FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
FILM SOCIETY CINEMA
March 2010
March 2010 Member News & Notes
SFFS fiscally sponsored filmmakers figured prominently in the recently announced list of recipients of California Documentary Project grants, disbursed by the California Council for the Humanities. The initiative supports projects that document the California experience and explore issues of significance to Californians. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan received $40,000 for The History of the Universe as Told by Wonder Woman, which considers the career of the beloved female superhero. Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan received $50,000 for Forty Winters, a story about the idealism and aftermath of the American Indian movement. Mark Kitchell received $30,000 for A Fierce Green Fire, a big-picture overview of environmentalism. David Weissman received $40,000 for Heartbreak and Heroism: Stories from the Plague Years in San Francisco.
In January, DJ Bad Vegan’s offbeat sci-fi feature In-World War completed second-unit production from within a genuine virtual world, with actors from around the country performing roles remotely, in a scene set in downtown Baghdad.
Asha Ghosh and Kathleen Dargis will premiere their documentary short Mr. Shanbag’s Shop at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
Cinematographer Christian Bruno and screenwriter Rami Musa will present Muayad Alayan’s film Lesh Sabreen? at the Red Vic Movie House March 16 as part of the program Palestine Cinema: New Short Films. The film depicts a pair of young lovers in Jerusalem trying to navigate a dead-end future. The program is copresented by the Arab Film Festival.
In October Tom Corwin purchased a decommissioned bookmobile from a Chicago library and is putting it front and center in a multimedia and documentary film project entitled Behind the Wheel of the Bookmobile. The vehicle, a vintage Maroney BF-240 that transports 3,200 volumes on beautiful oak shelves, will cross the country with acclaimed authors taking turns at the wheel. To date, Corwin has raised about half the money he needs to make his film and has the support of the National Book Foundation, the Association of American Publishers and the American Library Association. Participating authors include Michael Chabon, Anne Lamott, Michael Ondaatje, Amy Tan and Tobias Wolff.
Anne Keala Kelly’s documentary Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai‘i was awarded a special jury prize at the Festival International du Film Documentaire Oceanien (FIFO) in Tahiti. The film delves into the struggles of today’s native Hawaiians and the Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiian) resistance to the desecration of their culture by the U.S. military, real estate development, and tourism pressures.
IFC Films acquired the U.S. rights to The Overbrook Brothers, a road movie about two estranged brothers searching for their biological parents, produced by SFFS member Chris Ohlson. IFC will release the film as video on demand for three months.
Haydn Reiss’s Every War Has Two Losers, a documentary on conscientious objector William Stafford, screened at a benefit for KPFA Pacifica Radio. The film features Alice Walker, W.S. Merwin and other notable writer/activists.
Cinequest Film Festival honored local hero Benjamin Bratt March 4 with its Maverick Spirit Award and a screening of La Mission at the California Theatre in San Jose. Peter Bratt’s indie feature has been acquired by Screen Media Films, which is planning an April 9 release.
Tamara Perkins is enjoying a groundswell of support for The Trust, a documentary that seeks to present a balanced, unsensationalized view into prison life. Perkins was featured as a panelist of the Research Institute of Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity conference at Stanford, and Rutgers Law School will be using a clip from the film for a community criminology course. In January, the project was awarded $20,000 from the San Francisco Foundation’s Bay Area Documentary Fund.
Kim Shelton recently was awarded a $33,000 two-for-one challenge grant by RSF Social Finance, a nonprofit financial services organization, for her film Voices of Vets. Shelton will begin editing her doc on returning veterans in January with Eva Ilona Brzeski, the editor of Under Our Skin, which was short-listed for a 2010 Academy Award.
Caitlin McCarthy’s screenplay The Wonder Drug will be presented in a live staged reading as a special fundraiser for DES Action USA April 18 at Cinespace in Los Angeles. The scientific drama tells the story of the development of DES, a toxic and carcinogenic synthetic estrogen, and its effect on the lives of a host of characters. The script currently is in development with acclaimed independent director Tom Gilroy.
