Ang Pagbabalik

Following the death of her mother, a Filipina experiences visions of her mother, taking her on a cultural and emotional pilgrimage back to her roots.

In Ang Pagbabalik (Homecoming) Ariel, a Filipina dancer, experiences visions of her recently deceased Nanay (mother) during a ballet class. Urged by her best friend, Ariel decides to take a Filipino dance class that plunges her back to an unexpected journey where she reconnects with the beauty of her identity, while confronting her grief and reevaluating her identity.

Director/Writer: Chad Panday Santo Tomas

Director of Photography: Jucel Andrin

Editor: Achim Mendoza

Ft. Parangal Dance Company

Producer(s): Colin Carnevale, Chad Santo Tomas

Instagram: @pagbabalik_film

Aunties (working title)

In a story that connects two centuries, Berkeley-based historian and artist, Barnali, spearheads a grassroots campaign to rename a street after Kala Bagai, an unsung South Asian woman who organized communities in California against intense racial discrimination in the early 1910s. In the process, Barnali discovers her own political power.

Of the 240 million streets in the United States, more than three-quarters are named after men, very few after women, and 5,000 after George Washington alone. But how many streets celebrate people of color and their contributions? How many are named after South Asians?

Aunties tells the story of a grassroots effort to rename a Berkeley street after Kala Bagai, a South Asian immigrant who fought racial injustice a century ago in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through never-before-seen archival materials, the film unfolds between centuries to weave Kala Bagai's trials and a historical journey with a contemporary street-renaming campaign led by community historian and activist Barnali Ghosh, illustrating the power of participatory democracy.

The issue at the heart of the project—the underrepresentation and historical oversight in the naming of public spaces—resonates profoundly in the current polarized world. We envision a society where the streets and institutions around us reflect the demographics of our country and acknowledge the contributions that women and communities of color have made. The film team will work beyond when the camera stops rolling to create a social impact campaign that provides a toolkit for communities to rename the streets that represent them.

Director/ Producer: Pallavi Somusetty

Lead Producer: Prerana Thakurdesai

Editor: Melina Tupa

Associate Producer: Tanay Gokhale

Director’s website: www.chandifilms.com

Born Kicking

Queer photographer Jill Posener’s fearless compulsion to document provides us with intimate views of radical feminist London, Bay Area 90s lesbian culture, and contemporary unhoused East Bay communities. A lifelong rebel, she has always felt “at odds”, and now contemplates where she may fit for her final chapter.

Jill saw a need, and with no template, decided to fill it.

A history of immigration, housing activism, being a sexual minority, pushing the boundaries of censorship, and a touch of recklessness prepared Jill well for the little corner of societal brokenness she chose to take on, animal welfare and the institutions that intersect with it.

The non-profit Jill founded, Paw Fund, assists low income and unhoused people with pet care. Jill inspires us to challenge our assumptions about what animal welfare looks like, and who deserves help.

The animals may be warm and fuzzy, but Jill is not. She is a pragmatist. Harm reduction and meeting people where they are enables the work to happen. She stays in her “lane” and gets things done. Her own history as an outsider informs her value of dignity for all. She keeps that value of dignity in mind as she photographs the work, clients, and their beloved animals.

We all feel the weariness and hopelessness regarding poverty in our communities. After 15 years of front line work, at over 70, Jill deserves some rest. Easier said than done. How can she walk away? She grapples with the difficult economics of aging in the Bay Area, and where can the expat herself call home?

Producer/Director - Lauretta Molitor

Editor/Co-Producer - Asali Echols

Consulting Producer - Dawn Valadez

Camera - Kat McLain

Learn more: bornkicking.info

City Folx Season 2

City Folx is a comedy web series chronicling two under-employed Drag Kings’ struggle to hold onto their Mission area apartment. The second season expands upon the theme of housing insecurity established in Season 1, with character development and plots that revolve around class inequality, mental health and inter-generational queer relationships. Each episode features short comedy sketches featuring local comedians and Drag artists.

City Folx stars drag brothers Vera Hannush and Bex Salas, who've been honing their skills onstage as members of the Rebel Kings of Oakland. The series is created by Rae Dawn, co-written by Shawna Khorasani and Rea Kapur.

Link to Episodes

Season 1 Trailer

Episode 1

Episode 5

Claim the Lane: Becoming Roxy

An Iraq-veteran cyclist training for Vermont’s most grueling gravel race risks her closest relationships to come out, transition, and be her true self at age 51.

Roxy Bombardier’s leadership and commitment to the gravel community have made her an icon in central Vermont. When she plans routes, pulls in new cyclists, and puts everything on the line for her training goals, a quiet joy eases over her 51-year-old face. But off the bike, Roxy is coping with the impacts of military service, and planning gender-confirming surgeries that she was convinced she could never pursue after being raised in a transphobic family and culture.

On a crisp April morning in the Northeast Kingdom, Roxy rolls out in the first wave of riders to tackle the 60-mile, 7,000-vertical-foot Rasputitsa Dirt. It’s the opening race in a summer leading up the Vermont Overland, a grueling event where hundreds of entrants quit or do not finish. As the demands of her cycling season build, Roxy makes the decision to live the second half of her life as a woman, confronting the fallout in her marriage and family, and the possibilities of an unknown future.

Filming is wrapped for Claim the Lane, and our team is fundraising to complete the editing and post-production phase of the project.

Director - Jesse Huffman

Jesse Huffman is a multiple-award-winning writer, director, and producer with over a decade of experience crafting emotionally impactful and socially relevant documentary and branded content. His work includes projects on LGBTQ+ rights, DIY powerwalls, climate justice, Olympic athlete burnout, and musical subcultures. From the mountains of Japan to street protests and hospital rooms, Jesse’s empathy and clarity allow him to create intimate profiles of people who embody human change.

Editor - Steve Stevenson

Steve Stevenson is an editor, producer, and director for the BBC, Channel 4 and National Geographic, including 2 award-winning Equinoxes. Stevenson occasionally self-shoots environmental films for BBC World & UNESCO. He lectures on The Grammar of Film Editing for the MA course in Documentary Practice at Brunel University, and ran weekend seminars on the subject for the Documentary Filmmakers Group.

Instagram: @claimthelanefilm

Learn more: www.claimthelanefilm.com

Clan

Logline: In the social upheaval of 1969 San Francisco, June Rose Wilder, a traditional housewife and mother of three teenagers, discovers her Cherokee heritage and defies her husband—and her Cherokee father—to immerse herself in her newfound culture, unraveling decades-old secrets and triggering a family crisis.

1969 San Francisco bursts with protests, police, and Flower Power, the once-conservative city now dead center for the youth rebellion. Hippies, runaways, and protesters jostle with businessmen and society matrons on the patchouli-laced streets while John and Yoko's "Give Peace a Chance" shares airtime with U.S. bombings in Cambodia. Sesame Street debuts on TV while news of the Zodiac Killer strikes terror into every woman's soul, and leaders of all races and intents gather young acolytes like plums ripe for the picking.

On the quiet western edge of San Francisco where the foghorn plays an almost nightly lullaby, erstwhile college reporter and rumba queen June Rose is a secretly lonely, outwardly model housewife tending to her family with the dedication of a ruby-lipped saint. But when she accidentally discovers that her grandmother was a full-blood Cherokee, June determines to learn more. She returns to college where she meets the Indians of All Tribes and connects passionately with Nathan Blackthorn, her charismatic Lakota professor.

As June learns the devastating true history, modern plight, and determined fortitude of indigenous Americans, she abandons her middle-class comforts for a bunk on Alcatraz, then a bed in the County mental ward as she launches into a journey of her indigenous roots. A wrenching identity crisis forces June's marriage, faith, and sanity to the breaking point as she earns a personal and political voice and, above all, peace with her ancestors.

Awards:

The Black List Indigenous List 2022

IllumiNative Pop Culture Finalist Producers Track 2022

Finalist Coverfly Pitch Week Spring 2022                                                                    

Quarterfinalist, The Script Lab TV Pilot 2021                                                                     

Quarterfinalist, Final Draft Big Break 2020

MAIN CHARACTERS:

JUNE ROSE WILDER (44): Deserted by her father at an early age and abandoned emotionally by her Irish Catholic mother, college reporter-rumba queen-war bride June, now the “perfect” housewife, harbors a lifetime identity crisis. When she finally reconnects with her father and learns of her Cherokee roots, she strikes out on a journey that radically changes her life and that of her family.

TOM WILDER (50): June’s WWII Navy commander husband and erstwhile high school football star was her hero, once. Now a hulk of PTSD and alcohol-fueled frustration, Tom is a domineering husband and father, condemning June’s sudden veer into Native ways, and her newborn connection with her father, whom Tom resents and distrusts.

MARTIN GOODE (60s): June's father Martin fled Indian Country as a boarding school survivor—and criminal: He killed the man who murdered his white father. Hiding his alcoholism and manic depression, he has just buried his third (white) wife and retired with a city pension. He is a poster boy for unsuccessful “rehabilitation.”

NATHAN BLACKTHORN (40s): A Sioux Marine who fought, like Tom, in the Pacific Corridor, Stanford educated Professor Blackthorn is a man of action who soars with high ideals, a poet’s heart, and sudden violence. A human chessboard of passion and philosophy, Nathan wins June’s heart as an almost-identical model of her father.

SEAN WILDER (19): Ex-football star now scruffy surfer, Sean’s passion for justice is ignited during the SF State Strike for Equality. His arrest estranges him from his father but endears him to June, whose eyes are irrevocably opened to “What’s Happening.”

ISABEL “ZAZIE” WILDER (17): High-spirited Zazie takes part in every adolescent rebellion San Francisco has to offer. Expressing herself with fashion, art, and sensuality, she strives to find her footing within her fractured family and the world.  She studies psychology at Berkeley and has an affair with a macho Black radical but falls in true love with his sister.

BERNADETTE WILDER (14): Intellectual, introverted, and pious, Bernadette is the favorite of Sean and Tom. She suffers from the disruption of her family, and mostly takes the side of her father. A gifted musician, Bernadette is drafted into an all-girls band and inadvertently tumbles into the dark side of rock and roll.

AUGUSTA ROSE (60s): Martin’s sister, subtle, tenacious, darkly humorous Augusta survived boarding school, forced sterilization, and the Tulsa Massacre—her husband was a Black physician, murdered by white supremacists. A trained psychotherapist, Augusta is now a traditional Cherokee healer and recluse.

