The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival returns to the PFA Theater with a schedule of thirty features and eleven short films from thirty countries over a span of two weeks. The annual extravaganza gets underway Friday, April 26 with Sergei Loznitsa’s Cannes Film Festival award-winning In the Fog, a dreamlike movie about a plan to kill a Belorussian railway worker suspected of Nazi sympathies. Later that evening, director Dan Krauss joins us at the theater to present The Kill Team, his chilling documentary about a group of U.S. soldiers stationed in Afghanistan who are convicted of murdering innocent civilians. As usual we will welcome some of the most innovative filmmakers, editors, producers, and others working in film todayl. The following is a list of confirmed guest at the time of this writing:

Photo: The Kill Team
 

Saturday, April 26
9 p.m. The Kill Team (U.S., 2012)
Director Dan Krauss in person

Saturday, April 27
8:45 p.m. Shorts 5: Experimental: Artifacts and Artificial Facts
Versus director James Sansing in person

Sunday, April 28
6:10 p.m. Key of Life (Japan, 2012)
Director Kenji Uchida in person

9 p.m. Rosie (Switzerland, 2012)
Director Marcel Gisler and producer Susann Rüdlinger in person

Monday, April 29
6:30 p.m. A River Changes Course (Cambodia/U.S., 2012)
Director Kalyanee Mam and editor Chris Brown in person

Wednesday, May 1
8:45 p.m. They’ll Come Back (Brazil, 2012)
Director Marcello Lodello in person

Friday, May 3 8:40 p.m. Shepard & Dark (U.S., 2012)
Director Treva Wurmfeld and producer Amy Hobby in person

Saturday, May 4
4:15 p.m. Chimeras (Finland, 2013)
Director Mika Mattila in person

8:45 p.m. Spend It All (U.S., 1971)
Director Les Blank’s son Harrod Blank, and Mark Toscano and Jon Else from the Academy Film Archive, in person

Sunday, May 5
1 p.m. After Tiller (U.S., 2013)
Directors Martha Shane and Lana Wilson and editor Greg O’Toole in person

3:20 Downpour (Iran, 1971)
Director Bahram Beyzaie in person

6:30 p.m. Good Ol’ Freda (U.S./U.K., 2012)
Director Ryan White in person

Monday, May 6
6:30 p.m. Fatal Assistance (France/Haiti/U.S./Belgium, 2013)
Director Raoul Peck in person

Tuesday, May 7
6:30 p.m. Rent a Family Inc. (Denmark, 2012)
Director Kaspar Astrup Schröder in person

Thursday, May 9
6:30 p.m. Let the Fire Burn (U.S., 2013)
Director Jason Osder and editor Nels Bangerter

8:50 p.m. Il futuro (Chile/Germany/Italy/Spain, 2012)
Director Alicia Scherson in person