Documentary short film by local Tom Borden on the leading pesticide in the U.S. that happens to cause frogs to become hermaphrodites
Film by local Bill Katke of recent musical performances at the Bach Society.
2002 Academy Award winner, Thoth, a 42-minute documentary about San Francisco street performer, SK Thoth.
A feature-length independent narrative about a rock band that finds itself stranded in a small town. Filmmaker Mindy Weinberg of San Francisco will be in attendance to answer questions from the audience.
A short film about a lonely girl who steals photographs to create an identity for herself. Written and directed by La Honda local Karen Aschenbach.
Offbeat look at dating, mating, and relating in the City of Tomorrow. This bare-bones budget short spoofs the HBO hit series of a similar name...with comic book superheroes swapped into the main roles. (Adult content)
Trailer for a feature-length documentary.
The film follows members of the Christian Wrestling Federation, a small professional wrestling troupe/fundamentalist Christian ministry, as they journey across the United States to save lost souls.
By Paul Aldridge and our own Tom Borden, President of the Coastside Film Society. Both will take questions after the showing.
This film has been called the CITIZEN KANE of high-school movies. Director Robert Temple plays Eddie, and Producer Joe Kicak is the main character Steve. The duo are also credited as: writer, editor, costume designer, art direction, first assistant director, A&B camera operators, set designer, head carpenter, set construction, chief lighting technician, sound editor, foley artist, storyboard artist, blue screen coordinator, props, make-up and design, computer graphics, credit sequences, and casting. Now that's an Indie credit roll! Technically excellent throughout, the film bursts with visual and sonic energy.
Local filmmaker Suzanne Girot's, tongue-in-cheek video about the art and science of dumpster diving. The cameras follow Seattle's master diver, John Hoffman, as he shows a new disciple the ropes. Suzanne will respond to questions after the showing.
Classic western, independent feature shot around the Rio Grande on the Texas-Mexico border. The Journeyman is the entertaining and hypnotic odyssey of two brothers whose paths separate and then reconnect. The great soundtrack captures the epic grandeur of Ennio Morricone's greatest work. The burnt-out vistas of West Texas are bleak and gorgeous.
Click here for more information.
A particularly appropriate film night program for the one year anniversary of the disaster: "Underground Zero", a fantastic 90-minute set of experimental short films in response to 9/11.
Climb on a bull and ride it out of the shoot. Is man or beast the master?
First-time director Juli C. Lasselle explores the subject in this heart-pounding mini-drama cut to a disco beat. Laselle will field questions after the screening.
Produced and directed by Connie Malach for MCTV, our local cable access channel. Edited by Suzanne Girot, another local filmmaker.
This 30 minute film explores how the festival came to the San Mateo coast and the people who keep the tradition alive. Filmmakers will be on hand to take questions.
First time filmmaker and long-time political insider, Emily Morse
lets us view the campaign and candidates for the 1999 San
Francisco mayor's race through her eyes.
Who says real life
isn't stranger than fiction? Morse will be in attendance to
answer questions after the screening.
Intimate portrait of the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion. Writer, wrestler and winner of a Stanford writing scholarship, Kesey was transformed into a psychedelic visionary after participating as a paid volunteer in C.I.A and U.S. Army experiments with L.S.D. In 1964, Kesey took his famous Day-Glo 1939 bus named "Further!" that was wired for sound and light on a transcontinental trip. He was accompanied by the "Merry Pranksters" including Neal Cassidy.
Kesey set out to show people that "it is possible to be different without being a threat." Did he succeed? Come to the Coastside Film Night and test your opinion.
Joan Saffa's film documents prolific Kesey's early life as a bridge from the beat generation to the hippy culture of the 1960s. The film has some great 60's music from the likes of the "The Grateful Dead", The Merry Prankster's house band. Saffa also explores Kesey's later life when he settled in Pleasant Valley, Oregon with his wife and children. He continued to write new works, farm, coached local wrestling teams and taught a graduate writing course at the University of Oregon. Did he still continue to dream "Further! American Dreams"? Come and find out.
A heartfelt documentary about Japanese-Americans who fought bravely on the European front. These sons of Japanese
immigrants proved their courage and loyalty to the U.S. on the fiercest battlefields, as they fought to overcome the stigma of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The 100/442nd Regiment suffered the highest rate casualty and became the most decorated unit in American history. Meanwhile back at home, their families were in desolate internment camps, forced to leave their homes, farms and businesses. The film tells their story through rare archived footage and the remembrances of one of the members of the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team as recounted by his daughter.
A collaborative work by the members of the Coastside Film Society documenting the previous month's gala
celebration.
Glimpse the "dark side" of Kona and the animals that live submerged in lava tubes.
Apprehended for gay bashing, Stevie is sentenced to community service in an AIDS hospice. Phil Gorn, the San
Francisco-based director of this fine film, will take questions.
This film explores the commonality between jellyfish and guys who dress up like Elvis and try to fly. Filmed at the Monterey Bay Aquarium , and the San Francisco Flugtag (a competition in which handmade aircraft are judged more on creative appeal rather than flightworthiness). Film is by a Joe Devlin, a local filmmaker.
Comedy short about a little boy whose wish to
see a beautiful neighbor lady naked is miraculously granted. He ends up seeing
more than he bargained for. Written and directed by Jason Todd Ipson
Award-winning independent feature about a young couple on the run and the series of mysterious church burnings left in their wake. Their comically surreal and ultimately redemptive journey across the Nebraska plains forces the pair to face truths hidden from each other and themselves.. Directed by Richard Caliban and written and produced by Will Sheffer.
Preview : Dorothy Fadiman, the Menlo Park based, Academy-award winning, documentary filmmaker will show excerpts of her new film about a woman's struggle to recover from spinal injury. A member of Fadiman's production team will be on hand to discuss the film.
A slice of Italian-American life as seen by creator Patrick Scalise. Scalise not only wrote and directed the film but also plays most of the major roles. The backdrop is a real life Italian men's social club, The Columbo Club, located in Oakland CA.
Comedy directed by Ellie Kanner and starring Scott Baio (of TV fame). It' about
three Italian-American businessmen and how their sons --
eager to know their fathers better -- dupe them into spending more quality time with them.
A Film by Gail Dolgin of Berkeley and Vicente Franco.
Heidi, a proverbial all-American girl from Pulaski, Tenn., was born Mai Thi Hiep in Danang, Vietnam in 1968. She came to this county as part of "Operation Babylift", the Ford administration's effort to relocate mixed-race children to the U.S. rather than abandon them to a frightening, uncertain future.
After twenty-two years, Heidi and her mother reunite in Vietnam. For all that time, they dreamed of a joyful reunion, but cultural differences and years of separation have taken their toll. DAUGHTER FROM DANANG is about dealing with the legacy of war and making peace with the present. "Quite simply one of the best and most profound documentaries I have seen in years." -- John Petrakis, Chicago Tribune
An unprecedented event
The riveting story about the battle for the Presidency in Florida.
Filmmakers Richard Ray Pérez and Joan Sekler examine modern America's most controversial political contest: the Election of George W. Bush.
What emerges is a picture of an election marred by irregularities, electoral injustices, and voter purges in a state governed by the winning candidate's brother.
"Highlights those on the front lines ... the African-Americans who were turned away from the polling booths for assorted reasons ... In one memorable scene the filmmakers freeze-frame a 'protest' against the ballot recount, identifying participants as staff members of Republican elected officials." --Elaine Dutka, Los Angeles TimesMeet some of the creatures that thrive in the pristine seacapes of pastel coral, sea fans and sponges of the Coral Sea. Local filmmaker, Judy Brown will be on hand to answer questions.
The voice in question here is that of Pietro Parravano, president of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. His ruminations are intercut with stunning coastside video taken by Arlene Billy, the local director and producer responsible for this film. Arlene and Pietro will both be on hand to discuss how they worked together to make an intimate conversation come alive.
As the human population has increased, the fishing industry has developed new harvesting
techniques to meet the growing demand for fish. But in many cases, those methods are taking fish out of the ocean faster than the fish can reproduce. Local filmmaker, Steve Cowan and his crew have captured footage of fisheries in New England, Alaska, Japan, Europe, Latin America and the Canary Islands to create this stark and beautiful film. Steve will be on hand to discuss his experiences after the film.
It's ironic that those who till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables, and other foods that fill your tables with abundance have nothing left for themselves.
-- César Chávez
This award-winning documentary tells the story of César Chávez, the charismatic founder of the United Farmworkers Union and the movement he inspired and led. Incorporating archival footage, newsreels and current interviews, the documentary traces Chavez's early days from his work as a community organizer through his successful efforts to unionize farmworkers. In the process he touched the consciences of millions and changed American politics forever.
Vicente Franco of Pacifica was the film's cinemetographer. The film was produced, written and directed by Rick Tejada-Flores and Ray Telles. Tejada-Flores and Telles will be with us to discuss the film.
** Winner - Best Short Film at 2003 Sundance Film Festival**
During the 10 years (1972-1982) that he served as bartender & manager of New York's Terminal Bar, Sheldon Nadelman took over 2500 photographs of the clientele and the activities inside and outside the bar.
Year's later Sheldon's son, Director Stefan Nadelman, takes these photos and uses them to create a kinetic, photo-driven documentary that tracks the transformation of yesterday's gritty American-Irish bar to today's African-American gay bar.
In more than half a century in photography, Ruth Bernhard has created an imposing body of work. Distinguished by their exquisite use of light, her images have been internationally rec-ognized and acclaimed by her peers. Ansel Adams called her the greatest photographer of the nude. Radiant still lifes and nude forms reflect her passionate search for the universal connection of all things. "I always say yes to life.. Light is the drawing pencil of the photographer." Ruth Bernhard reveals. She is interviewed in her home, observed with her students, and during the creative process: printing in her darkroom and photographing still life and the nude in her studio. A retrospective of over 250 of her photographs in presented.
Robert Burrill, the Milpitas-based filmmaker behind this fine documentary, will be on hand to discuss the film and his experiences in teaching filmmaking.
Two women -- one black, one white -- fight to maintain a close friendship through a time of war and prejudice. This fine drama is set in the Mississippi Delta in the 1940s.
Magical, witty, bizarre and wildly wonderful, Gardens of Obsession takes viewers into the private realms of a group of eccentric Bay Area gardeners and their choreographed horticultural fantasies. The present footage showcases four extraordinary gardeners who work and create outside the mainstream.
In June 2002, astronomers at U.C. Berkeley announced one of the most exciting discoveries in recent science. In the race to detect extra-solar planets -planets orbiting around other stars in our galaxy- they had hit the jackpot: a planet that looked like it could belong to our own solar system..
