The 65^th edition of the San Francisco Film Festival, the oldest annual film festival in the United States, ran from April 21 to May 1. The documentary-rich festival featured a diverse selection of films highlighting work that has yet to secure financing in the United States, in addition to star-studded and festival circuit darlings. Screenings—for more than 150 films from more than 50 countries—were held in both San Francisco and Berkeley.

San Francisco mayor London Breed attended the opening night festivities and spoke about her fond memories of growing up and going to the movies in the city before introducing the festival’s opening film Stay Awake, which she called an “impassioned story.” The film, which features the two-time Golden Globe-nominated This Is Us star Chrissy Metz, explores the familial collateral damage of opioid addiction. Newcomers-to-watch Fin Argus and Wyatt Oleff give heartfelt performances as dutiful sons to an addict. The SFFILM-supported movie, from first-time feature director Jamie Sisley, played to a packed house for its world premiere.

 

Other notable films included Navalny, the timely Daniel Roher documentary about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny; Colin West’s Linoleum, the recipient of this year’s prestigious Sloan Award, which celebrates the compelling depiction of science in a narrative feature film; and Klondike, Maryna Er Gorbach’s prescient film offering context to the current situation in Ukraine – her film won the Directing Award at Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic competition.

Special guests included Everything Everywhere All at Once’s red-hot Michelle Yeoh, the recipient of a special tribute who was interviewed onstage by two-time Golden Globe winner Sandra Oh, Stay Awake’s Metz, Jim Gaffigan (who stars in Linoleum), and Cha Real Smooth’s Dakota Johnson.

The biggest prize of the festival went to Iran’s Hit the Road. In celebrating the film, the jury stated: “Our unanimous choice for best debut feature is Panah Panahi’s Hit the Road, a raucous and big-hearted crowd-pleaser that’s also deft at carrying deep emotional and political inflections. As a family wends through the Iranian countryside towards a difficult destination, Panahi and his extraordinary cast capture their dynamic so persuasively that the laughter and heartbreak land with equal force.”

 

The full list of the 2022 Golden Gate Award winners is below:

 

Shorts: Youth Works

Honeybee

Emilio Vazquez Reyes

Shorts: Youth Works, Honorable Mention

Unzipped

Jenna Miller

Narrative Short

Busan, 1999

Thomas Kim

Documentary Short

Long Line of Ladies

Rayka Zehtabchi, Shaandiin Tome

Animated Short

Sierra

Sander Joon

New Visions

Listen to the Beat of Our Images

Audrey Jean-Baptiste, Maxime Jean-Baptiste

Shorts: Family Films

Battery Daddy

Seung-bae Jeon

Shorts: Family Films, Honorable Mention

The Ocean Duck

Huda Razzak

Mid-Length

The Time of the Fireflies

Matteo Robert Morales, Mattis Appelqvist Dalton

Bay Area Short Prize, First Place

Half-Day

Morgan Mathews

Bay Area Short Prize, Second Place

Holding Moses

Rivkah Beth Medow

Critics-New Directors Jury

Hit the Road

Panah Panahi

Critics-New Directors Jury, Honorable Mention

Sublime

Mariano Biasin

McBaine Bay Area Documentary Feature Award

I Didn’t See You There

Reid Davenport

McBaine Documentary Feature Award

Master of Light

Rosa Ruth Boesten

Jury Award: Cine Latino

The Employer and the Employee

Manolo Nieto

Sloan Science on Screen Award 

Linoleum

Colin West