San Francisco Remembers The Blunder Years

The Blunder Years is an evening of live performance and video where Bay Area filmmakers, writers, musicians, and actors show/perform pieces influenced by the television and movies of their teenage years. The event is scheduled for the evening of August 12 at Z-Space in San Francisco. All donations will go towards BAVC’s The Factory — an advanced video production collective for motivated teenagers in the Oakland Bay Area.

Cinema Speakeasy and Friends with Benefits invites you to participate in The Blunder Years — an evening inspired by the pop-culture forces of our youth, to celebrate and benefit today’s youth. This is a live variety showcase in which each participant pays homage to the iconic movie or TV show of their teen years in the form of a reading, a live sketch performance, a musical interpretation, a comedy routine, or a short-film screening, to name just a few examples. The night’s performances will be punctuated by a cocktail hour, a house-band, and a DJ.
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Tags: BAVC, cinema speakeasy, events, San Francisco, the blunder years

Weaving a Rich Tapestry for The Calling

Filmmaker Danny Alpert

Filmmaker Danny Alpert sheds light on the team responsible for the upcoming PBS miniseries The Calling, which airs December 20 and 21 on Independent Lens (check local listings). On Thursday, December 9, from 5:30pm PT / 8:30pm ET join Independent Lens, WTTW, and the Art Institute of Chicago for an exclusive social media screening of The Calling on the Independent Lens Facebook fan page or on our Livestream channel before it airs on PBS.

I’ve been working on The Calling for so long that last week I went back to investigate when it was actually started.  What I found made me laugh — the first concept development draft was dated December 20, 2002 — exactly eight years to the day before the broadcast date.

This has been a huge undertaking.  › Continue reading

Tags: calling, Chicago, events, faith, Independent Lens, religion, the calling

KLRU Celebrates Local Filmmakers Featured on Independent Lens

Do you live near Austin, Texas? Love indie film?

On March 2, KLRU-Austin will commemorate Texas Independents’ Day by celebrating the work of three local filmmakers whose work will appear on this season of Independent Lens on PBS.

Filmmaker and University of Texas Professor Paul Stekler will moderate a panel discussion with Michel O. Scott (The Horse Boy), Karen Skloss (Sunshine), and Keith Maitland (The Eyes of Me) starting at 8 p.m.

Following the discussion, there will be a special screening of the Independent Lens broadcast of The Eyes of Me at 9:00 p.m. Space is limited.

Learn more and RSVP today >>

Can’t make the screening or live too far away to attend? Fear not – check out Beyond the Box blog next week for clips from the event and a full recap from Keith Maitland, filmmaker of The Eyes of Me. Stay tuned!

Tags: events, film screenings, KLRU

CARE Hosts Power to the Peaceful Festival

Looking for something to do this weekend in San Francisco?

Join ITVS and CARE at the 11th Annual Power to the Peaceful Concert and Global Action Forum & Celebration. For the past 10 years Michael Franti, singer/activist and ambassador for the global humanitarian organization CARE, has hosted the free event. This year, more than 70,000 attendees are expected to turn out for a day of music and inspiration to serve the people and the planet.

On Saturday, September 12, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM, come out to the free concert and visit the ITVS booth at Golden Gate Park, Speedway Meadow, to learn more about the free documentary screenings from the upcoming season of Community Cinema. Free resources will also be available to educators.

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Tags: events, music, peace, San Francisco