FilmClick

Chris Taylor’s documentary “Food Fight” plays at the Santa Cruz Film Festival on Tuesday, May 12th, at 6:30pm at Regal Riverfront Twin Cinemas. Taylor’s film examines American agricultural policy and food culture development in the 20th century and how the California food movement has created a counter revolution against agribusiness.

This film delves in to the local-sustainable-organic food movement that grew out of the counter-culture of California in the late 1960s and 1970s and which lead to the birth of farmer’s markets.  Featuring interviews with restaurateurs Alice Waters and Suzanne Goin, writer Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma),  chef Wolfgang Puck and many more.

View the trailer here:

Director’s statement:

When I started to think about the story that I wanted to tell in FOOD FIGHT, I knew that the story would have many threads. It’s a story that starts politically, in the cultural ferment of Berkeley in the 60’s, and ends in pleasure, by way of some committed chefs, restaurateurs, and food activists in California. Along the way this counter-revolution has brought American food consumers, small farmers and political activists into direct conflict with the power of big agribusiness and American government policy.
This way of eating that I portray in the film started out (or more accurately was rediscovered) in a restaurant called Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Almost by accident, Alice Waters and her chef and partner Jeremiah Tower found that they could find the best ingredients not by buying from the usual industrial food distributors, but instead by canvassing the local neighborhood backyard gardens. Fellow-counter culturists and other proto-organic farmers were growing fresh tomatoes, lettuces, micro greens, and making artisanal cheeses locally.

As Alice herself says in the film, “When I started the restaurant I wasn’t looking for the local organic farmer. I was looking for taste. But in looking for taste, I found those farmers.” Soon she was putting together a local food chain, free from long-distance shipping, and without the pesticides and fertilizers that were leaching taste from supermarket food. As she developed this food chain of small local farmers, an especially fortuitous piece of California statehouse legislation opened a new opportunity for these same farmers to meet consumers directly. This legislation, in 1975, enabled local farmers to sell produce directly to consumers, and Farmers Markets were born. The first markets developed in university towns, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, and later in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego. In the Bay Area, as Chez Panisse developed a national reputation for spectacular culinary results, the local farmers were named on the menu, and the spotlight of chef artistry was shown on the farmers. Savvy consumers realized that they could buy the same ingredients as Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck (who was reprising the same paradigm in spectacular fashion at Spago), and as dedicated foodies know, 85% of cooking is getting the best ingredients.

-Chris Taylor, Director, “Food Fight”

For more information on the film visit:

http://www.foodfightthedoc.com

Check out more films and ticket information about the Santa Cruz Film Festival, which runs from May 7 to May 15, by visiting their website at:

http://www.santacruzfilmfestival.org/

The Santa Cruz Film Festival celebrates opening night at 7:30pm on May 7 at the Del Mar Theatre with Giancarlo Esposito’s (in attendance) directorial debut, “Gospel Hill”, starring Angela Bassett and Danny Glover and featuring Samuel Jackson, Julia Stiles and Adam Baldwin.

About the film
In the town of Julia, the neighborhood citizens of Gospel Hill are being forced out of their homes to make way for a multimillion-dollar development. Dr. Ron Palmer (Giancarlo Esposito, Do the Right Thing, The Usual Suspects), an influential black community leader who runs the local health clinic blindly supports the development. The good doctor’s desire for wealth and status awakens the racially divided community town. John Malcolm (Danny Glover, The Color Purple, Lethal Weapon), withdrew following his brother Peter’s (Samuel Jackson, Pulp Fiction, Eve’s Bayou) assassination thirty years ago, and is still haunted by the pain of the unsolved murder. He is detached from his wife and the society he once fought for.

John’s wife, Sarah (Angela Bassett, What’s Love Got To Do With It, How Stella Got Her Groove Back) takes it upon herself to battle Dr. Palmer and reveal his profiteering to the whole town. Meanwhile, the towns bigoted, ex-sheriff (Tom Bower, Appaloosa, North Country), who was responsible for letting the investigation of Peter’s murder go unresolved, is facing his own mortality and twisted choices.

