Thursday, September 30, 2010

Thursday, September 09, 2010

VideoFest 2010 OFFICIAL SELECTION

"Homes for the Homies"

produced by Gloria Morán
13 minutes, 2009


Homes for the Homies, is both the title of this film and the title of the shadow box art collection by artist Cynthia de Losa of San Francisco. This 13-minute documentary explores the way Chicano pop culture figurines are utilized in an artistic and political sense.
Homes for the Homies examines the artistic, social, and political meanings of De Losa’s artwork at the center of a community undergoing displacement through gentrification and where public and private spaces are transforming rapidly, highlighting spaces and places that have undergone dramatic demographic change.
Homies are one-inch figurines molded to represent the eclectic mix of personalities of West Coast Chicano communities. Created by artist Dave Gonzalez, Homies have gone from corner store quarter machine fare to sought-after commodities with collectors engaging in bidding wars. Cynthia De Losa, a 3rd generation native of San Francisco discovered Homies down the street from her work at Precita Eyes Mural Center. Ecstatic, De Losa has been using Homies for shadow box art placing Homies in various iconic locations of San Francisco, creating lively street scenes of a vibrant Latino community.
Calling upon her own memories of growing up as a Pachuca in The Mission District of San Francisco, De Losa creates a scene where these individual figurines create community and finally have a home while simultaneously re-claiming spaces of San Francisco that have since been gentrified during De Losa’s lifetime.
Gloria Morán is a filmmaker based out of San Francisco and currently completing her Master’s degree in Social Documentation from UC Santa Cruz. Merging theories of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, Gloria’s films seek to highlight Chicana/o and Latina/o art and practice. Her forthcoming film, The Unique Ladies examines gender and location as she follows an all-women’s lowrider car club in San Diego. Prior to her arrival at UCSC, Gloria worked at the youth media lab Conscious Youth Media Crew (CYMC) where she assisted a student directed film, From Low to Show, which explored lowriding and community in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Medellin, ¿Cómo te convierto en un objeto?

Medellin, how can I make you into an object?
Colombia and Mexico, HDV Video, 10min, 2009


Composed in the documentary tradition of symphony of a city, Medellin, como te econvierto en un objeto? /Medellin, how can I turn you into an object? includes panoramic views of the city from the sublimated perspective of “planchas or terrazas”--flat cement rooftops, lookouts and terraces--throughout the city and a score that determines the rhythm and complex relationships between the images, voice over and ambient sound. The sound design captures the undertones of the city emanating from moving vehicles, windows, and bits and pieces of conversations that reveal the general preoccupations of the people. Medellin, como te econvierto en un objeto? /Medellin, how can I turn you into an object? is a journey through neighborhoods that I traveled when I was a child, a farewell written in image.
Medellin, como te econvierto en un objeto? /Medellin, how can I turn you into an object? is a lyrical documentary, love poem, and farewell to the city of youth. The final piece of Triptych Terrazas, the video blends the contrasting landscapes of the two cities into an impressionistic rendition that fuses Medellín, Colombia with Tijuana, Mexico as cultures that are interconnected and related by memory. It is the failed attempt of making the city into an elusive lover and, equally elusive, art object.
Medellín, how can I turn you into an object?/Medellin, how can I turn you into an object? reveals the mirroring effect that contrasting hills create --those to east and those to the west, to the north and to the south-- to form a marking topography of social differences in architecture, class, and the function of the body in the every day life experience of a city. Slowly descending from the slums in the hills to the middle class neighborhoods in the valley and the crowded and clouded by smog downtown, I portray the process by which a city is a palpitating organism embedded in the characters that inhabit it and in those who, like me, have left it. I depict Medellín through the foggy lens and defused color of my memory. Tijuana appears as an elusive but liberating lover who challenges old perceptions and offers a life of new dimensions. The video is the failed attempt of making the city into an elusive love and, equally elusive, art object. The voice over is the long awaited welcoming of maturity, it is a text that representing distance, celebrates the death of the city of childhood, in a memoir of a city suspended in a cloud of truncated memories.
I superimposes memory and chance, theatricality and documentary in a personal representation of the journey of becoming, not concerned with romanticizing migration, or with Medellín’s and Tijuana’s sordid histories. The work combines text, sound and image in the recurrence of time that the medium of video exhibits, to provoke a critical dialogue about the nature of migration.

