Paperback Dreams

The Last Bookshop of The World(fi)

The documentary is a true story of four real intellectual Europeans from different cultures who are worried about the decline of literature’s life and the destiny of the street level bookshops in every country. That is why they have a mission to save symbolically “the world's last quality books”.

What You’ll Remember(en)

Homelessness in the United States takes many forms. For Elizabeth Herrera, David Lima and their four children, housing instability has meant moving between unsafe apartments, motels, relatives’ couches, shelters, the streets and their car. After 15 years of this uncertainty, the family moved into their first stable housing — an apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area — in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Day The Series Stopped(en)

On Oct. 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. PT, soon after Al Michaels and Tim McCarver started the ABC telecast for Game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, the ground began to shake beneath Candlestick Park. Even before that moment, this had promised to be a memorable matchup: the first in 33 years between teams from the same metropolitan area, a battle featuring larger-than-life characters and equally colorful fan bases. But after the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake rolled through, bringing death and destruction, the Bay Area pulled together, and baseball took a backseat.

To See One's Self(en)

Born in Ozan, Arkansas in 1933, White traveled the world observing and documenting the Black experience from Nigeria to France to Chicago. He arrived in the Bay Area in 1958, and opened the first Black owned art gallery in San Francisco.

NINA G: STUTTERER INTERRUPTED(en)

This one-of-a-kind comedy special showcases the comedian's riotous stand-up performance, exploring everything from the Disability experience to her Italian-Catholic upbringing to body image issues and more.

Mudflat(en)

Years ago, artists would walk around the muck at the edge of the San Francisco Bay in Emeryville, and build loads of sculptures out there on the flats, created from driftwood and found objects that drivers would enjoy as they motored south on the old Highway 17 (known in numerous radio ads as 'Highway 17, The Nimitz'). Grabbing material off someone else’s work was considered fair game and part of the fun, and contributed a kinetic dynamic to the ongoing display. Now the place is a park, and the sculptures are gone, but you can see what it used to be like in this neat and funny documentary by Ric Reynolds, augmented by Erich Seibert’s wonderful musique-concrète/time-lapse sequences. The flashback circus sequence includes Scott Beach and Bill Irwin. Sculptors interviewed include Walt Zucker, Tony Puccio, Robert Sommer, Ron & Mary Bradden, and Bob Kaminsky.

Druid Heights(en)

Druid Heights is a short documentary film by Marcy Mendelson about a wild & wooly place. California’s hidden bohemia. Where sex, drugs and philosophy thrived among the eucalyptus just a few miles north of the Golden Gate.

Somewhere Between(en)

Questions of race, identity and heritage are explored through the lives of young American women growing up as adoptees from China. These four distinct individuals reflect on their experiences as members of transracial families.

Remembering Port Chicago(en)

In California's Bay Area, a painful memory lingers of the Port Chicago disaster of WWII, when hundreds of the Navy's first Black Sailors perished, and the White officers in charge were protected by the chain of command.

Aoki(en)

A film documenting the life of Richard Aoki, a Japanese-American activist and founding member of the Black Panther Party.

We Were Hyphy(en)

A love song to the artists, dance, music, slang, clothes and, most importantly of all, the people who came of age during the Hyphy Movement. We were there, we were hyphy.

The Saga of Macrame Park(en)

Alexandra Jackonetti recounts the building of a children's playground of macrame in Bolinas, Calif., including her conception of the project and the process of obtaining community financial support, knotting of macrame, and erection of the structure.

S'altra banda(ca)

What's on the other side of Fornells bay? Pepe el Malo is an urban legend or he really existed? This documentary doesn't try to shed light on the dark; it rather plays deftly with the ambiguities of a character that is part of the Menorcan imaginary.

The Last Mambo(en)

San Francisco Bay Area salsa and Latin jazz performers and audiences struggle to maintain culture, creativity and community in the face of powerful socioeconomic and demographic changes. This fascinating history of the Bay Area Latin music scene explores the post-WWII growth of California’s multi-ethnic music community, the 1950s Mambo craze, the 70s heyday of Salsa, and subsequent expansions of the art form. In today’s fast-changing environment, despite decreasing audiences and venues, Bay Area performers are transforming the future of the Afro-Latin music and dance through education and outreach.

Thizz Nation Presents - The Block Report(en)

Thizz Nation takes you on a journey with some of Thizz & the San Francisco Bay Area's hottest rap stars. Take a visit to the real streets of The Crest, Fillmore, Pittsburg, East Palo Alto, Lakeview, North Richmond, Mission District, Sacramento, Thizz South, Millersville and Hunter's Point. Featuring PSD, Mac Mall, Rydah J. Klyde, San Quin, Cellski, Bavgate, J. Diggs, Little Bruce, Mistah F.A.B., Goldtoes and many more.

The 9 Lives of Barbara Dane(en)

For decades, Barbara Dane lent her stellar singing voice to social-justice movements in the Bay Area and beyond, garnering an impressive FBI file along the way. Deeply respected by fellow luminaries in folk, blues and jazz, Dane built a far-reaching legacy with music, activism, and love. As Maureen Gosling’s celebratory portrait reveals, early solidarity with those suffering racial and economic injustice sparked Dane’s passion to use her talent to sustain marginalized people. Rather than chase stardom, she followed her own maternal instincts to root herself and her family among generations of activist performers. Bonnie Raitt, Jane Fonda and other notables attest to Dane’s unique way of shaping and being shaped by tumultuous social revolutions from the 1950s on. Nearing 90, Dane triumphantly tours with piano virtuoso Tammy Hall to celebrate a life of staying awake and connected, true to her ideals. One star among many illuminates so much.

A Double Life(en)

The grim news made international headlines: On August 21, 1971, prison authorities discovered a gun on famed Soledad Brother author, activist and San Quentin inmate George Jackson. A shootout ensued, killing Jackson, two other inmates and three guards, and wounding three more officers. Authorities asserted that only lawyer Stephen Bingham could have smuggled the weapon into the prison. Fearing that a conviction for abetting the guards’ deaths would lead to his own murder, the attorney fled, beginning a long, strange odyssey of pseudonymous exile. Strange indeed for the Yale-graduate scion of politically prominent New England elites.

Circus of Books(en)

For decades, a nice Jewish couple ran Circus of Books, a porn shop and epicenter for gay LA. Their director daughter documents their life and times.

Voyage dans les abysses(fr)

Leo Patrick McArdle: Veterans Helping Veterans(en)

A veteran creates support systems that help other veterans and their families.