THE COMMITTEE

A deep dive into the life of "The Committee", the radical San Francisco-based improvisational comedy revue that introduced the counterculture of the 1960s to mainstream America, pioneered an artform, and helped shape modern American satire. A documentary series featuring rarely seen vintage comedy and interviews with the cast, with Howard Hesseman, Larry Hankin, Carl Gottlieb, Garry Goodrow, Barbara Bosson and many many more.

Co-directors and co-writers Jamie Wright and Sam Shaw are longtime collaborators both as improvisors onstage and as producers and supporters of the San Francisco improv scene: Sam as co-founder of the SF Improv Festival and Jamie as its Executive Producer for the past 10 years. Jamie is also founder of the documentary's production company, Lekker Media. Director of Photography Justin Chin is a visual storyteller and the principal at Infinite Machine. He has been collaborating with Jamie on Lekker Media projects since 2011.

A film by Jamie Wright and Sam Shaw.

Learn more: www.TheCommitteeMovie.com

Counted Out: Math is Power.

Counted Out investigates the biggest crises of our time through an unexpected lens: math.  

 In our current information economy, math is everywhere. The people we date, the news we see, the influence of our votes, the candidates who win elections, the education we have access to, the jobs we get—all of it is underwritten by an invisible layer of math that few of us understand, or even notice.

But whether we know it or not, our numeric literacy—whether we can speak the language of math—is a critical determinant of social and economic power.

Through a mosaic of personal stories, expert interviews, and scenes of math transformation in action, Counted Out shows what’s at risk if we keep the status quo. Do we want an America in which most of us don’t consider ourselves “math people”? Where math proficiency goes down as students grow up? Or do we want a country where everyone can understand the math that undergirds our society—and can help shape it?

Producer/Director: Vicki Abeles, Reel Link Films

Learn more: www.countedoutfilm.com

Daly City

Donate by credit card above or mail a check to Filmmakers Collaborative SF.

An Indonesian boy and his mother attend a church potluck and lie about their dish. 

Director's Statement:

I have always been drawn to making films that tell deeply personal stories based on my own lived experience. These truths, I believe, are what connect audiences to my stories and characters. It's also what has led to the success of my films: "The Dishwasher," which I co-directed, premiered at Tribeca 2019 and was inspired by my experience working as a cook in the kitchen of a New York fine dining restaurant.

My latest project, "Daly City," is an autobiographical story that draws from my experiences growing up as an Indonesian immigrant in the Bay Area. There is a sense of urgency for me to tell this story now. We are living in a moment of self-examination for the AAPI community, and in recent years there has been much discourse about the idea of the "model minority myth,” a seemingly positive but damaging stereotype that exotifies Asian immigrants and attempts to define our sense of worth.

While this issue has historically been addressed in documentaries, it's rarely explored in fiction. In telling this story as a narrative film, I want the viewer to draw their own conclusions about the cost of assimilation, as told through the perspective of a young Indonesian-American boy straddling both cultures. For me, this story is about inspiring a new generation of immigrants so that we can both understand our parents' sacrifices in becoming the model minority and also transcend them. 

Directed by: Nick Hartanto

Produced by: Nick Hartanto, Clara Peterson, and Anton Vicente Kliot

Instagram: @dalycityshortfilm, @nickhartanto

Festivals

• World Premiere: Asian American International Film Festival

• Indonesian Film Festival

Dead Jeni

Dead Jeni is the vengeful avatar of the abandoned, broken, and bullied—and tonight, she hunts.

Dead Jeni is a chilling short horror film that explores themes of friendship, betrayal, ritualistic bullying, and the dark pursuit of accountability.

The story follows Becca as she faces a nightmarish gauntlet of horror in her desperate attempt to rescue her brother from their abusive father. But as she battles through this terrifying ordeal, Becca becomes the target of a vengeful supernatural force—Dead Jeni.

Born from deep trauma and ancient, otherworldly forces, Dead Jeni is the avatar of vengeance for those who have been abandoned, broken, or tormented. A relentless spirit of retribution, she hunts tonight.

Director - A. B. Disarufino

Alex is a lifelong lover of horror, heavily influenced by genre legends like George Romero, Wes Craven and Dario Argento. A proud "Fango kid," straight out of the 80’s. Alex cherished his copy of Tom Savini's Grande Illusions since childhood, reading it over and over. With a BFA in Theater and Film, he started his journey in art direction, working on indie films and student projects, both credited and uncredited. After years immersed in NYC's alternative comedy and East Village theater scenes, he brings a wealth of creative experience to every project. Known for running diverse, jerk-free, and fun sets, Alex values collaborative trust and believes in fostering an environment where every artist can thrive.

DP - Aaron Ryder (aaronjryder.com)

Sound: PJ Shulsky (pjshulsky.com)

Make-Up FX: Keala Franz (@kaelavf)

Dreamline

Vaanen (16) is an ambitious 1st generation Indian-American classically trained tabla player - but he’d much rather become the next big name in hip-hop. Blasting Kanye on the speakers, eating Taco Bell beefy burritos, and smoking with his friends, Vaanen's behavior is completely at odds with the expectations of his heavily traditional father. When he gets an opportunity to break into the industry, he skips an important networking dinner organized by his father to go work on his beats with his friends instead. A heated argument between father and son ensues - where culture and beliefs violently clash. With some advice from his best friend Rashaad, Vaanen learns that he must let his father into his life, leading him to mend his relationship with his father and find his unique musical voice in the process.

Director/Writer: Harshith S. Kotni

Producers: Julie Xiaolan Zhao, Skylar Eunjean Kim, and Sam Barnett

Cinematographer: Pengfei Song

Production Designer: Adela Hurtado

The Emerald Triangle

The Emerald Triangle explores the world’s favorite illegal drug, how it became legal, and its impact on our culture. Focusing on the heartland of cannabis, it tells the story of the original growers and how they survived everything… except legalization. “We won. But we lost, because they legalized it,” says Owl.

The tale of the outlaw cannabis movement is one of the greatest stories never told. Full of twists and turns, ironic in the extreme, featuring a dramatic arc of rise and fall and rise and fall again, it chronicles one of the major cultural changes of our lifetime. Using the Emerald Triangle – Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties in northern California – as a microcosm in which to reveal the larger picture, the film is part defining history and part critical exploration of the current crisis of the small farmer and collapse of the cannabis economy.

Co-Director/Producer: Mark Kitchell
Co-Director: Utah Blue
Producer/Writer: Jody Weiner

Producer/Director Mark Kitchell makes social histories of social change movements. He’s best known for Berkeley in the Sixties, which was nominated for an Academy Award and has become a well-loved classic, one of the defining films about the protest movements that shook America during the 1960s.

A Fierce Green Fire is a big-picture exploration of the environmental movement, grassroots and global activism from conservation to climate change -- narrated by Robert Redford, Ashley Judd, Van Jones, Isabel Allende and Meryl Streep. Evolution of Organic tells the story of organic agriculture in California; narrated by Frances McDormand, it’s a heartfelt journey from a small band of rebels to a transformation in the way we grow and eat food. Now for the cannabis movement.

Co-Director Utah Blue has produced, directed, written and /or acted in four narrative film. He developed a documentary film on the same subject, Cannabis Country. Now he is co-directing The Emerald Triangle, bringing it inside the community. It’s the story that Utah Blue was put on earth to tell. He’s a second-generation weed grower, born the year pot became valuable, whose life follows the fifty-year arc of underground cannabis. He brings the inside dope.

The Emerald Triangle is now in production. Principal photography was in the summer of 2023, a dozen new interviews and extensive B-roll, to join ten prior interviews and other resources gathered over years. Archival research continues. Scripting and editing a rough-cut is expected by the end of the year.

To cut costs, we shot the film ourselves. Now, we will script and edit the film, unpaid.
But there are bare bones costs -- $20-30,000 – we need to raise to keep going.
Our ask is lower, in keeping with our low-budget approach:

$50 to $250

Please help us keep going through this critical creative time.
Donations of $250 or more will receive a thank you credit at the end of the film.
If you are interested in investing in a partnership, please contact Mark Kitchell directly.

Here’s more to see & read about the project:

Presentation Deck:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OlvZhWtxwQC2S6-IF7n2ART5jn5t355Q/view?usp=share_link

Website:
http://emeraldtriangledoc.com/

About the Film, a writeup of the story and characters: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ACmbKIkuoXo18csyK1ywnX13Mae8PA9k/view?usp=share_link

Contact us to see more videos including a sample scene.

Something good is coming, not just a story of outlaw weed, but the tale of a unique community, the counterculture and its second generation, their arc across fifty years.

Mark Kitchell / The Emerald Triangle
(415) 515-0785
markakitchell@gmail.com

EVERY BEAT OF MY HEART

The life and legacy of Johnny Otis: the Godfather of R&B, composer, bandleader, disc jockey, civil rights activist, preacher, and artist, who grew up in a Greek immigrant family, but defined himself as African-American.

Every Beat of My Heart is a personal and musical biography of Johnny Otis, the musician, bandleader, producer and songwriter who is often called the Godfather of Rhythm & Blues. But it is more than the biography of one man, just as the story of R&B is about much more than music. Johnny’s odyssey through the world of African-American music in the 20th Century is a window into arenas of race and culture that have defined and transformed contemporary America – and, in turn, have touched the whole world.

Produced by Bruce Schmiechen, Michael Anderson & Kevin White

Directed by Bruce Schmiechen

Visit the site.

Fiddles on fire

Fiddles on Fire explores the exploding popularity of fiddle music by following eight contemporary fiddlers whose excellence in their tradition-based fiddle styles has inspired audiences the world over. Fiddlers representing diverse and evolved traditions come together in a musical convergence, breathing life into lost fiddle tunes and swapping stories. Commentary by folklorists is intercut with musicians’ personal narratives, historical footage, and archival photographs to plumb the meaning and magic of the modern fiddle revival.

Finding the Money

Can a new economic theory revolutionize our ability to tackle the climate crisis?

An underdog group of economists is on a mission to instigate a paradigm shift by flipping our understanding of the national debt — and the nature of money — upside down.

