Arts & Entertainment

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Occidental Center for the Arts presents: Dan Crary, Bill Evans & Wally Barnick: Americana Masters

Sunday, March 4 @ 3 pm. Occidental Center for the Arts presents: Dan Crary, Bill Evans & Wally Barnick: Americana Masters!
Join flat picking pioneer and ‘Bluegrass Alliance’ founder Dan Crary, banjo legend Bill Evans, and SoCal acoustic favorite Wally Barnick as they come together as a trio of Americana Masters to perform cutting edge bluegrass, folk, and Americana music at our acoustic sweet spot on a Sunday afternoon! Get your reservations soon! $25 Advance/$30 at the door. Fine refreshments and Art Gallery open for viewing. Wheelchair Accessible. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. 707-874-9392
Americana Masters Dan Crary, Bill Evans & Wally Barnick

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Cajun Dance Music at Occidental Center for the Arts

Cajun Dance Music: Saturday February 17 @ 7 pm. Occidental Center for the Arts. Cajun Mardi Gras Dance Party! with Suzy Thompson & Aux Cajunals. Renowned roots musician/fiddler Suzy Thompson sings and plays Cajun accordion, fiddle and guitar joined by Eric Thompson, vocalist daughter Allegra plus other fine musicians for some foot-stomping, smoking hot Cajun blues and dance music. Suzy has performed with Louisiana’s finest and formed the award-winning ‘California Cajun Orchestra’ among other well known bands. $20 Advance/$25 at the door includes Dance lesson at 7pm! Dance space available. Beads will be provided; costumes optional but fun! ‘Let the bon temps roll’! Fine refreshments, beer and wine for sale . 707-874-9392. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org

 

