Best of Bernal — SOUTH SLOPE CINEMA
Friday, October 29, 2021
Alemany Market Plaza • 100 Alemany Blvd
7:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Gates open at 6:00 pm
Entry by registration only,
beginning 10/22
The Best of Bernal Season Finale features the five award-winning films and filmmakers of the 2021 season. The evening begins with a video of the awards ceremony, where the season’s major sponsors present the awards to the winning filmmakers and the filmmakers say a few words about their film and the inspiration for it. Then the audience is treated to a viewing of the five films, which have won the awards in the following categories:
- Best of Bernal award — is awarded to a local Bernal filmmaker for the best of this year’s submissions by the Submissions & Selection Committee
- Spirit of Bernal award — is awarded to a non-Bernal filmmaker for the film that best resonates with the sentiment/sensibility (political, social, physical locale) of Bernal Heights by the Submission & Selection Committee — this season we have a tie score!
- Bernal Bright Star award — is awarded by the Submission & Selection Committee to a member of the future generation of story-tellers with the expectation that the winner will make a significant contribution to the art of film and video in the course of her/his/their filmmaking career.
- Good Life Audience Favorite award — is awarded by vote of the at-large Outdoor Cinema audience following the conclusion of the season.
Film Lineup
Best of Bernal
RADICAL CARE: THE AUNTIE SEWING SQUAD
Valerie Soe
Documentary 7:57
In response to the U.S. government’s botched response to the COVID-19 crisis, a group of mostly women of color get to work, sewing masks for people in need in the U.S.
Spirit of Bernal
KNOCKING DOWN THE FENCES
Megan Shutzer
Documentary 11:57
A portrait of AJ Andrews, a professional softball player and the first woman to win a Rawlings Gold Glove, usually given to professional baseball players.
Spirit of Bernal
FROZEN OUT
Hao Zhou
Experimental Narrative 5:00
A Chinese émigré retreats to frozen prairies, forests and swamps, trying to escape the anxieties of dislocation and find a meaningful story for his queer self-exile.
Bernal Bright Star
TURFIN
Latiece Brown
Dance Documentary 7:56
A brief glimpse into the world of “Turf Dancing” created by street dancers in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Good Life Audience Award
ACROSS
Matthew Riutta
Drama 12:13
A grieving father’s journey over a bridge goes awry after he picks up a homeless veteran.