FINDING THE MONEY follows Stephanie Kelton on a journey through the controversial Modern Monetary Theory or "MMT”, as Kelton provocatively asserts the National Debt Clock that ticks ominously upwards in New York City is not actually a debt for us taxpayers at all, nor a burden for our grandchildren to pay back. Instead, Kelton describes the national debt as simply a record of the number of dollars created by the US federal government (the issuer of the US dollar) currently being held in our pockets, as assets, by the rest of us.

MMT bursts into the mainstream media, with journalists asking, “Have we been thinking about how the government spends money, all wrong?”

But top economists and politicians from across the political spectrum condemn the theory as “voodoo economics”, “crazy” and “a crackpot theory”. FINDING THE MONEY traces the conflict all the way back to the story we tell about money, injecting new hope and empowering democracies around the world to tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century: from climate change to inequality.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to help us share and distribute FINDING THE MONEY with the world, please hit the DONATE button on this page, thank you!

Directed by Maren Poitras

Learn more: www.FindingMoneyFilm.com

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Fools’ Paradise (lost?)

Immersed in the experiences recounted by writers, filmmakers, artists, adventurers, environmentalists, scientists, and political activists, we wander into scientific inquiry around topics such as forest bathing, earthing, sustainable business and life practices, nature therapies and how we use the wild to regenerate ourselves and what is left of the wild.

As part of this film journey we will interweave, thematically inspired literary/poetic moments by writers and poets such as Mary Oliver, William Wordsworth, Edward Abbey and other literary/poetic greats as demonstrated in Writer/Director Alexandra Lexton’s award winning documentary THE LURE OF THIS LAND. Utilizing film as the conduit and the written word to clarify and deepen the story and viewer experience, it is our hope that we can broaden the thinking around what our natural world needs now and how we can deepen our life experience through connection to the land.

We have traveled in North America and Africa to find interview subjects and unearth topics that will add to the thesis of the project. For John Francis Planetwalker, we follow his environmentalist journey from its inception in the early 1970's to now, as he walks with other environmentalist to observe, inspire others, and preserve the land. As with Jody MacDonald, renowned adventure/nature photographer, she uses her work to inspire others to preserve what we learn to love.

We currently have five interviews finished: Jody MacDonald, Daniel Fox (Nature photographer and spokesperson), John Francis (Planetwalker and National Geographic Explorer/UN Environment Ambassador), Latriece Branson (Drum Like a Lady and Radical Adventures in Wellness) and Lauren Kahn (Certified Nature Therapist) and Florence Williams, Journalist, Author and Podcaster. We continue to research and reach out to our next interviewees: Terry Tempest Williams - writer and naturalist (Refuge, The Hour of Land); Suzanne Simard - biologist/writer (Finding the Mother Tree); Andrew Forrest - CEO Fortescue (iron ore mining as the new green business), Robin Wall Kimmerer - Professor and writer (Braiding Sweetgrass) and Lyla June Johnston, an Indigenous public speaker, artist, scholar and community organizer. We are also reaching out to the Citizens Climate Lobby for interviews to discover what is being done in the political sphere to move us forward.

Another facet of these themes of healing ourselves through association with the land, and the reality that we must care for the earth, is the current story of farming. Regenerative farming and sustaining the soil, water, earth for our own needs as well as the needs of the natural world are all topics currently being researched.

We are in contact with a Hadza elder, one of the last cultures that subsist wholly off grid and off the land, as hunter gatherers based in Northern Tanzania. We are on course to return to Africa in January 2023 to complete our interviews.

A film by Alexandra Lexton

Watch the trailer here.

Fossil Foolish

Fossil Foolish (working title) tells the story of two North American nations giving lip service to a clean energy transition while simultaneously ramping up fossil fuel exploitation and exports. Our project is a series of nine short films, plus a feature-length film, exposing the United States’ and Canada’s hypocrisy as they lock in to decades of massively increased fossil fuel exports, all while positing themselves as world leaders trying to keep the planet habitable for future generations.

Highlighting the inspirational movers and shakers who are diligently standing in the way of new fossil fuel infrastructure developments, the Fossil Foolish series exposes illegitimacy behind the proponents’ efforts. The films illustrate how communities are undermined as corporate developers and their government regulators conspire to spend public funds to benefit the fossil fuel industry. They also expose how private property is seized under the pretense of imminent domain, for the benefit of these same corporations rather than for the common good. And importantly, we will examine how indigenous rights are being undermined yet again.

Specific short film topics include: 

• Resistance to Line 3 Pipeline in Minnesota

• Outcomes of the historic Dakota Access Pipeline fight at Standing Rock, along with analysis of necessary next steps

• Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion in southern British Columbia, and the resulting increased tar sands tanker traffic in the Salish Sea and down the Pacific Coast to San Francisco Bay

• Expansion of the Phillips 66 Refinery and export terminal in San Francisco Bay

• Utah Inland Port network and Uinta Basin Oil Train 

• Coastal Gaslink Pipeline and Kitimat Port expansion in northern British Columbia and their impacts on Wet'suwet'en First Nation territory and waters. 

• Mountain Valley Pipeline resistance in Virginia. 

• Numerous proposed pipelines and liquified fracked gas export terminals in the Gulf of Mexico

• Enbridge Pipeline and export terminal in Brownsville, Texas

The feature film will tie together all of these fossil fuel export infrastructure developments and expose their cumulative impacts to the planet and humanity.

We will showcase the chaotic conflicts on the front lines and also take the story beyond, giving voice to the financial experts, scientists, politicians, indigenous leaders and impacted citizens who are approaching the problem from their unique perspectives. Their voices will illuminate the impacts of increasing fossil fuel exploitation and exports, and what it means for our future.

The Fossil Foolish film series will be widely distributed online through our partnerships with affinity stakeholders.

A film by Jennifer Ekstrom

From Sea to SHining Sea:

Katharine Lee Bates and the Story of America the Beautiful

FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA: KATHARINE LEE BATES AND THE STORY OF AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL examines the remarkable life of Katharine Lee Bates, poet, professor, and social reformer; an unsung hero best known for authoring America the Beautiful who was deeply committed to the beauty and principles of our country.

America The Beautiful may be America’s most beloved song. Its words are found in nearly every hymn book in the country. It’s much easier to sing than The Star-Spangled Banner, much more welcoming, much less militaristic. There have been numerous proposals to make it our national anthem, most notably by music legend Ray Charles. It celebrates our natural beauty and makes a powerful appeal for justice, brotherhood and inclusion. It has been sung at inaugurations, demonstrations, and sporting events like the Indianapolis 500 and others, in operatic, folk, country and other styles.

But few know about the fascinating life of Katharine Lee Bates; the woman who wrote the song. Her story should not be forgotten, nor its context. The first words of her poem America (later set to music and called America the Beautiful) came to Bates as she surveyed the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains from the broad summit of Colorado's Pike's Peak on July 22, 1893. It is a tale that does not ignore the fact that the United States has often not lived up to its promises and ideals, yet it honors the unbroken chain of Americans who, honoring those ideals and loving their country deeply, strived to make it all it can be. A 35 minute version of the film will begin distribution in January 2025.

Writer/Director: John de Graaf

Producers: Laura Pacheco, Laurence Cotton and Karen Olcott

Executive Producers: Vada Manager and Kevin White

Photographers: Greg Davis and Diana Wilmar

Editor: Greg Davis

Researcher: Tessa Campbell

GAZING INTO THE PAST: THE UNBOUNDED VISION OF JAMES CAHILL

James Francis Cahill (Chinese: 高居翰; pinyin: Gāo Jūhàn (1926 – 2014) was an art historian, curator, collector, and  professor at the University of California, Berkeley.  He was one of the world’s top  authorities on Chinese art.  Gazing into the Past is a one-hour portrait film of Cahill and the art he studied and interpreted for generations of students and scholars.  Cahill changed the way the world looked at Chinese and Japanese painting.  The interviews with former students, colleagues, curators, and friends provide rich opportunities to focus on the art itself, which was Cahill’s main goal throughout his career. The parallel approach will create an impression of a man and his life, and a clear understanding of how the study of Asian art developed during the second half of the 20th century.

Grains of Sand

Filmed over eight years, Grains of Sand accompanies the filmmaker's mother and mother-in-law, artists and close friends, as they enter their ninth decade. Through conversation, memories and artwork, they explore together the lifelong project of becoming oneself.

What does it mean to turn 80? The filmmaker invites her mother and mother-in-law to a working retreat in a stone farmhouse in the countryside. Margot and Barbara are friends, artists, and both on the cusp of their 9th decade. As they unpack the large stones they have brought to sculpt and begin to work on them, they embark on a conversation about creativity and aging. Over the course of eight years, they explore what it means to arrive at this stage of their lives and how their creativity, alive and well, is changing with the years.

Margot lives in San Francisco and Barbara in Hamburg. Interviews with the women in their studios and homes reveal their rich lives at the easel and also how they have grappled over the decades with societal expectations and personal development in their roles as daughters, wives, mothers, and independent women artists.

Once a year for the course of the film, the women meet back at the farmhouse. Here they continue work on their stones, reflect on changes and developments of the past year, and gather strength for the months which will follow.

Although the eight years of the film bring changes and, yes, further aging, Margot and Barbara remain ever-passionate about their art and life. They aren't looking back on their lives. They are living them.

Director and Producer: Sarah Gross

A Great Opportunity

Two young boys experience the nuanced difficulties of racism when one of them enters a foster home.

DeShawn is an African American child adopted into the home of the Washingtons, a white middle class family. Shortly after arriving, he's introduced to their biological son Thomas and almost instantly a tense relationship forms between them. As they live together, their relationship becomes symbolic of the historical dynamics between American populations and how it's taken shape over the course of time.

Morgan Russell (Writer & Director)
Morgan is an alumni of San Francisco State University's Cinema Program, graduating in 2020. After 2 years of development, he's written A Great Opportunity, which he's now excited to get fully developed.

Addae Hill (Producer)
After an almost 10-year military career, Addae Hill transitioned from serving the country to servicing his community through a creative lens. He co-created Black Film connect to not only amplify BIPOC creators in the Bay, but also provide opportunities in the commercial/film world. Addae has produced and directed a number of projects with BFC and works as a freelance Production Supervisor & Coordinator.

Stanley Leung (Line Producer)
Stanley Leung is a Bay Area-based filmmaker and a recent graduate of the Savannah College of Art & Design. A Freelance producer & director, he recently founded his startup production company "Power-Struck Productions" with ambitious plans to expand it.