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Announcing the 2018 Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival Film Line-up!
Tickets on sale to the public Feb. 12
Sebastopol Center for the Arts is proud to announce the program for the 11th Annual Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival. The festival will screen 66 documentaries, including one U.S. premiere and two Academy Award® nominated films. Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival is scheduled for March. 22-25 with screenings taking place at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, and the Rialto Cinemas® in Sebastopol.
Tickets go on sale to SDFF members on February 8, 2018. Tickets go on sale to the public on February 12, 2018. Passes are on sale now at the SDFF website sebdocs.org.
Full Program Line-up:
69 Minutes of 86 Days
Norway, 2017, 70 minutes
Director: Egil Haskjold Larsen
From the middle of a crowd of Syrian refugees on the move, a 3-year-old Lean slowly emerges. She takes in her surroundings between hundreds of adult trouser legs, aware of the precarious situation in which she and her family find themselves. With childlike wonder she continues her journey. With every step she is closer to her grandfather in Sweden.
A Bastard Child
Sweden, Norway, 2017, 57 minutes
Director: Knutte Wester
USA Premiere “As I child I used to sit in my grandmother’s kitchen and she told me stories about her childhood—stories about growing up unwanted and rejected, stories of an intolerant society.” In an exceptional mix of animation and archive footage, artist Knutte Wester tells the remarkable story of his grandmother, who grew up with the stigma of being illegitimate.
A Name That I Admire
USA, 2017, 6 minutes
Director: Sam Smartt
Danny Slemp runs a dairy farm in a conservative town in rural Virginia. He discusses his views of the 2016 presidential election and casts his presidential ballot for an unlikely candidate.
A Thousand Mothers
Myanmar, 2017, 39 minutes
Director: Kim Shelton
Set in an ancient nunnery above the majestic Irrawaddy River, A Thousand Mothers is an unprecedented look into the lives of Buddhist nuns in Sagaing, Myanmar. Although the choices available to girls and women in Myanmar are quite limited, the film poetically unfolds to reveal the opportunities offered to them at the nunnery, and the deep grace of a life dedicated to service.
All That Passes By Through a Window That Doesn’t Open
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, 2017, 70 minutes
Director: Martin DiCicco
Across the Caucasus, Azerbaijani men labor to build a new railroad, which promises to bring glory to a new generation. Across the closed borders in Armenia, a lonely stationmaster sits idle in an abandoned railroad depot where, for the last twenty years, he awaits the return of the trains.
All the Wild Horses
Mongolia, 2017, 89 minutes
Director: Ivo Marloh
All the Wild Horses follows international riders as they compete in the Mongol Derby in Mongolia, the longest and toughest horse race in the world. In this race across one thousand kilometers of Mongolian steppe the riders are on their own, navigating from horse station to horse station where they change mounts. They battle exhaustion, extreme weather, swollen rivers and wild dogs. One wrong move and they get bucked off, lose their mount and suffer serious injuries. An epic tale of horses and riders.
Almost Heaven
United Kingdom, 2017, 72 minutes
Director: Carol Salter
Far from home, afraid of the dark, and terrified of ghosts, seventeen-year-old Ying Ling is training to become a mortician in one of China’s largest funeral homes. Despite her fears, she learns how to clean and massage the corpses while the grieving families look on.
Among Wolves
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2016, 87 minutes
Director: Shawn Convey
The Wolves are no ordinary biker club, as is revealed in this gorgeously shot, surprisingly intimate portrait of trauma and survival. Still struggling from the aftermath of the Bosnian War, this multi-ethnic club organizes charity events for their small mountain town and defends the threatened herd of wild horses they first met on the frontline.
Arrested (Again)
Activist and Chair of the board of Greenpeace Inc., Karen Topakian, has been arrested dozens of times for using nonviolent civil disobedience to protest nuclear proliferation, human rights abuses, environmental issues, and war. Karen’s story speaks to the need for Americans, now more than ever, to exercise this important First Amendment right.
Beacon
USA, 2017, 33 minutes
Director: Isara Krieger
This film follows three students through an alternative year of school at Beacon Academy. Bridging the gap between 8th and 9th grade, Beacon Academy provides motivated inner-city students with the instruction, encouragement, and guidance they need to apply to some of New England’s top independent boarding high schools.
Bee Nation
Canada, 2017, 81 mins
Director: Lana Šlezić
Bee Nation is a Canadian documentary produced and directed by Lana Šlezić. The film follows the inspirational stories of six students in the first ever First Nations Provincial Spelling Bee in Canada. Through the eyes of students, parents, and educators, we learn of the challenges and opportunities awaiting the First Nations students in Saskatchewan as they strive to make it to the National Championships in Toronto; the highs, the lows, and everything in between.
Bending the Arc
USA, 2017, 102 minutes
Directors: Kief Davidson, Pedro Kos
Not so long ago, the public health establishment declared it was impossible to treat poor people suffering from certain deadly diseases. In the 1980s, a small group of unstoppable health advocates, barely out of their teens, set out to change that. Their revolutionary model of training communities to care for themselves, and treating all people with world-class medicine, has forever changed public health.
Best of Luck with the Wall
USA, 2016, 7 minutes
Director: Josh Begley
A voyage along the US-Mexico border, the proposed route of the border wall, stitched together from 200,000 satellite images taken from Google maps. These pictures are worth more than all the thousands of political words about the Wall.
Bird of Prey
Philippines, 2017, 95 minutes
Director: Eric Liner
The Philippine Eagle is a bird of extremes. The world’s largest and rarest eagle is found only in the Philippines. Fewer than 800 remain today, and the future of these iconic raptors is tied to the fate of the Philippines’ last fragments of old-growth forest. Wildlife cinematographer, Neil Rettig, embarks on the most challenging assignment of his career: to find and film the rarest eagle on the planet. Bird of Prey explores the vanishing world of the Great Philippine Eagle and introduces us to the dedicated Filipinos determined to save it.
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
USA, 2017, 90 minutes
Director: Alexandra Dean
Austrian actress Hedy Lamarr fled an oppressive marriage to create a name for herself as one of Hollywood’s top leading ladies. Behind the glamor and sex appeal was a talented and inquisitive inventor who created a system that is now considered the basis of Bluetooth.The secret technology she creates is groundbreaking and would make a terrific fictional film, but this story happens to be true. Based on a trove of previously unknown interviews, Hedy Lamarr, the screen siren who was called “the most beautiful woman in the world” is reborn as an inventor who helped the war effort.
Sunday, March 25
Rialto Cinemas® #9, 1:45 p.m.
Bones of Contention
Spain, 2017, 75 minutes
Director: Andrea Weiss
Bones of Contention is the first nonfiction feature film to explore the theme of historical memory in Spain with a focus on the repression of lesbians and gays under Franco. Lining the roads of Spain, masked by miles of pine trees, are unmarked graves in which over 120,000 victims of the Franco regime are buried. The film tells the story of the repression of the dictatorship against the backdrop of the powerful words of Garcia Lorca. It begs the question “How does a country excavate a past that is actively suppressed?”
The Cinema Travellers
India, 2016, 96 minutes
Directors: Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya
Cannes prize-winning The Cinema Travellers is a journey with the traveling cinemas of India, which bring the wonder of the movies to faraway villages annually. Seven decades on, as their lorries and cinema projectors crumble and film reels become scarce, their audiences are lured away by slick digital technology. Filmed over five years, The Cinema Travellers accompanies a shrewd exhibitor, a benevolent showman and a maverick projector mechanic who bear a beautiful burden—to keep the last traveling cinemas of the world running.
City of Joy
USA, 2016, 74 minutes
Director: Madeleine Gavin
City of Joy tells the story of the first class of girls at a remarkable center in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Director, Madeleine Gavin, tells of the visionaries who imagined a revolutionary place where women who have suffered horrific rape and abuse learn to lead amidst a war driven by greed, economics, and colonialism. It is the story of the power of the human spirit as we witness our characters’ discovery of hope, even when so much of what was meaningful to them has long been stripped away.
Creative Feds
USA, 2017, 15 minutes
Directors: Erica Ginsberg, Leon Gerskovic
Creative Feds is a documentary project which explores federal employees who are as far from the stereotypical “faceless bureaucrats” as you can get. They are government employees by day who also pursue a creative calling by night and weekend. Whether they consider their creative work a hobby or a second career, they don’t see their federal work as a day job. Instead they bring their creative spirit into their federal work, and are equally dedicated to serving their country and their craft.
Crows of the Desert: A Hero’s Journey through the Armenian Genocide
USA, 2016, 60 minutes
Director: Marta Houske
Crows of the Desert is the incredible true story of one man’s brave struggle to stay alive and help save the Armenian people from near extinction in the 20th Century’s first genocide. World War One engulfed the Middle East, as Lawrence of Arabia fought side by side with the Arabs against the Ottomans. In this chaos, our hero Levon risked his life to rescue thousands of scattered, destitute survivors of the Armenian Genocide. Extraordinarily rare film, photographs, and documents, gathered from global archives, reveal the terror and heroism of a century ago in the Syrian desert.
Donkeyote
Germany, 2017, 86 minutes
Director: Chico Pereira
Manolo leads a simple life in Southern Spain. He has two loves: his animals, in particular his donkey Gorrión (“Sparrow”), and wandering through nature. Against the advice of his doctor, he decides to plan one long walk in the USA: the historical Trail of Tears. But not without Gorrión. Their epic journey through America is the subject of Director Pereira’s wandering lens.
Eyes of Exodus
Greece, USA, 2016, 28 minutes
Director: Alexandra Liveris
Eyes of Exodus tells a story that repeats every day in the news through the lens of 4 days in Greece. Fleets of vessels carrying Syrian refugees arrive on the shores of a tiny, idyllic Greek island, which provides both an affecting portrait of the refugee experience and an unflinching look at humanity’s varying capacity for empathy. The most isolated Greek island is transformed from a sleepy tourist destination to an outpost for Syrian refugees.
English Subtitles
The Fourth Kingdom
USA, 2017, 15 minutes
Director: Adán Aliaga, Àlex Lora
The Fourth Kingdom is the kingdom of plastics, a recycling redemption center in New York where immigrants and self-identified underdogs spend their days. Scenes of life in the redemption center are juxtaposed against snippets of conversation by the workers and visitors and archival footage, the unusual and engrossing combinations result in a moving and artful film. The Brooklyn film Festival Best Short Doc winner.
Futbolistas 4 Life: Hope. Dreams. Futbol
USA, 2017, 37 minutes
Director: Jun Stinson
Futbolistas 4 Life is about Oakland teens from immigrant families and the healing power of soccer. The film offers an intimate look into the lives of two high schoolers: one is a college hopeful and DACA applicant who’s navigating the reality of his immigration status, and the other in an American citizen who lives in fear that her undocumented parents may be deported. These youth take solace in the game of soccer that lets them, if only for a moment, put their worries on the sidelines.
Friday, March 23
SCA Little Red Hen, 7:00 p.m.
Inhale
United Kingdom, 2017, 16 minutes
Director: Sean Mullan
Through horses, a man feels an irrepressible duty to move in harmony with his pain. This film explores the infinite momentum of life via an energy never destroyed, only transformed.
Knife Skills
USA, 2017, 40 minutes
Director: Thomas Lennon
Academy Award® nominated Knife Skills follows the launch of an haute cuisine restaurant in Cleveland, staffed by men and women recently released from prison. In this improbable setting, we discover the challenges of men and women finding their way after their release. We come to know three trainees intimately, as well as the restaurant’s founder, who is also dogged by his past. They all have something to prove, and all struggle to launch new lives; an endeavor as pressured and perilous as the ambitious restaurant launch of which they are a part.
The Kodachrome Elegies
USA, 2017, 11 minutes
Director: Jay Rosenblatt
Kodachrome was a filmstock noted for its rich tones and vibrant colors. The Kodachrome Elegies is a short experimental documentary that evokes the bygone era of Kodachrome’s pinnacle. Filmmaker, Jay Rosenblatt, unwinds big and small stories from the archival Kodachrome material, creating a personal narrative against the background of the musical soundtrack. While it is a paean to this lost filmstock, the film suggests the end of an era and the loss of innocence.
La Pesca
Canada, 2017, 22 minutes
Directors: Pablo Alvarez Mesa, Fernando López Escrivá
On Colombia’s Caribbean coast, it’s a workday like any other for the men of a fishing family. The filmmakers capture the small details of their work, with all its repetitive but exact motions. Games of dominoes, conversations, cooking, and even song fill the long waits that punctuate the fishermen’s days. La Pesca is a poetic view of men’s everyday lives, observing them closely on land before following them on an underwater sensory immersion, where their bodies and nets dance ballet. In this short, the passage of time becomes as important as the fishing it portrays.
The Last Animals
USA, 2017, 92 minutes
Director: Kate Brooks
The Last Animals is about an extraordinary group of people who go to great lengths to save the planet’s last animals. This documentary follows the conservationists, scientists, and activists battling poachers and trafficking syndicates to protect elephants and rhinos from extinction. The Last Animals follows the struggle on Africa’s front lines, behind the scenes in Asian markets, and here, the U.S. The film takes an intense look at the global response to this slaughter and the measures to genetically rescue the Northern White Rhinos from the edge of extinction.
Letters From Baghdad
USA, 2016, 94 minutes
Directors: Zeva Oelbaum , Sabine Krayenbühl
Letters from Baghdad tells the extraordinary story of Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day. Even more influential than her friend Lawrence of Arabia, Bell shaped the destiny of Iraq after World War I in ways that still reverberate today. Using stunning, never-seen-before footage of the region, the film chronicles her extraordinary journey into both the uncharted Arabian desert and the inner sanctum of British colonial power.
