education summit education summit - Eric Rofes

Saturday, 4: 0 – 6:00 pm
VIDEO SCREENING:
HEART OF THE SEA: KAPOLIOKA’EHUKAI (2002)
Heart of the Sea is the inspiring portrait of surf legend Rell “Kapoliokaehukai”
Sunn, founding member of the Women’s Professional Surfing
Association and one of Hawaii’s most beloved community leaders.
While known for her incredible physical power, grace and beauty, it
was her generous spirit and relentless work as a youth, environmental
and breast cancer activist that made her an icon on the Islands. As she
carved a path for women in a sport dominated by men, Sunn tragically
discovered that she had breast cancer at the early age of 32. Despite the diagnosis, she continued surfing and promoting breast cancer
awareness among native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander women until her final days. Not only a moving profile of an important figure in
contemporary Hawai’ian history, but an important look at Hawai’i as an integral part of America’s rich cultural landscape and heritage.
57 minutes.
Nelson Hall East 115
Saturday, : 0 pm – : 0 pm
North Coast Premiere of COMMUNE: FREE LANd FOR FREE PEOPLE
an exploration of three decades in the life of a remote commune in siskiyou county and members’ reckoning
with changing the world. followed by discussion with Jonathan Berman, filmmaker and professor
at csu san Marcos and members of the Black Bear commune!
COMMUNE, the latest documentary by acclaimed filmmaker and CSU-San Marcos
professor Jonathan Berman, gets to the nitty-gritty on free love, utopian dreams,
and the surprising endurance of a radical lifestyle. The film, making its North Coast
premiere at the summit, features a fascinating cast of characters, including herbalist
Michael Tierra, who is credited with “rediscovering” echinacea; internationally
renowned painter Elsa Marley; and thespian Peter Coyote.
During the radical fervor of the early 1970s, utopian communities dotted the American
landscape. They aimed to reshape the world with free love and common property,
and they excited controversy and fear amongst local residents across the country.
Though the idea of communes is now often relegated to a “naïve” past, Berman
discovers a successful and lasting, if controversial, legacy at the influential Black
Bear Ranch, in Siskiyou County, California, northeast and inland from Arcata.
“engaging, even poignant . . . coMMune raises some fundamental questions about
whether ‘free love’ is desirable or even possible.”
With archival footage from the early days, and the present-day views of Black Bear members and their offspring, COMMUNE is a revealing
look at how our most basic choices about family, work, and the nature of our relationships send powerful and lasting shock waves
through the fabric of society.
JONATHAN BERMAN’S previous films, The Shvitz (1994) and award-winner My Friend Paul (1999) have aired on Sundance Channel,
PBS, Discovery, ARTE, Trio and other networks, and have screened theatrically and at numerous festivals around the world. Critics have
praised Berman’s “searing celluloid portraits” as “crackling with energy” full of “swagger and style,” and “gritty and funny.” 78 minutes
followed by discussion.
Supported by the HSU Library, CSU-San Marcos, and the North Coast Education Summit 2006
Kate Buchanan Room
North Coast Education Summit 2006 48
—Wallace Baine, Santa Cruz Sentinel