FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
June 2011
Photo: Pat Mazzera
Mike Ott was awarded $75,000 by SFFS through the SFFS/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grant towards the production of Teenage Wasteland in 2010. The film just wrapped shooting in San Francisco.
June 2011 Filmmaker News and Notes
Celebrated 2010 festival darling Mike Ott (SFIFF53, Littlerock) just wrapped shooting his new film, Teenage Wasteland, on location in San Francisco. Teenage Wasteland tells the story of a young illegal immigrant who dreams of escaping her staid life in a sleepy desert town and decides that the time to act has arrived when her impressionable best friend falls under the influence of his militaristic, vigilante older brother. She convinces him to leave with her and pursue their dreams in San Francisco.
Richard Cohen's landmark 1975 fim Hurry Tomorrow projected into the public consciousness the ideas of self-determination and human dignity for people locked up in psychiatric institutions. Examples of efforts to ban, buy and discredit the film contrast with a trail of successful screenings, film reviews and political events that led to a statewide investigation of patient deaths in state hospitals. Cohen has posted ten installments of the written Hurry Tomorrow History online, with links to reviews, articles, photos and more. These short chapters describe how the 16mm doc stirred controversy and censorship, and how its distribution enable groups like San Francisco's Network Against Psychiatric Assault to find a voice. The written history is a work in progress, so watch for more.
Ken Paul Rosenthal's poetic mental health documentary Crooked Beauty won Second Prize Documentary Short at the Athens International Film Festival; an Award of Merit at the Superfest International Disability Festival; and screened at the VideoEx International Experimental Film & Video Festival; the Mendocino Film Festival; Cinesanity Movies for Mental Wellness (Canada); the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at Simon Fraser University (Canada); and the Pacific Rim International Conference on Disabilities at the University of Hawaii.
SFFS fiscally sponsored local filmmakers Amelia Chua and Scott Kirschenbaum both received grants from the Fleishhacker Foundation (Small Grants Program). Chua was awarded post-production and distribution funds for Being Human, Being True, a documentary about an Asian American couple’s long relationship that included interment in California during WWII, whilst Kirschenbaum was awarded post-production funds for You’re Looking at Me Like I Live Here And I Don’t, an experimental film about a female Alzheimer’s patient struggling to find human connections in her daily life.
David Alexander received a grant from the Pacific Pioneer Fund to further the production of his documentary The Dawn Will Break. The film tells the story of Sister Luise Radlmeier who went on to save over a thousand Southern Sudanese orphans, many who were young girls, from a similar war some forty years later.
The California Council for the Humanities hosted a reception honoring the 2011 Awardees of the California Documentary Project on June 13. Tamara Perkins’ Life After Life (formerly The Trust), Arwen Curry’s Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, Eugene Corr’s From Ghost Town To Havana, Nancy D. Kates’ Regarding Susan Sontag received Production awards, and Singeli Agnew’s Hunting Stories received a Research and Development Award.
Mauricio Baiocchi and Steve Ferrera's presented a new promo for Cicada Princess. The short animated film has brought to life a fantastic universe of miniatures and puppetry. It tells the story of cicadas who lived underground for sixteen years. The cicadas emerge for one glorious night to live out their lives in hope of finding happiness and maybe... love. They gather for the grand cicada party at the castle, knowing that when the sun rises, their lives will come to an end.
Tiffany Shlain’s award-winning documentary Connected, An Autoblogography About Love, Death, & Technology will be released this fall by Paladin starting in San Francisco in September, and expanding to other major cities, including New York and Los Angeles, throughout the fall. This film, discussion and Internet project explores the surprising links between biology, technology, and culture, illuminating the complex relationships between our actions and the world.
Beverly Kopf and Bobbie Birleffi's Wish Me Away, a feature-length documentary with a personal and intimate look at Chely Wright, the first country music star to come out as gay, will have its world premiere in competition at the Los Angeles Film Fest on June 20, 2011. Wish Me Away will also be the Centerpiece at the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco on June 22, and it will screen at the Kansas City Gay & Lesbian Film + Video Festival on June 26.
The pilot episode for Greg Roden and Stett Holbrook’s Food Forward had its first screening in a series of public events that took place around the nation on June 2, 2011 at the Goldman Theatre in Berkeley. Food Forward is a documentary TV series about food rebels who are pioneering positive alternatives and solutions to the broken food systems in America.