Life in Strides
USA, 2017, 18 minutes
Director: Patrick Foust
Jake, a young man with autism, has become a champion in therapeutic horseback riding. Jake’s mother Joanne has been by his side throughout his riding career, helping her son stay calm on his horse. Now, Jake is put to the test as he enters his first non-therapeutic riding competition, where the event is beyond Joanne’s control and Jake must compete as an equal with other riders.
Light
Albania, 2017, 53 minutes
Directors: Suela Bako, Yllka Gjollesha
Light portrays the life and work of well-known Albanian photographer Gjon Mili. The film focuses on his innovative and pioneering techniques in photography. It documents the making his famous photograph: Stop-Action Photograph Drop of Water as it Falls and Splashes.
Machines
Germany, Finland, India, 2016, 71 minutes
Director: Rahul Jain
Director Rahul Jain portrays the rhythm of life and work in a gigantic textile factory in India. Moving through the corridors of the enormous structure, the camera takes the viewer to a place of dehumanizing physical labor, highlighting the huge divide between first world and developing countries. Since the 1960s, India has undergone unregulated industrialization, exemplified by its numerous textile factories.
The Memoir
USA, 2017, 18 minutes
Director: Adrienne von Wolffersdorff
The Memoir is a documentary about the filmmaker’s grandma, Ceil, a 96-year-old woman who is in the process of writing her memoir. Grandma Ceil grew up on a cattle ranch in Northern California and at this moment in her life she is reminiscing about her childhood as she struggles to complete her book in the face of encroaching old age. The filmmaker explores Grandma Ceil’s past, as well as her creative process, in an effort to understand what inspires Grandma Ceil to stay motivated.
My Mother Is Pink
Denmark, 2017, 75 minutes
Director: Cecilie Debell
When Malou Gabriella sets off with her son, Michael, in her bright pink campervan it’s to heal their relationship. Clubbing their way across the country, the two exchange memories and Malou explains why she could not have been there for the young Michael. A deeply unusual and highly surprising family story.
English Subtitles
Saturday, March 24
SCA Brent Auditorium, 11:30 a.m.
Negative Space
France, 2017, 6 minutes
Directors: Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata
Academy Award® nominated, Negative Space tells the bittersweet story of a relationship between a father and his son, Sam. Always leaving on business trips, the father connects with Sam by teaching him how to pack a suitcase efficiently. Sam says “Some guys bond with their dads shooting hoops or talking about Chevrolets. We did it over luggage. The funeral was terrible—my Dad laid out in that big carton and me thinking, Look at all that wasted space.”
No Vacancy
USA, 2017, 17 minutes
Director: Abhi Singh
No Vacancy explores the struggles of San Francisco artists as they contend with exorbitant rent prices, developers looking to convert art spaces into luxury condos and a city that isn’t paying attention to them. All the artists in the film face the prospect of being priced out of San Francisco in the near future. These artists are the cultural fabric of a city that doesn’t have room for them anymore.
Nuts!
USA, 2016, 80 minutes
Director: Penny Lane
Nuts! is a feature length documentary about Dr. John Romulus Brinkley, an eccentric genius who built an empire in Depression-era America with a goat testicle impotence cure and a million watt radio station. Using animated reenactments, interviews, archival footage, and a hilariously unreliable narrator, Nuts!  traces Brinkley’s rise from poverty and obscurity to the heights of celebrity, wealth, and influence in Depression-era America.
One October
USA, 2017, 68 minutes
Director: Rachel Shuman
One October is a lyrical, loving portrait of New York City and its people in October 2008. On the eve of Obama’s historic election and an unprecedented economic crisis, we follow Clay Pigeon, an intrepid radio host, as he takes to the streets and delves into the preoccupations of everyday New Yorkers facing the promise and uncertainty of change. The film celebrates the resiliency of the human spirit and the beauty that lies in the rich cultural tapestry of a dynamic metropolis.
Phil’s Camino
USA, 2017, 28 minutes
Director: Annie O’Neil
Phil has stage 4 cancer but dreams of walking the 500-mile-long spiritual pilgrimage known as the Camino de Santiago in Spain. He does the next best thing: he builds a Camino behind his house and traces his route along a map of Spain. Phil gets a clean scan and his doctors grant him permission to miss one chemo treatment. He flies to Spain and walks the actual Camino de Santiago. Along the way he realizes his true pilgrimage is the one he travels within.
Pink or Blue
Canada, 2012, 3 minutes
Director: Jake Dypka
Pink or Blue is a collaboration project based around the theme of gender. Commissioned to open the Saatchi showcase in Cannes it used 3D technology to allow the viewer to switch between two different versions of the film depending which set of glasses they view it through. Although it will be screened at SDFF in 2D, the film remains a poetic narrative punctuated by a series of gender based images. Pink or Blue is a clever experiment in social commentary.
Saturday, March 24
SCA Brent Auditorium, 11:30 a.m.
Purge This Land
USA, 2017, 80 minutes
Director: Lee Anne Schmitt
Purge This Land is an essay film centered around the legacy of the radical abolitionist John Brown. The title is taken from John Brown’s letter of 1859: “I…am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” Purge This Land uses the image and legacy of John Brown to contemplate the culpability of White America in the ongoing disenfranchisement of Black America.
Rebels on Pointe
USA, 2017, 90 minutes
Director: Bobbi Jo Hart
Rebels on Pointe is a cinéma vérité documentary film celebrating Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo; the all male, drag ballet company founded on the heels of New York’s Stonewall riots. The company has a cult following around the world. The film combines behind-the-scenes access, intimate character-driven personal stories, and amazing performances shot around the world. Rebels on Pointe reveals that a ballerina is not merely a woman dancing, but an act of revolution in a tutu.
Revisiting the Dubhs Ridge
Germany, 2017, 25 minutes
Directors: Howard Steen, Guus Floor
Two lifelong adventurers embark on a sailing voyage to the Isle of Skye on the West Coast of Scotland. They resolve to revisit the Dubhs Ridge, a classic mountaineering route which they climbed back in their youth. Although Roger has multiple sclerosis, they have years of experience overcoming challenges in the mountains and on the high seas. However, they are not quite prepared for the difficulty which awaits them. As their dreams collide with reality they need help to make the trip a success.
Right Between Your Ears
USA, 2016, 63 minutes
Director: Sheila Marshall
Many people have a strong sense that their views are right and couldn’t possibly be wrong. So how do we come to hold an unshakable conviction and why is it hard to consider that we could be mistaken? This film follows the lives of of four everyday people who became convinced of their teacher’s belief that the world would end soon. We follow them as they abandon their lives and prepare for the end.The follow up interviews alone are worth the price of admission.
The Rock
Iran, 2017, 26 minutes
Director: Hamid Jafari
In the south of Iran, a woman goes to the mountain every day with her sledgehammer and crowbar, breaks rocks, and sells them to support her family. Filmed without narration or dialogue, this short film is a powerful and poetic story of a woman’s life.
School Life
Ireland, Spain, 2016, 99 minutes
Directors: Neasa Ní Chianáin and David Rane
This observational documentary follows a year in the lives of two inspirational teachers at Headfort, the only primary boarding school in Ireland. Housed in an 18th century estate, school life embraces tradition and modernity. For John, rock music is just another subject alongside Maths, Scripture and Latin. For his wife Amanda, the key to connecting with children is the book. For nearly half a century these two have shaped thousands of minds, but now the unthinkable looms: what would retirement mean? What will keep them young if they leave?
Scrap
USA, 2017, 6 minutes
Director: Chris Filippone
In the shadow of the global metal trade, a metal scrapper hunts the streets of Oakland searching for his day’s keep. This is a wordless diary of a day in the life of a lone recycler.
Shooting War
Canada, 2016, 24 minutes
Director: Aeyliya Husain
When the Americans declared war on Iraq in 2003, Franco Pagetti was there with his camera poised and ready to document the war as he saw it. He was one of two photographers working for TIME Magazine (2003-2008) during a war that lasted far longer than predicted. Photographs from each major conflict have told stories that reveal a truth about war not printed in the headlines. What are the stories from the Iraq War? What truths will these images reveal?
The Stairs
USA, 2017, 95 minutes
Director: Hugh Gibson
After surviving decades of street life, three social workers help their community, while struggling with past demons. Filmed over five years, The Stairs movingly defies preconceptions about drug use and sex work, revealing a surprising world that is often misunderstood.
Sununú: The Revolution of Love
United Kingdom, 2017, 25 minutes
Director: Olivia Crellin
Trans Dad Fernando Machado became an international news sensation when he announced he was pregnant with his trans girlfriend Diane Rodriguez in Ecuador last year. This film is an intimate and touching portrayal of a couple coming to grips with parenthood while they challenge complex ideas of gender roles. With exclusive access to the new family in its earliest days, we see how this remarkable duo balance parenting with a career in activism.
Teeth
Scotland, 2017, 11 minutes
Director: Thomas Hogben
Every crooked lateral incisor or overzealous premolar tells a story. Teeth explores the relationship we have with these dental companions and how they impact our lives.
Thea
Norway, 2016, 14 minutes
Director: Halvor Nitteberg
Thea is a 12 year old who likes to play football and to be with her friends. So why does she want to grow up to be an air ambulance pilot? Although Thea has a serious and dramatic type of epilepsy, she is able to share her thoughts with us about the things that she enjoys in her life. We follow Thea through her long hospital stay and subsequent homecoming to her brothers and friends. Her creativity blossoms in the hospital where she creates a special gift.
Three Red Sweaters
USA, 2016, 8 minutes
Director: Martha Gregory
A filmmaker explores memory and the way that we use technology to record our lives; sometimes at the expense of being present for them. She uses her grandfather’s 16mm home videos as her medium. This journey into family archives employs a very personal story to examine how memory is captured as a moment in time, and breathes new life into what was once thought lost forever.
Tribal Justice
USA, 2017, 87 minutes
Director: Anne A Makepeace
Two strong Native American women, both chief judges in their tribe’s courts, strive to reduce incarceration rates and heal their people by restoring rather than punishing offenders, modeling restorative justice in action. Tribal Justice follows the cases and lives of local tribe members as they pass through state and tribal courts.
True Conviction
USA, 2017, 84 minutes
Director: Jamie Meltzer
Christopher Scott was released from prison after serving 13 years for a murder he didn’t commit.This sounds like a nightmare, but it’s not uncommon. At his exoneree support group meeting, Chris presents his idea that exonerees could become detectives, investigate the cases of other wrongfully convicted prisoners, and prove their innocence. True Conviction follows Chris and his team as they work to realize this dream of becoming detectives.
#Unbroken
Austria, 2017, 80 minutes
Director: Stefan Wolner
Martin Habacher from Austria is not even supposed to still be alive. The doctors predicted an early death for him shortly after his birth. Martin was born with brittle bone disease—yet his physical fragility ultimately made him a stronger personality than one might expect at first glance. Today, Martin, the smallest YouTuber in Austria, vehemently and humorously advocates for tolerance and the breaking down of barriers, both in his everyday life and in our minds. An uplifting view of a life well lived despite handicaps.
Unrest
USA, 2017, 97 minutes
Director: Jennifer Brea
Jennifer Brea is an active Harvard PhD student about to marry the love of her life when suddenly her body starts failing her. Hoping to shed light on her strange symptoms, Jennifer grabs a camera and films the darkest moments as they unfold before her eyes, The camera follows as she is derailed by M.E. (commonly known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), a mysterious illness some still believe is “all in your head.”
Unveiled
USA, 2017, 70 minutes
Director: Erin Heidenreich
In the Taliban controlled area of Waziristan, where sports for women are decried as un-Islamic, and girls rarely leave their houses, young Maria Toorpakai defies the rules by disguising herself as a boy, so she can play sports freely. As she becomes a rising star, however, her true identity is revealed, bringing constant death threats on her and her family. Undeterred, they continue to rebel for their freedom.
Violin Making: One Man’s Journey
USA, 2017, 11 minutes
Director: Chip Curry
In this film, we enter the shop of Andrew Carruthers to experience the craft and art of violin making. As his new instruments are played by a violinist in the San Francisco Symphony and a bluegrass fiddle player, we see that violin construction itself becomes a performance. Carruthers details how he uses Japanese philosophy in his quest to honor the violin making of the old masters, and at the same time honors his own creativity.
Voices Beyond the Wall
USA, 2017, 88 minutes
Director: Brad Coley
Spencer Reece, an award winning American poet and Episcopal priest, comes to live and teach poetry for a year at Our Little Roses, the only girls’ orphanage in Honduras. The poems that emerge reveal wisdom far beyond the authors’ years. The girls’ poetry, and their reflections on the process of writing it, operates both as the emotional spine of the movie and an inspiration for its mosaic structure.
The Washing Society
USA, 2018, 44 minutes
Directors: Lynne Sachs, Lizzie Olesker
When you drop off a bag of dirty laundry, who’s doing the washing and folding? The Washing Society brings us into New York City laundromats and the experiences of the people who work there. We observe these disappearing neighborhood spaces and the continual, intimate labor that happens there. The juxtaposition of narrative and documentary elements in The Washing Society creates a dream-like yet very real portrayal of a day in the life of a laundry worker, both past and present.
Water Town
USA, 2017, 24 minutes
Director: Maya Craig
Water Town follows the current and former mayors of Weed, California on their quest to win the spring water back from the corporations they believe are stealing it from them only to sell it to Crystal Geyser. Offbeat humor sets the tone for a David and Goliath battle, highlighting the absurdities of wealth inequity and challenging the viewer to consider whether water is a right or a commodity.
Water Warriors
USA, Canada, 2017

