TALENT CAMPUS: KEEPING IT REEL—The Evening Class Interview With Dana Shaw

Whereas Dominic Mercurio expressed his respect by listening to offered advice, Art Institute of California senior graduate Dana Shaw caught my attention for his intelligent and respectful profiles of Bay Area creative personalities, including tattoo artist George Campise, artist Greg Gossel, animator Len Lye, sculptor AJ Fosik, and chefs Laurence Jossel, Tanya Holland and Martin Yan (projects available for viewing on Shaw's website). His intuitive sense of the value of artistry's social weave and his ability to spotlight the creativity of others as a form of creative self-expression spoke to

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Dana Shaw, Talent Campus,

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TALENT CAMPUS: NUCLEAR FAMILY—The Evening Class Interview With Dominic Mercurio

In recent months I have been invited on three separate occasions to speak to the film classes of respected colleagues. Megan O'Hara invited me to the Art Institute of California / San Francisco (Art Institute) to speak to her "Bay Area Film Scene" students on alternate micocinema venues. Federico Windhausen invited me to talk about contemporary Latin American cinema at California College of the Arts / Oakland (CCA). Most recently, Kathy Geritz and Steve Seid (both affiliated with the Pacific Film Archive) invited me to discuss online film writing at UC Berkeley. The dialogues with each gr

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Dominic Mercurio, Talent Campus,

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SFIFF54—Frako Loden Reviews A Dozen

For this year's San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF54), I have yet to go on a screener binge—that starts later today—so I'll be attending festival screenings and, I hope, have more to say in a few days. I did manage to see four of the films at Palm Springs in January, attend some press screenings last week, and don't feel inhibited from praising the two for which I wrote catalogue notes. So here goes, from the least to the best.Mike Mills's Beginners fits the Opening Night slot perfectly. It has big-name actors (Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer) and "addresses" big subjects

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Frako Loden, SFIFF54,

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ROXIE / ATA: PLAYBACK (2006-2010)—An Evening Class Question For Three "Personal" Filmmakers

Invited by curators Isabel Fondevila and Shae Green to attend ATA: Playback (2006-2010)—their retrospective screening celebrating the first five years of the ATA Annual Film & Video Festival—I was pleased to join an enthusiastic crowd at the Roxie Theater. Overall, Fondevila and Green engaged their audience by infusing the program with a selection of films that expressed considerable humor; a wise choice for a two-part program profiling 14 films.There was also a multimedial dimension to the event, with Tommy Becker providing vocals for his piece Animal, Animal, and Paul Clipson projectin

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Douglas Katelus, Tommy Becker, Zachary Epcar,

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SFIFF54—Jackson Scarlett Flirts With French Films

[Allow me to introduce the most recent intern for The Evening Class, Jackson Scarlett, known to local cinephiles through his efforts for the Global Film Initiative and as publicity coordinator for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. We welcome his contributed focus on some of the French films programmed into the 54th edition of the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF54).]* * *My excitement over SFIFF54's announcement of Tindersticks: Claire Denis Film Scores 1996-2009—tempered by my disappointment that Denis herself was not expected to attend this year'

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Jackson Scarlett, SFIFF54,

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