In this new 90-minute documentary, we follow the Planet Hunters as they experience the pure, unadulterated joy of discovery. Come see an up-to-the-minute digitally-realized tour of our solar system and beyond. Share with the excitement of the scientists who discover extrasolar planets. The movie also dips into the past explaining how indigenous peoples such as the first Hawaiians used the stars to navigate their way to a new world.
Divided into 15 short chapters, Who's Counting: Sex, Lies & Global Economics is an entertaining primer for anyone who suffers from what Waring refers to as "economics anxiety". See it and the evening news will never be the same.
Official Selection - Sundance Film Festival 2003
Filmmaker Scott Calonico bases his hilarious, insightful and unique documentary on actual transcripts from the historic 1974 meeting between President Nixon and Elvis Presley.
Winner - 'Spirit of Moondance' award at the prestigious 2003 Moondance International Film Festival in Colorado.
Eldra was also chosen as the UK entry in the 2003 Academy Awards, Best Foreign Language Film category.
Set in the 1930s, this is a beautiful Romeo and Juliet tale about two very different families in a small country village in Wales. The girl is a traditional Romany (gypsy) and the boy is a Welsh coal-miner's son and they take you into their innocent young hearts and dreams.
Eldra is an entrancing cinematic venture into unknown realms of fantasy paired with the realities of daily life in an ancient and distant land.
A brief history of the westward expansion of the United States as told by 25 roadside historical markers in the state of West Virginia.
2003 Sundance Film Festival official selection.
A portrait of the prairies of North Dakota as the state loses its Cold War arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles,as well as its aging population of Scandinavian farmers.
A diary of a trip across Canada. Francophones, Anglophones, and Allophones duke it out over what it means to be a Canadian, and whether, in the end, it even matters.
Look out Spielberg; the Hamptons are gunning for you. Morgan and Max
Hampton are a father/son team of El Granada-based filmmakers. When not
filmmaking, Max is a local middle school student. The Bottle is a
no-budget special effects tour de force. It involves a bottle
(natch), familiar coastside beaches, and, of course, a few space aliens. Max
and Morgan will be on hand to describe this and their many other filmmaking projects.
Winner of the Golden Spire Award at the 1998 San Francisco
International Film Festival, this extraordinary documentary takes
viewers into India's largest prison - known as one of the toughest in
the world - and shows the dramatic change brought about by the
introduction of meditation.
This is the story of an ancient meditation technique named Vipassana,
which shows people how to take control of their lives and channel them
toward their own good. It is the story of a strong woman named Kiran
Bedi, the former Inspector General of Prisons in New Delhi, who strove
to transform the notorious Tihar Prison and turn it into an oasis of
peace. But most of all it is the story of prison inmates who underwent
profound change, and who realized that incarceration is not the end
but possibly a fresh start toward an improved and more positive life.
Attending the film will be two volunteers from the Bay Area Vipassana
organization, Philip Pfeifer a Vipassana instructor and David
Donnenfield a San Francisco-based filmmaker and Vipassana devotee.
Between them they should be able to handle any questions about the
Vipassana organization, the use of meditation in prisons and
filmmaking behind bars.
From "A Knights of the Roses" performance at the Twinberry Cafe of El
Granda. Cinematographer (our own Bill Katke), musicians, and special effects crew will all be on hand to discuss the video.
A group of desperate campesinos whose corn crop is threatened by drought. A young woman torn between the love of her father and her young man. A Grandmother's remembrance of her big love during the Mexican Revolution. The three stories blend together to reach a dramatic conclusion.
Writer/director PATRICIA RIGGEN is a graduate student at Columbia University's Film Division. At last count, the film has won 19 awards, including a student Academy Award gold medal and a Mexican Academy Award.
(Spanish with English Subtitles)
Last summer, 20 local kids, ranging in age from 5 to 14, met with Joe Devlin of the CFS to spend a week learning about animation & video. Come see 10 minutes of their best work & talk to the kids.
Fundraiser for the American Indian Family Healing Center, a substance abuse rehab program in Oakland which includes attention to the spirit, mind and body.
Everybody called Dorothy Stanley "Ama" (my grandmother). She was a respected leader of the Northern Sierra MeWuk and a reknowned tradional basket weaver.
Rina reflects on her life growing up on her family farm in Half Moon Bay. She was interviewed by Eric Shapira at her home in El Granada, where she shows us her huge garden.
A Country Western Music Video with a twist.
Four retired steam locomotive logging engineers tell humorous anecdotes which are intercut with 16mm archival film dating back to 1930's.
Documentary, filmed in Mexico, focuses on the making of art objects for celebrating the Day of the Dead. Art historian Robert Freimark provides the commentary.
The issues of cultural stereotyping and greed are interwoven in the story of Joaquin Murieta - folkhero of the California Gold Rush of 1849.
Admission is by donation. Proceeds above costs will benefit the Environment Club.
This fascinating and startling documentary highlights recent research by Algalita Marine Research Foundation, regarding the explosive increase of plastic debris in the world's oceans, especially the north Pacific. "Synthetic Sea" depicts how this plastic menace is negatively impacting sea life in increasingly alarming ways.
BUTTERFLY is an independent documentary by Doug Wolens of SF. On its face this film is about Julia Butterfly Hill, whose 2-year vigil atop a 180 foot ancient redwood tree in Humboldt County prevented the tree from being clear-cut. At its heart, BUTTERFLY is about a community's journey when one woman allowed her ideals to guide her life.
GOLD, GREED, and GENOCIDE deconstructs the myth of the California Gold Rush and unearths the genocide of California indigenous peoples. It also shows the ecological destruction gold mining has done to the California environment. The soundtrack of the film features an intriguing mix of traditional California native songs and native hip hop. This music enhances the compelling interviews with descendents of Native Americans who suffered under the 49ers. Clearly, those interviewed are not giving up. This film is a production of the International Indian Treaty Council and Project Underground.
SONG OF SURVIVAL is about women who survived four years in a Japanese prison camp in Sumatra during World War II. These courageous women recreated from memory the great music of Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin and other composers. Having no instruments but the human voice, they sang the complex symphonic music they had loved. Even as disease and malnutrition thinned their ranks, these Australian, Dutch and British women used their unique choir to sustain a spirit that refused to accept defeat. The Peninsula Women's Chorus of Palo Alto sings the rapturous music that made life endurable in a remote prison camp in Sumatra.
"One of the most ASTONISHING FILMS ever made." (Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES) -- THE RUSSIAN ARK, a film by Alexander Sokurov. Russian with English subtitles.
Invisible to everyone around him, a contemporary filmmaker magically finds himself in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg- back in the early 1700's! He meets a cynical French diplomat from the 19th Century and the men become accomplices in an extraordinary time-traveling journey through Russia's turbulent past. Exploring the splendid corridors and salons of the Palace, the Marquis and the filmmaker witness astonishing scenes from the Tsarist Empire: Peter the Great thrashes his general with a whip; during rehearsals of her own play, Catherine the Great rushes around looking for a place to relieve herself; the family of the last Tsar dine together, oblivious to the impending revolution; and hundreds of dancers waltz at the last Great Royal Ball of 1913 with Valery Gergiev conducting.
As their time-voyage unfolds in a single, uncut steadicam shot, the two men engage in a passionate and ironic dispute. The Marquis clearly has a Western love-hate relationship with Russia, whereas the modern filmmaker questions his country's uneasy connection to its past and to Europe today. The two tease each other, and share their amazement at the scenes they encounter.
Speakers will include:
One of the main plotlines in Greendale is the story
of Sun Green, a young cheeleader turned eco-activist. This role was
influenced by OILonICE, a documentary about the cost of drilling for oil in Alaska. We get to to see the short version of Oil-on-Ice tonight -- and later on will get to scenes that were pulled out of Oil-on-Ice and incorporated into our feature. OILonICE is the production of Dale Djerassi of Half Moon Bay in association with Lobitos Creek Ranch (also of Half Moon Bay).
OILonICE highlights the controversies surrounding the pursuit of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, illustrating the inextricably linked issues at stake in the conflict between conservation and energy extraction interests.
a film by Neil Young
a town coming to you soon.
Greendale is the story of some inhabitants of a small coastal town that, with its rugged green hills and location just south of San Francisco, may seem familiar. Not surprisingly, because most of the footage was taken in and around Half Moon Bay and other parts just south of San Francisco.
There is a lot going on in the songs. Grandpa Green whiles away his time with his paper while his wife putters around him. Cousin Jed gets into a violent altercation with the local police. Granddaughter Sun quits cheerleading squad to become an eco-activist. Collectively they paint a complete picture of the extended Green family and the people they encounter living day to day.
A look at one of the few remaining historical buildings in Pacifica, and what is being done to preserve it for a useful community life. The Pacifica-based filmakers, Sharron Walker and Steve Brown responsible for the film will be on hand to discuss their film.
Demand for seafood now far exceeds the ocean's ability to keep pace and the crisis is deepening. Ninety percent of the big fish in the world's oceans have disappeared, and most experts argue that if we are to save our oceans and feed the world we need to raise domesticated fish species.
Farming the Seas, sequel to the landmark documentary Empty Oceans Empty Nets, explores the growing pains of a global aquaculture industry that already produces a third of the world's seafood.
But the seemingly plentiful harvest has many marine scientists concerned that some types of fish farming contribute to the further loss of ocean fish and pose a serious risk to our health. In what may be one of the most critical environmental and food safety stories of our time, Farming the Seas journeys around the world to explore the promise and perils of the new industry. Stunning photography and an engaging cast of experts offer an unblinking look at how America's seafood is really produced and what's being done to solve the crisis; efforts that seafood lovers can participate in.
Local filmmaker, Steve Cowan and his crew have captured footage of farming operations in every part of the globe. Steve will be on hand to discuss his experiences.
a film by Neil Young
a town coming to you soon.
Greendale is the story of some inhabitants of a small coastal town that, with its rugged green hills and location just south of San Francisco, may seem familiar. Not surprisingly, because most of the footage was taken in and around Half Moon Bay and other parts just south of San Francisco.
There is a lot going on in the songs. Grandpa Green whiles away his time with his paper while his wife putters around him. Cousin Jed gets into a violent altercation with the local police. Granddaughter Sun quits cheerleading squad to become an eco-activist. Collectively they paint a complete picture of the extended Green family and the people they encounter living day to day.
A documentary can touch hearts, open minds and inspire people to take action.
While chronicling the ravages of coal and uranium mining in Hopi and Navajo country, native elders taught me that the environmental crisis is a spiritual crisis because the absence of a conscious connection to land and water inevitably leads to violence and threatens all life.
Each of my films explores this environmental-spiritual crisis and reveals the clash of worldviews between adherents of private property and those of sacred land. My films aim to spark dialogue about our culture's relationship to nature, encourage a reassessment of history, and achieve reconciliation with native people and the earth
--Christopher McLeod, Project Director.
(His wife, Jessica Abbe, wrote the film.)
