San Francisco

Movable feasts at Bay to Breakers.
Photo courtesy of Zazzle Bay to Breakers.

San Francisco's season of street fairs, festivals and block parties begins ramping up in May, and this week is chock-a-block with 'em. The city's first Asian Contemporary Art Week has talks by curators and artists, performance art in action, parties and exhibits, and is just one of many events for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Civic Center, the Asian Art Museum, and Little Saigon will be taken over on Saturday by the Asian Heritage Street Celebration. The San Francisco International Art Festival and Young at Art Festival continue through Sunday, and if you're a DIYer, you shouldn't miss the Maker Faire; our May events calendar has details on all of them.

Sunday, of course, is the incomparable Bay to Breakers.  Find out the essentials, whether you're a Bay to Breakers runner (official or unofficial) or you're a sideline spectator.

This portrait of Liz, a first-time-mom,
is one of many that'll go on display on
May 12. Photo by Margaret Silverman/IMOW

They are, whether we'd like to admit it or not.  Tomorrow, May 12,  you can see this literally outside the San Francisco Public Library:  Photos of San Francisco moms, ranging from 5 to 15 feet tall, will be glued onto the building walls (the photos, not the mothers).  Some of the mothers will be there in person, too, and as the artwork is installed, youngsters and adults can do arts and crafts activities. The photos are part of a global project by the online International Museum of Women.

Get the details on the installation, and other ways to honor moms, in our guide to Mother's Day in San Francisco.

Mother's Day is a week away--but it's never too early to start showing gratitude to moms, who drive us crazy but are under-appreciated workhorses and cheerleaders, too.  In fact you can begin today, by treating Mom to some comic tributes at the Shelton Theater, and continue with flowers and more tributes on Thursday.  By Sunday, Mom may well be rendered speechless by your consideration and thanks.  Just follow our  guide to Mother's Day in San Francisco, and you're golden.

Actor Rosemarie DeWitt talks about improvising
the lines in Your Sister's Sister, the Centerpiece
feature of the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Photo by Tommy Lau, courtesy San Francisco Film Society.

Your Sister's Sister is a humorous, clever drama about sibling, friend and romantic relationships--and for being the San Francisco International Film Festival's Centerpiece feature last night, it was under-the-radar. The screening at the Sundance Kabuki wasn't sold out. The after-party at the Clift Hotel was small and subdued, with most party-goers conversing in small huddles or pouncing on the passed-around nibbles; Kiefer Sutherland was spotted.

What's notable about Your Sister's Sister is its predominance of off-the-cuff dialogue, which actor Rosemarie DeWitt discussed on stage after the film showing. For the 12-day shoot, director Lynn Shelton gave a "half-script, half-treatment" to the actors to work from, DeWitt said. Pivotal scenes--such as DeWitt's and Mark Duplass' (of the Duplass brothers directing duo) characters bonding over tequila after a disastrous first meeting, and DeWitt's character embarrassing her sister (played by Emily Blunt)--resulted from impromptu brains and wit.

"Mark is a brilliant improviser," DeWitt said, recalling that Duplass launched into their tequila-scene shoot with "Let's talk about your butt."

Last night was the only screening of Your Sister's Sister at the SF film fest, but it opens in theaters in mid-June. SFIFF continues through May 3.

The San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) is in its final days, though there are still many directors and actors in town and lots of film screenings left.  The closing film on May 3 focuses on Bay Area band Journey's new lead singer,  who made the improbably journey from Manila poverty to world concert tours before adoring crowds. Arnel Pineda and his Journey band-mates are due to attend the screening. Check out the highlights, and what Bay Area films to catch, in our run--down of the festival's last week.

I confess: I'm an office-supplies junkie. I have more pencils than I could use in a year, too many rolls of tape, and maybe a tree's worth of paper.

If this sounds familiar, it's time to clean out your desk and drawers, and give the excess to a good cause: your local classroom.

Collect any Scotch tape, No. 2 pencils, glue sticks, paper and dry-erase markers, and drop them off at any Peet's or Sports Basement outlets in San Francisco by Friday, April 27. They'll be given to a thankful teacher.  And you and your desk will feel better.

Maria Kochetkova in San Francisco
Ballet's production of Don Quixote.
Photo by Erik Tomasson.

With the constant flirting, flared dresses and frilly tutus, delusional dreams and raucous wedding of Don Quixote, San Francisco Ballet wraps up its 2012 season with a new and exuberant, if classical, bow.

Outfitted with new sets and costumes, the comedic story ballet is being performed from Friday, April 27 through May 6, 2012. San Francisco Ballet's production of Don Quixote was created by artistic director Helgi Tomasson and choreographer-in-residence Yuri Possokhov, based on the quintessential version by French choreographer Marius Petipa in 1871 and an adaptation by Alexander Gorsky at the turn of the 20^th century.

The Don Quixote you know from high-school English class or from The Man of La Mancha musical is a knight wanna-be who attacks windmills. In the ballet, he's actually sidelined, and the action focuses on the romance between a barber and an innkeeper's daughter in 19^th-century Spain.

Tomasson and Possokhov borrowed from commedia dell'arte, a European dramatic genre that uses prototypical characters and scenarios--such as a carefree daughter who resists marrying the older, upper-class groom that her father has picked, the bumbling but loyal servants, swapped or mistaken identities and wild goose chases.

Of course the romp ends happily in the wedding of the century in a Spanish village, which even SF Ballet dancers say is like a party.

It's a bon voyage party for them, and one that balletomanes won't want to miss. After Don Quixote, the company packs up and tours in Hamburg, Moscow, London and elsewhere. San Francisco Ballet won't return to the War Memorial Opera House stage until it's Nutcracker season.

A scene from Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's
Journey, the closing film of the 2012 SF International
Film Festival.
Photo courtesy of SF Film Society.

Starting tonight, film fanatics will have their eyes glued to screens as the San Francisco International Film Festival unveils 175 films during the next two weeks.

The films come from 45 countries. There's a lush portrayal of Marie Antoinette's life at Versailles during the French Revolution (Farewell My Queen), the festival's opening night selection. There's a documentary about an American tycoon and his younger, third wife, who in the recession drop from the 1 percent to the 99 percent and are stuck with their unfinished, 90,000-square-foot mansion modeled after Versailles (The Queen of Versailles). And there are films of all genres in between. Find more info in our guide to the 2012 SFIFF.

Between film showings, get some fresh air at any of several Earth Day festivals this weekend in the Bay Area.

It's that dreaded time of year, when we're to own up to the IRS.  Except we San Franciscans dread it more than anyone else. We're the biggest tax procrastinators in the country, according to a recent TurboTax study, which reported that in 2011, at least 4 out of 10 of us waited until two weeks before the deadline to submit our returns.  Gulp.

It's too late to feel guilty about it this year. But if you're filing the good old way, be sure to know which San Francisco Bay Area post offices that are open late on April 17.

If you already filed or are close to it, you can celebrate by turning cartwheels on the Great Highway on Sunday. Or salsa, hula-hoop, jog or bike--all courtesy of the Sunday Streets program.

Easter weekend and the beginning of Passover coincide this year, so get ready for many celebrations and activities packed into a short period, starting on Saturday.

There are seders in the Bay Area that welcome everyone, including people who don't know a thing about Passover--just go with an curious mind and an appetite.  Our Easter activities guide lists egg hunts, parades and irreverent Easter entertainment. We also have info on San Francisco hotels that lay out grand Easter Sunday buffet brunches, and other Easter dining specials.

If all that is not too mind- and stomach-boggling, peek at what's to come on the April events calendar.