The Blog

Starting Thursday, you'll have 15 days to attend as many of the 200 films and events at the SF International Film Festival as possible. I'm guessing you probably have a job, or a budget, or an interest in sleeping, which means you can't catch them all. No worries. Here's an introduction to six films you shouldn't miss.

Farewell My Queen

An awesome French period drama set in 1789 and starring the infamous leader and lover Marie Antoinette and one of her most devoted servants. The French Revolution is about to begin, and Versailles' immense wealth is newly endangered. Palatial chaos ensues amidst beautifully lavish sets (the costumes are great, too).

The Queen of Versailles

And now for a very different sort of queen, and a very different sort of Versailles. Documentary filmmaker Lauren Greenfield followed a 74-year-old new-money billionaire and his 43-year-old shop-happy wife as they set out to build the largest home in America, a 90,000 square foot mansion based on none other than Marie Antoinette's own Versailles. Things go sour when the economy tanks. Oh, and the couple has eight children…and a white tiger.

Acid Queens: Peaches and Tommy

I know, three queens in a row! This one's a live event, and the royalty here are Tina Turner – on screen in the 1975 rock opera Tommy – and the fabulous Peaches Christ as host. The event kicks off with a rock 'n' roll pre-show, complete with a drag performance and a live band.

Cherry

This one depicts a high schooler's foray into the Bay Area porn world, where she encounters James Franco in a strip club and Heather Graham on a porn set. Cherry, which Kim Bender of the SF Film Society describes as "a love letter to San Francisco," is the first film by director Stephen Elliott, who's also the editor of the awesome magazine and blog The Rumpus.

Alps

This Greek absurdist drama by the director of Dogtooth is about a group of people – a secret club, in fact – who charge a fee to fill in for recently deceased relatives. Save Alps for a day when your good mood needs to get knocked down a rung.

Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey

Gotta love an internet success story. Imagine performing Journey covers with your band for years and years… and then being discovered by the real band on YouTube and asked to become their lead singer. Yep, that happened to Arnel Pineda. Don't Stop Believin' delves into Pineda's early adult years singing on the street in his hometown of Manila, Philippines, and his current reality performing on stage for thousands of fans.

To find showtimes and to scope out the other flicks playing at the festival from April 19-May 3, go to the SFIFF website. Happy watching.

Photo by Bill Ohl

Sam Weinert is in the local folk/country band Amador. She sings and plays an assortment of instruments, including the piano, acoustic guitar, a vintage Roland monosynth, and an old transistor combo organ. The band is currently self-recording a new EP/album, so she's recently taken on the role of producer / arranger as well. Besides Sam, Amador includes Michael Hamm and Sanja Wetze. Their story goes something like this: Initially, Amador began as Michael's solo project. He had written a solid EP's worth of folk/country songs, and had been performing them on acoustic guitar around the Bay Area. Sam and Michael used to work together at Blue Bottle Coffee Co. and had been talking about playing music together for ages, so one day she brought a portable analog synthesizer over to his house and sang harmonies while playing what she thought sounded like a french horn coming from some distant winter forest. Something about those sessions clicked. Soon after that Sanja joined Amador — she'd been taking bass lessons from Michael and expressed interest in singing, and so Michael and Sam decided to bring her on to attempt three-part harmonies. Those harmonies have since become a large part of Amador's focus. 

Sam's been listening to alternative and gothic country and folk music for a while now, having fallen in love with the raw emotion and untamed expression in the music. But she's also been listening to a lot of late '70s/early '80s punk and synthpunk, with the intention of starting another project. Well, we definitely can't wait for whatever the new project might be!

Here is Sam's mixtape, called "The Beautiful Death."

1. #1 Country Song (Demo) – The Handsome Family
2. I Fold– Sharon Van Etten
3. Dark Turn Of Mind – Gillian Welch
4. Where To Begin – Bachelorette
5. Better Days – Graham Nash
6. Only A Broken Heart – Tom Petty
7. Green Arrow – Yo La Tengo
8. John 4:16 – The Mountain Goats
9. Love More – Sharon Van Etten
10. True Love Will Find You In The End – Daniel Johnston

Because they are busy recording and working on new material, Amador doesn't currently have any upcoming shows, but make sure to check out their site for updates.

Are you the music master at your place of work? Do you want to make a mixtape for The Bold Italic? Email me here: nikkigrattan@yahoo.com