Michael Guillén: The SFFP website lays out the organization's objectives but doesn't provide much history. Can you tell me about the history of the organization? When it started, who started it, how long it's been around? I noticed Rob Byrne's helmship and wondered if the establishment of SFFP was in conjunction with or an offshoot of the Silent Film Festival?
Kathy Rose O’Reagan: SFFP started life as the preservation department of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival ("SFSFF"). While SFSFF occasionally restored films starting in 2012, by the time of SFFP’s founding two years ago the preservation department was working on up to nine projects simultaneously. In essence, by the summer of 2024, the preservation department of SFSFF had grown to such an extent that it was operating as almost a separate organization under the festival umbrella. It was at this juncture that the decision was made for the preservation department to become an entirely separate organization, allowing SFSFF to focus more fully on its mission dedicated to the superb presentation of silent cinema. SFFP’s first day of operation was October 1, 2024, with Robert Byrne as founder/Board President, and myself as Executive Director.
Guillén: Jonathan, I note that you're on SFFP’s board of directors so am wondering if you have been with them from the beginning? Can you speak to your involvement?
Marlow: I was invited to join the Board relatively early in the process (although not at its initial formation).
Guillén: I have especially enjoyed previewing František Vláčil’s Valley of the Bees (1968) [screening 3:00PM on Friday, September 25, 2026] and Robert Wynne-Simmons’ The Outcasts (1982) [screening 8:30PM on Friday, September 25, 2026]. Why were you motivated to include them in the festival's first edition? Why should San Franciscans take note?
Marlow: I have had an unreasonable fondness for Valley of the Bees (1968) upon my first viewing roughly a decade ago (as part of a larger pursuit in search of the work of composer Zdeněk Liška). I was aware of recent work on the film in parallel with a restoration of František Vláčil's better-known Marketa Lazarová (1967) but I had yet to see the restoration when we were making our selections. Fortunately, Rob had seen it during his many travels (and possessed a similar appreciation for the film).
As for The Outcasts (1982), that particular restoration had been shortlisted for the tenth-and-final edition of Camera Obscura the year-before-last, coincidentally enough! Kathy was keenly interested in presenting a superlative (albeit rarely-screened) example of Irish folk-horror at Re:Vision. Meanwhile, at the Orphans Film Symposium earlier in the year, Walter Forsberg presented a discussion on the work of Smithsonian Institution alum Karen Loveland, leading to an anomaly in her filmography: Witch (1973), intended for an installation at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic. Not a short film, as such, but a miraculous ephemeral fragment which should be enjoyed by audiences of eclectic and refined interests, perfectly paired! There certainly isn't a comparable film in this series (or any other).
The guiding hand of the program followed a decided effort to disrupt conventional "canon-building" (which, itself, is a reflection of whatever is otherwise accessible—an avenue film restoration has the unique ability to repair). Therein, we'd wanted works from many different eras of filmmaking, representing as many countries as possible with a wide variety of genres, often genres not generally associated with the region, such as the quasi-noir of Bodil Ipsen's Mordets Melodi / Melody of Murder (1944) [screening at 8:40PM on Sunday, September 27, 2026].
The majority of these works are screening in the Bay Area for the first time or, at least, the first time in many decades. Dakan / Destiny (1997), for instance, [screening at 5:45PM on Friday, September 25, 2026] had its local premiere at Frameline and was distributed domestically by California Newsreel yet hasn't screened in the area since its initial release. That screening is accompanied by Nancy, Henri and Elizabeth (1973), a fascinatingly candid documentary short recently preserved by Dino Everett at USC and brought to my attention by Michael Metzger at the Block Museum. Which is another way of noting that ideal suggestions come from all corners! A handful of additional selections in the program debuted at Il Cinema Ritrovato in June, where SFFP's luminous restoration of Sunrise (1927) premiered.
Guillén: Can you provide further insight into the process of shaping the program?
Marlow: With an expanding number of restorations in recent years, a majority of these films would make a belated appearance on Bay Area screens. There are a handful of grand showcases for restored and rediscovered works around the world but nothing of the dedicated sort along the western half of North America. I'd discussed the complications of seeing these archival efforts during one of my many conversations with Rob Byrne and he had already been thinking along the same route. Kathy Rose O'Regan, Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Preserve, immediately joined the discussion and then Elise Schierbeek, a recent addition as Collections Director of SFFP, completed the team.
Guillén: Mention has been made that the festival will have special guests. Can you say who?
Marlow: Each screening includes an introduction by a guest (and that makes all of the programs perpetually special in my humble estimation)! However, I'd particularly note an appearance and introduction from Karen Sperling prior to her remarkable sophomore feature-length The Waiting Room (1973) [screening at 1:20PM on Sunday, September 27, 2026]; introductory remarks from Peter Conheim (who restored the film) to Los Leprosos y el Sexo [Lepers & Sex] aka Santo vs. the Riders of Terror (1970) [screening at 9:00PM on Saturday, September 26]; and a video introduction from director Angie Chen ahead of her opening-night Hong Kong dramedy My Name Ain't Suzie (1985) [screening at 7:00PM on Thursday, September 24, 2026].