Jacob Weber (1st AD)
Jacob is a filmmaker from the San Francisco Bay Area. He fell in love with visual art through photography, which taught him how to compose an image and shape light. Giving a voice to those silenced is Jacob's goal as an assistant director/producer in film and television.

Will McNeil (Director of Photography)
Will is a passionate storyteller with a love for filmmaking whose portfolio spans international and domestic projects. As a dedicated filmmaker, he's committed to capturing authentic human stories that resonate. Specializing in both documentary and narrative genres, he navigates the complexities of human experience via his camera lens.

Jamari Mitchell (Gaffer)
Jamari Mitchell is an Oakland born & raised filmmaker who works on both coasts of the US. He loves human stories with a flair for the dramatic and/or fantastical.

Emily Murphy (Art Director)
Emily Murphy is a production designer and makeup artist based out of San Francisco. She got her start in live theatre before moving to get a BA in Cinema from San Francisco State University. In addition to creating sets and props, she also enjoys experimenting with special effects makeup, character design, and sound design.

Aiden Tye (Cast as DeShawn)
Aiden comes from a military background, which has given him the ability to travel and experience many new things. One of which has been the founding of a love for theatre, which fueled his desire to be an actor.

Brayden Christian (Cast as Thomas)
Brayden is a comical teenage actor, He can be spotted in HBO Max's A Christmas Mystery. Recently he was cast as a featured dancer for Sincerely P.S.'s upcoming music video. In his spare time, he enjoys sound engineering for his church's youth band, video editing, tricking, and hanging with his big brother.

Handmade Death

Intimate Rendezvous with Mortality

By delegating the intimate aspects death and dying, we relinquish an essential part of what makes us human. What transformational wisdom is accessed when we dare to engage tangibly with mortality again?

Through most of human history, death has been a hands-on affair. As the living navigate the distance between here and no longer here, our most powerful rituals have centered around caring for the dead. Death was once an intimate, shared experience, almost always at home. But then about a 150-years-ago something changed. End-of-life become medicalized, the hospital ward replaced the bedroom, the funeral home replaced the front parlor, and we lost touch with what it means to take care of our dead, leaving the living financially vulnerable and emotionally marooned.

But recently a few end-of-life iconoclasts are wrestling death back from the experts. If you don’t want to suffer needlessly through the last six months of your terminal disease, in 11 state and 7 countries you can now partake in Medical Aid in Dying and end your life at 2pm on Tuesday. If that’s not legal where you live, you can voluntarily stop eating and drinking – VSED - until you die at home, cared for by the people you love. And if embalming, and then lying in a state of suspended decay in a concrete-lined casket makes you recoil, family members can build your coffin, green funeral homes will bury you under a tree, or your body can be composted, so in six-weeks-time, you’ve been welcomed back into the cycle of life.

These are some of the death mavericks I’ve filmed. What unites these voices is a willingness to step into the circle and become intimately engaged with the death and dying process. By using our hands in the mundane tasks of caring for the dead and dying – holding a cup, changing a pad, washing the body, weaving a wicker casket, digging the grave, turning a clay urn to hold the ashes – the mundane and practical allows grief to transform. And maybe, in that process, we glean a little wisdom how to face our own death.

A film by Jan Stürmann

Born in South Africa, studied photography at Pretoria Technicon. His publishing credits include The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian, The Boston Globe, Time, Newsweek and Marie Claire. He was primary videographer for the documentaries Ai Weiwei Yours Truly and There Is A Place On Earth.

Learn more: www.handmadedeath.com

the highway

Highway protests against police violence in the U.S. have proliferated since Michael Brown's shooting death in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 and continue as more police killings have taken place unabated and with little consequence for the officers involved, as with the most recent high profile case of Stephon Clark in Sacramento.

While most Americans support the idea of freedom of assembly, in practice, there is little knowledge of the origins of exercising this right by blocking roads. Meanwhile, the desire for convenient travel becomes asserted as a "right" on the equal level of those in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. These contentious, polarized views ultimately serve to distract from the real issues — the disproportionate violence against black people in the U.S. by law enforcement and the history of devaluing black lives by the State.

The Highway is a short animated film that explores the dynamics and history of protests as a patriotic act and the State-sanctioned violence against black lives, along with related cultural, historic, and mythological antecedents. Toy-scale recreations of events are accompanied by layered audio of quotes from non-fiction writers such as Ta-nehisi Coates and Tim Wise, news coverage, protest events, statements from victim’s families, comments by anti-protesters, poetry, literature, philosophy, symbolic music, and other sources.

A highway protest is the main contemporary storyline that bookends the film. It begins with regular traffic, to highway protestors overtaking the freeway, to the confrontation with police. Other scenes that explore associated subjects include: the Boston Tea Party; a contemporary anti-protester at home; a séance with Achsa Sprague, spiritualist and abolitionist; Odysseus facing the Sirens in the Middle Passage; the Revolutions of 1848 (the February Revolution in France); and the lynching of Laura and L. D. Nelson and the associated postcards.

A film by Jennifer Crystal Chien

Hogan’s Wild Ride

The Great Montana Train Chase of 1894

A film that captures the tumultuous times and drama of the first organized march on Washington.

Hogan’s Wild Ride: The Great Montana Train Chase of 1894: is a documentary film that examines a significant yet underexplored moment in American history. During the Silver Panic of 1894, William Hogan, an unemployed miner, led over 600 men in a daring train journey across Montana to join Coxey’s Army, a national protest for economic relief in Washington, D.C. This story highlights key themes of labor rights, economic inequality, and collective action, drawing powerful connections to contemporary struggles for social and economic justice.

The film will serve as an educational tool, with a strong focus on outreach to high schools, universities, and community organizations. Through curated educational materials, expert historian interviews, and engaging storytelling, the project aims to bring history to life for students and audiences of all ages. By fostering critical discussions about labor movements, economic unrest, and civic activism, it will enrich educational curricula and inspire future generations to connect with the lessons of the past.

Montana’s unique cultural and historical identity is central to the project, showcasing the state’s role in this national movement while preserving its heritage. Partnerships with the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives, Montana Historical Society, and a panel of historians ensure historical accuracy and depth. The creative team, including experienced filmmakers and educators, is dedicated to crafting a story that resonates both locally and nationally.

By emphasizing the educational potential of Hogan’s Wild Ride, this project seeks to go beyond entertainment, using history as a lens to explore enduring questions of inequality and collective action. It aims to empower educators, engage communities, and spark meaningful dialogue about the ongoing relevance of grassroots movements in shaping a more equitable society.

Creative Director: Dr. Franz Michael Gottleib is a versatile filmmaker and storyteller. At G3 Cinema, he has directed and produced narratives and documentaries that resonate emotionally to underscore the good that humans do. His documentaries advocate for the natural environment (Montana Wilderness Association, Friends of Lolo Peak). A recent feature length narrative, Tango Fine’, explores the creative courage to realize a vision. Adding to his wide interests is an ongoing documentary on the Navy Lacrosse Decade of Dominance.

In addition to his filmmaking, Dr. Gottleib is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, holds five degrees including a Doctor of Management in Organizational Leadership and has been an educator since 2001. As an adjunct professor at Walden University, he mentors doctoral students. Prior to his move to Montana, his San Francisco design studio focused on corporate identity.

He has traveled extensively over 49 states and three continents. His diverse background—spanning engineering, athletics, the arts, and organizational development—enriches his storytelling; a unique voice for both film and academia.

Executive Producer: Jerry Spencer
Jerry will oversee the entire project, from initial concept to final distribution. He will manage the financial aspects, including securing funding and distribution deals, and will be responsible for maintaining the overall vision of the film. Jerry is an experienced entrepreneur who has started, run, and sold for a profit, three businesses and been involved in startup funding and execution for over 20 years. Jerry has two utility patents, deep background and experience with computers, and an in depth understanding of the business startup and success cycle.

For this production Jerry will also be responsible for the duties of the traditional role of Producer. He will handle the day-to-day operations of the production, including scheduling, coordination between different departments (such as cinematography, sound, and re-enactment teams), and ensuring that the project remains on time and within budget.

Learn more: www.timelesstales.media

In God We Trust

At the crossroads between the streets and the churches of San Francisco, In God We Trust follows the intimate journeys of Dawn, Tony, Terry and Harry as they fight to forge their place in a city ravaged by inequalities and for whom “God” has become the ultimate companion.

The film weaves together the personal stories of these four characters, capturing their complex relationship to religion, to faith, conveying the energy that allows them to "rise from the ashes", to transform in the midst of challenging life situations. In their own way, each of our protagonists are figures of resistance and claim to be so. They refuse the place the society assigns them to. They yearn for recognition, for love, they want to be part of civic life, religious life. Their intimate inner voices are the pillars of the narration and they guide the audience through the film.

The film starts at the church where all characters meet. There, “Killer Kelly '' who identifies as a Black trans woman found a refuge and became “Miss Terry” after a life in the streets of San Francisco. She now facilitates support groups for the disenfranchised alongside Reverend Harry. Both of them are Dawn’s and Tony’s mentors: these two are unhoused and come to their church to eat, sing and to find support. Dawn engages in a fight and a spiritual journey to get her children back, whose custody was lost to drugs. In the meantime, Tony who just arrived in town builds his life from the ground up, rapidly achieving milestones with his housing search, trauma healing process and civic advocacy efforts. “Don’t let your situation define your existence in this world!” shouts Terry in a husky voice. “You are somebody !” Harry repeats relentlessly. But behind their determination, Terry and Harry both deeply question their place and the meaning of their work in a religious institution setting. They decide to turn their backs to the Church they served for years and venture on new paths to reinvent themselves. Reverend Harry aka “O.G—Original Gangster—Rev” defines himself as a “hood preacher” committed to serve the poor. His preaching, well applauded in the streets, is less so in the upper class pews of the Sunday sanctuary where he appears as a pariah of the church. “ How can I be a pastor without a church ?” wonders Reverend Harry. He takes a chance working for a local grassroot non-profit in Oakland before creating his own ministry venture involving hip hop. Meanwhile, Terry decides to embark on a deeply personal journey of self: he retreats far from the church to quieter places and starts a mediation at the crossroads of faith, transgender identity and overcoming one’s past: what will become of “Miss Terry” who was given a place in a church when she had lost everything else? When Tony suddenly disappears from the city, Dawn, Terry and Harry are brought back together to mourn his loss and speak up for the recognition of those who live and die on the streets.