Celebrated 2010 festival darling Mike Ott (SFIFF53, Littlerock) just wrapped shooting his new film, Teenage Wasteland, on location in San Francisco. Teenage Wasteland tells the story of a young illegal immigrant who dreams of escaping her staid life in a sleepy desert town and decides that the time to act has arrived when her impressionable best friend falls under the influence of his militaristic, vigilante older brother. She convinces him to leave with her and pursue their dreams in San Francisco.
Richard Cohen's landmark 1975 fim Hurry Tomorrow projected into the public consciousness the ideas of self-determination and human dignity for people locked up in psychiatric institutions. Examples of efforts to ban, buy and discredit the film contrast with a trail of successful screenings, film reviews and political events that led to a statewide investigation of patient deaths in state hospitals. Cohen has posted ten installments of the written Hurry Tomorrow History online, with links to reviews, articles, photos and more. These short chapters describe how the 16mm doc stirred controversy and censorship, and how its distribution enable groups like San Francisco's Network Against Psychiatric Assault to find a voice. The written history is a work in progress, so watch for more.
Ken Paul Rosenthal's poetic mental health documentary Crooked Beauty won Second Prize Documentary Short at the Athens International Film Festival; an Award of Merit at the Superfest International Disability Festival; and screened at the VideoEx International Experimental Film & Video Festival; the Mendocino Film Festival; Cinesanity Movies for Mental Wellness (Canada); the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at Simon Fraser University (Canada); and the Pacific Rim International Conference on Disabilities at the University of Hawaii.
SFFS fiscally sponsored local filmmakers Amelia Chua and Scott Kirschenbaum both received grants from the Fleishhacker Foundation (Small Grants Program). Chua was awarded post-production and distribution funds for Being Human, Being True, a documentary about an Asian American couple’s long relationship that included interment in California during WWII, whilst Kirschenbaum was awarded post-production funds for You’re Looking at Me Like I Live Here And I Don’t, an experimental film about a female Alzheimer’s patient struggling to find human connections in her daily life.
David Alexander received a grant from the Pacific Pioneer Fund to further the production of his documentary The Dawn Will Break. The film tells the story of Sister Luise Radlmeier who went on to save over a thousand Southern Sudanese orphans, many who were young girls, from a similar war some forty years later.
The California Council for the Humanities hosted a reception honoring the 2011 Awardees of the California Documentary Project on June 13. Tamara Perkins’ Life After Life (formerly The Trust), Arwen Curry’s Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, Eugene Corr’s From Ghost Town To Havana, Nancy D. Kates’ Regarding Susan Sontag received Production awards, and Singeli Agnew’s Hunting Stories received a Research and Development Award.
Mauricio Baiocchi and Steve Ferrera's presented a new promo for Cicada Princess. The short animated film has brought to life a fantastic universe of miniatures and puppetry. It tells the story of cicadas who lived underground for sixteen years. The cicadas emerge for one glorious night to live out their lives in hope of finding happiness and maybe... love. They gather for the grand cicada party at the castle, knowing that when the sun rises, their lives will come to an end.
Tiffany Shlain’s award-winning documentary Connected, An Autoblogography About Love, Death, & Technology will be released this fall by Paladin starting in San Francisco in September, and expanding to other major cities, including New York and Los Angeles, throughout the fall. This film, discussion and Internet project explores the surprising links between biology, technology, and culture, illuminating the complex relationships between our actions and the world.
Beverly Kopf and Bobbie Birleffi's Wish Me Away, a feature-length documentary with a personal and intimate look at Chely Wright, the first country music star to come out as gay, will have its world premiere in competition at the Los Angeles Film Fest on June 20, 2011. Wish Me Away will also be the Centerpiece at the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco on June 22, and it will screen at the Kansas City Gay & Lesbian Film + Video Festival on June 26.
The pilot episode for Greg Roden and Stett Holbrook’s Food Forward had its first screening in a series of public events that took place around the nation on June 2, 2011 at the Goldman Theatre in Berkeley. Food Forward is a documentary TV series about food rebels who are pioneering positive alternatives and solutions to the broken food systems in America.