A documentary about the rich musical folk culture of Cuba.
SANTIAGO IS SANTIAGO
In the 50+ years since the Cuban revolution, Cuba’s isolation from the U.S. has allowed its culture to evolve independently. In 2011, the El Granda-based filmmaker Warren Haack travelled to Cuba on a lark. He quickly fell in love with the culture. He returned to film this in-depth look at the music, dance, religion and everyday lives of the people—in the streets, at home and in the clubs where life throbs to a distinct, captivating rhythm.
Friday, April 19, 7:30 p.m.
Community United Methodist Sanctuary
777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay (corner of Johnston Street)
Suggested donation: $8 adults, $3 for those 18 years and under
The film features the performances of over a dozen musical groups. Images of everyday life are woven into the music. The cars may be old-fashioned, but the music is revolutionary, featuring new genres created out of a fusion of musical styles that the originators had never envisioned.
Warren Haack lives in El Granada, works for the Department of Cinema at San Francisco State University, and serves as a board member of the Coastside Film Society. He will attend the screening and regale us with stories about his trips to Cuba. As a special treat he will let us have a glimpse of new footage her captured last month during his most recent trip to Cuba.
More info on the Web at: www.HMBFilm.org
Movie trailer at: youtu.be/cQkG0O_QVGA
Friday’s Documentary a must see for Lovers of Art & Totalitarianism
The Desert of Forbidden Art(80 mins)
Coastside Film Society Film Night
Friday, March 15, 7:30 p.m.
Community United Methodist Sanctuary 777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay
Suggested donation: $8 adults, $3 for children and students
Nukus is a remote capital deep inside Uzbekistan, a Central Asian country where water is scarce and 120-degree weather is common. It's an unlikely location for one of the world's greatest avant-garde art collections. It took filmmakers Amanda Pope and Tchavdar Georgiev six years to get access to the collection, to shoot all the film needed to illustrate this remarkable collection, and to capture all the interviews needed to tell the story of the remarkable man who was able to create this artistic oasis in the remote Uzbek outback.
It all began when Uzbekistan was still part of the Soviet Union, and modern art and artists were being harshly persecuted by Stalin. Wannabe artist Igor Savitsky came to Uzbekistan as part of an archeological expedition, and found himself surrounded by talented Soviet artists hiding out in the Uzbek outback. Realizing he could never produce work as beautiful as what he was seeing, he redirected his passion to collecting the forbidden art he loved. In time his collection grew to over 40,000 pieces housed in the folk art museum he talked the state into founding.
"The Desert of Forbidden Art provides a dramatic examination of the power of art against forces of repressive tyranny. It is a fascinating work that will ennoble art lovers, students of Russian history, and anyone who believes in the power of culture." Phil Hall, FilmThreat.com
For more info: www.hmbfilm.org
Preview of the film at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FBRi97BoWAM
4th annual Silent Film Fest in Half Moon Bay
The Coastside Film Society will screen "Sunrise" - a silent film masterpiece with live grand piano accompaniment on Friday Feb 22nd.
1927 was the year the silent film achieved artistic perfection and then died. In that year, F.W. Murnau's tense psychological drama Sunrise was released. Critics were quick to acclaim that Sunrise was the finest film ever made. It won three academy awards including the coveted best and most artistic picture of the year. The public could care less. You see, 1927 was also the year in which the first talkies arrived. Talkies are what people clamored to see and Sunrise was a box office flop. As a result few people alive today have heard of it. Thats a shame because this is a film that still sits on many critics top ten lists of the best movies of all times.
Friday, Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m.
Community United Methodist Sanctuary
777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay (corner of Johnston Street)
Suggested Donation $8 adults, $3 for children and students
This is the fourth year that the Coastside Film Society has staged a silent film night featuring live musical accompaniment by Montara's own Shauna Pickett-Gordon on the grand piano. If you have not seen Shauna perform at a silent film night before, check out this video that features Shauna's work.
More info at: www.HMBFilm.org
Reviewer Landon Palmer calls Sunrise one of the greatest films of all time: “Here you have it all: . A romantic comedy worthy of a wise-cracking Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. A horror film whose use of shadows is worthy of any Universal monster movie. And an adventure/thriller worthy of Bogart. (The film) goes to so many places, accomplishes so much emotionally, earns all of it, and does so through a visionary style that manages to suck the audience in. The extended trot through the city is one of the most unapologetically whimsical sequences in cinema, and I love it. (And lets not forget the hilarious ) drunken pig as a metaphor for the political treaties that led to WWI.” FilmSchoolRejects.com.