Each of these characters’ lives intertwine to create a gripping, revealing and dramatic tale touching on issues of race, imminent domain, and the power of the human spirit to overcome the pain and hatred of division. Gospel Hill is overflowing with the deep emotions of greed, transformation, racism, redemption, forgiveness, and hope.

Check out more films playing at the Santa Cruz Film Festival from May 7 to May 15 by visiting their website at:

http://www.santacruzfilmfestival.org/

Interview with director Monty Miranda and writer/star Spencer Berger about their film “Skills Like This” which opens around the San Francisco Bay are on Friday, April 10. Shot during the San Francisco Independent Film Festival.

Monty Miranda’s directorial debut “Skills Like This” opens this weekend in the bay area, playing at the Sundance Kabuki in San Francisco, the Elmwood in Berkeley, and the Nickelodeon in Santa Cruz. Miranda’s film, the South by Southwest Film Festival audience award winner, is about a struggling writer named Max Soloman (played by screenwriter Spencer Berger) who decides to make an unlikely career change at the spur of the moment.  When Max calmly walks across the street and robs a bank after the failure of his latest play, he discovers that he’s finally found something he’s good at.  As Max embraces his new talents, his change in career filters through his friends and they start to look at their lives from new perspectives as well.  The film is amusing; it doesn’t take itself too seriously and features good performances from Berger, love interest Kerry Knuppe and Gabriel Tigerman as the uptight friend Dave.

FilmClick had an opportunity to discuss the film with director Monty Miranda and writer/star Spencer Berger while they were in town for the film’s showing at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival.  Take a look.

For more info on the film, check out the “Skills Like This” website:

http://www.skillslikethis.com

“In a Dream”, a documentary about the tumultuous relationship between mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar and his wife, Julia, opens April 17 at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. “In a Dream”, an IndiePix release, is in English, runs for 80 minutes, and is not yet MPAA rated.

In the vibrant, bohemian neighborhood of South Philadelphia, 50,000-square feet of concrete are covered with tile and mirrors-mosaics that were created by Isaiah Zagar, an eccentric, tormented artist.  The murals chronicle his love for his wife, Julia, and subtly hint at the darker corners of an extraordinary imagination. Where Isaiah is obsessive and narcissistic-a former Peace Corps volunteer who has become an icon in South Philly’s art community-Julia is gracious and warm. For decades, their opposing natures complemented one another perfectly. But suddenly the family is torn apart at the seams: A few hours before picking up his oldest son from a rehabilitation center, Isaiah declares to the camera, “As people get older they have less and less passion.” He then confesses to an affair with his assistant, is kicked out of the house, and spirals into a debilitating, suicidal depression.

The end result is a deeply moving film that started as an exploration of a man’s life and resulted in exposing the secrets of an entire family.

About the Filmmaker

Jeremiah Zagar was born in South Philadelphia in 1981. At age 19, he shot DELHI HOUSE, a documentary about a hospital and orphanage in India. The short premiered at the 2002 Slamdance Film Festival and aired on PBS affiliates across the country. Since then, Jeremiah has written and directed two award-winning short films: BABY EAT BABY and CONEY ISLAND 1945 They have screened in numerous festivals in the US and abroad, including Tribeca, SXSW, and the London Film Festival.  A graduate of Emerson College, Zagar now lives in Brooklyn.

“In a Dream” was part of the 2008 San Francisco Documentary Film Festival.

Interview with director Jon Bowden about the film “The Full Picture” which plays on Sat. Feb 21 at 9:30 PM at the Shattuck Theater in Berkeley, California. Shot during the San Francisco Independent Film Festival.

Interview with director Kevin Chapados about his film “Abraham Obama” which focuses on a grass-roots campaign to promote Barack Obama’s campaign for the Presidency through street art. Shot during the San Francisco Independent Film Festival.

Interview with producer/writer Karim Ahmad about the film “Harrison Montgomery” which plays on Fri. Feb 20, at 7:15 PM at the Shattuck Theater in Berkeley, California. Shot during the San Francisco Independent Film Festival in San Francisco.

