Newly revitalized SDFF announces Headline and Premiere Films - 11 World Premieres and epic events!

San Diego Film Foundation Names Headline and Premiere Films for the

11^th Annual San Diego Film Festival – September 26-30, 2012

San Diego, CA, -- September 12, 2012 – The San Diego Film Foundation announced today the headline and premiere films for the 2012 San Diego Film Festival.   Sifting through 1,300 submissions from over 55 countries, the official films represent a broad spectrum of gripping narratives. Infused with new leadership and capital, the San Diego Film Festival is poised to raise this year’s profile with nearly 200 film screenings; including 11 World Premieres, 16 WestCoast Premieres, and 4 US premieres.  

Headline Films for the 2012 San Diego Film Festival include the Opening Night Premiere of Wayne Blair’s story of love, friendship, and music in The Sapphires as well as the Spotlight Film The Oranges, directed by Julian Farino, with an all-star cast including Hugh Laurie, Leighton Meester, Catherine Keener, and Allison Janey. Closing films include Grassroots, directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and starring Jason Biggs, Joel David Moore, Cedric the Entertainer, Cobie Smulders, Lauren Ambrose, and Tom Arnold and Quartet, a drama /comedy directed by Dustin Hoffman and starring Maggie Smith. The Horror Fest at Gaslamp, an exciting addition to this year’s festival, includes Martin McDonagh’s highly anticipatedSeven Psychopaths, with Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell. 

World premieres include Robert Kirbyson’s survival story Red Line and Alonso May’s The Story of Luke, a quirky story of an autistic boys singular mission, starring Lou Taylor Pucci, Seth Green, Kristin Bauer, and Cary Elwes.   US Debut’s includeThe Man Inside, a thriller centered on a young boxer trying to distance himself from his father’s gangster past and directed by Dan Turner, and the indie comedy Frankie Goes Boom with Ron Perlman, Chris Noth, Charlie Hunnam and Lizzy Caplan and directed by JordanRoberts, makes it’s West CoastDebut. 

The San Diego Film Festival will also be home to several unique events and tributes including a Gus Van Sant tribute and retrospective on September 27th, the first time his collective works will have been featured in a festival setting.  Also on tap are groundbreaking panels, including a discussion and screening of the documentary Trek Nation featuring Rod Roddenberry (son of the late Trek TGV/film producer Gene Roddenberry), and panel discussions with top level film executives including a Film Engine panel, a 3D panel with Legend 3D, the largest 3D conversion company in the U.S., and seminars for aspiring filmmakers – includingpackaging, selling, and distributing in today's new media market place – with dozens of respected industry leaders.  

The festival's nightlife promises to be exceptional this year as well. From September 26–30, The San Diego Film Festival will transform the entire Gaslamp district into a cinematic paradise with dozens of screenings and parties, including an "Almost Famous" Block party and outdoor screening hosted by the original Pennie Lane on Friday, September 28th and many other exciting premieres, parties, and red carpet events. For a full schedule of events, visitwww.SanDiegoFilmFest.com. 

Highlights of the Headline Films for the 2012 San Diego Film Festival include:

●      The Sapphires – Opening Night Premiere, The Gaslamp

Director: Wayne Blair

Cast: Chris O'Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens, Miranda Tapsell

Synopsis: It's 1968, and four young, talented Australian Aboriginal girls learn about love, friendship and war when theirall-girl group, The Sapphires, entertain the US troops in Vietnam.
7:00pm Wednesday, Sept. 26 at Reading Theater

●      The Oranges – Spotlight at La Jolla

Director: Julian Farino

Cast: Hugh Laurie, Leighton Meester, Catherine Keener, Allison Janney, Oliver Platt, Adam Brody, Alia Shawkat

Synopsis: THE ORANGES is a comedy about two families, who have been lifelong friends, and the hilaritythat ensues when a rebellious daughter returns home for the holidays and causes a scandal that forces everyone to re-examine what happiness really means tothem.

