who has developed a new way of reconstructing ears of kidnap victims and is making a fortune; and a young entrepreneur who talks about all the security measures he takes to ensure his safety. Although it doesn't paint a pretty picture of Brazil it was beautifully shot, looking more like a Hollywood movie than anything else – a sort of MAN ON FIRE Lite (it won Grand Jury Prize (Documentary) Best Cinematography at Sundance 2007).

After the film, having a bit of time to kill before the Arto Halonen gala (an award and screening of his film SHADOW OF THE HOLY BOOK), I went off for a coffee with some other filmmakers who had been watching the film - Samantha Zarzosa (CITY OF CRANES), Sarah Singh (THE SKY BELOW) and Necati Sönmez (TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF) – and the general opinion was they felt that SEND A BULLET glorified the subjects, but I thought it was because it was shot on film and was well lit it gave it a superficial sheen that made it more watchable without really glossing over the issues. For safety reasons it might not have been as hard hitting as it could have been, but it did say in the opening credits "this film cannot be shown in Brazil", so the hard hitting might gone towards the filmmaker from some of the subjects in the film.

As our discussions continued we realised we'd missed the start of the film so we carried on talking until Samantha and Necati had to go to other events. Sarah suggested we go up to the old city to find somewhere to get something to eat and enjoy the views over the city and the harbour, so we grabbed a taxi and found a taverna with live music. A nice way to end my last day in Thessaloniki, for this festival, and with still so many good films to see and the glorious sunny weather it was going to be hard to leave.

All in all, it was another great festival from the organisers. They put together a varied selection of films and I managed to pretty much stay within my "positive and uplifting" remit. There were plenty of opportunities to meet with filmmakers without any feelings of an "us and them" that can sometimes with members of the press. In fact I was wondering if there were any other members of the press there at all, because mostly I only met with filmmakers on a social level. And the filmmakers I spoke to all enjoyed the atmosphere of informality to meet and discuss their craft, as well as having plenty of structured events to make it interesting and informative. And all that topped off with the wonderful Greek hospitality.

10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival

Day 4

Today is a public holiday for Ash Monday, it is also the day that the official celebration of the festival’s 10th anniversary with a party. Big tables were laid out with popular delicacies (dolmados, taramasalata, bread, beans, halva and plenty of ouzo) and a local band. It was all very informal and just another excuse for getting together to eat and dance. But it was soon time to move out of the spring sunshine and return to the dark of salons and the business at hand – watching films.





My quest to watch only positive, uplifting films took a bit of dip during the first screening of the day, a Turkish film called TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF by Necati Sönmez. It was a look at the death penalty in Turkey over a sixty year period where over 700 people were executed. It combined images of abandoned prisons, with the remembrances of people who witnessed the hangings and the words of the condemned taken from letters. The film handled the subject humanely but not film you leave feeling good.


The second half of the double bill was a rather intriguing film in that it started out with one intention and changed as events unfolded during the filming. FAIRYTALE OF KATHMANDU by Irish filmmaker Neasa Ni Chianáin was originally going to be a portrait of homosexual Gaelic poet Cathal O Searcaigh, whom the filmmaker admired, following him Nepal where he sponsors some of the local youth with their schooling. As the film unfolds it becomes very clear that his intentions towards these innocent local teenage boys is less than honourable, despite the fact that he declares he is trying to protect their innocence. However, the filmmaker’s admiration for the poet initially clouds her judgment but she eventually confronts her subject. The outcome, for the boys at least, is positive.


Forgoing the temptation to enjoy the warm weather I went back to the hotel to catch up on my work, which included updating this blog, until the next film session, another double-bill, started.



TERRITORIES by Canadian Mary-Ellen Davis follows photographer Larry Towell as he works around his Canadian home, on the Mexican border and in Palestine and the Gaza strip. Towell is the only Canadian member of the legendary Magnum Photo Agency. Although he photographs in conflict zones, and particularly those with border issues, his photographs are more concerned with capturing the positive aspects of humanity amongst the suffering and destruction. Unfortunately the technical quality of the screening was very poor, whether it was because the movie was shot on miniDV and couldn’t withstand the blowing up to the big screen or for some other reason, it was all very pixelated, particularly Towell’s photos, which is ironic as he still shoots on film using a battered old Leica. Despite that, it was still an intriguing look at a photographer in the field.


When introducing the second film, SHAKE THE DEVIL OFF, its maker Peter Entell denied he was actually the director because he arrived in New Orleans after Katrina without any specific story in mind and captured the unfolding events of “The Church” using its power to undermine a strong community ravaged by the storm. The archdiocese has decided to close down the parish of St Augustine in the poor black area and absorb it into the surrounding affluent white area. The church has been in the area since the time of slavery and is regarded by many as the birthplace of modern music. Although the charismatic Father LeDoux accepts his fate after he tries his best to prevent the closure the local parishioners aren’t as willing to accept the word of the white hierarchy that is trying to crush the spirit of the community. Watching the joyless sermon of the incoming priest compared to that of LeDoux’s really showed that the local people feel the spirit. And it is accompanied by some fantastic music that bridges jazz, soul and gospel that is performed from the heart without resorting to forced emotions that often get put into church music. Although the community won its battle, the coda told a different story, where the power of “The Church” got its own way in the end. Both sad and uplifting at the same time, which is what the music of the area has always been.

