CMC’s visionary leaders and artists to celebrate one of San Francisco’s most-revered and longest-running community arts programs.
Social & External
The people behind it
Going into my interview with Laurel Greenfield, I thought the majority of our conversation would be about her inspiration for painting food and why she chose to pursue painting as a career. We spoke about that but ended up having a much bigger conversation about pursuing a creative career. We talked a lot about finding the balance between having a business plan and taking a leap of faith into the unknown, something anyone pursuing a creative field on their own can relate to.
Documentary about the Watts Towers. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.
Composed of songs and memories, this powerful musical film traces the traumatic experience of young survivors from different parts of Africa. In the village of Conques in France, they found a therapeutic space where they learn to overcome their past and, through song, to imagine a new future.
Musicians and nightclub owners reminisce about the heyday of music and dance places on Chicago's South Side during the 1930s through '50s. Swingers and dancers perform music from the time.
A documentary which depicts Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers at their most personal, featuring unseen footage shot during the band's 'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours' campaign and tour.
The gritty world of New York City street booksellers is exposed in a remarkable story that chronicles their lives and loves and their unique perspectives on life. Made on location at the sidewalk book tables of New York by a fellow street bookseller, 'BookWars' explores the other side of the book tables along the streets of the Village, on the Lower East Side, along 6th avenue, and elsewhere in New York City. See the Mayor, the University and the NYPD try to shut them down!
1924, produced by Frederick Burlingham.
The Center for Ecoliteracy advances school meal innovation and is pleased to introduce its California Food for California Kids initiative. Using the acclaimed Rethinking School Lunch planning framework and Cooking with California Food in K-12 Schools cookbook and professional development resource, the Center convenes food service directors from across California to support and inspire their work providing more fresh and freshly-prepared food for school children.
This documentary was produced by Citizen Film and Young Community Developers, in collaboration with a coalition of organizations, enterprises, city agencies, and community partners. To create the documentary, Citizen Film’s Tamara Walker facilitated and captured constructive dialogue between African American officers and the communities they police, helping officers understand how they are perceived by the community, and how the community is perceived by them.
The mission of Community Music Center is to make high quality music accessible to all people, regardless of financial status.
Based in the Western Addition neighborhood in San Francisco, CommunityGrows teaches cooking and gardening in local elementary schools and after school programs, and provides job skills to more than 1,300 low-income youth.
A brief but immersive travel short capturing Egypt through the lens, a personal yet cinematic look at a timeless destination.
Song of Ceylon was commissioned for the short-lived German TV-series Telekritik and broadcasted in 1975. In Telekritik documentary approaches were analysed and made available for a critique of contemporary TV, its aesthetics and modes of production. Other authors for the series include Hartmut Bitomsky, Rainer Gansera and Klaus Wildenhahn.In the 30-minute movie, Farocki shows and comments on excerpts from the film Song of Ceylon by Basil Wright (and a short segment of Eisenstein's Mexico-fragments). Farocki's voice-over describes part of the movie, focussing on details and montage. He also uses didactic and descriptive drawings and intertitles to confront the classic documentary and its stylistic approaches with contemporary TV.
A journey through the evolution of aviation, from the earliest aircraft designs to modern jet airplanes. The documentary explores how World War II accelerated technological advancements that transformed the course of aviation history.
Vans skate proudly presents Spinning Away, the follow up to our 2016 skateboard video No Other Way. Directed by Ryan Lovell and showcasing exclusive footage of the Vans skateboarding team who traveled the world to bring you full parts from Skater of the Year (2016), Kyle Walker, Vans signature pro, Chima Ferguson, and an introductory part from Vans newest amateur, Tyson Peterson. Spinning Away delivers the best in class skateboarding the way only the Vans family can. Away we go!
Using poetry, interviews with psychologists and survivors, and corporeal imagery, Broca is an experimental documentary hybrid that explores how the mind-body connection is altered after trauma. The Broca’s Area in the brain is involved primarily in speech production. During a traumatic event or when trying to recall a traumatic event, this area shuts down. This makes it harder for a survivor to talk about what’s happened. Our project is an experimental documentary hybrid that offers a platform for survivors to tell their stories both verbally and non-verbally.
A celebration of the legendary band that revolutionized pop music, and the iconic, harmonious sound they created that personified the California dream, captivating fans for generations and generations to come.
Here's a little story they're about to tell... Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz share the story of their band and 40 years of friendship in a live documentary experience directed by friend, collaborator, and their former grandfather, Spike Jonze.
In a warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain more than 80,000 student musical instruments, the largest remaining workshop in America of its kind. Meet four unforgettable characters whose broken-and-repaired lives have been dedicated to bringing so much more than music to the schoolchildren of this city.
Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.
After years in the limelight, Selena Gomez achieves unimaginable stardom. But just as she reaches a new peak, an unexpected turn pulls her into darkness. This uniquely raw and intimate documentary spans her six-year journey into a new light.
Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.
His unforgettable scores are an essential part of some of the most beloved movies of our time, over a career that spans decades. See and hear maestro John Williams' own story, with insights from filmmakers, musicians, and others he has inspired, complete with rare behind-the-scenes looks at the making of movie history.
Documentary about jazz great Chet Baker that intercuts footage from the 1950s, when he was part of West Coast Cool, and from his last years. We see the young Baker, he of the beautiful face, in California and in Italy, where he appeared in at least one movie and at least one jail cell (for drug possession). And, we see the aged Baker, detached, indifferent, his face a ruin. Includes interviews with his children and ex-wife, women companions, and musicians.
Captured during Billie Eilish's sold-out world tour, a concert experience from one of the most celebrated and successful artists of her generation, presented in immersive 3D.
Supersonic charts the meteoric rise of Oasis from the council estates of Manchester to some of the biggest concerts of all time in just three short years. This palpable, raw and moving film shines a light on one of the most genre and generation-defining British bands that has ever existed and features candid new interviews with Noel and Liam Gallagher, their mother, and members of the band and road crew.
Director Spike Lee chronicles Michael Jackson's early rise to fame.
An intense portrait of the iconic filmmaker, writer, actor, comedian and musician Woody Allen: his life, family and friends; his writing and directing habits, and his relationship with performers.
Home movies, photographs, and recited poetry illustrate the life of Tupac Shakur, one of the most beloved, revolutionary, and volatile hip-hop MCs of all time.
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the recording of Aretha Franklin's best-selling album finally sees the light of day more than four decades after the original footage was shot.
A documentary chronicling Queen and Lambert's incredible journey since they first shared the stage together on "American Idol" in 2009.
Forty years after the release of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller,’ the best-selling album of all-time, director Nelson George takes fans back in time to the making of a pop masterpiece, featuring never-before-seen footage and candid interviews.
The incomparable Bruce Springsteen performs his critically acclaimed latest album and muses on life, rock, and the American dream, in this intimate and personal concert film co-directed by Thom Zimny and Springsteen himself.
A raw and emotionally revealing look at one of the most iconic artists of our time during a transformational period in her life as she learns to embrace her role not only as a songwriter and performer, but as a woman harnessing the full power of her voice.
A portrait of singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes' life, chronicling the past few years of his rise and journey.
A group of British children aged 7 from widely ranging backgrounds are interviewed about a range of subjects. The filmmakers plan to re-interview them at 7 year intervals to track how their lives and attitudes change as they age.