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Lively Cabaret Show Happens at Occidental Center for the Arts

Music/Cabaret: Sunday February 11 @ 4 pm. Occidental Center for the Arts presents Sandy and Richard Riccardi : Cabaret! Laugh along with the talented comedy cabaret duo of Sandy & Richard Riccardi as they combine ‘tastefully raunchy’ original comedy songs with progressive political parody plus expert musicianship to charm your socks off! www.partyriccardi.com .$22 Adv/$25 at door includes chocolates at table. Bring your Valentine or your own loveable self to OCA’s acoustic ‘sweet spot’, with cabaret seating and fine refreshments for sale including champagne, wine and beer. Wheelchair Accessible. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. 707-874-9392.

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LGBTQ Community Well-represented on Stage and Among the Winners at the Grammy Awards

The 60th Annual Grammy Awards took place Sunday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City and several artists delivered powerful statements about sexual harassment, immigration, and the overall state of America. Throughout the night, the LGBTQ community was well-represented on stage and among the winners, writes Jeremy Blacklow, GLAAD’s Director of Entertainment Media.

One of the night’s most powerful moments took place midway through the broadcast when Kesha, who was up for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance (and who also identifies as bisexual) took the stage alongside Julia Michaels, Cyndi Lauper, Andra Day, Camila Cabello, and Bebe Rexha, for an emotional performance of her single “Praying.” The Grammy-nominated song is widely considered to be about her ongoing sexual harassment accusations against producer Dr. Luke. Janelle Monae gave a moving speech about the Time’s Up movement before introducing the performance.

Out songwriter and GLAAD board member Justin Tranter, who was nominated for Song of the Year for “Issues” with his songwriting partner Julia Michaels, wore the GLAAD ampersand pin on the Grammys red carpet, which represents the Together Movement, a symbol of solidarity with other marginalized communities. Justin, along with many other celebs, also wore white roses in support of the Time’s Up movement.

Earlier in the evening, Lady Gaga shouted out the Time’s Up movement in-between her ballad performances of “Joanne” and “Million Reasons.”

Kendrick Lamar opened the show with a high-energy politically-charged performance of “XXX” which riled up the crowd.