10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival

Day 3

There is real sense that nothing shuts around here and people never sleep. After a late night screening I returned to my hotel, which overlooks the main street, and at two in the morning there was still lots of activity with restaurants and newsstands still doing business. Come morning it’s a different story, but as someone who is not particularly good at mornings this seems all very natural and civilised.

Today I had an early start, with a press conference at midday for a local film called A HOLE IN THE WATER, about the proposal to build a ring road around Thessaloniki that runs under the harbour. With no public consultation and rumours of corruption there is growing opposition to the plan.


Then it was off to see a film about the partition of India and Pakistan, called THE SKY BELOW, by New York based Indian Sarah Singh. This is her first film, which she made single-handedly travelling throughout Pakistan, North India and Kashmir talking with people who were affected by Partition and the human cost to the division of the subcontinent. Unfortunately the film suffered from bad projection, but it was still a moving account of one of the great catastrophes of our time. Of course, with the sixtieth anniversary last year the BBC held a season of programmes and documentaries, so documentaries about the event were still fresh in my mind, but for most of the people attending the screening this was a shocking unknown chapter in history, which led to a lengthy Q&A afterwards.


From here I had to run down four flights of stairs to the main Olympion cinema for my next screening, which was a double bill. There are quite a few of those here, mainly due to the short running time of many of the films, which seem to be around 60 minutes. The first was a Polish film, IN SEARCH OF A LEGEND, about a group of young Polish sailors going from Greenland to Vancouver through the North West Passage. It started of with a fantastic animated sequence outlining the history of sailing that route through the Arctic waters, which was followed by some superb aerial photography, but after that it was fairly average. Not wanting to take anything away from their achievement but they did it in the warmest part of the year, rarely under sail and using all the latest electronic navigation equipment. There was never any real sense of danger that makes for interesting viewing. But this wasn’t the film I wanted to see.


I had been recommended THE WHISPERING OF THE TREES by Tom Lemke as a positive and uplifting film, which was my remit, It is about the indigenous people of southern Chile that take their name from a tree that grows in the area. This tells of a family that is trying to retain their heritage in the face of a fast encroaching civilisation. The film follows the family as the go into the forest to collect a special kind of pine nut that not only supplies them with food for the year but also some cash from the sale of the nuts they don’t need. It was great to see a family that wanted to keep its simple culture and lifestyle despite the temptations of materialism. There were a lot of parallels with the Paskowitz family in SURFWISE.

After the screening I went back to the hotel intending to work but bumped into Sarah Singh, whose film I had seen earlier so we headed off to a seafront café so I could interview her about her film. We ended up talking for hours about India and world politics and travelling and ended up continuing the conversation over dinner at small restaurant in the agora (the market). A huge spread of fresh fish, grilled vegetables, salad and bread – more than we could really eat. We left there just in time to catch the final film on my schedule for the day: FLOW: For Love OF Water.


The film came across as being a television show without going into any great depth or covering any real new ground. Of course, if it was aimed at a general American audience their awareness of these matters about the poor state of water supplies in countries places like Asia and Africa can be limited, at best, so on that score it was informative and also showed some of the positive things that are happening to ensure people are getting fresh drinking water. It also showed how multinational corporations are taking over the control of water supplies and either pricing it out of the reaches of those who need pure water the most, or simply cutting off the supply all together. It also concentrated on the ridiculous state of the bottled water industry, which in most cases is selling people tap water at inflated prices. It did get a bit repetitive at times and while it was trying to stress the fact that the world is heading towards a time when there will be a huge shortage of clean water for drinking and domestic use it did not talk about the importance of water conservation. It was a good starting point but for such an important issue it needed to go further and do it more boldly.

And again, heading back to the hotel the town was alive with activity, but it was carnival after all.

10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival

Day 2

One of the hardest things to do at a film festival is to decide what to see and make a workable schedule. Hours can be spent pouring over the catalogue and programme trying to figure out which films will be worth watching and whether or not they clash with something else, which they invariably do. Documentary festivals are a new adventure for me, with my only real contact with the form being on television. After a quick browse through what was on offer here I made a decision that I would only go and see films that were positive, inspiring and uplifting. I didn’t really want to go and films about death, destruction, injustice and other problems facing the world and individuals. I don’t need to go and sit in a dark room, especially with the glorious Greek spring weather beckoning, to be told that the world is fucked up and going to hell in a handcart. Maybe those burdened by catholic guilt and/or a limited range of experiences need to be reminded that the world is in a mess, although guilt is not going to fix it. Sure these films can raise awareness for the world’s downtrodden but how much does it help with the relief of their suffering when there are huge obstacles such as greedy and immoral corporations and corrupt, self-serving political machines to battle? How many people marched in the streets of London (before it was made illegal) to protest against the invasion of Iraq? And there are still troops there, thousands of people are still dying and there is no solution in site. And who is winning? Well, Shell and BP have made record profits, so someone is.


