San Francisco International Film Festival 59th San Francisco International Film Festival took place from April 21 to May 5, 2016 at venues throughout the Bay Area. Founded in 1957 by film exhibitor Irving "Bud" Levin, the SFIFF began as a philanthropic effort to secure San Francisco's place in the international arts scene as well as expose locals to cinema as an art form. The Festival played a major role in introducing foreign films to American audiences. Akira Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood" and Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali" were among the films that screened at the first festival. One obstacle in the early years was the lack
Aparajito films admired by him; this list quoted him as having affirmed the jury's choice as "ABSOLUTELY right" (though he misidentified the winning film as "Pather Panchali"). Emanuel Levy said: "Made in 1956 (and released in many countries a year later), 'Aparajito' indicates India’s processes of modernization and industrialization and their inevitable impact on both individual and culture. Nonetheless, in his upbeat outlook, Ray suggests that individuals can rise to the occasion and might not be compromised by the corruption that characterizes the society at large." Bosley Crowther, who had earlier given a lukewarm response to "Pather Panchali", saying that the