"The Oak Park Story"

by Valerie Soe and Russell Jeung
documentary, 22 min. © 2010

http://theoakparkstory.wordpress.com

The Oak Park Story recounts the struggles of three very different families who find themselves together in a run-down slum in Oakland, CA. Khlot Ry arrived first from Cambodia, where she and her granddaughters had fled forced labor camps and invading Vietnamese soldiers. A few years later, Felix and Hortensia Jimenez brought their family across the Mexican-U.S. border without documents, where Felix struggled to earn a living as a day laborer. At the same time, Dan Schmitz left the comforts of his white, middle class upbringing in the suburbs and moved into the apartment directly across from the Jimenez family.
Together, these three households encountered daily life in America’s underclass. Parents raised their children amidst drug dealing, gang violence and prostitution right in their parking lot. Yet their worst problem was their Stanford-educated landlord, who raised rents even when El Nino rains flooded their units. Interviews, home video footage, and photographs from the tenants depict their daily lives in the 1980s and 1990s.
Facing unsanitary housing conditions that led to the hospitalization of several children, 44 households of Oak Park banded together to sue and eventually won a landmark settlement against their landlord. Despite the victory, this too brought about some surprising, unintended consequences.
The Oak Park Story concludes nearly ten years after winning the lawsuit. What have the children at Oak Park learned from their parents’ organizing? How did the lawsuit impact the lives of the undocumented workers, the refugee families, and the other working poor living there? What ongoing social conditions do they continue to face?

Filmmakers’ bios
Valerie Soe
Valerie Soe is a visual artist, filmmaker, and writer from San Francisco whose award-winning productions include Mixed Blood; Picturing Oriental Girls: A (Re) Educational Videotape, (Best Bay Area Short, Golden Gate Awards, San Francisco International Film Festival) and "ALL ORIENTALS LOOK THE SAME," (Best Foreign Video, Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani; First Place, Experimental Category, Visions of U.S. Festival). Her work has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the AFI National Video Festival, the World Wide Video Festival in The Hague, and on KQED-TV, KCET-TV and Channel L Cable Manhattan, among many others. Her work looks at identity, culture, mass media, and activism, primarily within the Asian American community. She is on faculty at San Francisco State University's Asian American Studies Department. She is the co-producer, director, writer and editor of the film.
Russell Jeung, co-producer, co-writer
Dr. Russell Jeung is an associate professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. He is a sociologist whose research focuses on faith-based communities of color and he is currently on the board of the Chinese Historical Society of America. An ethnographer, he has written a book and several articles on Asian American religions and social justice. He lived at Oak Park Apartments for over a decade, and helped to organize 200 Cambodian and Latino tenants in their landmark lawsuit. He is the co-producer and co-writer of the film.

Credits:
Produced and directed by Valerie Soe and Russell Jeung
Associate Producer: Grande Lum
Written by Valerie Soe, Russell Jeung, Alex Vargas
Editor: Valerie Soe
Cinematography: Michael Chin
Sound recordist: Curtis Choy
Composer & music supervisor: Camilo Landau
Music : Camilo Landau, Fuga!, Carne Cruda, praCh, Goh Nakamura
The Oak Park Story is a presentation of the Center for Asian American Media with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Funded in part by The Creative Work Fund, a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and The James Irvine Foundation
Additional support: Bay Area Media Coalition Mediamaker Award Program, San Francisco Film Society Filmhouse Residencies, San Francisco Film Commission
San Francisco State University, Asian American Studies Department.