So with that in mind, the first film I saw was SURFWISE by Doug Pray. What a delight this film was. This is about someone who wanted freedom and simply took it. “Doc” Paskowitz is a legend amongst the surfing community. He was a doctor who was going places. He had lots of money, social and civic standing but was just plain miserable with his life because all he really wanted to do was go surfing, so he just gave it all up – including his wife and daughters and did what his heart desired (something I could easily relate to having made a similar choice, but much younger so without the responsibilities). He remarried, had seven children and travelled the coast of North America in a camper van. The kids didn’t go to school, they only had enough money to survive but they were free, happy and healthy. Although the film does look at some of the negative aspects of the lifestyle such as rampant sibling rivalry, a strong patriarchal rule and the children’s dissatisfaction with the eventual outcome of their earlier lives when they tried to integrate into ‘normal’ society without having had a formal education. The fact is the children were all reasonably successful in the paths they chose, whether it was music, business or surfing. The reunion at the end of the movie was particularly emotional. Although it was the first film I saw I get a feeling this will be my favourite film of the festival.

One thing they do really well at Thessaloniki, apart from feed you all the time, is run parallel cultural events. This time there is a photography exhibition with two separate, yet connected, shows at the Museum of Photography. It is an obvious choice to have photography as the medium has been recording and documenting the human condition long before movies came along. Tonight was the opening of the exhibitions. One is called One Second of Silence by Sotiris Danezis, which is a collection of photos from war zones around the world, which don't show the horror of war but the silent moments between the gunfire. The other is Rebuilding Afghanistan, which shows the positive things the Canadian government is doing to help that war torn land. Of course there were lots of speeches but the images definitely spoke a lot louder.


There is a strong musical strand to this festival, so being a lover of music it was obvious to go and see some of those on offer. PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE by Steven Sebring was my first choice, not in order of importance but in terms of when it was screening, which was late at night. I wouldn’t say I was a huge fan of Smith but have always liked her music and punk ethic, so the film was an interesting look at her life and work. The film was shot over a ten-year period at tours around the world, and with her family. Of course, being about punk icon who is also a poet and artist, the film was shot and edited with those sensibilities in mind, with the bulk of it being black and white. As a portrait of an artist it captures her perfectly while managing to soften those familiar hard edges. It features some of her more familiar songs such as Gloria. Although it doesn’t have the song Pissing in the River it does have a very funny verbal pissing contest. For fans of Smith, or her era, this is a must see.

10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival

Day 1

It’s amazing how one seemingly small event can have domino effect repercussions. My carefully scheduled journey to the airport was thrown out when the first train did not arrive. Luckily I did build in a bit of leeway but it did mean I arrived at the airport check-in just on the official cut-off time. By the time I’d been through the ridiculously stringent security checks of being treated like a criminal, and taking the long, long walk to the departure gate I made it to the plane just in time for the door to be closed behind. Thank goodness for online check-in. Anyway, I was on the plane and on my way back to Thessaloniki for another film festival, this time their Images of the 21st Century Documentary Festival, celebrating its tenth anniversary.

With so many years of organising Festivals, combined with Mediterranean hospitality there is always a warm welcome to meet you. A short drive to the hotel in the company of US filmmaker Jeffrey Morgan and Alice Hurwitz, the subject of his film LILLIE AND LEANDER: A LEGACY OF VIOLENCE. Alice outline the film for me, telling me how she wanted to do a little bit of family history only to discover that her ancestors were involved in the systematic killing of negroes in retaliation for murder and rape of her great aunt that went far beyond the vigilante killing of the accused.

After checking in with the delegate and press offices and renewing acquaintances I went back to the hotel for 40 winks before the opening night ceremony and film.


Speeches are very much the order of the day here, with introductions from the festival directors, the mayor and filmmaker Lydia Carras whose film MY LIFE AND TIMES – MICHAEL CACOYANNIS was to follow. Possibly Greece’s best internationally known director, for his Oscar®-winning ZORBA THE GREEK, this was a fascinating look at the whole canon of his films with insights from his long-time collaborators including composer Mikis Theodorakis and cinematographer Walter Lassally, as well as a look at some of the great actors, such as Irene Papas, who have become synonymous with Greek cinema. The film got rapturous applause at the end from an audience that fully appreciated the man’s contribution to Greek culture, not to mention the way Ms Carras revealed the story.

What I found slightly unusual was watching a documentary in a cinema. I usually associated fictional films with theatres and docs with TV, but I’m sure by the end of my stay at the festival that conditioning will be overcome.

Click here for the full festival programme