Examines how a radical fringe of the Republican Party has used the trauma of the 9/11 attacks to advance a pre-existing agenda to radically transform American foreign policy while rolling back civil liberties and social programs at home.
Director Robert Kane Pappas draws disturbing parallels between George Orwell's classic novel of Big Brother totalitarianism, 1984, and the current relationship between big media and government in the United States.
CIA + LSD = things are out of hand -- A work of comedic muckraking of the highest order assembled from public domain educational film footage, photos from the National Archives, and recently declassified CIA security memos.
November 19, 1953, a man plunges to his death from 10 floors above the streets of Manhattan. Things like this happen in a city as large as New York. This case, however, was different. For the man who jumped was a just another CIA operative doing his job -- experimenting with a new drug called LSD.
Shot in the style of a 50s documentary meant to scare kids straight the movie provides a history of the CIA s investigations of LSD as a tool for national defense.
A work of comedic muckraking of the highest order assembled from public domain educational film footage, photos from the National Archives, and recently declassified security memos.Norah is "Listener #684448", a civil servant in a futuristic, oppressive regime where thought and emotion are regulated by "protocol". Material necessities are rationed, independent thought is a crime and anything outside the city is forbidden. She dutifully records the secrets and suppressed longings of the collective psyche of the city, until a "Talker" reveals a plot and Norah is forced to make a decision.
Mahri Holt is a locally-based (Oakland) film maker who recently graduated from SF State Grad school. She will be at the screening to discuss her film.
This documentary covers the controversial history of the radical movement, MOVE. Created by John Africa in the 1970's, Move was a radical group that would not eat processed or cooked food, would not let children go to school and lived in a compound in downtown Philadelphia.
When confronted by social service agencies, Move's members barricaded themselves inside their building. They used bullhorns to broadcast radical philosophy into the night time air of their blue collar neighborhood. The police moved in and the situation escalated until entire neighborhood was burned to the ground. Five children and six adults never made it out of the burning Move compound.
The story is told through interviews with surviving Move members, supporters, neighbors, and journalists who covered the story live.
Howard Zinn, author of "The People's History of the United States" narrates this interesting and informative documentary.
Directors Benjamin Garry & Ryan McKenna are traveling from Philadelphia to be on hand to answer questions during the screening.
In the early 1930s Hollywood was having a difficult time coming to terms with a revolution in filmmaking the arrival of the talkie. It took a French director named René Clair to show them the way. René showed them how you could use voice as a integral part of the artistic whole, not just another special effect slapped on top of an overly theatrical silent film. Amazon.com calls it the quintessence of the effervescent comedy-musical-romance and "One of the true treasures of international cinema".
The story: A poor artist discovers he has purchased a winning lottery ticket at the moment his creditors come to collect. Unfortunately the ticket is in the pocket of his coat ... which is at his girlfriend's apartment ... who gave the coat to a man hiding from the police ... who sells the coat to an opera singer who uses it during a performance ...
Charming and inventive, this lyrical masterpiece provided the template that was soon brazenly copied by American artists like Charlie Chaplin and the Marks Brothers.
Almost lost to film history by decomposition of the original film stock, Le Million has recently been digitally remastered. Our resident film historian, Prof. Warren Haack, will lead us in the post screening discussion about what makes this film great.
"René Clair at his exquisite best; no one else has ever been able to make a comedy move with such delicate inevitability." -- NEW YORKER
Oil on Ice is a vivid, compelling and comprehensive documentary connecting the fate of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to decisions America makes about energy policy, transportation choices, and other seemingly unrelated matters. Caught in the balance are the culture and livelihood of the Gwichn people and the migratory wildlife in this fragile ecosystem.
Aki Kaurismaki is Finland's pre-eminent filmmaker, but is not yet well-known in the United States. He should be!
This film won the GRAND PRIX at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. The Movie Nation review of this film starts: "Stop wasting time reading this review and go see this movie now."
They report that 100% of the readers who have seen and rated this movie gave it 5 out of 5 stars.A New-Genre Movie
Indigo is a film about redemption, grace, and the healing powers of a new generation of psychic and gifted Indigo children. It is about taking responsibility for the choices we make. And it's about the thin line that separates success from failure, and love from regret.
The film follows the relationship that develops between Ray, played by Neale Donald Walsch, a man whose life and family have dissolved due to a fateful mistake, and his ten-year-old granddaughter Grace, played by Meghan McCandless, with whom Ray goes on the run to protect her from a would-be kidnapper. Along the way, he discovers the power of his granddaughter's gifts, which forever alter the lives of everyone she encounters.
Indigo is Stephen Simon's directorial debut after 25 years of producing such films as Somewhere in Time and What Dreams May Come. The film is co-written by James Twyman, who also served as the film's executive producer, and Neale Donald Walsch, who stars in the film. Both Twyman and Walsch are well-known as spiritual teachers and best-selling authors around the world. Twyman has traveled the globe for more than a decade performing concerts and holding meditations for world peace. He is the author of several best selling books including Emissaries of Light. Walsch is the best selling author of the Conversations With God series of books.
Flowers in the Snow - The Health Crisis of Children in Tibet
Teresa Harris and filmmaker Perry Pickert from the Terma Foundation will take audience questions.
There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America -- a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat.
THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.
Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, THE FUTURE OF FOOD examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today.
"A bedazzling trip through the history of big wave surfing."
-- Owen Geibermann, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"Astounding", Sharon Waxman, The New York Times
RIDING GIANTS is the story of big wave surfing.
We meet Greg Noll, the pioneer, whose push into Hawaii's big surf in the late 1950's earning him the nickname The Bull. There's Jeff Clark, Half Moon Bay legend, who discovered the massive Mavericks waves and rode them alone for over a decade. And finally, Hawaii's Laird Hamiliton, considered the best big wave rider ever.
Including archival footage and contemporary interviews with some of the world's greatest surfers, experts and storytellers, RIDING GIANTS creates a visual history of one of the most spectacular sports of our time.
Join the Environmental Clubs of HMB in their screening of four riveting documentary films that highlight our oceans.
Also sponsored by Friends of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and Save Our Shores.
For more information, contact Ben Pittenger at (650) 712-7190, or email to pittengerb@cabrillo.k12.ca.us
Set in the Peruvian Andes during the chaotic 1980s, this tense drama follows a group of paramilitary guerillas trying to survive in the midst of a bloody civil war. It's an incredible coming-of-age story of a young boy who is forcibly recruited into the Shining Path movement.
by Ari Sandel -- Musical comedy about the Israeli Palestinian conflict. David is an Israeli soldier. Fatima is a Palestinian fast food cashier. They are an unlikely couple who fall in love in the middle of a war between dueling falafel stands run by their respective families.
by Roger Teich -- A short documentary about the only remaining sea urchin diver making a living working the shark-infested waters of the Farallon Islands near Half Moon Bay.
by John Starr and Roger Teich -- An exercise in cinema-verite that gives us an intimate look into one of the word's most covert sports. Stealing Altitude follows one brave jumper as he climbs some of the largest structures in Los Angeles and, when luck is with him, safely parachutes back to earth.
by Suzanne Girot -- A study of the statue in SF's Mechanic's Monument Plaza in San Francisco created by deaf mute sculptor Douglas Tilden and architect Willis Polk. Suzanne reveals how the statue has touched the lives of her grandmother, a young skateboarder and a homeless man who lives in the plaza's shadow.
by David and Hinjian Hodge -- Sushi is edible art. Fish Tale is a documentary focusing on one sushi artist and the people who appreciate his work. The film is the work of a film-making team from Half Moon Bay.
by Morgan and Max Hampton -- Another spooky mystery by our own famous father and son filmmaking team from El Granada. Shot in downtown Half Moon Bay with all local actors. Great campy fun with the Hampton's usual surprise ending.
by A. Calder & Carlos Vilardebo -- Long before Alexander Calder became famous for inventing the mobile, he was fiddling with wire to create his little circus creatures. In this charming film we see Calder coax his tiny wire performers into acts of daring do.
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, Himalaya, from French director Eric Valli, will have its first local screening, in Half Moon Bay.
Doors open at 7:00, film at 7:30
Advance tickets $15, door $20. Call 650-560-0200
Two friends wait by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. They hitchhike. No one comes.
Neal and Jack, young American friends, are traveling through England dreaming of Kerouac and Bob Dylan. Dreams and fantasies fade into the ether as each has to come to terms with the reality of the other's true personality.
When a crooked deal goes bad for 2 Americans they find themselves locked in a dilapidated barn in the middle of the English countryside.
A brief history of the westward expansion of the United States as told by 25 roadside historical markers in the state of West Virginia.
Comerford's Land Marked is a series of four landscape films, each examining a specific place in Chicago. These places are connected in their relationship to 17th-century exploration of the Chicago area by Europeans, in particular, the highly-celebrated French Jesuit missionary, Jacques Marquette. Rather than attempt to tell Marquette's story or offer history, the films examine the monuments to Marquette--the "stories" they tell--and the relationship of the monuments to their surroundings.
In Chicago Detroit Split, Bill Brown and Thomas Comerford find the common ground of shared street names in their respective cities, yet they employ the unslit 8mm format to juxtapose these like-named tracts of land--the juxtapositions allowing for chance encounters across time and space between these two midwestern cities.
On SATURDAY July 9th, we present The Fire Next Time, which challenges communities to re-dedicate themselves to respectful dialogue and broad civic participation.
As in many other towns in America, in Kalispell, Montana disagreements about growth led to fervent conflict.
The resulting high-stakes battle over developmental and environmental issues may sound familiar to many of us here on the San Mateo coast.
In Kalispell, tensions were exacerbated by extremist talk show hosts who took to the air to stridently represent the many points of view.Patrice O'Neill, the film's director and co-producer, from The Working Group (based in Oakland) will lead our discussion.
THE FIRE NEXT TIME will air nationally on the PBS series POV on July 12 at
10 pm (check local listings).THE FIRE NEXT TIME is a presentation of the Independent Television Service.
In 1967, Danish filmmaker Jorgen Leth
made a 12-minute film called The Per-
fect Human. It is a short look at the
superficial properties Madison Avenue
uses to sell products. Now, 35 years
later, director Lars von Trier challenges
Leth to remake his film five times, each
time with a new obstruction to force Leth
to rethink the story and characters of the
original film.
In 2001, 3,800 Sudanese youngsters were relocated to the United States. For nearly two decades, children have been the pawns in a brutal civil war raging throughout the Darfur region of Sudan. This is one of those wars that turns innocent children into soldiers forcing them to murder relatives, friends and neighbors. The only rational response to this sort of violence is to run as far away as possible. And that is exactly what Santino Chuor and his friend Peter Dut have done. When they are offered the chance to relocate from a refugee camp in Kenya to the US they jump at the chance to get as far away as they can.
