Multimedia
Newsletters
Blogs
Whitepapers
Events
DCP Directory
Mill Directory
Edit Calendar
Advertisers
Reader SurveyNoir City: First Annual San Francisco Film Noir Festival
Dec 27, 2002 12:00 PM, Press Release
The San Francisco Film Society is pleased to be associated with author Eddie Muller's first San Francisco Film Noir Festival presented at the city's atmospheric Castro Theatre, Jan. 17-26, 2003. Twenty films, all set in San Francisco Noir City will screen in magnificent 35mm over ten days in the first in a series of annual noir revivals.
"Hollywood regularly exploited the city¹s reputation as a place of mystery and intrigue," says Muller, a San Francisco native. "This exclusive focus on San Francisco-based movies will be as close as local residents can get to actually having lived in the Bay Area during the classic film noir era." Amidst familiar classics, such as The Maltese Falcon and The Lady From Shanghai, are many rare titles not seen in 35mm exhibition since their original theatrical runs more than 50 years ago.
Muller and Castro Theatre programmer Anita Monga have unearthed several incredibly rare items, including Woman on the Run, Shakedown, The Raging Tide, and The Midnight Story providing what may be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for both film noir fans and local history aficionados to view vintage San Francisco through noir-tinted glasses. "These movies depict a once reckless, vice-ridden seaport transforming itself into a modern metropolis‹precisely the kind of place where crime and danger, both real and cinematic, thrive," says Muller.
This depiction of the American city of the mid-20th century is a compelling aspect of film noir. In its familiar geography of streets, hotels, penthouses and nightclubs, films such as Born to Kill and Thieves' Highway reveal a landscape of temptation and corruption that borders on the mythological. "The films in this series are unsurpassed for their moodiness, allure and sarcastic wit," says Muller. "They¹re lustrous reminders of an era when gripping tales of sex and violence were not yet ironically postmodern or gruesomely degrading."
Muller's latest film book, The Art of Noir,was published by Overlook Pass in October. He has also written Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir which was nominated for Edgar, Anthony and Macavity Awards and a followup, Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of Film Noir which was Amazon.com's #1 Editor¹s Choice entertainment book of 2001. He will be on hand to emcee the series. In addition, Muller writes a series of noir mysteries set in San Francisco, the first of which, The Distance, was picked by The San Francisco Chronicle as one of the Best Mystery Novels of 2002. Its sequel, Shadow Boxer, is being released in January 2003 by Scribner.
Friday, January 17
7:00 The Maltese Falcon
9:10 Dark Passage
Saturday, January 18
2:00, 5:30, 9:10 Woman on the Run
3:40, 7:10 The Lady From Shanghai
Sunday, January 19
1:30, 5:20, 9:10 Shadow of a Woman
3:10, 7:00 Sudden Fear
Monday, January 20
7:00 Out of the Past
9:00 Where Danger Lives
Tuesday, January 21
7:20 Race Street
9:00 Thieves' Highway
Wednesday, January 22
1:30, 5:15, 9:00 The House on Telegraph Hill
3:20, 7:05 Born to Kill
Thursday, January 23
7:00 Nora Prentiss
9:10 The Woman on Pier 13
Friday, January 24
7:20 Shakedown
9:00 The Raging Tide
Saturday, January 25
1:40, 5:20, 9:00 The Midnight Story
3:30, 7:10 The Sniper
Sunday, January 26
1:00, 5:15, 9:30 The Lineup
2:45, 7:10 Experiment in Terror
Ticket prices are $8 general admission, $7 Film Society members, and $5 matinees, students, seniors, and person with disabilities.
Eddie Muller's website is www.noircity.com.
The San Francisco Film Society, presenter of the 46th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 17-May 1, 2003), is a nonprofit arts organization whose goal is to lead in expanding the knowledge and appreciation of international film art and its artists.
