Alum Pamela Gentile Has Served as SF International Film Festival Photographer for 34 Years

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- The most practical skill Pamela Gentile learned in graduate film school at San Francisco State was how to shoot stills on the sets of student films.

This translated easily to taking pictures at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and that is an assignment she has not relinquished for 34 years. This year’s festival runs 14 nights, and she will shoot 14 nights at all theaters, starting with opening night on Wednesday at the Castro.

Gentile’s body of work is titled Portrait of a Film Festival, and the images are black and white, too dark and moody for publicity stills. She prefers directors to actors because they are more interesting and easier to snap in unguarded moments.