Following a phenomenal first year that introduced seventeen new films to over 3000 attendees, the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, aka the SF IndieFest, is back for a second year with an updated roster of new independent feature films.

The Festival kicks off January 6 at the Victoria Theater with local filmmaker Matt Leutwyler's clever, poignant dramedy, This Space Between Us, and the exquisite 1999 Academy Award winning short animation, Bunny. Regular festival screenings will then take place January 7-13 at Landmark's Lumiere Theater and will overlap and continue at the Fine Arts Cinema in Berkeley January 12-14.

About the Festival

With film festivals popping up almost weekly in San Francisco, The SF IndieFest is quickly gaining a strong following for its exclusive focus on what is being called the new New Wave of American Independent Cinema. The unprecedented success of low-budget flicks such as The Blair Witch Project is shaking up the Hollywood system and re-injecting true passion and do-it-yourself soul into the art of filmmaking. The nineteen cutting-edge films in this year's Festival (affectionately dubbed "The Return of IndieFest") run the gamut: some are slick, high-gloss productions while others maintain the outrageous experimental spirit that is putting the "art" back into arthouse cinema.

New to this year's Festival is the addition of one animated short to each of the programs, a tribute to the old school cinematic practice of placing a cartoon before each feature. Each animated piece will be eligible for the coveted Audience Award for best short. The Festival's nineteen feature films will compete for the Tower Records Audience Award for best feature. And finally, the folks behind the scenes at the festival will for the first time be awarding a Staff Prize for their choice of best feature.

Festival Highlights

Highlights of the 2000 Festival include: This Space Between Us, the smart and touching Opening Night feature about a filmmaker who, coping with the loss of his young wife, comes home to San Francisco; American Passport, a documentary that chronicles the travels of Seattle danger hound and filmmaker Paget who makes himself an eye witness to some of the late Twentieth Century's most unstable trouble zones; Pups, the Festival's Closing Night film by acclaimed director Ash, an all-too-timely drama about what could happen when a media-saturated kid finds a gun (or a gun finds a kid); Existo, a snappy comedy set in the fictitious world of a Radical Right theocracy and the poets, drag queens and performance artists who challenge their rule; Dill Scallion, a hilarious mockumentary that chronicles the quick rise and even quicker fall of a country music star; Lucinda's Spell, a campy over-the-top romp about witches and sex magic in New Orleans; Gypsy Boys, by local filmmaker Brian Shep, an examination of the love lives of a group of friends in gay San Francisco; and Smoke and Mirrors, the expose that chronicles the history of the cigarette industry.

The SF IndieFest takes place January 6-14, 2000 at the Victoria and Lumiere Theaters in San Francisco and the Fine Arts Cinema in Berkeley. General ticket prices are $7.50, matinees are $5.50, a pass to all the films is $75 (only $3.75 per film!). Festival programs are available at all city Tower Records, and Landmark Theaters and in the December 29 issue of the Bay Guardian. Tickets are available as of December 15 at most Bay Area RiteAid stores and by calling 415.421.TIXS. Tickets for all City screenings are available at the Lumiere Box Office. Tickets for all Berkeley screenings are available at the Fine Arts Cinema Box Office. For more information call 415.820.1580, email: sfindie@sirius.com or check out the IndieFest web site: www.sfindie.com.