season kickoff
BERNAL PLAZA — aka Bernal Recreation Center
Friday, September 9, 2022
Bernal Heights Playground
500 Moultrie Street
Film lineup
Diner Discord 02:05
Animation
Alan Rosenfeld
Rusty, is a happy-go-lucky Model AR291 who just wants a job. After Rusty is hired at a diner, things don’t go as planned with the special of the day.
Swam 02:29
Animation
Cathy Teng
A swimmer’s thoughts
Morning Walk 03:00
Music Video
Peter Vahle
A walk over Bernal Hill accompanied by music by local musician Dave Berry
Complimenting Cowboys 03:06
Comedy
Olive Corine Read
“Complimenting Cowboys” is a fun film about two cowboys who take a different route when it comes to dealing with an argument.
Whose stories do these hands hold? 03:07
Experimental
Samantha Ariel Berlanga
A love letter to my ancestors.
sorry I’m adopted 06:23
Documentary
Devin Schultz
An experimental essay film that explores what it means to be a transracial adoptee and the revelations growing up reveals
Live This Loudly 04:31
Documentary
Sophie Erini Constantinou
Afatasi a San Francisco- based artist blends, melds and welds her way through the textures and stories of local politics in search of transformative Afro-futures..
Facade 12:16
Narrative
Sophie Frey
Debora, an introverted college student, tries to achieve happiness by making her online life picture-perfect, but finds that appearances do not always correlate with reality.
SILVER 01:28
Animation
Haley Stemmons
How it feels when you argue with someone you love.
ICU through lightning
Music Video
Deidre Locklear
Dave Deporis (the creator of this song) was tragically killed in 2017. Deidre Locklear found solace in his music and its interpretation in dance.
Wells Fargo Defund Line 3 05:39
Documentary
Peter Menchini
Wells Fargo and BlackRock are selling out your future. Our indigenous-led art party brought the message to their executives.
A Vision of Here 10:02
Documentary
Yasha Aginsky
Tthe inception and creation of a large-scale, completely original mural spanning the entire auditorium of the historic Nevada Theatre in downtown Nevada City.
murder in the high desert, The Killing of James Wakasa
Documentary
Emiko Omori
Topaz Concentration Camp, Utah. April 11, 1943. James Hatsuaki Wakasa is on an evening stroll with his dog. A single shot rings out from Guard Tower 8. Seventy-seven years later, archaeologists rediscover this clue reminding us never to forget what was done.
It’s always something 11:30
Social Satire
Derrick Scocchera
Through a series of vignettes, the often inexplicable behaviors of contemporary humans are observed and commented upon by a droll narrator.
Parental Guidance: Some material may not be appropriate for young children or pre-teenagers.
UNDER THE STARS
PRECITA PARK
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Precita Park
3200 Folsom Street
Film lineup
Touch the Sky 02:05
Animation
Alan Rosenfeld
The carefree days of childhood come alive through a little girl’s imagination. On a sunny day with her father, they meet up with like-minded travelers.
Bickering Burglars 04:02
Comedy
Madeline Ko
Two burglars break into a house, then argue about their thieving strategies as they escape. Police arrive, and a wild car chase ensues.
Stache Society 05:38
Comedy
Olive Corine Read
After an encounter with a mustachioed stranger, a young boy goes to many lengths to find the secret society the stranger may be apart of.
Welcome to Life 03:08
Experimental
Samantha Ariel Berlanga
“Welcome to Life” rebels against the trite representation of gender roles and femininity through the journey of two marionettes .
Wade in the Water 00:45
Visual Essay
Betsy Stern
The barricades that people of color face all the time are reflected by the buildings with seemingly no entrance. I’ve seen the difference in the way we are treated. I want that to end.
Distant Observer 013:48
Music Video
Ramiro Cairo
Distance makes us more observant. During the pandemic, Nico Cuneo in Buenos Aires and Ramiro Cairo in San Franciso collaborated on a “journey within a journey” and invite us to explore it with them.
Paul Panish: Poem on My Eighty-Seventh Birthday 08:22
Documentary
Dan Goldes
Oakland poet Paul Panish ruminates on the nature of creativity, on his life, and on the somewhat surprising act of turning 87, which he has, naturally, turned into a poem.
Equinox 02:45
Animation
Mark West
Time passes quickly, and so does the light on this special day, which happens to be on an equinox, the perfect balance between light and darkness.
The Merry Widow 09:34
Documentary
Jason Jakaitis
The Merry Widow is a radioactive “health spa” located in the heart of an abandoned ore mine in Montana, and the site of the filmmaker’s efforts to come to grips with his mother’s ovarian cancer diagnosis.
Music for Hard Times, Part 2 02:43
Music Video
Jon Fischer & Danny Clay
A pandemic-era music video conceived as an audio visual resource for comfort and calming by guitar-percussion chamber ensemble The Living Earth and Danny Clay and Jon Fischer, Bernal-based visual artist
The Phoenix 15:00
Drama
Regina Pigsley
A young girl attempts to fix her parents’ marriage by using her newly discovered superpowers.
Side Effects 15:04
Drama
Star Finch & Campo Santo
An excerpt of a longer piece written by San Francisco native Star Finch for local new performances group Campo Santo- travels back to 2009 in order to better interrogate the present as it relates to the American Dream, gentrification, and the marijuana industry.
Best of Bernal
Bernal Heights Park, North Slope
Friday, September 16, 2022
Bernal Heights Park
3450 Folsom Street
The Best of Bernal Season Finale featured the four award-winning films and filmmakers of the 2022 season. The evening began with two short films by promising emerging filmmakers that took us “Beyond Bernal” geographically and virtually. The AWARDS PRESENTATION began with a video of the season’s major sponsors presenting the awards to the winning filmmakers and the filmmakers acceptances of the awards.
BEYOND BERNAL
Lost Souls of Limbo 03:50
Animation
Madisyn Montoya
The story of Limbo, the place between heaven and hell, read from a magical storybook. Though a dark entity is unhappy about its secrets being spilled and is trying to corrupt the message.
Love Returning 07:21
Music Video/Documentary
Turki Al-Rwaita
A documentary of the collaboration between Ali Alharki, a Syrian refugee living in Germany, who composed this music and musicians in the Bay Area.
Parental guidance: Some material may be disturbing to young children; scenes of warfare.
AWARDS PRESENTATION
Best of Bernal
When Mama & Me Lived Outside: One Family’s Journey Through Homelessness 08:11
Documentary/Animation
Peter Menchini
Tiny and her mama Dee co-founded a poor and indigenous people led movement called POOR magazine/PrensaPobre while they were still struggling with homelessness and poverty. This is their story.
Spirit of Bernal
Game Hawker 25:25
Documentary
Brett Marty and Josh Izenberg
A game hawker finds his place in nature through his work with the raptors who he trains, and who, turn, teach him what the wild has to offer.
Bernal Bright Star
Adelita 08:29
Drama
Fernanda Gutierrez
Sisters, Camila and Valentina, are recruited by their aunt to join the Mexican Revolution as soldaderas (a.k.a. female soldiers. When sent in search of an escaped chicken, they discover important truths about their relationship.
Good Life Audience Award
Paul Panish: Poem on My Eighty-Seventh Birthday 08:22
Documentary
Dan Goldes
Oakland poet Paul Panish ruminates on the nature of creativity, on his life, and on the somewhat surprising act of turning 87, which he has, naturally, turned into a poem.