"Lost Boys of Sudan" documents Peter and Santiano's first year fending for themselves in their new home of Houston Texas. The film touches only superficially upon their struggles in Africa. Instead we get to see America through the eyes of these two orphaned teenagers whose previous life in a war torn land of shepherds and rural cattle farms does little to prepare them for their new life as minimum wage refugees.
The film was brought to our attention by Arianna Morales, a native of El Granada and a student at Vassar College. Arianna is a member of the Genocide Intervention Fund -- a collection of students so outraged by how little our government is doing in Darfur that they began fundraising to support the UN sanctioned peacekeeping efforts in the region.
A native of Bedford, England, Tom has directed and performed with many theaters in the Bay Area. In the more than forty local productions of which he has been a part, some of his favorite roles include Alan Turing in Breaking the Code, James Leeds in Children of a Lesser God, Frank in Educating Rita, Robert Scott in Terra Nova and Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. For Half Moon Bay’s Coastal Repertory Theatre Tom has directed Bedroom Farce, The Importance of Being Ear- nest, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and Twelfth Night.
In addition to acting and directing, Tom has had a long-standing interest in the Shakespeare authorship question, being convinced that the true author was Edward de Vere, the 17th earl of Oxford.
Life is short. The complete works of Shakespeare are long. On Friday, September 9, THE REDUCED
SHAKESPEARE COMPANY comes to the rescue with the film of a hilarious theatrical performance by three
incredible actors: Adam Long, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor.
While Calder was inventing the mobile, he fiddled with wire to create little circus creatures. In this charming little film we get to see Calder coax his tiny wire performers into walking tightropes, dancing, lifting weights, and other feats of daring do.
Perhaps the most famous movie starring San Francisco ever made. Certainly Hitchcock's best known psychological thriller.
Jimmy Stewart is a gumshoe with a fear of heights, tortured by the memory of a lost love. Kim Novak is the suicidal blonde he is hired to keep an eye on. He saves her when she flings herself from the Golden Gate Bridge and realizes he has fallen in love.
Vertigo is a complex film that broke a great many film making conventions and established just as many new ones.If you haven't seen this recently restored version, it's time to watch Vertigo again. The colors jump out at you and Bernard Herrmann's score jangles the nerves.
Werner Herzog is one of our most obsessive directors. When he heard the tale of an opera lover who built a concert hall in middle of the Amazon jungle he knew it to be a story he had to tell. To realize his vision, the opera buff had to haul a riverboat across a mountain. Herzog decided he had to duplicate this insane endeavor. So the film was shot in and around a real 300 ton steamship as it was dragged up a real mountain by the sweat labor of local Indians. The conditions under which the film was shot proved to be too harrowing for the first crew. So filming started all over again with Klaus Kinski, an actor who matched Hertzog obsession for obsession. The end result is a visually arresting trip through the jungle that feels insanely real because it is insanely real.
"Fitzcarraldo is a movie in the tradition of grandiose cinematic visions. Like Coppola's Apocalypse Now or Kubrick's 2000, it documents a quest and a dream. As a record of man's audacity and foolish, visionary heroism, there has never been another movie like it.
I would not have missed it for the world." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Come immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of the many cultures of Africa. "Africa: The Musical Continent" helps us understand Africa's diversity by studying its indigenous music and the people and political forces that shaped the music.
A dramatic narrative set in the last virgin wilderness of China, Kekexili is a plain in Tibet nearly 4 miles high, and the only remaining habitat of the Tibetan antelope.
In 1985, poachers began hunting antelope for their fine wool which was prized in foreign markets. Within a few years, the number of antelope plunged from over one million to less than ten thousand!
To fight the poachers, a volunteer civilian patrol was formed in 1983. It was led by Ritai, a retired Tibetan army officer. The patrol fought firece battles with the poachers and aroused the attention of the outside world. This is the true story of Gayu, a journalist that was sent from Beijing to cover the story at great peril.
From John Tedesco & Half Moon Bay's own Michael Lederman. The story of a young boy trying to secure his Dad's attention during a breakfast at Half Moon Bay's Original Johnny's diner.
A Documentary that follows the Yup'ik Eskimos of Western Alaska through the cycle of the seasons. It is a poignant film showing Eskimos struggling to keep in touch with ancient traditions in the modern world. By Gail Evenari of Half Moon Bay.
Pilot for a children's series about global diversity. Shot recently in Oaxaca, Mexico by Gail Evenari. A young boy watches over a turtle as she lays her eggs, then joins other children helping the hatchlings return to the sea.
Documentary that takes a hard-hitting look at the plight of the leatherback sea turtle and its fellow ocean dwellers. Uses graphics, video footage, & interviews to tell the story.
A film in Russian about a mother's search for her missing daughter. By student filmmaker Victoria Gamburg of SF State. Winner of the Golden Gate Award for Best Narrative Short at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
The movie based on James Redfield's bestselling book, The Celestine Prophecy, is finally here. I suspect that many of you read the book years ago, and were moved by the teachings of the nine insights. The movie is powerful in its teachings and is well acted and filmed. You will not be disappointed. If you liked the book, you'll love the movie!
Be sure to mark your calendars for Friday April 14th, and call 650-560-0200 or email (reba@deepspirit.com) to reserve your tickets.
A tribute to ITALO AND ANGIE LUCCHESI.
A heart-warming film about chasing
miracles.Written and directed by MICHAEL
MCGOWEN. ADAM BUTCHER plays fourteen-year-old Ralph Walker who is told that his comatose mother won't recover without a miracle. He decides to create one:
winning the Boston Marathon! Little does he know he's in the run of his life.
A film by KATHRYN MURDOCK and SUZANNE GIROT. Forgotten historic sites in our community.
A classic documentary film by LES BLANK on the making of FITZCARRALDO by director WERNER HERZOG.
On July 21 Bill will stop his traveling long enough to make a stop in Half Moon Bay to screen his new film about hobo culture and art.
Who Is Bozo Texino? is a documentary film about the 100-year-old tradition of hobo and railworker graffiti.
The project is the result of a 20-year study of "monikers" by filmmaker/artist Bill Daniel and is created from hours of 16mm and super 8 film, most of it shot on freight trips across the western US.
The film includes interviews with some of the railroad's greatest graffiti legends: Colossus of Roads, The Rambler, Herby (RIP) and the granddaddy of them all, Bozo Texino.
The film also catches some of the socioeconomic history of hobo subculture from its roots after the Civil War to the present day.An American's observations on the dreams amid the humdrum realities in current-day Japan.
A classic comedy made in 1927 and considered one of the all-time funniest films ever made.
The hero Johnnie loves his train ("The General") and Annabelle Lee. When the Civil War begins, he is turned down for service because he's more valuable as an engineer. Annabelle thinks it's because he's a coward. Union spies capture The General with Annabelle on board. Johnny must rescue both his loves.
Matt, age 16 :THE GENERAL has started, the girl is kidnapped by some Union raiders on Keaton's train, and so begins the greatest (and funniest) chase ever filmed. For the next 75 minutes, the viewer is in Keaton's world. His gags, routines, and amazing slapstick serve to make this the greatest screen comedy ever filmed.Stars BUSTER KEATON and MARION MACK
Paramount Classics has made a gift of 4,000 Inconvenient Truth DVDs to houses of worship all over the country through a faith-based ecological sustainability organization called Interfaith Power and Light (IPL). IPL is a non-partisan ministry that works with congregations to reduce pollution through energy audits, efficient lighting and appliances, supporting the development of clean energy and providing education.
The Social Concerns Prayer Group, a newly formed group at the Methodist Church, are sponsoring the film. What’s the connection between a church and global warming? Global warming is not a political issue; it is a moral issue. People of most faith traditions are called to love one another and to be responsible stewards of God’s creation. As we saw in New Orleans, the ones who suffer most during natural disasters are the poor. We must start planning now to support those who will be affected in our community when the effects of global warming strike. Although the film offers potential solutions for global warming if we act now, it portends extreme disruption of life as we know it.
"Today we are hearing and seeing dire warnings of the worst potential catastrophe in the history of human civilization: a global climate crisis that is deepening and rapidly becoming more dangerous than anything we have ever faced….At stake is the survival of our civilization and the habitability of the Earth….This is not ultimately about any scientific discussion or political dialogue. It is about who we are as human beings. It is about our capacity to transcend our own limitations….To see with our hearts, as well as our heads, the response that is now called for. This is a moral, ethical and spiritual challenge." An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore, 2006
Students, parents and teachers are especially invited to attend. We need to give our kids the training they will need to deal with the broken earth we are leaving them. “Imagine we are 17 years into the future and share a brief conversation with our children and grandchildren as they are living their lives in the year 2023. Imagine now that they are asking us: 'What were you thinking? Didn’t you care about our future? Were you really so self-absorbed that you couldn't – or wouldn't—stop the destruction of Earth's environment?' What would our answer be? We can answer their questions now by our actions, not merely with our promises. In the process, we can choose a future for which our children will thank us." An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore, 2006.
The views expressed in An Inconvenient Truth do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the members of Community United Methodist Church.
What scientists are saying about An Inconvenient Truth:
"The scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action." – Science Academics’ Statement from 11 countries (the G8, China, India, and Brazil): Global Response to Climate Change, 2005
"Delaying action for decades, or even years, is not a serious option." – Sir David King, Chief Science Advisor to the British government – Science Magazine, Jan. 2004
"AP (Associated Press) contacted more than 100 top climate researchers for their opinion. Among those contacted were vocal skeptics of climate change theory. Most scientists had not seen the movie, which is in limited release, or read the book. But those who have seen it had the same general impression: Gore conveyed the science correctly; the world is getting hotter, and it is caused by the burning of fossil fuels." – Seth Borenstein, Associated Press June 30, 2006
To see a trailer and lots more cool information, go to the film’s website: www.climatechange.netParamount Classics has made a gift of 4,000 Inconvenient Truth DVDs to houses of worship all over the country through a faith-based ecological sustainability organization called Interfaith Power and Light (IPL). IPL is a non-partisan ministry that works with congregations to reduce pollution through energy audits, efficient lighting and appliances, supporting the development of clean energy and providing education.
The Social Concerns Prayer Group, a newly formed group at the Methodist Church, are sponsoring the film. What’s the connection between a church and global warming? Global warming is not a political issue; it is a moral issue. People of most faith traditions are called to love one another and to be responsible stewards of God’s creation. As we saw in New Orleans, the ones who suffer most during natural disasters are the poor. We must start planning now to support those who will be affected in our community when the effects of global warming strike. Although the film offers potential solutions for global warming if we act now, it portends extreme disruption of life as we know it.