"Sin País"

produced by Theo Rigby (20 minutes, 2010)

Sin País (Without Country) attempts to get beyond the partisan politics and mainstream media's ‘talking point’ approach to immigration issues by exploring one family's complex and emotional journey involving deportation. In 1992, Sam and Elida Mejia left Guatemala during a violent civil war and brought their one-year old son, Gilbert, to California. The Mejia’s settled in the Bay Area, and for the past 17 years they have worked multiple jobs to support their family, paid their taxes, and saved enough to buy a home. They had two more children, Helen and Dulce, who are both U.S. citizens.
Two years ago, immigration agents stormed the Mejia's house looking for someone who didn’t live there. Sam, Elida, and Gilbert were all undocumented and became deeply entangled in the U.S. immigration system.
Sin País begins two weeks before Sam and Elida's scheduled deportation date. After a passionate fight to keep the family together, Sam and Elida are deported and take Dulce with them back to Guatemala. With intimate access and striking imagery, Sin País explores the complexities of the Mejia's new reality of a separated family--parents without their children, and children without their parents.


BAVC YOUTH VIDEOS:
"The Apollos" A look back at an effective student campaign to gain recognition for MLK Day. (6 min)
"The Midnight Hour" (7 min) A poetic search for hope during one's darkest moments.
"Momo" (5 min) In a faraway place, an intimate look into the daily routine of family of street vendors.

Comeback to our MCCLA website HERE

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

ViedoFest 2010 - CALL - Guidelines - Postcard



DEADLINE
All submissions must be postmarked by August 7, 2010
MCCLA, 2868 Mission Street, San Francisco CA 94110

ENTRY FORM will be available in JUNE 2nd at
www.missionculturalcenter.org

VIDEOFEST 2010 GUIDELINES
“The map is not the territory,” said the philosopher. However, maps carry the key to understanding unknown places, real and imagined. This year VideoFest invites travellers, explorers, migrants and wayfarers of all stripes to submit short videos that explore the lesser known aspects of the everyday. El Pulgarcito, Atzlan, la tierra de Bolivar, de Morazan, la Mission, el barrio, la pachanga. Whether from your front porch, down the street. From Mission to the Tenderloin. AZ, LA, BA, el DF and everything in between. We’re searching video that helps us discern the ground we walk upon and the spaces—material and spiritual—where life happens.

CRITERIA
The MCCLA seeks video shorts 20 minutes and under. Videos should have been finished between June 1, 2008 to present. All genres accepted: short docs, narratives, poetic/experimental, drama, imaginary. Priority will go to videos with themes pertinent to the Latino/Raza community.

CATEGORIES
Submissions will be divided into two categories: Youth (19-and-under) and Adult (20-and-up).

FESTIVAL DATES
Selected submissions will be curated into tw o programs that will precede short-feature videos (and director’s talks) on Oct. 15th and 16th, 2010.

PRIZES
Best youth video, $250; Best of VideoFest: $750.

Friday, August 21, 2009




VideoFest 2009 Labor and Dreams
Official Selection and Winners


Jury: Peter Bratt, Ann Kaneko, Graham Leggat


Best Documentary & Best of the VideoFest 1st Place ($1000 award)

Intimidad
Dir. David Redmon and Ashley Sabin
Documentary
USA – Columbia, MO / Mexico

Best Short Fiction and Best of the VideoFest 2nd place ($500 award)
Para Volar
Dir. Arturo Menéndez
Short Fiction
El Salvador

Best Youth Video ($300 award)

Escuadrón de Condones
Dir. Samantha Chevez
Youth/Short Fiction
Nicaragua

Best Experimental

The Art of Loosing Things
Dir. Marília Albornoz
Experimental
USA – New York

Honorable Mentions

Until the last drop: Tales from the battle for El Salvador’s water
Dir. Jason Wallach
Documentary
USA – Santa Cruz / El Salvador

