SAN DIEGO — If you’ve been holding your breath anticipating the return of the San Diego International Film Festival, it’s time to exhale. However, the depth and breadth of films will have you panting trying to keep up with the evocative array of human emotions. To learn more about the SDIFF 2022, I thoroughly enjoyed a phone interview with CEO and Artistic Director, Tonya Mantooth.
Mantooth and her committee always cull the best films from 3,000 submissions. These films come from 85 countries and run the gamut from comedy to drama to documentaries and short films. The festival always highlights social issues and this year has stepped that up to expose the very real danger of human trafficking. To better explore and highlight this issue, the Festival has entered a partnership with Authentic ID and All 4 Humanity Alliance. Learn more about this crisis from the film EXIT: A journey out of the heart of human trafficking and the post-screening discussion.
Another exciting partnership created for this year’s festival is with Curebound, a nonprofit organization seeking a cure for cancer. A documentary film follows Dr. Carl June as he seeks a cure for five-year-old Emily Whitehead’s leukemia. Of Medicine and Miracles tracks the course of the first child’s enrollment in this experimental trial.
What’s different about this year’s festival aside from these partnerships? Mantooth shared that many films were made during covid, yet didn’t contain elements of the pandemic. Some were written for the stage and made into film. Another difference is the theme of social inequity suffered by African-Americans. Films including The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks, weighing in on the 1950s and ’60s is juxtaposed with Freedom’s Path, which chronicles the Civil War era. A panel discussion will “look back into history for perspective on the present.”
I was curious to understand how the pandemic had impacted the SDIFF and was told that funding dollars fell off as theaters were shuttered. However, independent filmmakers were busy and through virtual platforms, audiences swelled to include many who live outside of San Diego. Fortunately, this year’s festival will be a hybrid with the option of buying virtual passes, VIP Pass Package, The Weekend Pass Package as well as individual event and screening tickets. As you can see, there really is something for everyone. The variety of events is astounding and action-packed. If glamor is your thing there is the Night of the Stars Celebrity Tribute, Culinary Cinema for foodies, Opening Night Film and Pre-Reception, and a multitude of panel discussions with prominent movers and shakers, including District Attorney Summer Stephan and Dr. Brook Parker-Bello.
Mantooth told me that three of the gala films surprised her. Each of the films to which she was drawn dealt with the issue of male friendships not typically seen in films. Armageddon Time tracks the friendship of two young boys, one Jewish and the other African-American. The second, The Banshees of Inisherin, depicts an adult male friendship that dissolves, and finally Close explores two young boys who are close and the very dynamic piece of how they feel such love for each other, discovery of what they should be, and the emotions that that pressure engenders.
What was the breakdown of male-to-female filmmakers? Mantooth says, “Feature films were a pretty even split while documentaries were 60/40 male to female. Most of the shorts were made by men as well, likely because they have greater access to the money needed to make films.” I was surprised and at the same time pleased to learn that the filmmaker’s ethnicity is not asked by the judging committee.
The San Diego International Film Festival runs from October 19-23.
Passes are available online at https://sdfilmfest.com/2022buypass.
Eva Trieger is a freelance writer specializing in the arts. She may be contacted via eva.trieger@sdjewishworld.com