A film by: Laetitia Jacquart & Corinne Sullivan

Keeper of the Fire

Through the life and work of acclaimed writer Alejandro Murguia, Keeper of the Fire explores the roles activist writers and poets play in the fight for a more just and equitable world. As an educator and activist, Murguia inspires and empowers people of all ages to become involved in confronting many of the urgent issues of the day.

Following in the footsteps of the Beat poets and inspired by the rich tradition of Spanish and Latin American literature, Murguia passionately confronts injustice and inequality with his work and his words. We follow him on lyrical journeys from Nicaragua to Mexico City and from East Los Angeles to San Francisco’s North Beach and Mission Districts, as he leads cultural and educational programs, campaigns against rampant gentrification and fights for cultural preservation. He goes on to win two American Book Awards and serves as the first Latino Poet Laureate of San Francisco.

Producer/Writer - Raymond Telles

Producer/Director - David L. Brown

Producer/Director - Louis F. Dematteis

Director of Photography - Vicente Franco

Learn more: https://wordsonfire.info/

Keep On Moving Forward

The Story of Emmas Revolution

Emma’s Revolution is the dynamic, award-winning activist duo of Pat Humphries and Sandy O. Performing at the frontlines of justice movements for over twenty years, their songs have been sung for the Dalai Lama, praised by Pete Seeger, covered by Holly Near and sung around the world. This is their story.

As independent artists and queer and non-conforming women, Emma’s Revolution has a national presence among communities, organizations and venues that share the duo's vision of valuing people over profit, choosing compassion over violence, demanding accountability, and building a more just and sustainable world. The duo are in their 23rd year performing together. Emma’s Revolution's songs have traveled around the world and have been sung for the Dalai Lama, praised by Pete Seeger and covered by Holly Near.

Director/Writer/Editor: Tom Weidlinger

Producers: Pat Humphries, Sandy Opatow, Tom Weidlinger

Learn more: https://emmasrevolution.com/home

https://tomweidlinger.com/

The Last Forests

The Last Forests is a feature length documentary film bringing the viewer below the surface to witness the beauty of California’s kelp forests, and the silent destruction they are facing along our coast. Following the lives of urchin divers, scientists, and ocean goers, the film will demonstrate the importance of our kelp forests on a local and global level, and conclude with the direct work being taken to reestablish Bull Kelp in Northern California. With observations and data from the leading scientists in the field, the film will have a resounding call to action, giving the viewer hope that with community engagement and a little luck, our kelp forests will prevail.

Produced by: Stephen Page and Marco Mazza

Learn more: thelastforestsproject.com

Instagram: @the_last_forests_project

Les Blank: A Quiet Revelation

A feature-length documentary about the life and work of the acclaimed filmmaker Les Blank.

A Quiet Revelation will reveal the creative force behind this legendary filmmaker who has won accolades around the world, and the way in which he used film, not as an end, but as a means to express the things he loved most about the world.

A film by Gina Leibrecht.

A Life in Art

After dropping out of art school and nearly taking his own life, a small act of kindness sets Gary Bukovnik on an unimaginable path: his watercolor paintings of flowers become celebrated worldwide, raising millions for nonprofits and proving that staying true to one's creative calling can transform one’s life.

Grant Thompson - Director
Grant Thompson is an award-winning filmmaker and co-teaches a graduate seminar in Scientific Filmmaking at UC Davis. Grantthompsonfilms.com

Peter Coyote - Producer
Peter Coyote is an Emmy-winning narrator and actor with over 160 film credits. Known for his iconic voice, he has narrated more than 200 documentaries.

Miles Romney - Producer of Animation
Miles Romney is an Oscar-nominated producer of Ninety-Five Senses, the runner up in the 2024 Academy Awards in the animated shorts category. He will lead the animated segments of this project.

Watch the video below to see Peter Coyote speak about the project.

Like Heaven Without God

Like Heaven Without God is a documentary on a group of RVers, who struggle to survive on the margins of the city of  Berkeley.  A public program has allowed them to reside in an empty parking lot, but it will come to an end soon forcing them to return to the uncertain and unsafe life on the streets.

The title alludes to a line from one of the RVers that reflects the paradox of the residents’ lives. They have relative freedom because they own mobile homes, but are at the same time immobile due to mental health, economic problems, and drug abuse. 

Throughout the pandemic, these problems have been even more common, especially as older people have become isolated and aged into homelessness. This movie is about immobility, injustice, and human suffering, but also the immense desire for a life change. And it is an attempt to give dignity to the nomadic people through a patient gaze that depicts their broken lives.

Directed by: Luca Capponi

To learn more, visit the film website.

Martin

Iconic chef Martin Yan charmed audiences with his infectious smile and impossibly fast knife skills, shaping American television and cuisine when the odds were stacked against him.

Director - Dolly Li

Dolly Li is an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker from Brooklyn, New York. She cut her teeth at Al Jazeera, and specializes in investigative stories about Asian and minority communities that capture the zeitgeist of today’s biggest topics. Her stories have taken her from the Mississippi Delta to Western China.

Materano

“They have lived exactly the same lives since the beginning of time.”

—Carlo Levi, Christ Stopped at Eboli

Materano tells the story of a young man's migration across an ocean and an age. In 1920, Francesco Paolo Festa fled Matera, a city of caves in southern Italy that would soon become notorious as la vergogna nazionale, the shame of the nation, for its desperately primitive living conditions. His grandson, filmmaker Paul Festa, returned a century later to Matera to learn what happened to the family that had remained in the cave into his lifetime. He found that a group of people who had been considered from time immemorial as hopeless as the animals they lived with had begun to prosper immediately once they were rescued from extreme poverty.

The filmmaker brings the family back to the cave and confronts them with painful contradictions: the young men’s right-wing-populist opposition to the state that had so recently rescued their branch of the family, and to the freedom of immigration that had rescued the filmmaker’s. Another is the lingering effect of vergogna that has made the Materano dialect a dying language, and kept members of the family from knowing—until they were told on camera—that their parents had grown up in the rocks.

Materano is an alternately intimate and comedic portrait of family confronting geopolitical upheaval, personal tragedy, and the corrosive effects of money on their lives. Since the beginning of time, perhaps, the problem had been extreme poverty. But when the new-world son of a caveman married the daughter of a billionaire, the repercussions of wealth proved just as explosive a force in atomizing the Festas.

Ultimately Materano is a story of renewal and reunion. Over the course of making the film, Paul Festa learned his family’s language—along with a few words in Materano—and in the process of recording its stories found himself in a family at once ancient and new.

A film by Paul Festa

The Movement and the “Madman”

The Movement and the “Madman” will tell how in the fall of 1969 two of the largest antiwar demonstrations in American history thwarted President Nixon’s top secret plans for a major escalation of the Vietnam war. Unknown at the time, these demonstrations helped save possibly tens of thousands of lives. 

Focusing on the grassroots October 15th “Moratorium” — a one-day national strike against the war by two million Americans — and on the dramatic November 15th “March Against Death”, followed by the enormous “Mobilization” antiwar rally in Washington, D.C., the film reveals how these protests undermined what Nixon called his “Madman” strategy to cripple North Vietnam, including the possible use of nuclear weapons. The film will present this dramatic confrontation through archival footage and original interviews with leading protest organizers, local activists, historians, and former Nixon administration officials.

Coming during the 50th anniversary decade of the Vietnam war, The Movement and the “Madman" will be the first feature documentary to highlight the power and impact of the antiwar movement, with lessons for today.

Executive Producer: Robert Levering
Producer: Steve Ladd
Director: Stephen Talbot

Learn more: www.movementandthemadman.com

Norton I, America’s Emperor

Norton I, Emperor of America, Protector of Mexico, was an immigrant, a tycoon, a bankrupt, a fantasist, a mascot, a campaigner, a visionary and monarch.

This film explores Norton’s legend, in his own time and ours.

One hundred and thirty years ago a true visionary walked the streets of San Francisco…

Emperor Norton, Norton I, was America’s one and only monarch. He ruled from the Bay Area, conversed with monarchs and politicians, issued his own banknotes and addressed the California state senate. When he died, 20,000 people lined up to see his funeral cortege. 

An immigrant himself, Norton spoke out against slavery and racism; he campaigned for rights and tolerance. He designed everything from a safer railroad brake to a bridge and tunnel connecting Oakland and San Francisco, six decades before we got around to building it. 

Norton was also a bankrupt failed businessman, who begged free meals and drinks. He wore a ludicrous and increasingly threadbare uniform. When he died, his pitiful belongings couldn’t even cover the cost of a pauper’s funeral.

It wasn’t just that these were one and the same man; each of them could only exist because they were the same man.

This is a film about history, set in the modern day.

Following the progress of two extraordinary characters, we reveal both the twisted tale that carried Norton to imperial greatness, and the themes of his life that still resonate today.

We’ll learn the full story of Norton’s success in San Francisco, his crippling failure, his rebirth as the Emperor and his glorious imperial rule. We’ll also explore the themes of boom and bust, mental health, progressive politics, creative acceptance and generosity that mark out the Bay Area to this day.

California is a land of the future, but also has a dramatic past. We reveal how the two are intertwined. The city of the Barbary Coast still lives on in modern San Francisco; the struggles we face today were just as real in Norton’s life.

March with your Emperor!

This is a film rooted in San Francisco, the Bay Area, NorCal and all who love them. We need your love and dollars to make this film - pledge your allegiance and support to Norton I.

Learn More at www.emperornortonfilm.org and at this short film.

A film by Jesse Chandler and James Buchanan

Paramita

PARAMITA is a poetic personal documentary bearing testament to the story of Prajna Paramita Choudhury, a first generaton South Asian American queer woman, as she comes out to her family and steps onto a spiritual journey that embodies Buddhist liberation practices, earth based mysticism and connection to nature as a pathway for collective healing. Prajna Paramita’s story mirrors the living questions: How do we honor and find bridges to our cultural traditions when our families reject us in our romantic (queer) love; How can we embody resistance, reclaim and take our place in a white-centering American system that teaches us to experience our own ancestral wisdom through a colonized lens. Told in a lyrical manner, re-imagined dreamspaces dance with “real” time and we walk walk with Prajna Paramita as she reclaims her queer brown body and experiences, finding her way towards collective healing and co-liberation. PARAMITA is directed and edited by Kirthi Nath.

