Featured filmmakers
The following filmmakers have been showcased over the course of 18 seasons:
Jeff Adachi
Jeff Adachi has served as elected Public Defender of the City and County of San Francisco since March 2002 and has worked as a deputy public defender in San Francisco for 15 years.
Larry Adelman
Co-Director, California Newsreel
Creator and Exec. Producer: The Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation (3 hours, 2015)
Creator and Exec. Producer: Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?(4 hours, 2008)
Creator and Exec. Producer: Race-The Power of an Illusion(3 hours, 2003)
Producer, Director or Co-Producer: The Road to Brown(56’, 1990); Collision Course (47’, 1988); The Business of America… (46’, 1984); Controlling Interest(45’, 1978)
Yasha Aginsky
Producer/Director/ Writer/Cameraman/Editor/ Teacher
His work was twice nominated for Oscars: FOREVER ACTIVISTS (Judith Montell) and LAS MADRES DE LA PLAZA DE MAYO (Susana Muñoz and Lourdes Portillo). Some of the other notable feature documentaries Yasha edited include: THE VANISHING LINE (Maren Monsen); EL DORADO (Frank Green); WAYFINDERS (Gail Evenari); WE LOVE YOU LIKE A ROCK (Ashley James); HAWAII: PARADISE IN PERIL (Sharon Austin); RENAISSANCE: THE DISSENTER (Bill Jersey); THE ROAD TO BROWN (William Elwood); WESTWARD TO CHINA (James Culp); CARVED IN SILENCE (Felicia Lowe); COWBOY POETS (Kim Stanley) THE HERO S JOURNEY: THE WORLD OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL (William Free); OUTSIDER (Betsy Bayha) and GRANNY D GOES TO WASHINGTON (Alidra Solday).
ANIMACRACKERS Mark West & Barbara Bayne
Barbara Bayne: (animation direction; character design; animation; story; layout; storyboards; writer) Barbara has worked in traditional as well as digital animation for film, TV and the internet.
Mark West: (art direction; animation; layout; backgrounds; storyboards; concept art; voice actor) Mark has worked in traditional as well as digital and 3D animation for film, TV and the internet.
Our recent projects include 2 animated storybooks, “The Little Red Hen” and “Chicken Little”, available through the iTunes book store. Please see our work at the AnimaCrackers YouTube Channel and in the iTunes Store. We live in, work in, and love Bernal Heights.
Ana Arcioni
I’ve had a turning point in my career, from Industrial Psychologist to Filmmaker. I was born in Argentina to an Italian family, and my adventurous spirit led me to travel around, and to live as a young adult in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, then in Barcelona, Spain, and then in San Francisco, CA, where I have gained a certificate on “Video Production and Editing” and I’m currently finishing my studies on Cinema Production. I have directed several short films, worked in other filmmaker’s pieces, produced and directed a web series dedicated to English speakers studying Spanish, and made animated shorts too.
Benjamin Bac Sierra
Ben was raised by the Bernal Heights and Mission District streets. After serving honorably in the USMC, Ben completed a B.A., a teaching credential, an M.A., and a Juris Doctor degree. Currently, he is a professor at CCSF and a community innovator. Ben’s writing has been published in newspapers and magazines, including World Literature Today. His first novel Barrio Bushido was presented a Best of the Bay and International Latino Book Award. In 2016, U.C. Hastings La Raza Students Association honored him with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. “Lowrider Lawyers: Putting a City on Trial” is his first film.
Bay Area Center for Arts and Technology (BAYCAT)
BAYCAT produces “Zoom In,” a half hour series that airs on Access SF, channel 29. Students, ages 9–15, develop the concept, shoot the video, conduct the interviews, create the animation and compile the music for each of the segments. By participating in classes taught by working filmmakers titled “Art of Animation,” “My TV,” and “First Movie/First Audio,” students with no previous experience with film or video produced the insightful Why Violence?
Mary Beaven
Editor. Graduated from the Academy of Art in 1990 with a degree in Photography. Interestingly, video production is where she ended up. She has worked for the City of Fairfield for over 10 years where she shoots and edits video productions. Mary is proud to be a Native Northern Californian, and happy to call her beloved Bernal Heights home.
Eric Bergman
Producer/Director/Video-Editor/Cameraman/Carpenter/Bartender/Businessman/Student-of-the-world.
Garden of Friendship. After receiving an M.A. from SF State, Eric took a hiatus from the video production field to save a little money for travel and other explorations. He hopes to combine his passion for travel and learning with documentary work and is seeking other media artists to collaborate on a documentary about the art of the Burning Man Festival.
