Kedi

Ceyda Torun / Featured Programs, Films, SFUFF 2017, Documentary, Shorts / Istanbul / 2016 / 79 mins

Hundreds of thousands of Turkish cats roam the metropolis of Istanbul freely, wandering in and out of people’s lives, claiming no owners, and living between two worlds, neither wild nor tame. The cats are the mirrors to the people, allowing them to reflect on their lives in ways nothing else could. Critics and internet cats agree — this cat documentary will charm its way into your heart and home as you fall in love with the cats in Istanbul.

Mama Agatha

Fadi Hindash / Films, SFUFF 2017, Documentary / Netherlands / 2015 / Documentary / 16 mins

A heartwarming short documentary about Agartha Frimpong, nicknamed ‘Mama Agatha’, who runs a bicycle training program for migrant women in Amsterdam, but ultimately, the film is about the spirit of community and the exhilarating freedom of riding a bicycle.

Never A Cover

Lauren Tabak & Susannah Smith / Featured Programs, Films, SFUFF 2017, Documentary, Shorts / USA / 2015 / 10 mins

Short documentary about the Lexington Club, San Francisco’s only Dyke/Queer bar that closed in 2015 after 18 years in business.

The North Pole

Yvan Iturriaga / Featured Programs, Films, SFUFF 2017, Documentary, Shorts / USA / 2017 / 70 mins

The North Pole is a political comedy web series about three best friends born and raised in North Oakland, CA, who struggle to stay rooted as their neighborhood becomes a hostile environment. Across seven outrageous episodes, Nina, Marcus, and Benny fight, dream, and plot hilarious schemes to save the place they call home. Facing both gentrification and global warming, they combat evil landlords, crazy geoengineering plots, and ultimately each other.

Queer “Pioneers”: Cycles of Displacement

Special Events, SFUFF 2017 / 90 mins

Narratives of urban demographic have often placed queers in the first wave of neighborhood change, as “pioneers” that “prepare” neighborhoods for full-scale gentrification. However, this story imagines queerness as a White identity, leaving out the queer groups that are also being affected by “renewal” and other factors that lead to their need to congregate in urban areas, and often away from their places of origin. The afternoon programming specifically focuses on the complex forces that queer people have exerted in the formation of neighborhoods; as gentrifiers in one sense of the word, who in turn are now being gentrified by mainstream city dwellers. “Flag Wars” takes an intimate verite view of these issues in Columbus, Ohio, while “Portraits of Our City” questions our understanding of city spaces through the stories of native-born and raised queer San Francisco residents. Co-presented by Still Here SF and the Lexington Club Archival Project.

In This Program: Flag Wars, Portraits of Our City 1986-1996

Take This Hammer

Richard O. Moore / Featured Programs, Films, SFUFF 2017, Documentary, Shorts / USA / 1964 / 44 mins

“Take This Hammer” is a documentary film produced and directed by KQED (TV)'s Richard O. Moore for National Educational Television in 1963. It features KQED's mobile film unit following author and activist James Baldwin, as he holds frank exchanges with local people on the street and meets with community leaders in the Bayview and Western Addition neighborhoods.

Shifting Spaces: Queer Nightlife in the City: Fest at the Film Fest

Special Events, SFUFF 2017 / 180 mins

In San Francisco, and internationally, just as L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ identities are seemingly becoming more accepted, cities are losing the queer bars that center women, trans folks, and people of color. This screening and party examine the social and political importance of these spaces, why they are constructed, and challenges us to reimagine new modes of building queer community space; while investigating the causes of atrition and psychological dislocation it engenders. Co-presented by Still Here SF, Lexington Club Archival Project, and the GLBT Historical Society, this night will feature performances by Still Here artists, films about the now closed Esta Noche and Lexington Club, a lively panel discussion, and DJ set by DJ Johnnycakes, who will take us through a journey of booty-shaking queer sounds and voices. So, you know, reminiscent of your best nights out at your neighborhood queer bar…. Fest at the Film Fest includes Film Screening, Performance, Panel Discussion, Light Dinner, & 2 Drink Tickets

In This Program: Eulogy For The Dyke Bar, Never A Cover, This Night, Who is Gonna Cry For You, YBCA 100: The Stud

We Are In Crisis

Dylan McLaughlin / Films, SFUFF 2017, Shorts / USA / 2016 / Documentary / 3 mins

A lyrical cry for radical change, a short film made in gratitude to the water protectors, the land, and the water. #NODAPL