PARAMITA, the film, the person, the energy is itself a transformation. For too long, the stories of people of color have been told by and for the white gaze. PARAMITA is decolonized storytelling, centering women of color. If we want to change our culture, we have to uplift new stories. Buddhism in the United States has been culturally appropriated and co-opted by people who do not understand its roots, and exploited by capitalism as a consumer product and lifestyle brand. Within this conversation, South Asian voices, and especially queer South Asian voices, have been erased and marginalized, even within Asian American stories. Culturally, this film is significant because it is a rare expression of embodied Buddhist teachings as told by people, main subject, Prajna Paramita Choudhury, and filmmaker, Kirthi Nath, both who have lived experiences as well as an ancestral connection to the wisdom lineages. WHO TELLS THE STORY MATTERS.

Your support will make a difference. We are proud to be a women identified crew, with a majority BIPOC and queer folx. Please consider making a contribution (in any amount). All donations made through this page are tax-deductible. Much Appreciation and may you be well.

Film Website: https://www.paramitafilm.com

Director and Editor: Kirthi Nath 

Producer: Cinemagical Media

Main Subject and Writer: Prajna Paramita Choudhury

Sound Designer / Sound Mixer: Vandana Ramakrishna

Cinematographer: Sarah Wells

Parts of Pippi

Aging actor Scot Free gained local notoriety in San Francisco performing comedy drag under the name Pippi Lovestocking starting in the early 1990s. After presenting an onstage a tribute for a recently deceased life-long friend at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, he suffered a cardiac event that led to him becoming a quad amputee. This film tells of Scot/Pippi’s underground past along with the challenges of now living without hands or feet.

Scot Lance Coker was born in the deep south in 1967 and Benson North Carolina was a hotbed of racial injustice. Amidst this climate, a young Scot was an effeminate child who endured much bulling. Escaping to college in Wilmington NC placed him in an environment of creativity where he flourished. Among other acting roles, he landed a part as an extra in the film ‘Blue Velvet’ by David Lynch. Moving to complete theater studies in Atlanta, Scot embraces gender-bending live performance.

Possessing a desire to be part of radical queer theater, Scot moved to San Francisco in 1989 and met Stefan. They both started performing in drag and Scot performed as Pippi Lovestocking and Stephan became Heklina. The two launched a weekly drag event that featured subversive performance with a punk-rock ethic called ‘Trannyshack.’ Scot then checked himself into a 3-month long alcohol detox program and when he returned, Trannyshack had become Heklina’s baby. This course led Heklina in to the spotlight with great success and Scot became a bit player, in drag and in film work for the next 2 decades.

Scot and Heklina both battled drug and alcohol abuse and both found recovery in 2012. The following years were hard times for Scot which eventually led him to a religious halfway house in Barstow CA after a falling out with Heklina in 2022. In early 2023 Scot learned that Heklina had died while on tour in England with Peaches Christ. Scot/Pippi was asked to speak at the huge Castro Theater memorial. Following his stunning tribute, Scot collapsed in the lobby of the theater. After immediate cardiac surgery Scot was in a week-long coma where he contracted sepsis. When he woke to find his hands and feet had turned black, he and his family agreed to amputation to save his life. Scot now recovers in Palm Springs as a quad-amputee while exploring prosthetic options and learning to live as a differently abled man, with an unshakable desire to continue performing.

Producer/Writer/Director - Robert James

Executive Producer / Fundraiser - Howard Grothe

Producer - Joshua Grannell / Peaches Christ

Writer/Editor - Nick Blond

Cinematographer - Rudy Behrens

Videographer - Alan Carvalho

The Patient Woman

The Patient Woman is a feature-length documentary that follows Iranian immigrant Sabereh Kashi as she navigates between two worlds—her homeland of Iran and her adopted home in California. Struggling to reconcile her father’s expectations and her own sense of identity, Sabereh embarks on a journey of healing and self-discovery. Through five years of travel, family confrontations, and immersion in a gender-diverse co-op, she uncovers layers of cultural heritage, personal trauma, and resilience. Weaving together personal and collective histories, The Patient Woman explores themes of belonging, generational healing, and the empowerment of a voice caught between two complex worlds.

Sabereh Kashi is a documentary filmmaker, editor, and cultural strategist with a focus on stories that bridge cultural divides. She has collaborated on award-winning films, including Our Summer in Tehran a PBS documentary exploring family life in Iran beyond the lens of politics. Her work often centers on immigrant narratives, identity, and belonging, drawing on her own experiences as an Iranian immigrant in the U.S. Sabereh’s films are recognized for their nuanced storytelling and commitment to fostering cross-cultural understanding, reflecting her dedication to highlighting overlooked perspectives and fostering empathy through cinema.

This feature length documentary is in late production. Estimated completion date is 2026-2027.
Please consider supporting this important film.

Directed by Sabereh Kashi.

Poet on TRial

In 1966, an obscure Beat poet was catapulted into the national spotlight when her self-published book of poems, The Love Book, was seized by police and subjected to San Francisco’s longest obscenity trial in history. POET ON TRIAL is the timely story of forgotten poet Lenore Kandel and her fight for artistic freedom.

The story of Lenore Kandel begins where so many stories of 1960s counterculture do: San Francisco, California. The poet was regarded as a force among the scene: outspoken, sexually liberated, a gifted writer. Like many of her contemporaries, she was a denizen of the small enclave of North Beach, self-publishing in relative obscurity–at least to the world outside of San Francisco. Her obscurity wouldn’t last for long. Meanwhile, newly elected governor of California Ronald Reagan was growing weary of the increasingly outspoken American counterculture movement. He considered the Berkeley students across the Bay “radicals and filthy speech advocates”, and beginning in 1966, set out to bring “good old-fashioned American values” back to California.

That year, Lenore self-published a modest book of erotic psychedelic poems called The Love Book. The influential, Beat-minded North Beach bookstore City Lights and The Psychedelic Shop (America’s first head shop) stocked it immediately, though it had modest sales–that is, until the police entered the picture, vaulting it into the spotlight. On the morning November 15, 1966, following the commands of the governor, police raided The Psychedelic Shop, then moved on to City Lights. A shop owner and two workers were arrested, books were seized. The culprit? Lenore’s poem ‘To Fuck With Love’: page 4, The Love Book. The case would go on to become San Francisco’s longest running obscenity trial, featuring a unique three-judge panel, a dizzying amount of trials, jurors, witnesses, and protests, culminating with a verdict that the book, with its colorful descriptions of body parts and fornication, was obscene. Or was it?

POET ON TRIAL is an account of Lenore Kandel’s fight for creative expression, concluding with the ultimate victory: the poet and booksellers prevailed. In 1971, the guilty verdict was overturned on appeal in federal court, and marked the last time San Francisco would prosecute an author on obscenity charges.

Directors: Katherine Clary, Emily Sternlicht

Prodigal Daughter

PRODIGAL DAUGHTER evocatively chronicles filmmaker Mabel Valdiviezo's soul-stirring journey to reunite with her family in Peru after 16 years of estrangement. The film opens in San Francisco with Mabel gently painting the contours of a family portrait, a symbol of the fractured familial bonds that have long haunted her.

Her heart brimming with yearning, she courageously ventures back to Peru on a poignant quest, wielding her art as a bridge between estranged worlds, only to be greeted by a whirlwind of emotions, as hidden wounds and buried childhood memories resurface. Her mother Bila's perception of a selfishly absent daughter adds to an already complex reunion, leading to Mabel's heartfelt confession of her troubled past marked by addiction and turmoil as an immigrant in the U.S. 

Burdened by the weight of remorse and disappointment, Mabel retreats to the United States. Soon thereafter, a life-altering cancer diagnosis urges her to piece together the shattered fragments of familial love before it is too late. In a tender, vulnerable return to Peru, amidst brushes and hues of shared artistry, Mabel and Bila find solace, transcending their thorny past and embracing acceptance. PRODIGAL DAUGHTER paints an unforgettable narrative of reconciliation and the transformative power of art to weave a tapestry of healing and forgiveness.

Director/Producer: Mabel Valdiviezo

Editor: Sara Maamouri

Cinematographer: Tupac Saavedra, Jorge Vignati

This feature-length documentary is in post-production. Our estimated completion date is early 2024.
Please consider supporting this important film. 

Learn more: https://prodigaldaughterthemovie.com/

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Contact director Mabel Valdiviezo to see our sample reel or the full rough cut.

The Public Housing Story

The Public Housing Story (working title) follows residents throughout the country fighting to stop the demolition and privatization of public housing, illuminating the nationwide struggle to keep public housing public.

The Public Housing Story is a feature length documentary about the efforts of public housing residents in New York, Minneapolis and Chicago as they confront housing authorities, developers and city officials to preserve the nation’s only system of federally protected housing. The film examines privitization’s impact on residents and surrounding communities, including eroding the nation's public housing stock, amplifying housing insecurity and decreasing accountability.

Director/Producer/DP - Natasha Florentino

DP - Olivier Metzler

A Quiet Revolution

The Story of Windham Hill Records

From a garage startup to 27 Gold and Platinum Records, A QUIET REVOLUTION explores the genre-bending history of a record label that developed a new sound and musical movement.

In a world of accelerating technologies and a relentless frenetic lifestyle, listeners found music that allowed for contemplation, introspection and harmony. Windham Hill became a genre unto itself and was as much a lifestyle as a music—a soundtrack that would resonate for its fans the same way a Motown song or Beatles tune would resonate for an earlier generation.

Windham Hill was a blend of classical, folk and jazz. Billboard magazine struggled to pigeon-hole the sound, settling on soft jazz, and eventually the label’s albums topped the New Age and Contemporary Jazzcharts. Millions of listeners connected to the music and Windham Hill became one of the most successful independent record labels on earth, single handedly creating the market for modern instrumental music.

Half a century later, the Windham Hill sound appears on playlists as a new generation of listeners and musicians embrace the music. The ethos of the music is still relevant as listeners seek peace, tranquility and ways to look inward in a fast-paced, distracted world.

Director - Tal Skloot

Cinematographer - Derek Knowles

Associate Producer - Asali Echols

Learn more: www.aquietrevolutionfilm.com

Re-Present Media

Re-Present Media’s purpose is to humanize media representations of underrepresented communities through a focus on personal stories from those communities in documentary film and nonfiction media. We do this by presenting film screenings with community dialogues, supporting talent through professional development, and advocating for personal storytelling.