“America, God bless you if it’s good to you… Donald Trump’s in office, we lost Barack / And promised to never doubt him again / But is America honest or do we bask in sin?” he rapped. He was later joined by U2 for a performance of their collaboration, “American Soul.”

Later in the broadcast, U2 performed their ode to immigrants, “Get Out of Your Own Way,” on a barge on the Hudson River in front of the Statue of Liberty. Camila Cabello introduced the band with a touching speech about her roots as a “proud Cuban-Mexican immigrant.”

Beyond Kesha and Lady Gaga, several LGBTQ performers graced the Grammys stage. Midway through the show, gay singing legend Elton John performed his hit song “Tiny Dancer,” accompanied by Miley Cyrus. Out performer Sam Smith performed his new song “Pray” earlier on in the broadcast.

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GLAAD Announces Nominees for 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards

GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, announced today the nominees for the 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards live from the Sundance Film Festival. The 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards are presented by Delta Air Lines, Ketel One Vodka, and Wells Fargo.

The GLAAD Media Awards honor media for their fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ community and the issues that affect their lives. The GLAAD Media Awards also fund GLAAD’s work to accelerate acceptance of the LGBTQ community. The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in Los Angeles on April 12, 2018 at The Beverly Hilton, and in New York on May 5 at the New York Hilton Midtown.

Actress Trace Lysette (Transparent) and actor Wilson Cruz (Star Trek: Discovery, 13 Reasons Why) today announced the nominees live on GLAAD’s Facebook page from Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival.

A full list of nominees can be found at http://glaad.org/mediaawards/nominees or by following #glaadawards

Among the nominees: Golden Globe winner Lady Bird; Golden Globe nominees Call Me By Your Name, The Shape of Water, A Fantastic Woman, The Handmaid’s Tale, Will & Grace, Feud: Bette and Joan, and This Is Us; ABC’s When We Rise, Modern Family, 20/20, and Good Morning America,; The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend; Netflix’s One Day at a Time, Sense8, Easy, Las chicas del cable, and Godless; Amazon’s One Mississippi and Transparent; Starz’s Survivor’s Remorse; Univision’s La doble vida de Estela Carrillo; HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Room 104; The New Yorker and Nightline for their coverage of the persecution of gay and bi men in Chechnya; Rolling Stone and VICE on HBO for its coverage of trans youth; CNN en Español for its report on survivors, families, and first responders one year after the Pulse Nightclub massacre; and Grammy-nominated artist Kehlani for her album SweetSexySavage.

GLAAD announced a Special Recognition Award for Jay-Z’s song and music video “Smile” featuring his mother Gloria Carter who used the song to come out as a lesbian. A Special Recognition Award was also given to the animated short film In A Heartbeat.

For the first time this year, GLAAD will honor LGBTQ-inclusive content in Kids & Family Programming. The inaugural round of nominees includes Disney Channel’s Andi Mack and Doc McStuffins for its “The Emergency Plan” episode, Amazon’s Danger & Eggs for its “Chosen Family” episode, Nickelodeon’s The Loud House, and Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe.

“What people see in the media has a powerful impact on how they treat others and the GLAAD Media Awards raise the bar for media to tell LGBTQ stories that accelerate acceptance,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “At a time when anti-LGBTQ policies and harassment are on the rise, it is imperative that Hollywood and news media tell more LGBTQ stories that reflect the community’s rich diversity – and build understanding that brings all communities closer together. This year’s nominees showcase stories that span races, genres, ages, and geographies, challenge misconceptions, and broaden understanding and acceptance of LGBTQ people across the globe.”

GLAAD announced 125 nominees in 21 English-language categories and 16 nominees in 4 Spanish-language categories. Among all categories, broadcast networks earned 30 nominations, and cable networks picked up 29 nominations. Netflix received seven nominations and ABC, CBS, and NBC each received six. Streaming services received 13 nominations in total: Netflix’s seven nominations included One Day at a Time, Sense8, Easy, Las chicas del cable, and Godless; Amazon received three nominations for One Mississippi, Transparent, and Danger & Eggs; and Hulu, CBS All Access, and YouTube Red received one nomination each, for The Handmaid’s Tale, Star Trek: Discovery, and This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous, respectively.

Special Honorees for the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles on April 12, 2018, and in New York City on May 5, 2018 will be announced in coming weeks.

To receive the latest updates on the GLAAD Media Awards, follow @glaad on Twitter and use #glaadawards.

The 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards corporate partners include Presenting Partners Delta Air Lines, Ketel One Vodka, and Wells Fargo. GLAAD is also grateful to: Official Partner Bud Light; Platinum Partners Allstate Insurance Company, MetLife, Omnicom Group, Southwest Airlines, and Turner. For a full list of corporate partners and information on how to become a corporate partner, purchase tickets, and place a tribute in the tribute book, please visit www.glaad.org/mediaawards

About GLAAD: GLAAD rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance. As a dynamic media force, GLAAD tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change. GLAAD protects all that has been accomplished and creates a world where everyone can live the life they love. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org or connect with GLAAD on Facebook and Twitter.

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LGBTQ Films to Premiere at the 20th SF Independent Film Festival

The SF IndieFest is pleased to screen the following LGBTQ themed films as part of the 20th anniversary of the festival which returns to San Francisco February 1-15, 2018. More information at www.sfindie.com

RUMINATIONS
Robert James, 2018, USA, 78 min – World Premiere
A gender-bending coming-of-age story of Rumi Missabu, the iconoclast co-founder of San Francisco’s infamous Cockettes. He left Hollywood 50 years ago on a quest for his true identity and found it in underground drag theater. Explore SF’s queer art past through his lurid tales in and out of the spotlight as he reinvents himself at the end of his life.

GINGER NATION
Jonathan Soja and Shawn Hitchins, 2017, Canada, 56 min – West Coast Premiere
Fiery gay comic Shawn Hitchins verges on Spalding Gray in this intimate concert filming of his internationally acclaimed and award-winning comedy. His spunky storytelling effortlessly weaves tales from his adolescence with bizarre tales of turkey basters while recounting his experience as a sperm donor to his lesbian friends and masturbating in increasingly suspect bathrooms.

THE MANHATTAN FRONT
Dir. Cathy Lee Crane, 2017, USA, 89 min – World Premiere
In 1915, a German saboteur comes to Manhattan and tries to co-opt the progressive labor movement and push America into World War I. In this hybrid art film, as history plays itself out between the staged and the archival, fact and fiction unmask one another to tell a story of the corruption of America’s innocence.

RUKUS
Dir. Brett Hanover, 2017, USA, 86 min – World Premiere
A hybrid of documentary and fiction, RUKUS is a queer coming of age story set in the liminal spaces of furry conventions, southern punk houses, and virtual worlds. RUKUS is a 20-year-old furry artist, living with his boyfriend, Sable, in the suburbs of Orlando, Florida who cross paths with Brett, a 16-year-old filmmaker with OCD.

TORMENTING THE HEN
Dir. Theodore Collatos, 2017, USA, 77 min – Bay Area Premiere
When playwright Claire is invited to set her latest political work at a rural theatre company, her fiancé Monica tags along for a much-needed vacation. Upon encountering Mutty, an enigmatic neighbor with a gross lack of social boundaries, Monica’s hope for a quiet vacation, and perhaps her very sanity, are thrown into utter jeopardy.
 

The 20th SF Independent Film Festival
(SF IndieFest)
February 1-15, 2018
Roxie Theater, Victoria Theater and 518 Gallery in San Francisco

SF IndieFest is pleased to announce the complete lineup for the 20th Anniversary Celebration for The San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF IndieFest), which returns February 1st to February 15th, 2018. The festival will continue its mission to bring the freshest new independent films and digital programs from around the world to San Francisco audiences. For the 20th year, the festival will return to its roots and screen films at the Roxie Theater and Victoria Theater, the venues of the first year of the festival, in addition to 518 Valencia Gallery. Complete information is now available at sfindie.com.