Larry Betts
Director/Producer, Shoe Biz, Narrative, 16mm 25 min.
Festivals/Awards:Breckenridge, Haifa, Bronze City, Los Angeles Film Fest, Edinburgh International, Manheim, Amiens, Worldfest Houston, Malta, Suffolk County, Joey Awards, Wine Country Film Festival
Caroline Blair
Writer/Director Caroline Blair is a Bay Area filmmaker and teacher. Her three narrative short films, Urban Steal(1990) and The Day I Shot President Kennedy(1995), and The Queen of Beechwood Drive(2009), have appeared in over 30 film festivals nationally and internationally and earned 10 awards. The Queen of Beechwood Drive won “Best of Bernal” in the Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema festival in 2010.
Caroline has also served as Master of Ceremonies for BHOC’s Best of Bernal evenings in recent years. She currently teaches filmmaking at City College of San Francisco. Carolineblairfilms@vimeo.com
Charlie Blecker
I am a native San Francisco filmmaker. I have lived in Bernal Heights my entire life. I have been making movies since the age of 12. The movie — Soft Targets — is my first animation. We made it over the course of 7 months.
Carlos Bolado
Director/Editor
Bajo California (1999)
Like Water for Chocolate
Olivia Booker
Originally from North Carolina, Olivia’s films treat subjects ranging from public restrooms in San Francisco to organic farming in Italy to affordable housing in the Bay Area. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Documentary Film at Stanford University, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from Davidson College, where she also spent a year working as an animator and graphic artist. Additionally, Olivia has worked in narrative film, commercial and nonprofit organizations, and distribution. She believes that documentary film provides a unique way to examine society through different perspectives, and hopes that her films will bring awareness to those perspectives.
Samati Boonchitsitsak
Born in Thailand, Samati is a filmmaker currently living in San Francisco. He has an extensive background in animation and visual effects. Samati is currently directing his first Sci-fi feature film. He enjoys photography, running and bicycling, as well as playing underwater hockey.
Virginia Bowen
Mixed Media Pictorial Artist
Producer/Director: Two of a Kind (2002)
Also works in video, photography and printmaking.
Bryan Boyce / Adrianne Finelli / Jackie Jones
Bryan Boyce & Adrianne Finelli are Bay Area-based artists whose films have screened at venues around the world. Jackie Jones is a musician and longtime Bernal Heights resident who delighted crowds for years with her performances at the Alemany Farmers Market.
Mark Brecke
Bernal resident, Mark Brecke is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer, whose work documents the stories of people victimized by war, ethnic conflict, and genocide. Since (1995) he has covered some of the most troubled regions of the world. Mark’s work has been exhibited at a wide variety of venues, ranging from micro-cinemas to the Toronto International Film Festival and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. His work has also been featured on CNN, National Geographic, NPR and Democracy Now!. His photographs are in the collections of the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. and the Museo de Memoria y Tolerancia in Mexico City. Recently, Mark was based in Kenya developing a new film in Somalia. He lives in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco with his wife and daughter.
Dianne Brennan
Dianne Brennan is a multimedia artist and educator who most recently lived in San Francisco. Her goal as an artist to create work that remembers and honors people, moments, and places, recording a subjective shared history. Her latest documentary, Senior Getaway, which focuses on an overnight camp for those aged “55 and better,” was screened at the Lid Off Film Festival in Lucas, KS and at the Harvey Milk Center for the Arts. Her work has been performed/shown at The Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, Jon Sims Center for the Arts, Artists Television Access, 111 Minna, Counterpulse and SF Cameraworks. In 2000 Dianne won the New Mexico Discovery Award from Recursos De Santa Fe for her poetry.
Ethan Bresnick
Ethan Bresnick is a 16-year-old film director from San Francisco. He attends high school at the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts in the Media Arts department.
Angi Brzycki
Angi Brzycki was born in Milwaukee but moved to New Jersey in high school. She moved to LA after graduating college. Angi was a resident of Bernal Heights (above Avedano’s on Cortland Ave.) when this short — Untitled — was made. She has since relocated to Los Angeles for a librarian job with the city. Currently, her art is leaning toward social practice. She is also working on a novel. The goal of the book is to be transformative. Angi is struggling with the transformative part.
Brian Burroughs
Producer/Director: Suckerfish; Urbana; “Aquamorpheus”
Filmmaker and freelance photographer; producer of short experimental films