By underrepresented, we include those who are not often represented in mainstream media in the ways we see ourselves, including those from different racial/ethnic, faith, sexual and gender identity, disability, age, geographic, and other backgrounds.

Personal stories are those focused on the lives of individuals, families, and communities. Although social issues may intersect with their lives, these stories are not primarily social issue narratives.

We are empowered when we tell our own stories in a deeply authentic way.

We are currently operating For Us By Us, a six-month intensive mentoring program for emerging documentary filmmakers in the San Francisco Bay Area who are working on local stories of individuals, families, and communities.

Find out more about our other programs on our website.

The Sale

Inspired by the true stories of my mother.

Synopsis

It’s 1993 and Sita has recently immigrated to California. She is desperate to make an encyclopedia sale as a first step to learning how to sell and starting her own business. Her lack of commissions have cost her family comfort and weigh heavily on her. As pressure mounts, she goes out to her 3 leads for the day and attempts to make a sale. Met with frustration, fear and humiliation, she fights every urge to give up.

Why Donate?

Hello! My name is Meera Angelica Joshi and I am the Writer-Director of The Sale. This film captures a sliver of time just before the internet when Encyclopedia salespeople would knock on doors to share the gift of knowledge. As the daughter of one of those very salespeople, I am so excited to bring this period to life. In all my research for this project, I have yet to find images of a woman, let alone a woman of color doing this work. Much like the encyclopedias themselves, this film serves as a record for a story that could be lost to time.

Our story has been generously supported by Tasveer x Netflix. Because of the time period we are recreating, we have a funding gap of about $15,000 and are looking to close that gap with your help. The money will be used to source authentic locations, props and wardrobe. We are also creating our very own Encyclopedias!

We have an extremely talented passionate team and a guaranteed premiere at Oscar-Qualifying Tasveer Film Festival in October 2025. Come walk the red carpet with us!

Thank you for visiting our page. Please consider being part of something special and unique. Donating is a very rewarding way to support arts in the Bay Area. Not only are you helping bring this story to life but you join our little community - updated on all our wins as we go through production, post-production and the festival circuit. Please consider supporting stories like this one that inspire our best!

Donation Incentives

0 - $250 Tax deductible + Personalized thank you message from the director

$250 - $500 The above + Special thank you in the credits

$500 - $2000 The above + 1:1 zoom call with the Director.

$2000 - $5,000 The above + Come visit us on set!

$5000 - $10,000 The above + Walk the red carpet at the film premiere with us!

$10,000+ The above + Executive Producer Credit

Does your employer match donations? Thanks to our Fiscal Sponsorship by Filmmakers Collaborative SF, your donation may be eligible to be matched by your employer. Please enquire with your HR department or workplace giving program to see if they participate in donation matching.

Other Ways to Support

Do you have access to a vehicle from the 80s or 90s that could be parked in a scene?

Do you want to be an extra?

Spread the word about our project.

Crew

Writer & Director: Meera Angelica Joshi

Producer: Christina Chin

Cinematographer: Juhi Sharma

Production Designer: Stephanie Houston

Costume Designer: Taya Badgley

Editor: Cecilia Delgado

Saranam Gacchâmi

A visionary Buddhist Monk, hailing from the Himalayan foothills of Nepal, embarked on an extraordinary journey to California, defying all odds to establish one of the Bay Area's largest Tibetan Monasteries—an invaluable sanctuary preserving the endangered Tibetan culture, traditions, and language.

Synopsis: At the tender age of 12, he embraced a monastic life and was bestowed with a new name, Thupten Donyo, signifying "Buddha's teachings" and "meaningful." Reflecting on his childhood and the inspiration that propelled his exceptional journey, Donyo shares, "If my name means 'meaningful,' I should be a person of meaning." Born in the Himalayan foothills and raised as a Tibetan refugee, he bore witness to the struggles of his community, igniting a desire to make a difference beyond his spiritual path.

Since 1959, Tibet has been under Chinese occupation, leading to the forced migration and exile of a significant portion of the Tibetan diaspora. Following the 1990 U.S. Immigration Act, which allocated 1,000 special visas to Tibetans living in exile in Nepal and India, this micro-minority has grown significantly in the Bay Area, including Richmond, El Cerrito, Albany, and Berkeley.

As Tibetan refugees found new homes in the East Bay cities, Donyo recognized the need for a secure haven for his fellow Tibetans—a place to gather, uphold their cultural heritage and traditions and safeguard their way of life. In response, he founded the Gyuto Monastery, which grew to become the Bay Area's largest Tibetan Monastery. Serving as a second home, the establishment offered solace and nurtured the community's collective heritage.

Yet, overseeing a Monastery comes with formidable challenges. Heavily reliant on donations, Donyo's frugal approach ensures that every contribution goes to the Monastery's upkeep. Now, at 63 years old, his foremost concern is locating a worthy successor to perpetuate this cherished legacy.

Director, Producer, Cinematographer: Priyanka Suryaneni

Additional Cinematography: Erika Staud

Editor: Prakshi Malik

Learn more: www.prisuryaneni.com/saranam-gacchami

Saving the Bay 2

Saving the Bay 2 shows how San Francisco Bay is now growing after 150 years of shrinking due to human intervention.  This follow up program to the popular Saving the Bay series highlights the challenges and opportunities that come with a bigger San Francisco Bay and goes back in time to illustrate how climate change in the Bay Area has been a constant since the Ice Ages.  

Searching for Sabiha

SEARCHING FOR SABIHA follows an American journalist’s quest to uncover the astonishing story of her grandmother-- modern Turkey’s first professional female journalist. What she discovers is a trailblazer’s high stakes fight for democracy that’s remarkably relevant almost 100 years later as authoritarian leaders rise around the globe, even in democratic strongholds like the United States.

This film reveals a fearless writer who dared to challenge the men who ruled the nation with an iron hand. Sabiha Sertel was born into revolution as the Ottoman Empire crumbled. She broke free from a highly secretive sect with Jewish roots and wielded her clout as a journalist, foreshadowing an unrelenting battle for Turkish democracy.

Cracking the mystery of what happened to Sabiha turns into a global search and the most daunting story of her granddaughter’s career. With access to her private papers and by probing frightened relatives, SEARCHING FOR SABIHA takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride through her tumultuous life—to better understand both the past and present.

The film gives audiences a rare look at the revolutionizing events of the 20th century through the eyes of a visionary female journalist and passionate socialist. It also brings to life the struggles of all those who publicly challenge authority.

SEARCHING FOR SABIHA shows her story coming full circle. Decades after a government-orchestrated mob destroyed the newspaper she published with her husband, we meet persecuted Turkish journalists who are living their fate. Sabiha embodies the enduring battle of a powerful woman—she’s vilified, imprisoned, exiled, even hunted down, but never silenced. A century later, she’s inspiring a new generation.

A Film by Tia O'Brien

Learn more: www.searchingforsabiha.com

Contact: tia@searchingforsabiha.com

The Shape of Light

The Shape of Light chronicles multiple storylines in different neighborhoods of the Bay Area striving to preserve local movie theaters while facing an unprecedented global pandemic, a struggling economy, and a societal increase of individual isolation through the use of personal electronic devices. Over several years, we witnessed the solidarity, inventiveness, and challenges driving these communities to go to great lengths to defend something more meaningful than a building. To many, these spaces are the embodiment of community and belonging at the most physically isolating times recorded in human history.

The Castro Theater is an iconic fixture in the Castro neighborhood and a landmark of LGBTQ history, this 1920s movie palace has had its fair share of transformations over the years. In 2020, after many generations of family ownership, The Castro switched to a new administration by Another Planet Entertainment (APE), a company focused on concert productions. They plan to convert the theater into a music venue, and significantly reduce its film programming. This would mean that the Castro could potentially no longer be considered a movie theater, and would mostly cater to patrons outside the neighborhood. This sets in motion a critical mass of community members and organizations fighting together against the actions proposed by the events company.  

The Balboa Theater was built in 1924 as a vaudeville and cinema theater. As theaters become society’s poster child for places to avoid, the team at the Balboa goes through tremendous efforts to keep it afloat and maintain the spirit of the neighborhood community alive. The team that manages the theater explores alternative sources of revenue to take care of their employees, and experiments with events that bring the community together. At first, they sold popcorn on the sidewalk and added outdoor music events. Eventually, they built a parklet with seating to accommodate a growing crowd on weekends. Then, they started running a makeshift, free outdoor cinema with a portable screen, projecting films for neighbors watching from the sidewalk, these community efforts kept the theater afloat and inspired a new appreciation for a space that has become a symbol of the neighborhood's solidarity and unity in difficult times.

The film also portrays the closure of three Bay Area cinemas: Cinemark Theater at San Francisco Westfield Mall, 14 Screening Room Multiplex CGV S.F., and Albany Twin Movie Theater, after 88 years of operation. While not as character-specific as the other storylines, scenes from the last moments of these spaces represent the larger phenomenon of theaters closing around the United States and the world in recent years. These short vignettes will be dispersed throughout the film. The great question posed by this film is, what are we truly losing as a society when we transition from shared, collective participation in experiencing moving images towards more individualized and isolated practices? In this techno-social shift, what is being lost, what’s possible, and what is the risk of not acknowledging these changes and new media-consumption behaviors?

Director & Producer: Andrés Gallegos

Producer: Diana Sánchez Maciel

Producer: Constanza Hevia H.

Editor: Arash Maleki

Consulting Producer: Brenda Ávila-Hanna

Academic advisor: Professor Jen Reck

Academic advisor: Dr. Daniel Bernardi

Learn more: www.theshapeoflight.net

She Said, Yes

Short Film | 15 min | San Francisco

SEE TEASER TRAILER FOR “SHE SAID, YES” HERE!

Synopsis: London is at her breaking point. She and her fiance, Nate, who is sick and fighting cancer, have endured an exhaustive number of treatments - which has taken a major toll on their already unstable relationship. After learning Nate's round was unsuccessful, London runs from her grief and has a one-night stand with a stranger. Consumed by guilt, London must face the aftermath of her decision, as both she and Nate find the courage to come to terms with the end of their relationship. 

SHE SAID, YES is a coming-of-age horror short film that explores the theme of guilt and our protagonist's journey toward accountability. Deciding to separate from someone you love is difficult, and few stories portray how challenging it is to pull the plug on a long-term partnership—especially during illness.

