Paul Schrader: Mishima - Japanese via American director

Paul Schrader received the Kanbar Award at the festival there was an interview with him and the film they featured was Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. In his 45 years, Yukio Mishima lived several lives: outcast child; World War II service evader; prolific, Nobel-Prize-nominated author of over 40 novels, 18 plays and numerous short stories and essays; bodybuilder; actor; filmmaker; and head of his very own right-wing paramilitary squad dedicated to following the way of the samurai and restoring imperial Japan. Schrader talked about the difficulties in getting financing for his film, finally getting it from Coppola and George Lucas. The movie was rejected by the widow and it's viewing banned in Japan. He told that with great sadness.

The Dark Horse - New Zealand

The Dark Horse Set in a small northeastern New Zealand city, James Napier Robertson’s film draws on the real-life story of Genesis Potini, a onetime national speed-chess champion of Maori descent, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, who used his talents to work with the poor and gang children in his community.

Guillermo del Toro

An Evening with Guillermo del Toro at the Castro. He was fun, intelligent and passionate. He loves Mexico and the Latin American authors of magical realism and fairytales of all countries. The movie featured was The Devil's Backbone.

Click here for the AMAZING Interview with Guillermo del Toro.

Click Here for his Red Carpet

Click here for excerpt of Devil's Backbone the film that was shown.

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution

Stanley Nelson, the award-winning chronicler of African American life, history and social movements, shines a light on the iconic Black Panther Party (BPP), charting its meteoric rise in the 1960s and its disintegration several years later. Fed up with racial discrimination, poverty and police brutality, urban Black youth in Oakland, CA, were ready for radical change. Timely due to the national police violence events. Will there be a resurgence of the BPP? Controversial end of film in which Nelson the director painted a picture of Huey Newton as a crazy man. It angered the Black Panthers in attendance

The San Francisco International Film Festival is here!

My annual ritual - The 2015

San Francisco International Film Festival! I've been volunteering and attending the film festival since before the first day. I was in their office at the presidio making packets for the VIPs attending the film festival. The top two directors I've heard interviewed were Guillermo del Toro and Paul Schrader.


Click Here for a Preview of the Film Festival

Art pieces interpreted through flowers

An annual program at the San Francisco de Young Museum. Bouquets to Art 2015 See my slide show: .Click here for the Bouquets to Art 2015 slide show

By the way I went to Madrid

View of our balcony