"Today we are hearing and seeing dire warnings of the worst potential catastrophe in the history of human civilization: a global climate crisis that is deepening and rapidly becoming more dangerous than anything we have ever faced….At stake is the survival of our civilization and the habitability of the Earth….This is not ultimately about any scientific discussion or political dialogue. It is about who we are as human beings. It is about our capacity to transcend our own limitations….To see with our hearts, as well as our heads, the response that is now called for. This is a moral, ethical and spiritual challenge." An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore, 2006
Students, parents and teachers are especially invited to attend. We need to give our kids the training they will need to deal with the broken earth we are leaving them. “Imagine we are 17 years into the future and share a brief conversation with our children and grandchildren as they are living their lives in the year 2023. Imagine now that they are asking us: 'What were you thinking? Didn’t you care about our future? Were you really so self-absorbed that you couldn't – or wouldn't—stop the destruction of Earth's environment?' What would our answer be? We can answer their questions now by our actions, not merely with our promises. In the process, we can choose a future for which our children will thank us." An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore, 2006.
The views expressed in An Inconvenient Truth do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the members of Community United Methodist Church.What scientists are saying about An Inconvenient Truth:
"The scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action." – Science Academics’ Statement from 11 countries (the G8, China, India, and Brazil): Global Response to Climate Change, 2005
"Delaying action for decades, or even years, is not a serious option." – Sir David King, Chief Science Advisor to the British government – Science Magazine, Jan. 2004
"AP (Associated Press) contacted more than 100 top climate researchers for their opinion. Among those contacted were vocal skeptics of climate change theory. Most scientists had not seen the movie, which is in limited release, or read the book. But those who have seen it had the same general impression: Gore conveyed the science correctly; the world is getting hotter, and it is caused by the burning of fossil fuels." – Seth Borenstein, Associated Press June 30, 2006
To see a trailer and lots more cool information, go to the film’s website: www.climatechange.netParamount Classics has made a gift of 4,000 Inconvenient Truth DVDs to houses of worship all over the country through a faith-based ecological sustainability organization called Interfaith Power and Light (IPL). IPL is a non-partisan ministry that works with congregations to reduce pollution through energy audits, efficient lighting and appliances, supporting the development of clean energy and providing education.
The Social Concerns Prayer Group, a newly formed group at the Methodist Church, are sponsoring the film. What’s the connection between a church and global warming? Global warming is not a political issue; it is a moral issue. People of most faith traditions are called to love one another and to be responsible stewards of God’s creation. As we saw in New Orleans, the ones who suffer most during natural disasters are the poor. We must start planning now to support those who will be affected in our community when the effects of global warming strike. Although the film offers potential solutions for global warming if we act now, it portends extreme disruption of life as we know it.
"Today we are hearing and seeing dire warnings of the worst potential catastrophe in the history of human civilization: a global climate crisis that is deepening and rapidly becoming more dangerous than anything we have ever faced….At stake is the survival of our civilization and the habitability of the Earth….This is not ultimately about any scientific discussion or political dialogue. It is about who we are as human beings. It is about our capacity to transcend our own limitations….To see with our hearts, as well as our heads, the response that is now called for. This is a moral, ethical and spiritual challenge." An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore, 2006
Students, parents and teachers are especially invited to attend. We need to give our kids the training they will need to deal with the broken earth we are leaving them. “Imagine we are 17 years into the future and share a brief conversation with our children and grandchildren as they are living their lives in the year 2023. Imagine now that they are asking us: 'What were you thinking? Didn’t you care about our future? Were you really so self-absorbed that you couldn't – or wouldn't—stop the destruction of Earth's environment?' What would our answer be? We can answer their questions now by our actions, not merely with our promises. In the process, we can choose a future for which our children will thank us." An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore, 2006.
The views expressed in An Inconvenient Truth do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the members of Community United Methodist Church.What scientists are saying about An Inconvenient Truth:
"The scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action." – Science Academics’ Statement from 11 countries (the G8, China, India, and Brazil): Global Response to Climate Change, 2005
"Delaying action for decades, or even years, is not a serious option." – Sir David King, Chief Science Advisor to the British government – Science Magazine, Jan. 2004
"AP (Associated Press) contacted more than 100 top climate researchers for their opinion. Among those contacted were vocal skeptics of climate change theory. Most scientists had not seen the movie, which is in limited release, or read the book. But those who have seen it had the same general impression: Gore conveyed the science correctly; the world is getting hotter, and it is caused by the burning of fossil fuels." – Seth Borenstein, Associated Press June 30, 2006
To see a trailer and lots more cool information, go to the film’s website: www.climatechange.netParamount Classics has made a gift of 4,000 Inconvenient Truth DVDs to houses of worship all over the country through a faith-based ecological sustainability organization called Interfaith Power and Light (IPL). IPL is a non-partisan ministry that works with congregations to reduce pollution through energy audits, efficient lighting and appliances, supporting the development of clean energy and providing education.
The Social Concerns Prayer Group, a newly formed group at the Methodist Church, are sponsoring the film. What’s the connection between a church and global warming? Global warming is not a political issue; it is a moral issue. People of most faith traditions are called to love one another and to be responsible stewards of God’s creation. As we saw in New Orleans, the ones who suffer most during natural disasters are the poor. We must start planning now to support those who will be affected in our community when the effects of global warming strike. Although the film offers potential solutions for global warming if we act now, it portends extreme disruption of life as we know it.
"Today we are hearing and seeing dire warnings of the worst potential catastrophe in the history of human civilization: a global climate crisis that is deepening and rapidly becoming more dangerous than anything we have ever faced….At stake is the survival of our civilization and the habitability of the Earth….This is not ultimately about any scientific discussion or political dialogue. It is about who we are as human beings. It is about our capacity to transcend our own limitations….To see with our hearts, as well as our heads, the response that is now called for. This is a moral, ethical and spiritual challenge." An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore, 2006
Students, parents and teachers are especially invited to attend. We need to give our kids the training they will need to deal with the broken earth we are leaving them. “Imagine we are 17 years into the future and share a brief conversation with our children and grandchildren as they are living their lives in the year 2023. Imagine now that they are asking us: 'What were you thinking? Didn’t you care about our future? Were you really so self-absorbed that you couldn't – or wouldn't—stop the destruction of Earth's environment?' What would our answer be? We can answer their questions now by our actions, not merely with our promises. In the process, we can choose a future for which our children will thank us." An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore, 2006.
The views expressed in An Inconvenient Truth do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the members of Community United Methodist Church.What scientists are saying about An Inconvenient Truth:
"The scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action." – Science Academics’ Statement from 11 countries (the G8, China, India, and Brazil): Global Response to Climate Change, 2005
"Delaying action for decades, or even years, is not a serious option." – Sir David King, Chief Science Advisor to the British government – Science Magazine, Jan. 2004
"AP (Associated Press) contacted more than 100 top climate researchers for their opinion. Among those contacted were vocal skeptics of climate change theory. Most scientists had not seen the movie, which is in limited release, or read the book. But those who have seen it had the same general impression: Gore conveyed the science correctly; the world is getting hotter, and it is caused by the burning of fossil fuels." – Seth Borenstein, Associated Press June 30, 2006
To see a trailer and lots more cool information, go to the film’s website: www.climatechange.netJoseph McBride, author of the newly published book WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ORSON WELLES?: A PORTRAIT OF AN INDEPENDENT CAREER will present and discuss IT'S ALL TRUE, its importance in Welles's career, and some startling revelations he makes about it in the book. He is an assistant professor of cinema at San Francisco State University.
For many years, Orson Welles's IT'S ALL TRUE, was one of Hollywood's legendary lost films. The film was a documentary project Welles began shooting in Brazil in 1942 for the U.S. Government and RKO. It was intended as a tribute to the people of Latin America, a soft-sell propaganda film to promote hemispheric solidarity and counter the threat of fascism. But what Welles found and filmed in Brazil was not what his sponsors had in mind. He shot a radical film dealing sympathetically with the musical culture, the political aspirations, and the economic plight of poor Brazilians, many of whom were black and lived in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
Under pressure from the Brazilian government and alarmed by the racial themes of the film, RKO terminated the production and fired Welles. Despite all of Welles' efforts to finish the film back in Hollywood over a period of several years, it was taken away from him and partially destroyed.
After 309 cans of footage of IT'S ALL TRUE were discovered in the 1980s, Richard Wilson (Welles's righthand man in Brazil), Myron Meisel, and Bill Krohn spent years constructing their magnficent documentary feature: IT'S ALL TRUE: BASED ON AN UNFINISHED FILM BY ORSON WELLES. Experience the genius of Orson Welles through his work and through the eyes of the artists with whom he worked.Robert Greenwald's film about who's getting killed and who's making a killing.
Free admission and dinner at a great price!! We will be donating all proceeds to the food bank.
Please note that The Constant Gardener is rated R -- mostly for violence. The guest speakers will put all questionable content into context. So, this is a great event for adults and mature teens!There will be great food available (gourmet dinner for only $5!) so please come hungry!!
On Nov 24 there wil be a celebration to launch Irving Norman's book DARK METROPOLIS at the San Gregorio Store (6:30 to 8:00 p.m.)
Two films on the redemptive power of music to heal by Suzanne Girot and Renato Frota.
MISTER SPAZZMAN (47 mins)Two perspectives on how relationships evolve in the wake of a life-shattering event:
1.) Two men and the evolution of their music;
2.) Love between a man and woman withers as they realize the futility of a shared life.
GIRL BEAT--THE POWER OF THE DRUM (27 mins).
A documentary about the Brazilian Cultural Center for Music and Dance. Here young girls learn to appreciate their rich heritage. In doing so they transform the lives of their families. A film full of vibrant music and dance.
GIRL BEAT profiles members of Banda Dida, an all-girl drumming and vocal group based in SALVADOR, BRAZIL. The music that this group plays grows out of the Portuguese colonial history of Brazil, and the African slave market that used to be held in the Pelourinho (slave square) in Salvador.
Although slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888, an economic separation of black and white populations is still entrenched throughout the country. The Dida Music School (A Brazilian Cultural Center) was established in Salvador to empower Brazilian blacks with their history, music, and a chance to succeed in the rich samba-reggae music scene that is currently popular in South America. Several members of the music group are interviewed, rehearsals of the group are shown, and discussions related to Brazilian black history and religion are interspersed throughout.This film illustrates the power and importance of giving young people, especially those of ethnically and economically diverse backgrounds, the gift of learning about music. That makes their lives more meaningful and fulfilling. It provides some perspective on the current popular music scene in Brazil. In addition, the girls' families were transformed by reconnecting with their Black Heritage.
Director, Suzanne Girot will be on hand to introduce her two films and take questions.
A celebration of gypsy music from a French director with Rom (gypsy) roots. The movie traces the Rom people from their ancestral home in India through Egypt, Turkey and up into Europe.