SF IndieFest founder Jeff Ross launched the festival 20 years ago when he realized there wasn’t a venue in San Francisco for new independent films by young, adventurous filmmakers. In that first year, 3,000 people came to see films at the Roxie and Victoria Theaters with no stars and no marketing budgets to promote them. In the face of all the changes that San Francisco has gone through in the last 20 years, SF IndieFest has remained true to its original goal: to give viewers the chance to discover their new favorite filmmaker, share new experiences with fellow filmgoers, and hear from filmmakers in person.

The festival will present 33 new feature films and 51 new shorts, in addition to the regular events SF IndieFest produces each year (Big Lebowski Party, Anti-Valentine’s Day 80s Power Ballad Sing A Long, Bad Art Gallery).

Additionally, as part of the 20-year anniversary of the festival, SF IndieFest will present a film from each year to showcase the evolution of the festival and highlight the many talented filmmakers who got their start at SF IndieFest.

Highlights from the 20-year retrospective include: Andrew Bujalski’s FUNNY HA HA, Eric Zala’s RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION, Anna Biller’s VIVA, Gregg Araki’s KABOOM, Jason Krupnick’s GIRL WALK ALL DAY, and Jeremy Saulnier’s BLUE RUIN.

20-Year Retrospective

1999 – The Sore Losers
2000 – Existo – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2001 – Passing Stones – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2002 – Shut Yer Dirty Little Mouth – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2003 – Bubba Ho Tep – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2004 – Funny Ha Ha – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2005 – Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2006 – Jimmy and Judy – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2007 – Viva – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2008 -The Road to Nod
2009 – Ex-Drummer
2010 – Harmony and Me – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2011 – Kaboom – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2012 – Girl Walk All Day – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2013 – Berberian Sound System
2014 – Blue Ruin – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2015 – I Am A Knife With Legs – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2016 – Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red In It – Filmmakers attended original SF premiere
2017 – Kill Me Please

Opening Night Film – STUCK
The festival will open Thursday, February 1st at the Victoria Theatre starting at 7pm with Michael Berry’s musical STUCK. The film follows six strangers who get stuck together on a stalled New York City subway train with nothing to do but talk to each other. The film is part of the two-part NYC-Music-And-Dance Opening Night program and director Michael Berry will be in attendance for Opening Night.

Following the film, SF IndieFest will host the Opening Night Party at the Victoria Theatre, which will feature a screening of Jacob Krupnick’s GIRL WALK//ALL DAY. The film is part of the 20 year Retrospective for SF IndieFest, and viewers are encouraged to get out of their seats and dance along with the film. Tickets to the Opening Night film + party include an open bar, and Patxi’s Pizza.

Centerpiece Film – CRUISE
Robert Siegel’s (screenwriter of The Wrestler) CRUISE, will make its World Premiere at the festival as the Centerpiece Film on Friday, February 9th at 7pm at the Roxie Theater. The film, set in Queens in the summer of 1987, is a tender relationship drama of co-ed meets guy from the other side of the tracks and stars Emily Ratajkowski. CRUISE takes an affectionate look at the youth culture of a bygone era and celebrates the joys of muscle cars, Motorola pagers and endless summer nights. Siegel will be in attendance for the screening.

Closing Night – THE MISOGYNISTS
SF IndieFest will conclude its 20-year anniversary with the West Coast Premiere of indie provocateur Onur Tukel’s THE MISOGYNISTS. The film set in a single, fully stocked hotel room on the night of the 2016 Election, follows two Trump supporters who celebrate the unexpected results. As the night rages on, an ensemble of characters venture in and out of the room. Some match the two’s enthusiasm while others voice their terror at the prospect of the incoming President, but most struggle to find reasons to care less about the results that caused the debauched celebration occurring around them. Tukel will be on hand for the screening Thursday, February 15th at 7pm at the Roxie Theater.

Shorts Program
After 20 years, the Short Film programs at SF IndieFest have risen to become fan favorites. This year the festival will again bring you a collection of short films that showcase the very best of thousands of voices, styles, and stories from around the world. Programs include:

Shorts 1: What You Don’t Know About Me: Dramatic Narrative Shorts
Top-notch dialogue distinguishes these stories about the difficulty of being understood.

Shorts 2: An Animated World
Showcases a wide variety of animation from around the world.

Shorts 3: The Best of Us: Documentary Profiles
From a kid boxer to an arborist prepping for the apocalypse, these five unique people are making the most of their time.

Shorts 4: Fateful Intersections: Dramatic Shorts
Stories about a seemingly random encounter that changes everything. Featuring atmosphere galore, this is a true directors’ showcase.

Shorts 5: The Hustle: Dark Comedy Shorts
Give us your tired, your jaded, your sellouts, and your characters making unintentionally hilarious career choices: this program finds the dark humor in “making it.”

Shorts 6: The Girls Are Alright: Light Comedy Shorts
Don’t you love a happy ending? Life’s dilemmas are a piece of cake for these protagonists.

Screenplay Award Winner
SF IndieFest is pleased to award GRACE & VENGEANCE by James Carlson (feature) and SERGIO AND THE WHALE by Anna Kriegel (short) as the Screenplay Award Winners. On Saturday, February 10 at 7:30pm at 518 Valencia, the festival will host a live read of scenes from each film and a panel discussion with the writers will follow with a hosted reception.

Additional Highlights for IndieFest 2018
Additional highlights from the 2018 edition of the festival include:

Actor Eric Stoltz’ directorial debut CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE JESUS JERK (based on the novel by the same name by San Francisco author Tony Dushane) will make its Bay Area premiere at the festival with Stoltz in attendance. The film is is a coming of age tale about growing up during the Reagan years as a Jehovah’s Witness.

DO U WANT IT? explores and celebrates of the musical culture of New Orleans. The film chronicles the rise of legendary New Orleans’ band Papa Grows Funk and uses their illustrious thirteen-year career, from formation up to the band’s emotional final shows, as a vehicle to explore the nuances of success and struggle in the greatest musical city in the world. Filmmakers Josh Freund and Sam Radutzky will be in attendance for the festival screening.

FAR WESTERN illuminates the lost chapter of music in which amid the ashes of post-WWII Japan, American traditional country music made its way onto Japanese airwaves. The young Japanese audiences quickly warmed to the foreign sounds and carried the tradition on in their own distinctly Japanese way.

FOR NOW blurs the line between reality and fiction in its examination of twenty-something’s adrift in the limbo between adolescence and adulthood. In the film, a young woman organizes an audition at the San Francisco Ballet Company for her younger brother Connor and ropes in her boyfriend and best friend to take a road trip up the California coast.

Redheads are hot. Television series such as Riverdale are filling our screens with images of ginger glory. But gay Toronto comic Shawn Hitchins has made flame-haired world domination his mission for years. GINGER NATION documents Hitchins’ humorous and heartfelt one-man show (of the same name) as the affable entertainer recounts his experience as a sperm donor to his lesbian friends. Hitchins’ spunky storytelling effortlessly weaves tales from his adolescence and his brushes with celebrity as a stand-up comic with bizarre tales of turkey basters and masturbating in suspect bathrooms.

In GUITAR MAN, filmmaker Rocky Capella, looks at local musician Buzzy Martin as he at-risk kids about music and how it can help them through the trials of their daily lives. Through his career he is given the opportunity to teach music class inside San Quentin State Prison and along the way he discovers the true gift of music and a deeper meaning of freedom.

Inspired by the No Wave films of the late ’70s and early ’80s, THE ICARUS LINE MUST DIE explores the LA underground music scene. The film is filled with regulars from the LA music scene, including Ariel Pink, Keith Morris (Black Flag/Circle Jerks) and Jerry Stahl (Permanent Midnight) are also featured in the film, along with performances by Pink Mountaintops, Together Pangea, The Icarus Line, Retox, Obliterations, and Annie Hardy of Giant Drag.

