November 11–15, 2009
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema
One of the most fertile practices in contemporary film and television, animation occupies a unique space between artistic, experimental, commercial and industrial media. The five-day San Francisco International Animation Festival celebrates San Francisco’s prominence as a hub for one of the most creative cinematic forms.

Thursday, November 12
Opening Night Party
8:00 pm
Embarcadero Center Lobby
Celebrate opening night with filmmakers in attendance. Buy a ticket to either the 7:00 pm or 9:30 pm screening of Wes Anderson’s newest feature Fantastic Mr. Fox and join us either before or after your screening for a the Opening Night party.

Fantastic Mr. Fox
7:00 pm, 9:30 pm
Wes Anderson applies his brilliantly idiosyncratic sensibility to Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s classic, in which Mr. Fox turns his back on a life of crime. George Clooney brings Mr. Fox to life with nimble character voicing, aided by a heavy-hitting cast.

Friday, November 13

The Breakdown
7:00 pm
Animation is especially suited to analysis of all sorts. It probes bodies, investigates movement and questions nature. Animation breaks down the world, love and desire. . . and ultimately the unconscious.

A Town Called Panic
9:00 pm
Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar (Panique au village, Belgium/France/Luxembourg 2009)
This delightful film focuses on a town populated by a random assortment of plastic figurines whose daily activities recall children’s illogical narratives in their herky-jerky disjointedness, celebration of the quotidian and profound brilliance.

Saturday, November 14

Walt Disney's Alice Comedies
1:00 pm
A little girl filmed in live action and placed in a cartoon world—that’s how Walt Disney established his Hollywood studio, producing 56 of these shorts between 1923 and 1927. SFIAF partners with the newly opened Walt Disney Family Museum to present a selection of these charming films

Super Massive Suspension: Nate Boyce vs. Amy Hicks
3:15 pm
The animation catalogs of Amy Hicks and Nate Boyce will be on display in this animation throwdown. Hicks and Boyce represent two wildly differing approaches to animation, while retaining an independent ethos of personal creativity that is inspiring and challenging.

The Best of Annecy
5:45 pm
Annecy is widely regarded as the most important festival for animation in Europe. SFIAF is pleased to once again present a selection of the best shorts to have appeared in Annecy this year.

Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai
7:45 pm
Mizuho Nishikubo (Miyamoto Musashi: Soken ni haseru yume, Japan 2009)
Quite likely the first anime-style documentary, this wholly unique film by master anime director Mamoru Oshii is set in Japan’s early Edo period during the early 17th century.

Play It By Eye
9:30 pm
This year’s program of recent animated music videos—always a Festival favorite—mixes established vets including Roboshobo, Sean Pecknold and Joel Trussell with up-and-comers such as Claire Carré and design stalwart Frater.

Sunday, November 15

The Best of Annecy 12:00 pm
see 11/14

Somewhere Where I Don't Know Where I Am
1:45 pm
The spaces we inhabit can be framed in a myriad of ways. These short animated films describe the humor, confusion, anxiety and poignancy of the many places we encounter, often in the most exceptional ways.

Metropia
3:30 pm
Tarik Saleh (Sweden 2009)
In a bleakly beautiful 2024, call-center drone Roger Olafson (Vincent Gallo) begins hearing a voice inside his head that leads him to step out of his dull routine and into a world of would-be espionage.

Tickets $10-$20
for more information visit www.sffs.org

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