Several excellent films from the San Francisco Independent Film Festival make their way across the bay to the Shattuck Cinema in Berkeley, CA for an extended run this weekend. FilmClick recommends these films from local filmmakers which are playing this weekend in Berkeley:

“The Full Picture”

Bay Area filmmaker Jon Bowden’s feature “The Full Picture” plays on Sat. Feb 21 at 9:30 PM. The film is about unresolved family history and the lengths that people will go to keep uncomfortable secrets even in their closest relationships.  The main character, Mark, lives in San Francisco with his long-time girlfriend, Erika.  The couple is headed toward marriage, at least that’s what Erika thinks, but Mark has been keeping some secrets about his family’s sordid past.  A visit from Mark’s mother leads to some uncomfortable revelations for all involved.  This is a well-written film; I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Mark and his brother, Hal, played by Joshua Hutchinson. Hutchinson and Lizzie Ross, who plays Erika, stand out in this film for me.

“Harrison Montgomery”

Daniel Davila’s “Harrison Montgomery” plays on Fri. Feb 20, at 7:15 PM. This film follows an aspiring artist, Ricardo, played by Octavio Gómez Berríos, who lives and creates his art in San Francisco’s rough Tenderloin neighborhood. Ricardo deals drugs to get by.  He ends up in a tangle; owing money to his boss and forced to move into a room at the grimy Hotel Boyd.  At his new place, Ricardo meets single mother Margo and another Hotel Boyd tenant, Harrison Montgomery, played soulfully by Martin Landau.   Montgomery is an eccentric and aging shut-in, who may have won the lottery years before. I won’t go too much more into the story, but it’s a surprisingly inspirational film filled with solid performances.  Of note to me was the gritty production design and the beautiful cinematography of the rarely featured Tenderloin.

by Christopher Potter, FilmClick.com

Go to: www.sfindie.com for show times, more information and tickets.

The 11th annual San Francisco Independent Film Festival opened to a packed house last night at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco’s Mission District with Shane Meadows’ film Somers Town. Meadows’ film was an atypical choice for an opening night film, but a wonderful surprise.  Thomas Turgoose, the star of Meadows’s internationally acclaimed This is England, delivers an awkward, brave and vulnerable performance as run-away teenager Tomo, who leaves the north-Midlands and ends up in the rundown North London neighborhood Somers Town.  It is a difficult role to portray and Turgoose is full of the bravado of youth, the determination not to return home, and the discomfort of adolescence.

Somers Town

Turgoose’s deadpan comic foil, Piotr Jagiello as the as shy, Polish immigrant Marek, brings another dimension to the film’s illustration of the current struggle of the many Polish immigrants finding their way in the United Kingdom since the expansion of the European Union.  The film is shot primarily in black and white and its colorless world adds to the contrast between the characters, town, and their situations.  The exception is the film’s final journey, via the London to Paris train which is a background for this film about journeys.  When the film switches to color in a grainy, high-speed stock for a final journey by the two teenagers, it is almost a coda to the film, a reminder that journeys, internal and external, can be vivid parts of life.

Opening Night at SF IndieFest

True to form for any of SF Indie’s events, which include Another Hole in the Head and the San Francisco Documentary Festival, when we left the theater after Somers Town, a motley group of Star Wars characters awaited the departing audience.  I didn’t C3PO, but R2-D2 was there, along with many storm troopers, Ben Kenobi and Luke Skywalker himself.  One of the great things about  the festivals that Jeff Ross puts on is the light whimsy that surrounds the events.  I think he realizes that films and events like these are meant to be fun and it always shows.  I’ve been to festivals with my films and usually the parties seem to be stiff, hotel ballroom mixers and the best times are usually had after hours at whatever bar you migrate to.  Not the case with SFIndie’s events.  Don’t miss the Big Lebowski costume party on Saturday, February 7.  I’m sure it will be fun.

by Christopher Potter, FilmClick.com

Go to: www.sfindie.com for show times, more information and tickets.