In 1915, a German saboteur comes to Manhattan and tries to co-opt the progressive labor movement and push America into World War I. In THE MANHATTAN FRONT, a hybrid art film, history plays itself out between the staged and the archival, and fact and fiction unmask one another to tell a story of the corruption of America’s innocence. The film features music by Bay Area based composer Beth Custer.

Documentary director Koki Shigeno follows Japan’s number-one ramen master to reveal his culinary secrets in RAMEN HEADS. Osamu Tomita, the reigning king of ramen, walks viewers through every step of his recipe for greatness taking us deep into his world, from his relentless search for the highest-quality ingredients to his meticulous approach to cooking the perfect noodle soup. Going about his day scolding his apprentices, delivering impeccable service to his customers and sampling the goods at competing shops when he’s off the clock, Tomita resembles a Buddhist acolyte, single-mindedly focused on the object of his devotion.

SF IndieFest will host the World Premiere of RUMINATIONS, the gender-bending coming-of-age story of Rumi Missabu, the co-founder of San Francisco’s infamous Cockettes. Local filmmaker Robert James tells the story of Missabu’s career after he left Hollywood on a quest for his true identity, finding it in the underground drag theater.

VIDEODROME meets ALTERED STATES in SEQUENCE BREAK, a sci-fi/horror/romance that amalgamates love and electronics. In the film, a beautiful young woman threatens the reality of a reclusive video arcade technician, resulting in a bizarre biomechanical mutation.

The Norwegian sci-fi, horror film VIDAR THE VAMPIRE will screen at the festival. In the film, Vidar Haarr is a 33 year old, sexually frustrated bachelor farmer who leads a Christian, monotonous and strenuous working life on his mother’s farmstead in the Western outskirts of Norway. In a desperate attempt to break free from routine, Vidar prays to a higher power to grant him a life without boundaries. Unfortunately, his prayers are heard and Vidar wakes up one evening as the Prince of Darkness in Stavanger, Norway.

Party Time!
SF IndieFest Parties and Special Events
Once again, SF IndieFest will present several parties and special events to compliment the film programming. Many of these signature events have take place every year and have become must attend events during the festival. They include:

Thursday, February 1: Opening Night Dance Party, Victoria Theater with GIRL WALK ALL DAY and open bar
Friday, February 2: Big Lebowski Shadow Cast, Victoria Theater with costume contest, mini bowling, White Russians, and live performance while film plays on screen
Sunday, February 4: Super Bowl 52: Men in Tights Live Comedy Show, Roxie Theater
Thursday, February 8: AKIRA Live Re-Score, Roxie Theater with local electronica duo The Firmament
Friday, February 9: Bad Art Gallery Show/Party, 518 Valencia Gallery
Saturday, February 10: Pee Wee’s Big Adventure Bingo, 518 Valencia Gallery
Wednesday, February 14: Anti-Valentine’s Day 80s Power Ballad Sing-A-Long, Roxie Theater

General Information about SF IndieFest
The AllFestPass, good for all screenings and parties at The Film Festival, is $250. The RoxiePass, good for all screenings at The Roxie, is $200. The RetroPass, good for all retrospective series screenings, is $100. Passholders jump to the front of the line at all screenings! 5Film vouchers are $60, 10Film vouchers are $110. These discount vouchers are only available and only redeemable at sfindie.com. Vouchers are redeemable for all events except Opening Night and The Big Lebowski Party.

Regular film tickets are $13/advance, $14/door.  Retrospective series tickets are $10. The Opening Night Film+Party is $22/advance, $25/door. 8th Annual Super Bowl: Men in Tights is $13/advance, $14/door. The Power Ballad Sing A Long is $13/advance, $14/door. Akira and The Big Lebowski Shadow Cast events are $18/advance, $20/door and Big Lebowski Party is 21up event. Pee Wee Bingo is $10 and includes bingo card. Screenplay Live Read, Fest Makers Panel, and Mission Bad Art Gallery are free with Mission Bad Art Gallery 21up event.

Advance tickets are available now at sfindie.com and at The Roxie box office during show hours. The box office opens 30 minutes before the first show of the day. For all screenings please arrive at least 15 minutes before show time to assure seating.

Full festival information, complete with additional ticket information, trailers and more details are available at sfindie.com.

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‘The Shape of Water’ lands a leading 13 Oscar nominations

Oscar voters put forward nine best-picture nominees: “The Shape of Water,” ”Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” ”Lady Bird,” ”Get Out,” ”The Post,” ”Dunkirk,” ”Call Me By Your Name” and “Phantom Thread.”

The cascading fallout of sexual harassment scandals throughout Hollywood put particular focus on the best director category, which for many is a symbol of gender inequality in the film industry. Gerwig follows only Lina Wertmuller, Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow, the sole woman to win (for “The Hurt Locker”).

Also nominated for best director was “Get Out” director Jordan Peele. He becomes the fifth black filmmaker nominated for best director, and third to helm a best-picture nominee, following Barry Jenkins last year for “Moonlight.”

Though all of the front-runners — Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards”), Gary Oldman (“Darkest Hour”), Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”), Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards”) — landed their expected nominations, there were surprises.

Denzel Washington (“Roman J. Israel, Esq.”) was nominated for best actor, likely eclipsing James Franco (“Disaster Artist”). Franco was accused of sexual misconduct, which he denied, just days before Oscar voting closed.

Last year’s Oscars broadcast, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, drew 32.9 million viewers for ABC, a four percent drop from the prior year. More worrisome, however, was a steeper slide in the key demographic of adults aged 18-49, whose viewership was down 14 percent from 2016.

Though the show ran especially long, at three hours and 49 minutes, it finished with a bang: the infamous envelope mix-up that led to “La La Land” being incorrectly announced as the best picture before “Moonlight” was crowned.

This year, the academy has prohibited the PwC accountants who handle the envelopes from using cellphones or social media during the show. The accounting firm on Monday also unveiled several reforms including the addition of a third balloting partner in the show’s control room. Neither of the PwC representatives involved in the mishap last year, Brian Cullinan or Martha Ruiz, will return to the show.

But the movie business has larger accounting problems. Movie attendance hit a 24-year low in 2017 despite the firepower of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” ”Beauty and the Beast” and “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.” An especially dismal summer movie season was 92 million admissions shy of summer 2016, according to the National Alliance of Theater Owners.

Still, the summer produced one best-picture favorite, “Dunkirk,” which grossed $525.6 million worldwide. Warner Bros.’ Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman,” released in June to $821.8 million in ticket sales, became the highest grossing movie ever directed by a woman, though it did not receive any Oscar nods.

But the box-office hit that carved the most unlikely path to the Oscars is “Get Out.” It opened back in February on Oscar weekend, and went on to pocket $254.7 million worldwide. Though “Get Out” and “Dunkirk” lend a blockbuster punch to the best-picture field — something that has historically helped ratings of the broadcast — the other films in the mix are smaller indies.

It was a dominant if bittersweet day for 20th Century Fox. Its specialty label, Fox Searchlight, is behind both “Three Billboards” and “The Shape of Water,” and Fox released The Post.” Yet those wins may soon count for the Walt Disney Co., which last month reached a deal to purchase Fox for $52.4 billion.

Both Amazon and Netflix failed to crack the best picture category but earned nominations elsewhere. Netflix’s “Mudbound” scored a best-supporting nod for Mary J. Blige and Amazon’s “The Big Sick” grabbed a nomination for Holly Hunter in the same category. “The Big Sick” also scored an original screenplay nod.

