San Antonio film festival spreads across the city

For the first time in its 17-year history, the San Antonio Film Festival will offer screenings in six different locations. It’s an 11-day festival with more to offer than ever, but — for reasons I will put forth in my next El Cine column — I was only able to obtain a few screeners ahead of time.

No matter: These are movies you should check out:

Wife in Shining Armor, a 15-minute short directed by San Antonian Rogelio Salinas III, abuses slow-motion and could’ve used some silence instead of an ever-present soundtrack. Yet, the movie looks great, which is remarkable considering Salinas only used natural light. Rachel Salinas (the real wife of Rogelio, who also co-stars) is perfect as the supermom who saves the day.

“I thought that it would be fun to create a short that would take the audience on an emotional roller coaster by starting off as a dialogue-driven comedy, which becomes a suspenseful thriller that transforms into an exciting action comedy,” Rogelio Salinas told the Current. “Also, where else are you going to see a martial-arts warrior who is also eight and a half months pregnant?” The movie will be shown June 24 at the Instituto de México’s Auditorium (see box).

Jon Cooksey’s environmental doc How To Boil A Frog (free screening during a 2-5pm block of time Sunday, June 19, at the Central Library, 600 Soledad) has the usual Michael Moore/Morgan Spurlock approach: it tries to be funny about serious subjects. But Cooksey’s approach is closer to that famous George Carlin line: “The planet is fine. It’s the people that are fucked.”

“There’s been a whole raft of docs about this or that problem (environment, energy, economics, sociopathic CEO’s, etc.), and the general tone seems to be that you should go jump off a bridge afterward,” Cooksey, an American living in Canada, told the Current via email. “So I thought it was time for something that was funny and had a whole bunch of solutions that would make our lives more fun and more meaningful, get us some new friends, and maybe get us into a bit of trouble-making to get our situation back on track.”

One of the strongest features is Rolla Selbak’s Three Veils, which follows the lives of three Muslim women in America.

“[Three Veils] deals with women’s issues with a focus on the struggle of a lesbian Muslim, something that hasn’t been tackled in this daring of a way before,” producer Ahmad Zahra told the Current. The movie will screen on Sunday, June 26, at the Instituto Cultural de México’s Orozco Gallery (2-5pm).

Go to safilm.com and for the detailed schedule — this may not be Cannes, but there’s plenty of interesting stuff to watch. •

The San Antonio Film Festival will take place June 16-26 at the Instituto Cultural de México (600 Hemisfair Park), Central Library (600 Soledad), the San Antonio Museum of Art (200 W Jones), The Park at Pearl (200 E Grayson), Main Plaza (115 Main), and The Friendly Spot (943 S Alamo). Eleven-day tickets sell for $75 plus fee, while day-screening passes start at $10. Both can be purchased at eventbrite.com or at each of the screenings.