ons stival . - California Film Institute

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MVFF T u r n i n g 3 0
v(ision)fest
v(ision)fest
valley of the docs
us cinema
365 (nascor nasci natus): Parts 1 and 2 US 2007 140 MINS
Sunday, October 7 6:00 pm NAS107R Rafael
Director/Producer/Screenwriter/Cinematographer/Editor John Sanborn Print Source John Sanborn
John Sanborn (MM1, MVFF 2002; Psychic Detective, MVFF 1995) is at it again. Experimental filmmaker, humorist
and master media magician, with 365 Sanborn has composed a four-part “docu-montage” opus to . . . daily life.
Whether looking out of his window in Berkeley or fixing our gaze on the vacant chair in an L.A. recording studio
where a no-show Shaquille O’Neal is being paid to (not) sit, Sanborn is a brilliant and acerbic archivist of our most
mundane and profound thoughts, a master weaver of the textures of daily life. In Parts 1 and 2, he worries about
his ability to be a good dad to Miranda, his wild-haired, free-spirited daughter. He starts a new media company and
makes deals with Shaq and Alanis Morissette. For Parts 3 and 4, stay tuned! World Premiere —Karen Davis
365 (nascor nasci natus): Parts 3 and 4 US 2007 140 MINS
Sunday, October 14 4:00 pm NAS214R Rafael
Director/Producer/Screenwriter/Cinematographer/Editor John Sanborn Print Source John Sanborn
Director John Sanborn continues his four-part “docu-montage” opus to daily life with a trip to the Tribeca Film
Festival, where MM1 is showing. Feeling honored but anonymous among lower Manhattan’s red-carpet royalty,
Sanborn is overjoyed to discover he is taller than Robert De Niro. With his rock ’n’ roll cooking show sputtering out
on the back burner, he feels his professional life may be at a standstill, but maybe he doesn’t care? Back at home in
Berkeley, daughter Miranda joins an all-male t-ball team, and the family goes on an annual seaside retreat. Miranda
starts school; John accepts a job at eBay, and life goes on, whirling with color and sound, like a little girl after her
birthday party: giddy, silly, slightly sick to her stomach from too much cake—and too excited to go to sleep. World
Premiere —Karen Davis
Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer US 2007 90 MINS
Saturday, October 6 8:00 pm ANIT06R Rafael
Monday, October 8 9:45 pm ANIT08R Rafael
Directors/Editors Robbie Cavolina, Ian McCrudden Producer Mellisa Davis Cinematographer Ian McCrudden Print Source
Elan Entertainment
“All you can do in this world is learn to be a good loser,” jazz singer Anita O’Day once said, “and come out smiling.”
Before her death last Thanksgiving at age 86, O’Day, one of jazz’s most complex and rhythmic vocalists, smiled on
the music world for six decades. This captivating film portrait captures all the magic that took this sly Chicago native,
a white girl who could hold her own against Billie and Ella, from Gene Krupa’s bandstand to solo stardom. The film
is packed with great film footage: O’Day’s appearance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, immortalized in the 1960
documentary Jazz on a Summer’s Day and excerpted here, may be the defining moment of the post-bebop era.
Like the woman herself, Anita O’Day hits all the right notes and, despite all the pain and struggle, ends with a smile.
—Greg Cahill
• • • Presented in association with the Doc Film Institute of San Francisco State University
• • •Sponsored by KDFC
August Evening US 2007 129 MINS
Sunday, October 7 3:30 pm AUGU07R Rafael
Director/Screenwriter/Editor Chris Eska Producers Jason Wehling, Connie Hill Cinematographer Yasu Tanida Cast Pedro
Castaneda, Veronica Loren, Abel Becerra, Walter Perez Print Source Doki-Doki Productions
In Spanish with English subtitles • Writer-director Chris Eska’s sensitive, understated debut is deliberately layered
to expose the frailty and strength of the human connection. From the opening shots of a man laboring on a chicken
farm and a young woman nervously washing dishes in a kitchen restaurant and then patiently teaching guitar to a
group of children, this careful visual storytelling slowly reveals the fragile lives of an older, undocumented Mexican
farm worker, Jaime (Pedro Castaneda), and his widowed daughter-in-law, Lupe (Veronica Loren). Rooted in family
traditions, their way of life places them at odds with a new generation awkwardly struggling with the realities of the
American Dream. Castaneda and Loren give standout performances as the leads of an award-winning ensemble
cast. Arresting cinematography by Yasu Tanida reveals a sometimes ominously beautiful Texas landscape, as well
as the slow stillness of the characters, whose silences often betray more eloquence than their words. —Margaret
Daniel
• • • Presented in association with the Canal Alliance
• • •Sponsored by Peet’s Coffee & Tea
2007 MVFF TICKETS | 877.874.MVFF (6833)