6:30pm Saturday September 29 at Reading Theater

●      Quartet – Closing Night, La Jolla

Director: Dustin Hoffman

Cast: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Billy Connolly

Synopsis: Cecily, Reggie and Wilfred are in a home for retired opera singers. Every year, on October 10, there is a concert tocelebrate Verdi's birthday and they take part. Jean, who used to be married to Reggie, arrives at the home and disrupts their equilibrium. She still acts like a diva, but she refuses to sing. Still, the show must go on... and it does.
7:30 pm Saturday, Sept. 29^th at Museum of Contemporary Art LaJolla

●      Seven Psychopaths – Horror Fest at Gaslamp

Director: Martin McDonagh

Cast: Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell

Synopsis: Written and Directed by Oscar®-winner Martin McDonagh, the comedy Seven Psychopaths follows a struggling screenwriter (Colin Farrell) who inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends (Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell) kidnap a gangster’s (Woody Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu.  Co-starring Abbie Cornish, Tom Waits, Olga Kurylenko and Zeljko Ivanek.

9:00 pm Saturday, Sept. 29^th at Reading Theater

●      Grassroots – Closing Night, Gaslamp

Director: Stephen Gyllenhaal

Cast: Cobie Smulders,Lauren Ambrose, Jason Biggs, Joel David Moore, Christopher McDonald, Tom Arnold

Synopsis: After losing his job, a journalist reluctantly agrees to help his oddball friend with his bid to earn a seat on the Seattle City Council.
7:00pm Sunday, Sept. 30^th at Reading Theater

Highlights of the Premiere Films for the 2012 San Diego Film Festival include:

• Red Line – World Premiere

Director:  Robert Kirbyson

Cast:  Nicole Gale Anderson, John Billingsle, Kunal Sharma

Synopsis:  Moments after departing from the Hollywood & Highland Metro Station, commuters on L.A.’s subway system experience a sudden explosion. Most passengers die on impact as the train is violently derailed and sent smashing into the tunnel’s walls.

                        6:00 PM, Saturday, Sept. 29^th at Gaslamp

5:30 pm Sunday, Sept. 30^h at Museum of Contemporary Art La Jolla

• The Story of Luke – World Premiere

Director: Alonso Mayo

Cast:  Lou Taylor Pucci, Seth Green, Kristin Bauer, Cary Elwes

Synopsis:  Luke’s world is turned upside down when his grandmother dies and he is forced to live with his dysfunctional relatives who have no patience for him or his senile grandfather, who they quickly force into a nursing home. Luke is left with his grandfather’s final semi-coherent words: “Get a job. Find a girl. Live your own life. Be a man!” For the first time in his life, Luke has a mission. He is about to embark on a quest.

7:00 PM, Saturday, September 29^th at Gaslamp

• Man Inside – US Premiere

Director: Dan Turner

Cast: Ashley Thomas, Peter Mullan, Michelle Ryan

Synopsis:  Clayton Murdoch carries a terrible darkness inside him. As a boy he was exposed, by his father, to murder and gang culture,

With his father now in prison, Clayton struggles to overcome what he was groomed to become, in a city where every day there is a constant threat of violence and death.

8:30 PM, Thursday, Sept 27^th at Gaslamp

• 3,2,1...Frankie Go Boom – West Coast Premiere

Director: Jordan Roberts

Cast:  Charlie Hunnam, Chris O'Dowd, Lizzy Caplan, Ron Perlman, Chris Noth, Whitney Cummings, Nora Dunn, Sam Anderson

Synopsis: A comedy about two brothers a girl with a broken heart, a sex tape, an angel and a pig.

7:00 PM, Friday Sept 28^th at Gaslamp and Sat, September 29^th at 8:00 PM Coast Room La Jolla

The San Diego Film Festival is scheduled for Wednesday, September 26, 2012 – Sunday, September 30, 2012.  For the first time, the Festival will be held at two venues: the Reading Theater in the Gaslamp Quarter (701 Fifth Avenue, San Diego, 92101), and the Museum of Contemporary Art La Jolla, Sherwood Auditorium (700 Prospect Street, La Jolla, 92037). Tickets start at $14 for pre-sale/$16 at the door, and go up to $75 for a one day pass, and range up to $500 for a Festival VIP Pass to all screenings, premieres, events, and panels on all days.  A dramatic expansion this year, Festival organizers anticipate hosting over 100 film screenings.

The San Diego Film Foundation celebrates the art and power of independent film by creating unique, interactive, memorable film-going experiences. The non-profit San Diego Film Foundation produces the annual San Diego Film Festival showcasing one-of-a-kind film premieres, informative industry panels, and filmmaker and celebrity events.  The organization is devoted to the inspiration and talent behind each film, and turns every screening into a must-see event, complete with after-parties.  For more information and film schedule, visit www.SanDiegoFilmFest.com.