With over 168 films being screened in only two weeks, standing out is a huge deal. Being handed the closing slot for the San Francisco International Film Festival, local boy James Franco’s Palo Alto, directed by Gia Coppola, looks to stand out.
According to SF Gate Palo Alto is based on the short stories Franco wrote about growing up in the Bay Area city, and he also stars in the film. Alongside Franco, the film stars Emma Roberts, Nat Wolf, Chris Messina, and real-life father and son, Val and Jack Kilmer.
Another apple-doesn’t-fall-far-from-the-tree sits in the director’s chair with Gia Coppola, granddaughter of iconic filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Palo Alto is Gia’s debut as a director, of which Indiewire noted in a review of a screening last year at the Venice Film Festival as a “strong and soulful debut from Coppola.”
Franco will also be featured at the film festival in Child of God which he directed and adapted from a Cormac McCarthy novel.
Palo Alto will screen at the film festival closing ceremony on May 8, and open in select theaters on May 9.