The fear of harming another or not making the right choice can paralyze a person, keeping them bound to a situation that only harms both parties. Instead of being honest with her feelings, our protagonist makes a controversial move and cheats, subconsciously creating the catalyst to implode their struggling relationship. When someone does not take accountability for their wrongdoings and attempts to maintain the status quo, the pain and guilt can be devouring, causing more damage than necessary.

This film allows space for audiences to contemplate what honesty, accountability, and courage look like within our relationships. How do we overcome the impossible choices we're confronted with, even when they seem difficult or cruel?

This past December, SHE SAID, YES was shortlisted as Semi-Finalist for the Shore Scripts Short Film Competition and selected as Quarter-Finalist at the Outstanding Shorts Screenplay Competition (2023). Additionally, SHE SAID, YES is ranked in the top 1% discoverable projects on Coverfly, and hand-picked for the “Red List”, which features short film scripts for production companies and talent agencies.

The filmmakers completed 90% of the principal photography. Positioned with incredible footage and performance by Peace Ikediuba and Delano Montgomery, they are raising additional funds needed for pickup shots and post-production and getting this film out to festivals as soon as possible! Please consider being part of this film and helping to get this film to the finish line and on to the screen! Any and all contributions are immensely appreciated!

CAST & CREW

SIX SHORT FILMS BY JS BACH

These six 20-minute films, part documentary and part performance documentation, repair the complete lack of art films capturing them in performance, just in time for their three hundred birthday in 2020. In addition to merging Bach’s monumental compositions with the lyrical sweep of the his handwriting, these linked documentaries will bring the viewer to the castle in Köthen where Bach wrote and performed the sonatas and partitas, and describe in plain language the unsurpassed musical and technical innovation they represent.

A film by Paul Festa.

Stewart Udall: the Politics of Beauty

Stewart Udall: The Politics of Beauty, an hour-long biography, produced in cooperation with Arizona Public Television, will follow the trajectory of Udall’s life from his Mormon childhood in the tiny hamlet of St. John’s, Arizona, through his World War II service in Europe, his student years at the University of Arizona where he played basketball and fought for integration, his years in Congress, and then, most significantly, as Secretary of the Interior under presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and finally his later years as an author, activist and advocate for victims of atomic testing and uranium mining.

A documentary about the life of Stewart Udall is long overdue.  It will reveal in depth that period during the sixties and seventies when the environmental movement in America grew into adulthood.  Perhaps more importantly, in our now deeply partisan environment, it would reveal a time when Americans were not yet so polarized, when big ideas could still capture bipartisan attention, and when America awoke to the unfolding destruction of paradise and determined to stop it.

Director/Writer: John de Graaf
Producers: Zelie Pollon and Laurence Cotton
Photographer/Editor: Greg Davis
Executive Producers: Vada Manager and Kevin White
Impact Producer: Jennifer Ekstrom

For more information about the project, see this pitch deck, or visit StewartUdallFilm.org

Sweetness & power

Sweetness & Power is the story of how Europe's taste for sugar transformed the world and developed a model of agriculture and labor that is defining our current and future existence.

Sugar is possibly the largest geopolitical actor in recent human history, transforming the way people farm, manufacture and eat. The set of relationships developed on the sugar plantations in the Americas during European colonization are key to understanding climate change and the cascading mass extinction event that is currently underway.

Sugar only recently became a ubiquitous part of the world’s diet and culture and it happened through the brutality and violence of chattel slavery. The rise of the sugar plantation in turn went on to define both modern agriculture and the conception of the factory. Today, the profits associated with sugar’s products, which include the costs of medical treatments from its devastating impact on global health, are in the trillions of dollars. The contemporary production of sugarcane continues in plantation conditions that are brutal and exploitative both socially and ecologically.

A constellation of informed and interdisciplinary voices in concert with illustrative imagery, invites the sensible viewer to consider these complex and intersectional histories. The film addresses questions like; How did we arrive at this period of social and ecological ruination? What are the drivers in this unprecedented global health crisis with so much of the population experiencing chronic illness over the course of their lives? How do the multi-trillion dollar sugar and ultraprocessed foods industries obfuscate the implications of their products? And how are the legacies of plantation logic manifest and consequential in the present?

Director: Perry Shimon

Editor / Composer: Dustin Lynn

Composer: Skooby Laposky

Tails of the City

Mixed breeds find love, laughter and mutual pleasure when sharing common ground.

Welcome to Duboce Park. This sunny neighborhood park is a gathering spot for families and dog owners from all over Noe Valley, the Castro and the surrounding Duboce Triangle neighborhood, where blessedly dogs can be off leash. We wanted to bring a smile to the faces of an audience hungry for gentle pleasures, a short, needed distraction from today’s critical events.

Tails of the City will be a 30 minute film.

GoFundMe page

Producer, Director, Editor - Diana Fuller

Producer, Co-Director, Camera, Editor - Jason Wolos

Executive Producer - Berry Minott

Associate Producer - Belinda Presser

Tickleberry Place

Tickleberry Place is a small magical world unknown to others outside. It has an abundance of trees and plants, and is filled with small farms, gardens, rolling grasslands and meadows. Everything the sun touches in Tickleberry Place seems to have a little bit of magic, especially the plants.

Terry, Evie, Kato and Kina are best friends. This particular group of Tickleberry children loves to play.

Through simple story telling and songs, four friends are introduced to ideas which build their emotional intelligence, self-awareness and social skills, while encouraging positive communication methods.

The lessons taught at Tickleberry Place promote more present, reflective and confident children.

Director: Lauren McElroy

Learn more at tickleberryplace.com

We Outside: Bay Area Bike Life

We Outside explores the big BMX wheelie bike scene–a renegade bicycle movement that offers a critical outlet for youth and adults to push themselves physically, find role models, and build community. While mostly positive, tensions arise as kids push boundaries, clash with drivers and pedestrians, and jeopardize the legitimacy and safety of everyone involved.

Bike Life brings together youth and adults–bridging differences and uniting people from different backgrounds, races, religions–all over a bicycle. David Rangel, better known as Mainey (@d_mainey27), introduces us to the scene through the 2nd anniversary of his weekly “ride out”, called Ashland Wednesdays. We see kids as young as 7 riding alongside parents and even grandparents. Hundreds of riders take over the streets in a celebration of unity and community, converging outside, practicing tricks, riding and vibing.

But what is Bike Life? Anybody on any bike is welcome, though the scene revolves around a specific style ride: the big BMX. Professional riders and casual enthusiasts give us the highlights, along with a brief history, in a montage of voices, flipped out bikes, and awe-inspiring tricks.

Underneath the visual thrill of wheelies and freeway takeovers, we find people making meaningful connections and navigating challenging circumstances. We catch up with Mainey and his dad early one morning as they clean windows together–a family business. They reflect on Mainey’s struggles with alcohol abuse, incarceration, and depression, and how riding in the Bike Life community has been central in turning that around. Many riders in the scene have overcome similar challenges, and they become role models for kids who join their rides, kids facing their own problems.

We Outside captures the beauty of the riding and the positivity of the community, and how quickly things can go sideways. While Bike Life offers a more positive alternative to gang life for some youth, for others it’s a way to act out. Riding in groups can feel empowering, but it can also bring out a mob-like mentality. Kids feel like they own the streets and the sidewalks–swerving into oncoming traffic and even weaving through pedestrians at high speed. In a terrifying incident caught on helmet camera, we see an aggravated driver run down a rider and speed away. We also see youth riders violently attacking pedestrians who get upset at being swerved by bikes.

Veteran rider, Tim Shellshock (@bikelifenews), sees a pattern of motorists targeting bikes out of anger, frustration, or even fear. Hit and runs have become almost commonplace. As he tries to leverage his platform in the community to address violent and antagonistic behavior, we hear perspectives from youth and from victims of youth violence. We follow Tim as he tries to recruit other leaders to help him build empathy and bridges. He’s confident the legitimacy and safety of the entire community hangs in the balance.

Producer/Director - Greg Miller, LifeCycle Films

IG: @lifecycle_films

Whitewashed

WHITEWASHED is the story of Eugenics, as promoted by Leland Stanford Jr. University's first president, David Starr Jordan, and how this theory's history was covered up and only recently revealed. The film will also finally shed light on the mysterious death of Stanford University’s co-founder Jane Stanford, who was at odds with the administration.

WHITEWASHED is also an example of how institutional racism can be addressed and countered.

Eugenics—or the idea of being ‘good birth’— was coined by Charles Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton who proposed that we can improve the human condition by only allowing the ‘fittest’ (primarily white, Northern Europeans) to reproduce, while sterilizing the unfit who included certain other races, the mentally and physically infirm. At the dawn of the 20th century it became a widely accepted concept that many intellectuals had embraced, and was even taught as a science in nearly 400 colleges and universities in the United States, including Harvard, the University of California, Columbia, and Stanford Universities.

Narrated by a well-known Stanford graduate, the film features interviews with historians and other experts, supported by archival footage, and a custom music and soundtrack. The film tells the story of how early eugenicists led by Stanford’s then President David Starr Jordan played an important although little-known role in the propagation of the eugenics movement, ultimately becoming adopted in the nineteen-thirties by the German National Socialist party. In 2020, led by undergraduate student Ben Maldonado, Stanford undertook a campaign to rid the campus of its eugenicists’ past, but not without consequence, and the revelation of who likely killed Jane Stanford.

A film by Berry Minott

Women Who Ride

This short film is an intimate portrait of D’Vious Wayz Motorcycle Club, Oakland’s first Black all-women motorcycle club led by Tish Edwards. Bonded by their passion for the hum of an engine, the smell of grease, and the open road this close-knit group of women has been together for 20 years. But as membership dwindles during COVID and family responsibilities mount, multiple challenges will need to be addressed on the journey ahead.

Director: Jessica Jones

Zoo Story: reinventing the american zoo

Zoo Story explores the past, present and future of North American zoos.  We trace the fascinating and little-known story of how zoos have evolved from places largely devoted to recreation with a secondary focus on science to centers for wildlife and habitat conservation as well as environmental education.  And we meet the animals and people who make zoos such special places.

Learn more: http://zoostory.org/

The Filmmakers

Rick Hills is a San Francisco attorney, real estate developer and Chairman of San Diego Zoo Global's Foundation Board with a lifetime of zoo experience.

Ron Blatman is a filmmaker with a background in real estate and local government. He was the Executive Producer for Saving the Bay.