This documentary uses no narration, preferring to let the pictures and the music speak for themselves. Via song and dance, young and old celebrate, embody, and teach the cultural values of family, journey and love--even though they were often separated and persecuted. The movie reveals how the sad and fiery Rom music becomes laced with elements of whatever culture the musicians find themselves living in. In India the music is light and romantic. In Egypt it absorbs elements from Muslin prayer. Southern France provides us with the wild Romani jazz popularized by Django Reinhardt. In Romania and Germany the music turns darker, reflecting the harsh treatment Rom's have long encountered here.All of us are searching for solutions and ways to take personal actions to affect change, especially for our children’s future . . . An Inconvenient Truth raises compelling questions; Nobelity offers compelling answers.
-- Christopher Gavigan, CEO of the Children's Health Coalition
Remarkable new film . . . Nobelity leaves you wanting more and thinking that if Pipkin's nine were in charge, we would leave a better world indeed.Certainly Mr. Pipkin has given us a call to action. It is our job as individuals to find our passion and move forward creating change. That is why I choose the films that we show to help people do just that.
--Esquire magazine
Inspired by love and concern for his two daughters, and wondering what kind of planet they will inherit, actor and award-winning director Turk Pipkin traveled the world to pose the toughest questions of our time to some of today's greatest minds. The result is Nobelity, a highly acclaimed documentary that explores the crises and possibilities facing the environment, education, economics, family, peace, social justice, and spirituality.
Pipkin's odyssey took him across the United States, and overseas to France, England, India, and Kenya. One of the distinguished Nobel laureates he spoke to was Rev. Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize, 1984) who talks about the power of love and forgiveness, and the human capacity to accomplish great things. Pipkin says "The most moving of the meetings was with Sir Joseph Rotblat, a 96 year old nuclear physicist (Nobel Peace Prize, 1995) who fifty years earlier had joined with Albert Einstein in signing an open letter to the world calling for an end to nuclear proliferation. Sir Joe confided to me that the mission for the remaining days of his life was to fulfill the task that Einstein left to him, and put America and the world back on the track to nuclear disarmament."
Seeking solutions to the most daunting problems confronting us today, Pipkin says of his personal journey: "Again and again, I learned that the world's problems are much larger than I'd thought, but I was also learning that there is much reason for hope. The answers are there, but we have to seek them out and act on them in a much more proactive fashion." “There’s nothing magic about change,” Turk was told by Jody Williams, Nobel Laureate and the founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. “You have to pick an issue that’s important to you, then get off you’re backside and take action.” Other laureates featured in Nobelity are: Steven Weinberg, Jody Williams, Ahmed Zewail, Rick Smalley, Wangari Maathai, Dr. Harold Varmus, and Amartya Sen.
Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown is an award-winning hour-long documentary on a 95-year-old legend in the worlds of surfing, sailing and soaring.
Attending the screening is David L. Brown, the Brisbane-based filmmaker behind the film. Brown states, "I see Woody as a modern Thoreau sitting on a surfboard, living in harmony with the world around him, alive to the possibilities of each new day, and following his own singular vision of how to be in the world."
The documentary captures Woody's unique blend of enthusiasm, wisdom, humor and spirituality that have made him a truly inspirational figure.
Of Wind and Waves explores Woody's life in his own words and from the perspectives of his family, friends and surfing colleagues. The film also features a remarkable archive of film and photography from every stage of Woody's long life.
Of Wind and Waves also provides a valuable cross-cultural portrait of the land, people and culture of Hawaii over the six and a half decade span of Woody's life there.
Winner of the 2006 Inspiration Award at Mountain film in Telluride, and the Award at the 2004 Maui Film Festival.
For more info see: www.hmbfilm.org
A short musical photographic exhibit in three movements featuring music by local composer George Roumanis and photographer Lou Solitske. Both gentlemen live in Half Moon Bay and will be at the screening to answer questions. (8 mins)
Evelyn Glennnie lives in our universe in a way
that almost no one else does. She’s a top classical solo percussionist. She is also profoundly deaf using her body as a "resounding chamber" through which she experiences her work.
In this documentary, we get to follow Glennie as she plays the snare drum in New York's Grand Central Station, a guitar case in the Cologne airport, pigeon coops on row house roof tops and the china at her favorite Japanese restaurant. But the movie really breaks out when we get to follow her and avant-garde musical legend Fred Frith improvise work for a new album while roaming
through a vast, decaying, industrial warehouse.
"Innovative sounds and striking visuals combine to form an exquisite cinematic work that's both a portrait of hearing-impaired percussionist Evelyn Glennie and a radical
reexamination of sensory experience." Ken Fox, TV Guide
"Exquisitely beautiful for the eyes as for the ears." David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
2006 Oscar winning short animation written, directed and animated by Torvill Kove and narrated by Liv Ullmann.
The film deals with heady questions. Can we trace the chain of events that lead to our birth?. Is our existence just coincidence? Do little things matter?
To explore these questions, we follow Kasper, a poet whose creative well has run dry, on a holiday to Norway to meet the famous writer, Sigrid Undset. As Kasper's quest for inspiration unfolds, it appears that a spell of bad weather, an angry dog, slippery barn planks, a careless postman, hungry goats and other seemingly unrelated factors might play important roles in a big scheme of things after all."
The story of four remarkable women and their struggle to overcome the stigma and brutal reality of widowhood in modern India. The protagonist Priya, is an educated and affluent woman who is widowed young. Despondent, alone and desperate, she seeks solace in Vrindavan, the "city of widows." There she meets three women who become her best friends. Roop has spent 30 years making her own way in this temple town, and knows all the town's dirty secrets. Her own mother-in-law tragically disfigured gentle Mala. Young Deepti was forced into servitude and the underground sex trade run by the local Panda priests. These four women for a deep bond and through their friendship begin to discover a way to take charge of their own fate. Their journey is not without adversity and tragedy from a system dominated by men who prosper from the exploitation of India's most disenfranchised citizens.
Film makers Linda and Dharan Mandrayar will be in attendance to present the film and do Q&A.
Friday & Sat, June 22 & 23rd at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
Director Richard Wong & Actor/Writer/Composer H.P. Mendoza
In Person
Fri & Sat, June 22 & 23! June 22 & 23 at 7:30 & 10:00pm!
Best pals Rodel (H.P. Mendoza), Billy (Jake Moreno) and Maribel (L.A. Renigan) find themselves in a state of limbo. Fresh out of high school, they are just beginning to explore a new world of part-time mall jobs and crashing college parties.
As newfound revelations and romances challenge their relationships with one another and their parents, the trio must assess what to hold onto, and how to best follow their dreams.
A fresh personal look into the ups and downs of early adulthood, boasting 13 original musical numbers composed by Mendoza. Debut feature for director Richard Wong.
More info at the OFFICIAL WEBSITE http://www.colmafilm.com/
You can buy tickets at:
http://movies.aol.com/theater/landmark-embarcadero-center-cinemas/1154/showtimes?date=20070622
One of the most critically acclaimed films of the decade.
Winner "Best Picture" -- National Society of Film Critics.
"Best Director" -- Cannes Film Festival.
"Best Foreign Film" by both the New York Film Critics Circle & the LA Film Critics Association.
The movie is a portrait of three generations of a Taiwanese family. These are characters living in a a modern world that an American audience can relate to and care about. The protagonist is an electronics executive whose comfortable world is rocked by a chance encounter with his first love; a girl he almost married 30 years ago. While he ponders his past and present we gradually get to know the people who frame his life; his wife, his mother-in-law, his teenaged daughter, and the 8-year old son who always seems to drop the water balloon on the wrong head.
A.O. Scott of The New York Times said in his rave review, "I struggled to identify the overpowering feeling that was making me tear up. Was it grief? Joy? Mirth? Yes, I decided, it was all of these. But mostly, it was gratitude."
"Only rarely is a film this observant and tender about the ups and downs of daily existence."
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times
In 1986, a breeding colony of Common Murres on Devil's Slide was devastated by an oil spill.
Using innovative restoration techniques in a challenging location, scientists worked with local schools and government agencies to restore the colony. The film chronicles the decade of restoration efforts required to bring these birds back to their ancestral home.
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Produced, written, and directed by Kevin White.
Narrated by Terri Orth-Pallavicini
Camera: Scott Stender, Don Starnes, Kevin White
Editor: Theron Yeager & Marnie Berringer
Associate Producer: Marnie Berringer
In 1986, a breeding colony of Common Murres on Devil's Slide was devastated by an oil spill.
Using innovative restoration techniques in a challenging location, scientists worked with local schools and government agencies to restore the colony.
The film chronicles the decade of restoration efforts required to bring these birds back to their ancestral home.
For more info call: (650) 355-8000 (ask for Marty)
or go to: www.PCT26.com
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Produced, written, and directed by Kevin White.
Narrated by Terri Orth-Pallavicini
Camera: Scott Stender, Don Starnes, Kevin White
Editor: Theron Yeager &; Marnie Berringer
Associate Producer: Marnie Berringer
"An Outrageously funny comedy of manners."
Linda Gross, Los Angeles Times
A film by OUSMANE SEMBENE, the father of African cinema, who passed away this June.
Ousmane Sembene's savage and hilarious
satire of modern African bourgeoisie. Forsaking the more obvious (and politically acceptable) targets of European exploitation and racism, Sembene zeroes in on a far touchier subject: the entire blackfacing of white colonial policies after independence was granted.
Set in a newly independent Senegal, the story centers on self-satisfied, westernized Senegalese businessman who decides to take advantage of the rampant corruption. Flush with government money, he decides to marry his third (polygamous) wife. On his wedding night, he is suddenly struck down with the xala, an ancient Senegalese curse rendering him impotent. With his virility in question, he tries a number of ridiculous and bizarre cures. This vain search for a cure becomes a metaphor for the impossibility of Africans achieving liberation through dependence on western technology and bureaucratic structures.
An interesting point is Sembene wrote both the novel of that name and the screenplay.
JENNY LAU, Associate Professor of Cinema at San Franciso State University will introduce the film.
"A nail-biting competition film, an engrossing group character study and a wonderfully graceful comedy of manners."
William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Every spring since 1925, Scripps Howard newspapers have sponsored spelling bees at grade schools across the U.S. This award winning documentary presents the intense, real life experience of the National Spelling Bee through the eyes of eight, driven young spellers.
The film travels from the plains of Texas to the lawns of Connecticut, from redneck countryside to the troubled inner city of Washington D.C.. We get to share the private lives of these kids as they advance through regional competition, prepare for, and eventually do battle at the national contest.
"An unassailably great film! Anyone who has not seen it assumes it's good in the most earnest, studied kind of way--good for you. I've seen Spellbound four times, most recently with my grade 6 class, and the initial thrill hasn't waned a bit. For a film about something as staid as a spelling bee, where requests for a word origin count as major plot twists, it's as sly and disarming as can be."