“Modern audiences will still be blown away by the boldness of the film’s visual experimentation. The more you consider Sunrise the deeper it becomes.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“The individual passages are so lyrically tactile, so swoony, they transform spectatorship into something else. They defined what was/is cinematic from that point on.” Michael Atkinson , Village Voice
More info at: www.HMBFilm.org
Colorful Blockbuster from China Screens on Friday
The Coastside Film Society proudly presents Red Sorghum.
“Beautiful, visually but with that extra edge of human darkness; lust, greed, violence, death, murderous invaders, all set within or close to the wavering seas of sorghum grasses, grown for making a blood-red wine … A story that starts simply but builds into a brazen attack on the senses, the superb use of colour mixing with excellent dramatic acting, slow-moving and evocative long takes and occasional bursts of action - and some comedy, good natural comedy that's actually a joy and which breaks down any boundaries concerned with race, or time.” Tim Kinder, IMDB.com
Fri, Nov. 30, 7:30 p.m.
Community United Methodist Sanctuary
777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay (corner of Johnston Street)
Suggested donation: $8 adults,
The film opens with a scene of a young woman nestled deep within a sedan chair as it winds its way through the arid landscape of Northeastern China in the 1920s. She is dreading her first encounter with the old wine merchant that her father has arranged as her new husband. When she gets there she finds a life that is even more complicated than she could ever imagine. Then the Japanese invade, and her life changes radically once again.
“Red Sorghum has no desire to be subtle, or muted; it wants to splash its passionate colors all over the screen with abandon, and the sheer visual impact of the film is voluptuous… Hollywood doesn't make films like this anymore, because we have forgotten how to be impressionable enough to believe them.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The film was brought to the Film Society by Jenny Lau of the Cinema Department at San Francisco State. Professor Lau, a well-known scholar of Asian cinematography will introduce the film and lead the after screening discussion.
The dialog is in Mandarin and Japanese with English subtitles. This film includes violence and adult themes and is not appropriate for young children.
More info at www.HMBFilm.org
Video of the 2012 Pumpkin Fest Parade is now online
I have been filming the Pumpkin Fest for many years now. The local TV station has been airing those videos on freqent rotation. That station is gone, and the new station no longer airs the full videos. People have been asking me to post my coverage online. I broke up the video in to a series of short, easilty digestible clips, all of which I have posted on YouTube. Enjoy, and please email the links to friends and family who might be interested.
There are two easy ways to find the clips you are most interested in.
1.) START WITH MY PUMPKIN FEST OPENING CLIP:
http://tinyurl.com/2012Pumpkin
Links to a dozen clips from Pumpkin Fest are embedded into this clip.
Or:
2.) START WITH A MENU OF AVAILABLE CLIPS:.
http://tinyurl.com/PumpkinClips
Pick a clip to play or choose “Play all” to play all the clips in order.
I will be adding more clips of music and of events like the pie eating contest soon. Enjoy.
Friday is Film Night in Half Moon Bay - Under African Skies
Under African Skies(108 mins)
“A cultural lightning bolt that soars on its music and an unshakable belief in the transcendence of art.” — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone Magazine
Friday, Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m.
Community United Methodist Sanctuary
777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay, (corner of Johnston Street)
A free event -- donations will be gladly accepted
The Coastside Film Society proudly presents a documentary about Paul Simon’s return to South Africa for the 25th anniversary tour celebrating the birth of his Grammy-winning 1986 album of the year, Graceland. The album was both a hit and a controversial cultural phenomenon. It teamed Simon, a white American musical legend, with a wonderful group of South African musicians to create an exciting work of fusion.
Some felt that the album exploited the work of his African colleagues; others argued it paid homage to the unique African song styles it borrowed from, and in doing so, opened up African music to a much wider world audience. More controversial yet was the fact that Simon had openly defied a U.N. cultural boycott by travelling and recording music in a South Africa that was still in the grips of apartheid oppression.
The documentary celebrates the roots of the music, showing countless clips of Simon jamming with his African collaborators, including Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Okeyerama Asante and Ray Phiri — both in 1986 and during the 2011 tour. It also features recent interviews with Dali Tambo of Artists Against Apartheid, Paul McCartney, David Byrne and Peter Gabriel, who ruminate on the influence that Graceland had on their lives and their work.
“Doubly satisfying: We get not only a trenchant political drama but a bang-up concert film as well.” — Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
More info at http://www.HMBFilm.org
The Pumpkin Fest will be broadcast live on PCT on both Oct. 13 and 14
Can’t make it to Pumpkin Festival? Don’t want to face the crowds? Wanna see how your kids looked in the parade? This year PCT, our cable access station on the coast, is going to broadcast events from the festival live – on tape delay – sorta.
