Friday, December 26, 2008

PSIFF 2009!

It's here! On December 27, the schedule for PSIFF 2009 is announced on the site.

What films are you looking forward to? What are you curious about? Which Awards Gala honorees are you excited about?

The 20th anniversary fest is ready to shake up the desert!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

The stars are fun for the town, but during the festival, we're all about the films. So far, we have narrowed the list to about 80, and we'll get it down to 50-60 when the schedule ccomes out. We have a short list of Captain Abu Raed, Jerusalema, Gomorrah, The Class, The Baader-Meinhoff Complex, Tear This Heart Out, Waltz With Bashir, Cherry Blossoms, This Dust of Words, Visual Acoustics, In Your Absence, The Black Balloon, A Boy With A Grenade, The Little Traitor, and, of course, anything from Greece. It is always an interesting choice about whether to see films which are likely to be released, but we tend to choose to see them at the festival, with a full theater of fellow fanatics. Naturally, all the careful planning and scheduling goes right out the window when we stand in our first couple of lines and learn from our "festival friends" (you know, the ones who we only see once a year, or maybe twice if they also attend ShortFest) which films they know about and which ones we were "wrong" to select. It's a no-lose proposition, either way. January in Palm Springs, at a world-class event, put on by world-class staff.

Unknown said...

Does anyone have downloadable schedule for the whole festival on an excel spreadsheet which includes start and end time for all films at all theatre? Certainly would make creating one's schedule easier.

Anonymous said...

What are box office hours?They are not listed on the site.
Just spent over two hours trying to figure out how to redeem my 6pack . It is easier to call it in.

Anonymous said...

The schedule grids will be printed in the special magazine of The Desert Sun, coming out on Dec.31, the date that the box offices open.

The box office information has been available prior to the schedule announcement under Festival Guide. 6-pack redeeming guide has also been available, here.

Dan Paicopulos said...

There are so many wonderful choices at the festival, but a few that might be of unique interest include: "Visual Acoustics..." would be a great followup for anyone who attended the Annenberg Museum's display of the architectural photography of Julius Shulman; "Leaving Barstow" is not a typical coming of age film...it is deftly directed and subtly acted, with a somewhat local flavor; "Marcello, Marcello" might have garnered only a 6.6 on IMDB, but it is far more enjoyable than that score would indicate...you'll leave the theater with a smile. I try to see films from as many countries as possible, especially where they are unlikely to make it even to Netflix. Recently, the Scandinavian productions have been wonderful, and I always have an eye out for solid Israeli films. It might be sick of me, I know, but I also take to those Chinese operas where everyone dies in the end (or at least has some tragedy). What does everyone else look for? And what's your method or approach to narrowing down your list to the "must-see" grouping?

Anonymous said...

Daily grids are now available here.

Dan Paicopulos said...

wow!

thanks for the daily grids online

and , btw, what a great festival website this year...i especially like the "you might also be interested in these..." tool

Rich said...

Deborah - thanks so much for the link to the grids. They're a great help in planning! As is the online version of the glossy catalog (http://www.psfilmfest.org/_uploaded/pdf/festival/psiff09programweb_364248.pdf). I'll definitely buy one on site - but having access to the longer descriptions a few weeks ahead is great.

If folks don't already have it on their lists I HIGHLY recomend Cherry Blossoms - absolutely fantastic (I've yet to meet anyone at previous festivals who didn't enjoy it). Some other great choices I've seen earlier in the year are are O'Horten, The Song of Sparrows. I've also enjoyed Female Agents, Snow, The Witch of the West is Dead, Tricks, Mermaid and Waltz with Bashir (which is one of the most interesting visual films of the year). Though of course everyone has their own strange tastes. ;-)

It does look like there are a lot of great choices this year - and I'm really looking forward to coming down. Just sad I can only attend the second half...

Seattlefilmfest.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know of websites/blogs doing ongoing reviews (or pre-reviews) of films screening at the festival? I've been googling around but I'm thinking I may be missing some good sources - especially in local media outlets.

Thanks,
Rich

Anonymous said...

The Desert Sun (the newspaper of Palm Springs) has a page devoted to everything PSIFF.

Dan Paicopulos said...

Just saw "Departures", at a sneak preview...lovely, lyrical, well-constructed and satisfying