SBIFF is, by nature and self-definition, a smorgasbord effect of film program — and a willfully international smorgasbord. But there are recurring riffs and thematic through lines to be found under the programming umbrellas, sometimes in the course of a day in the festival field. Take Day One, Thursday, February 2, with echoing ideas and iconography built around two of the festival’s stand-out films, both rightly up for Oscars: the stunning I am Not Your Negro, director Raoul Peck‘s bracing, culture-sweeping wild ride of a study of racism in America built on the eloquent power of James Baldwin’s words; and the Swiss stop-motion animation wonder My Life as a Zucchini, Charles Barras’ remarkably, disarmingly beautiful and poignant “social realist animation” project with appeal for both adults and kids.
As if synched with the beginning of Black History Month, this first full day in the 32nd annual SBIFF was also the Day of Denzel (as in Washington), not only shining in his “this has been your life”-style tribute night spotlight at the Arlington last night, but appearing as the voice of John Coltrane in director John Scheinfeld’s fine, illuminating and musically resplendent doc Chasing Trane. Among the most articulate interviews and Coltrane-worshippers in the film: Sonny Rollins, Bill Clinton, and Common.
Introducing the film to the audience at the Lobero (where many of the good ones screened yesterday), Scheinfeld spoke of his awe that Washington accepted his invitation to read Coltrane’s words and essentially play the great tenor saxist visionary (part of a handful of indisputable jazz deities), and appreciated the fact that Washington “plays his character with a quiet inner strength, which Coltrane also had.”
