The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival returns again to the PFA Theater with a schedule of 42 features, shorts, documentaries, and experimental films from over thirty countries. The festivities get underway tonight with German director Ulrich Köhler’s award-winning Sleeping Sickness, about a doctor working to fight a sleeping epidemic in Cameroon, followed by Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s Oslo, August 31, a film about one day in the life of a recovering drug addict. As usual, we’ll be graced with appearances by some of the most innovative filmmakers of our time. A tentative list of special guests is included below.

Saturday, April 21
3:50 p.m. The Waiting Room (U.S., 2011)
Director Peter Nicks in person

6:15 p.m. Blink of an Eye
Words of Mercury filmmaker Jerome Hiler and Sounding Glass composer Gregory Scharpen

Sunday, April 22
1:30 p.m. Tokyo Waka (Japan/U.S., 2011)
Directors John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson in person

3:45 p.m. The Source (U.S., 2012)
Director Jodi Wille in person

Monday, April 23
6:30 p.m. Informant (U.S., 2012)
Director Jamie Meltzer in person

Tuesday, April 24
8:50 p.m. Bitter Seeds (India/U.S., 2011)
Director Micha X. Peled in person

Friday, April 27
8:50 p.m. Old Dog (China/Tibet, 2011)
Director Pema Tseden in person

Saturday, April 28
12:00 p.m. It’s the Earth Not the Moon
Director Gonçalo Tocha in person

Sunday, April 29
1:00 p.m. Step Up to the Plate (France, 2011)
Director Paul Lacoste in person

3:20 p.m. A Secret World (Mexico, 2012)
Director Gabriel Mariño and producer Tatiana Graullera in person

5:40 p.m. Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (U.S., 2011)
Director Matthew Akers and producer Jeff Dupre in person

Monday, April 30
6:30 p.m. Pierre Rissient: Man of Cinema (U.S., 2007)
Subject Pierre Rissient in person

Tuesday, May 1
6:30 p.m. Golden Slumbers (Cambodia/France, 2011)
Director Davy Chou in person

8:50 p.m. OK, Enough, Goodbye. (Lebanon/United Arab Emirates, 2010)
Directors Rania Attieha and Daniel Garcia in person

Thursday, May 3
6:30 p.m. Meanwhile in Mamelodi (Germany/South Africa, 2011)
Director Benjamin Kahlmeyer and producer Boris Frank in person

Photo: Pierre Rissient