SFFS fiscally sponsored filmmakers figured prominently in the recently announced list of recipients of California Documentary Project grants, disbursed by the California Council for the Humanities. The initiative supports projects that document the California experience and explore issues of significance to Californians. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan received $40,000 for The History of the Universe as Told by Wonder Woman, which considers the career of the beloved female superhero. Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan received $50,000 for Forty Winters, a story about the idealism and aftermath of the American Indian movement. Mark Kitchell received $30,000 for A Fierce Green Fire, a big-picture overview of environmentalism. David Weissman received $40,000 for Heartbreak and Heroism: Stories from the Plague Years in San Francisco.
In January, DJ Bad Vegan’s offbeat sci-fi feature In-World War completed second-unit production from within a genuine virtual world, with actors from around the country performing roles remotely, in a scene set in downtown Baghdad.
Asha Ghosh and Kathleen Dargis will premiere their documentary short Mr. Shanbag’s Shop at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
Cinematographer Christian Bruno and screenwriter Rami Musa will present Muayad Alayan’s film Lesh Sabreen? at the Red Vic Movie House March 16 as part of the program Palestine Cinema: New Short Films. The film depicts a pair of young lovers in Jerusalem trying to navigate a dead-end future. The program is copresented by the Arab Film Festival.
In October Tom Corwin purchased a decommissioned bookmobile from a Chicago library and is putting it front and center in a multimedia and documentary film project entitled Behind the Wheel of the Bookmobile. The vehicle, a vintage Maroney BF-240 that transports 3,200 volumes on beautiful oak shelves, will cross the country with acclaimed authors taking turns at the wheel. To date, Corwin has raised about half the money he needs to make his film and has the support of the National Book Foundation, the Association of American Publishers and the American Library Association. Participating authors include Michael Chabon, Anne Lamott, Michael Ondaatje, Amy Tan and Tobias Wolff.
Anne Keala Kelly’s documentary Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai‘i was awarded a special jury prize at the Festival International du Film Documentaire Oceanien (FIFO) in Tahiti. The film delves into the struggles of today’s native Hawaiians and the Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiian) resistance to the desecration of their culture by the U.S. military, real estate development, and tourism pressures.
IFC Films acquired the U.S. rights to The Overbrook Brothers, a road movie about two estranged brothers searching for their biological parents, produced by SFFS member Chris Ohlson. IFC will release the film as video on demand for three months.
Haydn Reiss’s Every War Has Two Losers, a documentary on conscientious objector William Stafford, screened at a benefit for KPFA Pacifica Radio. The film features Alice Walker, W.S. Merwin and other notable writer/activists.
Cinequest Film Festival honored local hero Benjamin Bratt March 4 with its Maverick Spirit Award and a screening of La Mission at the California Theatre in San Jose. Peter Bratt’s indie feature has been acquired by Screen Media Films, which is planning an April 9 release.
Tamara Perkins is enjoying a groundswell of support for The Trust, a documentary that seeks to present a balanced, unsensationalized view into prison life. Perkins was featured as a panelist of the Research Institute of Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity conference at Stanford, and Rutgers Law School will be using a clip from the film for a community criminology course. In January, the project was awarded $20,000 from the San Francisco Foundation’s Bay Area Documentary Fund.
Kim Shelton recently was awarded a $33,000 two-for-one challenge grant by RSF Social Finance, a nonprofit financial services organization, for her film Voices of Vets. Shelton will begin editing her doc on returning veterans in January with Eva Ilona Brzeski, the editor of Under Our Skin, which was short-listed for a 2010 Academy Award.
Caitlin McCarthy’s screenplay The Wonder Drug will be presented in a live staged reading as a special fundraiser for DES Action USA April 18 at Cinespace in Los Angeles. The scientific drama tells the story of the development of DES, a toxic and carcinogenic synthetic estrogen, and its effect on the lives of a host of characters. The script currently is in development with acclaimed independent director Tom Gilroy.