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22nd Berlin & Beyond Begins February 9 at the Castro

22ND BERLIN & BEYOND FILM FESTIVAL
ANNOUNCES OPENING NIGHT, CENTERPIECE
AND CASTRO CLOSING NIGHT FILMS

The Berlin & Beyond Film Festival (Feb. 9-15, 2018), presented annually by the Goethe-Institut San Francisco, proudly announces the Opening Night, Centerpiece, and Castro Closing Night films of its 22nd edition. The festival will return for the 22nd year to San Francisco’s iconic Castro Theatre from February 9th-11th with red carpet premieres and actors and filmmakers in attendance, along with screenings – for the first time – at Landmark Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley on February 12th, and at the auditorium of the Goethe-Institut in Downtown San Francisco from February 13th-15th. Full festival lineup and special guests will be announced in early January.

LGBT Films Include:

DREAM BOAT
Dir. Tristan Ferland Milewski, 2017, German, 92 min
Once a year the DREAM BOAT sets sail for a cruise only for gay men. Far from their families and political restrictions, we follow five men from five countries on the quest for their dreams. The cruise promises seven days of sunshine, love, and freedom – but on board are also their personal stories, their doubts and uncertainties…
  • Screener available.
  • Screens at Berlin&Beyond on Thursday February 15th, 8:15pm at Goethe-Institut.

MR. GAY SYRIA
Dir. Ayse Toprak, 2017, France/Germany/Turkey, 87 min – US West Coast Premiere
Husein is a barber in Istanbul, living a double life between his conservative family and his gay identity. Mahmoud Hassino is the founder of Syria’s LGBTI movement and is a refugee in Berlin. What brings them together is a dream: to participate in an international beauty contest as an escape from their trapped lives and an answer to their invisibility. Will the dream come true or will the refugee crisis and the harsh consequences of being gay in the Muslim world shatter it to pieces?

  • Winner of the Human Rights Award at the Sarajevo International Film Festival and the Silver Hugo at the Chicago Inter- national Film Festival.
  • Screens at Berlin&Beyond on Saturday February 10th, 9:45pm at Castro Theatre.

Opening Night Film:
Welcome to Germany (Willkommen bei den Hartmanns)

Fri. Feb. 9, 2018 at 6:30 PM
Castro Theatre, San Francisco / Northern California Premiere
116 mins. Germany (2016). DCP. German with English subtitles.

Director: Simon Verhoeven
Starring: Senta Berger, Heiner Lauterbach, Florian David Fitz, Palina Rojinski, Elyas M’Barek, Eric Kabongo
Screenplay: Simon Verhoeven
Cinematography: Jo Heim
Editors: Denis Bachter, Stefan Essl, Tom Seil
Producers: Simon Verhoeven, Quirin Berg, Max Wiedemann, Michael Verhoeven

Recently retired teacher Angelika decides, against her skeptical husband Richard’s will, to take in a refugee. Soon afterward, the young Nigerian Diallo moves into the Hartmann home, and a whirlwind of complications ensue. These events not only disrupt the lives of Angelika and Richard’s adult children Philip and Sophie; they also put their own marriage as well as Diallo’s chances of integration to the test. Despite all the chaos, hope prevails that the family will recover its stability, confidence, and peace. A timely social comedy, “Welcome to Germany” was the highest grossing German film at the local box office in 2016 and first part of 2017 with more than 3.5 million admissions.

CENTERPIECE FILM:
The Bloom of Yesterday (Die Blumen von Gestern)

Sat. Feb. 10, 2018 at 6:30 PM
Castro Theatre, San Francisco / Special Premiere
123 mins. Germany (2016). DCP. German with English subtitles.

Director: Chris Kraus
Starring: Lars Eidinger, Adèle Haenel, Hannah Herzsprung, Jan Josef Liefers
Screenplay: Chris Kraus
Cinematography: Sonja Rom
Editor: Brigitta Tauchner
Producers: Danny Krausz, Kathrin Lemme

Totila Blumen (Lars Eidinger, “Personal Shopper“, “Clouds of Sils Maria“) is a Holocaust researcher. As such, he has no sense of fun. This applies in a general sense and specifically when his colleagues try to turn an Auschwitz conference into a corporate-sponsored media event. In the process, they trample all over the memory of the recently deceased Professor Norkus – whom Totila revered. On top of all this, Totila is lumped with an intern: a young and irritating French student named Zazie (Adèle Haenel). As she follows Totila around and has a fling with his boss, the otherwise serious and measured academic becomes a nervous wreck. But it’s no good moaning about it – certainly not to his stressed wife, who demands that he gripe less and learn to accept what his life has to offer. And so Totila ploughs on with his work, aided by the overwrought, eccentric Zazie. She, however, appears to have an agenda of her own – and it’s closely related to Totila’s background and well-guarded family secret.

CASTRO CLOSING NIGHT FILM:
Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden (Egon Schiele: Tod und Mädchen)

Sun. Feb. 11, 2018 at 8:30 PM
Castro Theatre, San Francisco / Special Screening
110 mins. Austria, Luxembourg (2016). DCP. German with English subtitles.

Director: Dieter Berner
Starring: Noah Saavedra, Maresi Riegner, Valerie Pachner, Marie Jung
Screenplay: Hilde Berger, Dieter Berner
Cinematography: Carsten Thiele
Editor: Robert Hentschel

Producers: Franz Novotny, Alexander Glehr, Bady Minck, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu
At the beginning of the 20th century, Egon Schiele is one of the most provocative artists in Vienna. His life and work are driven by beautiful women and an era that is coming to an end. Two women will have a lasting impact on him – his sister and first muse Gerti, and 17-year-old Wally, arguably Schiele’s one true love, immortalized in his famous painting “Death and the Maiden“. Schiele’s radical paintings scandalize Viennese society while daring artists like Gustav Klimt and art agents alike are sensing the exceptional. But Egon Schiele is also prepared to go beyond his own pain and to sacrifice love and life for his art.

TICKETS
Opening Night Film, Centerpiece Film, Castro Closing Night Film – per ticket: $20.00 general; $18.00 senior / student; $17.00 Berlin & Beyond member
Castro Priority Pass (all Castro screenings Feb. 9-11 and priority entry): $250.00 general public; $200.00 Berlin & Beyond member
Prices for regular Castro screenings, Goethe-Institut screenings, and Shattuck Cinemas screenings will be announced.
Tickets are now on sale for select screenings at: tickets.berlinbeyond.com

BERLIN & BEYOND FILM FESTIVAL
Since 1996, Berlin & Beyond Film Festival has been the leading festival of contemporary German cinema in the Americas, and has presented over 500 motion pictures, along with the presence of celebrated film figures, including Fatih Akin, Moritz Bleibtreu, Daniel Brühl, Hannelore Elsner, Florian David Fitz, Bruno Ganz, Maria Schrader, Barbara Sukowa, Wim Wenders. Including seasonal programming, Berlin & Beyond receives a combined attendance of over 12,000 people annually.

Official Website: berlinbeyond.com
Social Media:
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GOETHE-INSTITUT
The Goethe-Institut is Germany’s official cultural center comprised of 159 institutes in 98 countries. The Goethe-Institut exists to promote art and films from Germany, the study of the German language, and encourage the international cultural exchange with Germany. Having celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2017, the San Francisco branch has been promoting German culture and language since 1967. Its year-round cultural activities include art exhibitions, film screenings, and special events with local cultural institutions.

Official Website: goethe.de/sf

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Grammy-winning Jazz Quartet Performs at OCA

Saturday January 27 @ 7pm. Occidental Center for the Arts presents: Paul McCandless/Christian Foley-Beining Collaboration. Sterling jazz quartet featuring Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist McCandless (Paul Winter Consort; Oregon) and guitarist Foley-Beining with Tom Shader on bass and Tom Hayashi, drums playing original compositions at OCA’s acoustic sweet spot. $18 Advance/$22 at the door. Cabaret seating. Fine Refreshments. Wheelchair Accessible. 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. @Harmony Village, Occidental. www.occcidentalcenterforthearts.org; 707-874-9392.

«‹ 77 78 79 80›»