Phil Dellio, RockCritics.com
"Shooting with amateur actors on real locations, plundering his surroundings for his shots and props, Rodriguez gets a gritty, sweaty, dusty feel that drips with atmosphere." Roger Ebert. Chicago Sun Times
El Mariachi was writer/director Robert Rodriguez' first commercial film. That is if you call a film made for $7,000, targeted at the direct-to-video Hispanic market, with money raised by volunteering for medical research a commercial release.
In spite of its low budget, the movie became a hugh commercial success, It won the coveted Audience Award at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival, went on to make millions at the box office, and launched the career of one of our most prolific modern directors. (Spy Kids, Sin City, Desperado, GrindHouse).
El Mariachi is an action thriller and a masterwork of low-cost filmmaking improvisation. The hero of the film is a mariachi-a singer of traditional Mexican songs. As the movie opens, the mariachi has just arrived in the small Mexican border town of Acua looking for work at local cantina. His misfortune is that a ruthless assassin has also arrived in town at the same moment. Both men wear black and carry guitar cases and the musician is mistaken for the assassin. Life suddenly becomes much more interesting for the mariachi!
DEAD IN THE SIERRA
"The spectre of Joaquin Murieta still rides in the California countryside. Whoever approaches the legend of this bandit will feel the charismatic force of his gaze." - Pablo Neruda
The California Gold Rush of 1849 occurred in the aftermath of the US-Mexican War, which annexed nearly half of Mexico to the United States. Amid the greed, suspicion, and fear of that era, many who lost land, family, and their futures fought back. Told from a Mexican point of view, this is a story of two very different men, both named Joaquin, whose fed the legend of outlaw and rebel Joaquin Murieta. Beautifully shot in 16mm black and white over three decades, the film sports a superb sound design by Academy Award-winner Richard Beggs (Apocalypse Now).
A film by Coastside Film Society Board Member, Warren Haack.
DEAD IN THE SIERRA
"The spectre of Joaquin Murieta still rides in the California countryside. Whoever approaches the legend of this bandit will feel the charismatic force of his gaze." - Pablo Neruda
The California Gold Rush of 1849 occurred in the aftermath of the US-Mexican War, which annexed nearly half of Mexico to the United States. Amid the greed, suspicion, and fear of that era, many who lost land, family, and their futures fought back. Told from a Mexican point of view, this is a story of two very different men, both named Joaquin, whose fed the legend of outlaw and rebel Joaquin Murieta. Beautifully shot in 16mm black and white over three decades, the film sports a superb sound design by Academy Award-winner Richard Beggs (Apocalypse Now).
A film by Coastside Film Society Board Member, Warren Haack.
Feature starts at 8:15
It's 1918, and the United States is deeply embroiled in World War I. Horace Robedaux is living a bucolic life with his wife and little girl in their little Texas town way back in piney woods. But historical forces are straining to reshape his life.
To most of his neighbors the war is a romantic adventure. Young men like Horace are encouranged to do their patriotic duty. Will he end up in the killing fields of France? Or will the impending influenza pandemic grab hold of his life before this can happen?
Written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Horton Foote (To Kill a Mockingbird, Tender Mercies).
For over 25 years Joan Saffa has been producing award-winning non-fiction television programs. Her documentaries have been honored with several Northern California Emmys, Golden Cine Eagles, a national Emmy, and a George Foster Peabody Award. Come meet her and see two of her films.
San Francisco in the 20s (60 mins)
SF in the 20s captures the frolicking good times, as well as the uncertainties lurking just below the surface of a decade defined by prohibition, flamboyance and racism and ending with the great stock market crash. Narrated by Ed Asner.
Keeping Score: MTT on Music
The Music of Aaron Copland (116 mins)
In this fascinating behind-the-scenes documentary, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony take viewers on a guided tour of the music of one of America's greatest composers. It's a great ride not only for those familiar with Copland and his "American" sound, but for those willing to listen and discover this terrific music for the first time. The selections chosen cover Copland’s iconic Americana classics (Appalachian Spring, Rodeo) but also lesser know works of a probing artist who straddled the popular-classical divide.
When "I Love Lucy" debuted on national television on October 1951, the show became an instant sensation, defining the format of the situation comedy, driving thousands of first time viewers to television, and turning its unlikely star, Lucille Ball, into a legend. The documentary "Finding Lucy" tells the story of how a B Grade movie actress from Jamestown, N.Y. used her penchant for comedy to transform herself into the very first female television superstar and first female head of a major studio.
Winner of the Emmy as Best Documentary, "Finding Lucy" features one of the most extensive compilations of archival television and movie footage ever gathered for a single production as well as interviews with countless industry insiders who can tell the give the back story of how and why this program has become a broadcasting icon.
Much of Bob Elfstrom's success can be attributed to his deep understanding of how to properly light a scene and capture sound. During the break between features, Bob has graciously agreed to teach a mini-workshop on how to use proper lighting and sound recording techniques to improve any video shoot.
Moses Pendleton is one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th century. He is a founder of two internationally-renowned dance companies, the hyper-athletic Pilobolus company and Momix, a company of dancer-illusionists.
This unusual film seamlessly blends dance performance shots with autobiographical essays by and about Moses Pendleton. By skillfully melding two film genres together in this way, Eldstrom created a superb hybrid that earned him the coveted Cine Golden Eagle award.
The latest collaborative effort by composer George Roumanis and photographer Lou Solitske, both of Half Moon Bay. George has written three movements of hauntingly beautiful music that add resonance to Lou's shots of coastside seascapes, sunsets, big wave surfers, birds and other natural beauties he has captured while roving our majestic California Coastline.
World famous alto saxophonist, Dale Underwood is the featured artist of this innovative opus.
Lou Solitske's pictures of a wide variety of local dogs, some funny, some cute, some beautiful, but all our best friends; keep perfect time to George Roumanis's ragtime rhythms.
For hundreds of thousands of years an extraordinary journey has taken place in the sea. Twice a year along the west coast of North America, elephant seals set out alone on a nearly impossible round trip migration across vast expanses of the North Pacific.
For months they remain at sea, swimming thousands of miles while diving relentlessly to unimaginable depths in search of food. By journey's end they'll have traveled farther in a year than any other mammal on Earth.
From the rugged, wave-swept shorelines of Northern California to the cold dark depths of the North Pacific, this is the incredible story of one of the greatest migratory marine mammals ever to inhabit the sea, a remarkable creature living a life of extremes and their species∙ never-ending struggle for survival.
Come enjoy this great film with Drew Wharton, the Santa Cruz-based film maker behind this project and ask him questions about the two years he spent filming, writing and directed and producing this wonderful documentary. Chances are you will recognize many of the places he shot at including our own Ańo Nuevo State Reserve, Farallon Islands, and Point Reyes National Seashore.
Visit A Seal's Life Trailer
A documentary about Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky and his attempt to document modern industrialization gone amuck in China and other hypergrowth hotspots. Burtynsky is a master at finding beauty in dangerous industrial vistas.
The film makes no attempt to scare the audience with statistics and charts. Instead Director Jennifer Baichwal chose to follow Burtynsky as he travels the world looking for mindblowing industrial vistas he can capture on film. Burtynsky throws in an occasional comment about his subjects, but for the most part he lets the images and the words of the people behind the images do all the talking. It's clear that the workers depicted in the film are profoundly grateful for the jobs that have lifted them out of poverty. At the same time, they are fully cognizant and deeply concerned about the impact this rampant industrialization is impacting the world they are going to pass on to their children.
Jenny Lau, an Associate Professor in the Department of Cinema at San Francisco State and a member of the Script Committee of the Beijing Olympics will introduce the film and lead the post screening discussion.
"No End in Sight is the most cool headed of the Iraq war documentaries, the most methodical and the least polemical. Yet it's the one that will leave audiences the most shattered, angry and astounded." Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"This is not a documentary filled with anti-war activists or sitting ducks for Michael Moore. Most of the people in the film had top government or military jobs in the Bush administration. They had responsibility in Iraq or Washington, they implemented policy, they filed reports, they labored faithfully in service of U.S. foreign policy and then they left the government. Some jumped, some were pushed. They all feel disillusioned about the war and the way the White House refused to listen to them about it." Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times
"In Caribe, unspoiled tropical beaches and jewel-toned forests teeming with indigenous flora and fauna make the case against an unscrupulous oil company seeking to drill offshore more eloquently than do any of the impassioned speeches delivered by script's homegrown activists. But it is the imported charms of Cuban heart throb Jorge Perugorria ("Strawberry and Chocolate"), Spanish actress Cuca Escribano, and Mexican sex kitten Maya Zapata, enmeshed in a torrid love triangle, that explain pic's unprecedented popularity." Variety
Vicente (Perugorria) and Abigail (Escribano) run a small banana plantation on Costa Rica's beautiful Caribbean coastline. An oil company wants to build oil platforms off the coast near their plantation. The platforms will bring in a lucrative new source of money but endangers the tourism, agriculture and fishing that drive the local economy.
Should Vicente and Abigail try to preserve their idyllic home or sell out for a fast buck? That's the Faustian bargain they are struggling with when Abigail's seductive half sister arrives to stir the pot just a little bit more.
Based on a book by Costa Rican literary legend Carlos Salazar Herrera, Caribe was the first Costa Rican film ever to be submitted to the Academy Awards.
"Mario Cardona's gorgeous and seductive widescreen lensing is ably accompanied by Walter Flores' exotic score. Vincente is the perfect representative of the liberal bourgeoisie caught between impoverishment and exploitation. Yet the pic resists such a reading, mainly because of the sheer power of Perugorria's Vincente, who reads as quasi-heroic right up until pic's final, sly feminist coda."
Because this story has a steamy side to it, the Film Society decided to move the screening to the Depot at Johnson House rather than show it at their usual digs at the Methodist Sanctuary.
Back to
take 92Programme for September 19, 2008
A program full of talented local filmmakers.
Three Bay Area film makers screen their irreverent documentaries about the California experience. All three films are feisty, fun, and informative.Short: Textilis108
Filmmaker Jander Lacerda asked 108 people in San Francisco's Mission District to explain why America is the "land of opportunity".
Lacerda will be at the screening to help explain why an artist from Brazil came to make a film about American possibilities.
David L. Brown presents the remarkable story of the fiery collapse and rebuilding of a key connector in the Bay Area.
The MacArthur Maze is that stretch of highway where three major freeways meet just east of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. We have all driven it,and those forced to navigate its path everyday had to be amazed and grateful when it was replaced in just 26 days.
How was this Herculean feat accomplished so quickly? Brown tells the story in the words of all of the main players in the drama: the legendary contractor C.C. Myers; Caltrans Director Will Kempton and the engineers working for him; the Arizona steel fabricator whose company built the steel girders; the firefighters who responded to the accident; and the reporters who covered the story.