For those of you who don’t know, our Coastside Cable access station MCTV recently merged with the Pacifica cable access station to form PCT (Pacific Coast TV.) PCT likes to broadcast events like Pacifica’s Fogfest live using a large crew of volunteers as camera people, directors, producers and engineers.
Although PCT has a dedicated line going from the Ted Adcock Community Senior Center in Half Moon Bay to the PCT studio in Pacifica we were not able to run a line from the parade grounds to the Senior Center this year. So the plan is to have PCT volunteers roving through Pumpkin Fest events both Saturday and Sunday filming the action as it happens. Those tapes will be quickly mixed and then carried to the Senior Center for transmission to Pacifica for immediate broadcast
PCT broadcasts live on Comcast cable TV channels 26 or 27 from Pescadero to Pacifica. Or you can log onto the PCT website at www.PacificCoast.TV to watch a live stream of programming off the Internet.
How much of delay will there be in this programming? Hard to say. This will be the first time we have tried it. Some footage will probably show up within a hour after it is shot. My plan is to edit my Saturday footage for Sunday broadcast. Here is a piece of my footage from last year's fest to give you an idea about what I am talking about. http://tinyurl.com/2011ZombiesDance
Want more information? Stop by the PCT booth at Pumpkin Fest in front of Zaballa House on main street in Half Moon Bay during the fest or check out the website. PCT is always looking for a few more volunteers to run cameras, and produce new programming.
See you at the Fest.
Come see two plays by a local author for free this weekend in Pacifica.
Kathryn Murdock, a forty-year resident of the Coastside, will see two of her plays produced by Stage 2 at Pacifica Spindrift Players this weekend. Admission is free. Donations are gladly accepted.
The performances are Friday, September 14th and Saturday, September 15th at 8:00PM and Sunday the 16th at 2:00PM. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged.
Each play is in one act, with TIME WAS the shorter of the two. It's what can be called a "theater of the absurd" play, a bit funny and a bit serious, dealing with life, of course. PARTITIONS is about relationships and how we seem to shut ourselves off from each other, keeping separate from each other in our own "partitions." Refreshments will be available for you to enjoy during the intermission and after the show.
Directed by Barbara Williams, of El Granada, and starring a talented and experienced cast of actors including Greta Hyrciw of Montara, Michael Berlin of Pacifica, Shannon Quinn, San Francisco, Pam Fornesi and Rob Hedges of San Bruno, and Dianna Collett of Millbrae.
Pacifica Spindrift Players is located in Oddstad Park, 1050 Crespi Drive, in Pacifica.
For more info see: http://tinyurl.com/Plays-by-Katie
Films of Horror and Humor on Fri. Aug 31
The films that will be screened during this month’s Friday Film Night were brought to the Film Society by a young Bay Area singer and film maker named Johnny Villar. Johnny wanted Film Night to feature “The Night of the Hunter” - a classic from 1955 that was so ahead of its time that it never became as famous as it should be. What a great suggestion the film scholars at the Film Society agreed!. Two conditions were set. 1.) Johnny had to agree to act as the master of ceremonies for the night. 2.) The night would start off with a screening of one of Johnny’s own dark and funny silent short films.
(short) The Bicycle (5 mins)
In the peaceful tranquility of Foster City, CA, a dastardly thief steals a bicycle and a hilarious chase ensues. This silent short by Bay Area artist Johnny Villar won the 2011 College of San Mateo Film Festival. It features a unique suburban visual style and frightfully funny over-the-top performances. If you love the films of Chaplin & Keaton or enjoy films that combine humor with menace, don’t miss “The Bicycle”.
(feature) The Night of the Hunter (93 mins)
“One of the greatest of all American films. Compelling, frightening and beautiful, combining horror and humor… A film like no other before or since.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Robert Mitchum plays Harry Powell, a charismatic and psychotic preacher who marries and murders widows for their money. Shelley Winters plays Willa, a bank robber’s widow destined to be the preacher’s next victim. What no one realizes is that only her kids know where their Dad hid the loot. Lillian Gish plays Rachel Cooper, an indomitable welfare worker who can quote scripture just as avidly as the preacher, but whose determination to save the children is just as steely as the preacher’s plans to bend them to his will.
“The issues are elemental, the morality biblical, the trials Homeric. In terms of cinematic texture, it’s a hound from hell.” Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice
Friday, Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m.
Community United Methodist Sanctuary, 777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay (corner of Johnston Street)
More info: www.HMBFilm.org
Update: Highway 92 has been re-opened
UPDATE: Highway 92 was re-opened at 4:46pm.
Highway 92 is closed near the Half Moon Bay Nursery, due to a collision at about 2:30pm.
It is expected to be closed for several hours, reports the San Mateo County Sheriff.
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