A town is torn apart by a struggle over land use, development, and the environment in The Fire Next Time, Saturday’s presentation of the Coastside Film Society.

What would you do if the place you loved was changing so rapidly that the fabric of town life began unraveling before your eyes?  In Kalispell, Montana, disagreements about growth, race and land use led to fervent conflict.  The resulting high-stakes battle over developmental and environmental issues may sound familiar to many of us here on the San Mateo coast

Tensions in Kalispell were further exacerbated by a conservative talk show host who took to the air to stridently express his point of view and to suggest what action needed to be taken.  What would you do if this were your town?  What kind of ending would you make to this story?  That is for each of us to decide.

Patrice O’Neill, who directed and co-produced the film, will be our guest and will do Q & A after the screening.

Click “read more” to see the press release that this story was based on.

Saturday July 9, 8:00 pm
Community Methodist Sanctuary
777 Miramontes, Corner of Johnston & Miramontes
Half Moon Bay
$6.00 donation per person

The Coastside Chess Club will hold 4 chess meets this summer at the Half Moon Bay Community Center. there will be both official and casual chess available from 1 to 6 p.m. on Sundays: July 3, July 10, July 24, and August 7.

At each chess meet there will be separate sections for youth and adult players, in separate competitions for ranked an unranked players. Trophies, metals, books, and other prizes will be awarded in all sections. The Coastside Chess Club is a not-for-profit organization and all participation fees are used to offset the cost of the event. The participation fee is $15 for unrated competition, $20 for official competitions with United States chess Federation ratings.

The events are held under the supervision of chess master Eric Schiller of Moss Beach, author of many books on chess. He will be providing coaching tips and general chess information between games.

This is a great opportunity for young Coastside players to meet each other and kids from all over the Bay area.

The 2005 summer season will be a bit short this year because Dr. Schiller has to travel to London as arbiter of the Staunton Memorial tournament, but Pacifica will be taking up the slack by hosting a competition on August 13.

Chess sets are available at most of the coffee shops and cafés on the Coastside. If you know of an establishment that does not have chess equipment, but would like some, the Coastside Chess Club will be happy to provide chess sets and boards on request.

You’ve seen the mural in progress on the side of Half Moon Bay City Hall, and now it’s finished.  Friday at 6:00pm, the Rotary Club, which commissioned it, and city council will dedicate the mural. 

One panel represents floriculture—a key element of the Coastside economy. The second is an idealized view of a Coastside beach with a windswept cypress in the foreground. The beach is based on the view looking south from Surfers Beach in order to capture the half-moon shape of the bay, according to the artist Doug Snow.  He added a cypress tree to the foreground for compositional reasons and removed some buildings from the view.

Cheri Parr

Cheri Parr

Click “read more” to see the press release.

Click here for the full story.

Medea Benjamin, peace activist and a founder of women’s peace group Code Pink, will be at Moon News 7 p.m. Thursday to promote her (and others’) new book, “Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism.” There’s a story about this event in the County Times. The free event is co-sponsored by Coastside Peace. Moon News is at 315 Main St. in Half Moon Bay. You can use the Amazon link to find out more about the book, but you should buy it at Moon News.

Friday, the Coastside Film Society presents the US debut of the new feature film from British Independent director, Ruaridh Webster.
Director Ruaridh Webster is flying in from London at his own expense to attend the screening.  He met film club board member Jean Slanger at a screening in London.  Jean was blown away by the film and asked if they could screen it in Half Moon Bay. He agreed and after checking out the Society decided he had to be here for a first-hand experience of his first American audience.

Before the feature, there will two short films.

In THE BARN (2004), when a crooked deal goes bad for 2 Americans they find themselves locked in a dilapidated barn in the middle of the English countryside. This is new film from the United Kingdom that recently won awards from the Raindance Film Festival and Leeds Film Festival.

Take a smattering of David Mamet and douse liberally with Samuel Beckett and you have some idea of what THE BARN is like. It’s the strange story of two Americans who after a crooked deal goes wrong find themselves locked in a dilapidated barn in the middle of the English countryside. As their attempts to escape look increasingly futile, the pair begins to bicker amongst themselves. That’s when things begin to take a surreal turn for the worst.