"A documentary that is very funny. As a bonus, you'll find yourself learning something - almost against your will." Sacramento Bee
Everybody agrees that the Eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bridge is in danger of falling into the Bay. Why has it taken almost two decades to replace? In this Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker David L. Brown explores the subject through interviews with engineers, bridge builders, architects, lawyers, seismologists, comedians, and a couple of well-known politicians.
"That producer-director David L. Brown was able to create a snarky and compelling documentary - leaning more toward Michael Moore filmmaking territory than Ken Burns - is surprising in itself. See, Brown's project was sponsored by the Professional Engineers in California Government, an organization that represents Caltrans workers." Sacramento Bee
Brown won an Emmy for his work on this documentary. So did animator Charlie Canfield. Both will be at the screening.
Directors Aisha Bain and Jen Marlowe take us on-site to Darfur. The desert landscape is gorgeous, wind-swept, and littered with bomb fragments. The personal anecdotes are heart-breaking and appalling.
Chosen by Amnesty International as an educational tool, this film provides the historical & cultural context needed to understand the germination of this political & humanitarian crisis. It also provides a testament to the continuing strength and resilience of a people whose lives, homes, safety, & rights deserve to be protected.
In Peter Pan, the lost boys fought off pirates and crocodiles before flying off to Never Never Land. In Sudan, thousands of lost boys also fought off crocodiles and other dangers we can barely imagine before flying off to a new life in the US.
Local construction engineer and videographer Rob Carey's encounter with a mysterious creature lurking on one of our local beaches.
(French with English subtitles)
A tense, psychological thriller produced in 1938 by the legendary French director Jean Renoir based on a novel by Emile Zola.
"It is simply a story; a macabre, grim and oddly-fascinating story. Sitting here, a safe distance from it, we are not at all sure we entirely approve." Frank S. Nugent, The New York Times
Railroad engineer Jacques Lantier (Jean Gabin) lusts after Severine (Simone Simon), who is the wife of Roubaud, a railroad station master (Fernand Ledoux). When Lantier stumbles across Roubaud murdering another man, who has done Severine wrong, Lantier is faced with many conflicted motivations. In the course of the film we discover that Lantier has quite a few skeletons lurking in his own closet. So too does his love Severine.
It is a deliciously convoluted film noir in which the plot line has more branches than the gritty railroad line on which it all takes place.
Cave Zahedi (www.cavehzahedi.com) will present a special screening of his film, In the Bathtub of the World, an autobiographical portrait of a relationship that spans the course of one year, and discuss the film afterwards, with questions and answers about the film and his career as a filmmaker.
Caveh is also an actor and has appeared in such films as Citizen Ruth which stars Laura Dern, directed by Alexander Payne (Sideways; Election) and Waking Life, directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused; Before Sunrise) While studying Philosophy at Yale University Cave Zahedi began making films in his spare time. After graduating from Yale, he studied film at UCLA where he made his first film A Little Stiff.
With the success of that film Caveh received several grants to pursue making his films; and through the subsequent success of future films he has appeared on Larry King Live and NPR among other media outlets. His films are not quite documentaries and not wholly fictional narratives either.
Through the medium of film Caveh uses his own life with only the camera lens as a med iator to pursue the dilemmas of the ego, which he thinks of as "the central question in art…"
Director Bob Freimark's roadtrip movie focuses a spotlight on the art of contemporary Cuba. What he discovered was an exotic artistic landscape untainted by the market-driven forces that have shaped the work of Cuban expatriates working in the US. Who says
a 50 year embargo can't provide positive benefits? Edited by the Coastide Film Society's own Warren Haack.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. Imports of oil cut by more than half and food by 80 percent. People were desperate!
THE POWER OF COMMUNITY shows how Cuba transformed itself from an imported oil glutton to a surprisingly resilient country with an economy rooted in localized food and energy production. "It shows a glimpse of what is possible when a community reinvests its financial, educational and social capital in its own people and the systems that sustain life - food, energy and health care." Alisa Kane.
"We have a lot to learn from this unlikely role model"
The evening will begin with a sampling of music that the Film Society's own technical guru, Warren Haack, gathered during his recent trip to Cuba.
A film that honors the work of the poet, artist and teacher, Carl Zimmermann (1950-1994). It was in the wilderness of the mighty Sierra that Carl was inspired to write volumes manifesting the essence of climbing to the rocky mountain tops. Zimm's
heartfelt words, set to the beautiful music of Steve Ewert (recorded by California Zephyr), combined with the awesome photography of documentary filmmaker and Film Society Board member Warren Haack, is a record of a place that few people have ever
experienced.
A documentary by Yasha Aginsky about the New Lost City Ramblers, arguably the most influential contemporary old-time string band of all time.
The band began just before the folk boom of the early '60s. What made the band so successful was its authentic sound. NLCR left the soft sappy folk covers to lesser artists. These guys dipped deep into the roots, serving up an authentic string-band sound
that could compete with the best of the bands from the 1920s and '30s. The popularity of the band soared. Through the Ramblers' own words, "Aginsky's film documents the evolution of Old Time American Music and the soulful NLCR sound, their influences,
their mentors and their influence on contemporary musicians."
Yasha Aginsky is a San Francisco-based documentary film maker and film teacher whose work has twice been nominated for Academy Awards.
Both Yasha Aginsky and Warren Haack will attend the screening and talk to the audience.
A film so enchanting one hates to see it come to an end."
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times.
Deep in the Himalayas, in the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, two men seek to escape their mundane lives. One of those men is Dondup, a university graduate who hopes to leave his job as a government official behind so he can emigrate to the US and become a farm laborer. On the way out of town Dondup misses his bus. While waiting for next bus he encounters a bizarre series of wayfarers. The most interesting of the characters he meets is a monk who spins the tale of Tashi, a handsome young farmer and apprentice magician who is just as frustrated with his life as Dondup is.
The film deftly cuts back and forth between the tales of these two restless young men, both with girls on their mind and both with a deep desire to find a place of more fun and action.
Travellers is the first feature film ever shot in the kingdom of Bhutan. Filmed in the native language (Dzongka) with English subtitles. It may be the first role most of these actors have ever played but they more than pull it off. The San Francisco Chronicle raves that Travellers & Magicians is a warm, embracing film of transcendent beauty and spirituality.
"Transcendent, deeply committed & beautifully wrought. It will make anyone who sees it look at the world with new eyes."
Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle
Mohammad wants to come home for the summer. His dad, a widower, is afraid that the presence of a blind son at home will make it hard for him to find a new wife. When the dad is forced to bring his son home, he walls himself away, failing to appreciate the joy his son brings to the rest of the world.
"Because they do not condescend to young audiences, [director] Majidi's films are absorbing for adults as well, & there is a lesson here: Any family film not good enough for grownups is certainly not good enough for children."
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
"A beautiful and bittersweet film, a coming-of-age tale that simultaneously gives us a small peek into the rapidly
escalating clash between the Old China and New China as the huge country races to modernize." — Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com
Ruoma is a teenage girl living in a beautiful remote region of China's Yunnan Province, who longs for a taste of the big city. Ming is a big city boy, an amateur photographer come
to take pictures of the gorgeous mountain rice fields.
Before long Ming is taking pictures of Ruoma posing in her colorful Hani garb to sell to tourists. They split the take. Of course a romance is kindled, and just as inevitably that romance is challenged by their profound cultural
differences.
The photography is gorgeous, full of Hani "songs, dances, and harvest rituals, all of which Ruoma takes part in with great joy. The last thing Ruoma needs, you'll think, is to
be taken away from this simple life, and yet the world encroaches." Filmcritic.com
Jenny Kwok Wah Lau, Associate Professor from San Francisco State will introduce the film and take questions from the
audience.
THE HIGH SIGN (1921) 21 mins
Keaton is hired as both the bodyguard and the assassin for the same man!
"There's really no need to explain in detail the unbelievable plot line. This physical comedy is the closest you'll ever come to seeing human beings act in real time to what would become the clear domain of animators some years later... You won't believe your eyes." Clark Richards, The Internet Movie Database
ONE WEEK (1920) 19 mins
A newlywed Keaton and wife attempt to build, furnish, and settle into a build-it-yourself-dream-home. The instructions say you can build it in a week. Unfortunately, they have been provided with the wrong set of instructions.
GO WEST (1925) 20 mins
The most unusual love story of the silent era. Is this Keaton's only sentimental movie, or is a joke about the devoted cow-eyed leading ladies featured in so many other silent films?
"With a charming cow as a romantic lead, Keaton's character is recognizable as a real person, but one that is easy to underestimate." Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com
MUSIC BY GRAMMY-WINNING GUITARIST BILL FRISELL.
"I watched the Keaton DVD with my son, who is two-and-half years old, and he really flipped for it. I think there's something really special about how instrumental music can bypass a lot of our language oriented logic, and I saw that perfectly in my son's
giggling, delighted reaction. ... There's a spark that emerges in this collaboration (between Keaton and Frisell) where it's clear (they have) things to say to each other." Dennis Cook, JamBase Magazine.
CRITICS LOVE KEATON AND FRISELL
"He was the greatest of the silent clowns. In films that combined comedy with extraordinary physical risks, Buster Keaton played a brave spirit who took the universe on its own terms, and gave no quarter." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
"The music is lithe and responsive and honors Keaton's genius sincerely." Nate Chinen, New York Times
A GLOBAL WARNING
Arctic ice is melting, sea levels are rising, and glaciers are shrinking at alarming rates. And the Earth is getting unmistakably warmer. But is this vast, potentially catastrophic, climate change the result of human behavior? Or is it simply the Earth's natural cycle of warming and cooling periods that have occurred since the planet formed?
"A GLOBAL WARNING" offers an in-depth study of the science behind this controversial, hot-button issue.
Scientists explore the skies to examine the warming effects of the sun and dig deep into the Earth to study continental movement and the volatile activity at the planet's core. Experts speculate on how natural events, including volcanic eruptions and massive meteor impacts, have affected temperatures and weather systems over the planet's 600-million-year history.
Shot on location at some of the most breath-taking locations on the planet, and filled with dynamic special Effects, "A GLOBAL WARNING" is a captivating look at the Earth's climatic evolution and a study of the longevity of our planet--and man's future on it.
"A wildly imaginative world worthy of Gabriel Garca Marquez at his most playful, drenching it in vivid color and a Slavic sense of bleak humor."
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
In a town so inconsequential no country lays claim to it, a young love is born. Grandma predicts their love will reach fruition when both bathe under the light of a rare celestial alignment. Hard to do when the local aqueduct runs dry.
"With a gloriously saturated palette, rich textures, a fanciful imagination and an unerring, light touch, (Director) Helmer gives "Absurdistan" a distinct narrative style and visual verve that seem at once ancient and new, childlike and wise. Those who prefer their cinema austere and joyless will no doubt find its humor a bit twee, but anyone looking for a break from empty nihilism should seek out this small, sparkling gem."
The dialog is in Russian but is so spare, English viewers can almost get by without the subtitles.