Pitchfork

The San Francisco Film Society's annual festival-- which celebrates its 50th anniversary with this year's event, going down April 26-May 10-- will host several events tying live music to a number of classic films.

May 5 sees a program titled Notes to a Toon Underground, which finds members of Xiu Xiu, Jason Lytle (late of Grandaddy), and a whole mess of others soundtracking 'toons with tunes of their own composition. April 27, noted San Fran oddball Jonathan Richman will also lay some noise behind Victor Sjöström's bizarre 1921 classic The Phantom Carriage.

Meanwhile, on May 10, Tarentel and Halou will help conjure a psychedelic multimedia experience at Mighty. Also appearing at the fest is actor/director Joan Chen, who'll provide narration for Guy Maddin's latest dizzying feature, Brand Upon the Brain! on May 7. Chen's work behind the lens of 1998's Xiu Xiu: the Sent Down Girl directly influenced the name of one of your favorite bands. No, not Rascal Flatts! Think harder.

Throughout the festival's two-week span, there'll be Bay natives performing film fest events; a full schedule can be found by clicking right here.

In related news, Jason Lytle plays the Club Pow! event at Sacramento's Press Club on May 7.