The two leads in this film, Adam Long and Jake Broder, are well known members of the the Reduced Shakespeare Company.

An auspicious debut feature for director Ruaridh Webster that delights and infuriates in equal measure.  Webster and his Director of Photography, Oliver Schofield, are jetting in from London to attend CFS Film Night and answer questions from the audience.

There will be two shorts before the main feature.

In THE VERGE (1998), Two friends wait by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. They hitchhike. No one comes

In A CAR STOPPED (2000), Neal and Jack, young American friends, are traveling. England. Still on the road and dreaming of Kerouac and Bob Dylan, living the American dream on the roads of Britain. Dreams and fantasies fading into the ether, each is presented with the raw characteristics of the other. As time progresses one’s wisdom becomes evident; life, inevitably is circular.

Saturday night, the Coastside Film Society presents a collection of short films by Bill Brown and Thomas Comerford, two of independent cinema’s greatest and best known nomads.  When audiences did not flock to see their early films they decided to be aggressive and bring their films to the audience.  They loaded up a pickup truck’s worth of films, projectors and screens and set off across America looking for college campuses, coffee houses and living rooms to screen their films in. Now that they are better known they have a better choice of venues. in which to show their films.  Word is starting to get around that Half Moon Bay is the place to go to screen independent films in the Bay Area. They gave us a call and we scheduled this special Saturday screening of Film Night in Half Moon Bay.

Brown and Comerford like to say their films are about the space of history and the history of spaces. Together and separately they roam the country trying to create films that that capture the essence of the places they are filming.

The films will be shown at 8:00pm at the Community United Methodist Church Sanctuary, 777 Miramontes (corner of Johnston) in Half Moon Bay.  A $6 donation is requested.

Click on the play button in the Quicktime window on the right to see a preview of West Bank Story by Ari Sandel, A musical comedy about the Israeli Palestinian conflict. David is an Israeli soldier.  Fatima is a Palestinian fast food cashier. They are an unlikely couple who fall in love amidst in the middle of a war between their family’s dueling West Bank falafel stands.

The films will run around 98 minutes.  Many of the film makers will be on hand to take part in the post screening discussion.  The films begin 8:00 pm at Community Methodist Sanctuary,  Half Moon Bay, 777 Miramontes, Half Moon Bay.  $6.00 donation per person

Click “read more” to find out about other films to be shown Friday.

Click here for the full story.

Five artists’ studios will be open this weekend on the Coastside as part of the Silicon Vallen Open Studios Program.  Here is a sample, statement from the artist and location for each artist. Addresses are linked to Google Maps. Artists’ names are linked to their websites. Each studio is open Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 5pm.

Take Mom on a date, and bring the kids too!  Celebrate all the Mommies with The Sippy Cups at an awesome outdoor location on the coast. The party starts at 3pm, the band will play from 4 to 5. Tickets are at the door, $7 for adults and $5 for kids over 1 year. The show will benefit Cambodia Tomorrow’s school project for Cambodian orphans. It’s also sponsored by Pamela’s Products who are baking organic goodies for you to enjoy at the show. Take me to the Lighthouse!

The Sea Gypsy Kayak Race takes place on a five-mile obstacle course that includes Mavericks, making it “the scariest and most technically challenging sea kayak race in the world”. The prize is a piece of lead covered with gold paint. According to the Mercury News, the twentieth and final race took place yesterday afternoon.

Bids 4 Kids is a an auction and wine tasting to benefit Coastside Infant Toddler Center. I have a soft spot for this event because my daughter attended CITC for the first three years of her life.  I can’t tell you how lucky we are to have this resource for our youngest Coastsiders.

Bids 4 Kids will feature many varieties of wines to sample from California wineries, a delicious assortment of food created by Cetrella’s chef, good company, and a silent and live auction.  Donations have already been received for portraits done by some of the Coastside’s best photographers, services for improving your home, indulgences for pampering yourself and destinations for a luxury retreat.  It promises to top last year’s event.

The event will be at Cetrella, Saturday May 7, 2005 from 12:30 to 3:30 pm.  Tickets for the event are $50 per person, and include all food and wine tasting.  They can be ordered by calling 650.726.7416 or emailing