Jale
Dir. Rafael Flores
Short Fiction
USA – Daly City

Four Star Video Prize for Best SF Filmmaker (1 year subscription)

-Juried by Four Star Video-

Race to the Bottom
Dir. Jonathan King and Michael Hamm
Documentary
USA – San Francisco



Official Selection


Rosa
Dir. Erika Saca, Chiki Vásquez, Orlando Alvarez
Documentary
El Salvador

Bernardino
Dir. Sue May
Documentary
USA – New York

Flowers for San Lazaro
Dir. James Rauschman
Documentary
USA – New York / Cuba

The Scraper Bike King
Dir. Rafael Flores
Documentary
USA – Daly City

Guitar Holiday
Dir. Dennis Conway
Documentary
USA – San Francisco

Sí se Puede
Dir. Noé Rivas
Youth/Experimental
USA - San Francisco

Mi Futuro
Dir. David Ixbalan
Youth/Experimental
USA - Seattle / Guatemala


La Huelga: The Struggle of the UFW
Dir. Alex Ivany
Youth/Documentary
USA – Santa Cruz, CA

Nuestras Casas de Cartón
Dir. Shelley Cook-Contreras
Experimental
USA - San Francisco

25th & Mission
Dir. Julie Mallozzi
Experimental
USA – Berkeley

Solidarity Baby
Dir. Maya Chinchilla
Experimental
USA – Oakland

Nuestra Dignidad
Dir. Kathy Vega-Muñoz
Experimental
USA – St. Paul, MN

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

VideoFest 2009 TROPHIES



Carolina Stankiewich, Latin artist of the community of San Francisco
and winner of a Videofest award in VF 2005, was commissioned this year
to create the trophies for VIDEOFEST 2009 LABOR and DREAMS.
Each handmade trophy, is an exquisite piece of mosaic, with the
spiral that makes us travel between the dream, the illusion and daily
work.

Carolina Stankiewich, artista latina de la comunidad de San Francisco y ganadora de un Videofest award en VF 2005, fue comisionada este año para la realización de los trofeos del VIDEOFEST 2009 LABOR & DREAMS. Cada trofeo hecho a mano, es una exquisita pieza de mosaico, con el espiral que nos hace viajar entre el sueño, la ilusion y el trabajo cotidiano.



Carolina Stankiewich
is a mosaic and video artist based in San Francisco, earning her degree in communication in her native Argentina. Since her 1997 arrival in San Francisco, she works in photography, video, mosaic and education. Carolina learned mosaic and stained glass techniques at Sharon Art Studio and holds a digital media teaching certificate from BAVC. She received an award for her short video "Flor" at the VideoFest 2005 and currently teaches a mosaic class at MCCLA. Some of her community mosaic projects are on exhibit at MCCLA and Monroe Elementary School in San Francisco.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

VIDEOFEST `09 proudly announces the jurors for LABOR & DREAMS



PETER BRATT: Writer, director and producer of "La Mission", selected for the Gala Opening night premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival 2009.

ANN KANEKO: Filmmaker and 1st prize winner VideoFest 2008 for her documentary "Against the Grain: An Artist's Survival Guide to Perú.

GRAHAM LEGGAT: Executive director of the San Francisco Film Society.

- - -EN ESPAÑOL- - -
Estamos orgullosos de anunciar a nuestro jurado para VIDEOFEST 2009: TRABAJO Y SUEÑOS

PETER BRATT: Escritor, director y productor de "La Mission", film seleccionado para la gala de apertura del 52 Festival Internacional de San Francisco.
ANN KANEKO: Cineasta especializada en documentales, ganadora del 1er premio del VIDEOFEST 2008 con su documental: "Against the Grain: An Artist's Survival Guide to Perú. ( "Contra los principios: una guia del artista sobreviviente del Perú"
GRAHAM LEGGAT: Director ejecutivo del San Francisco Film Society.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

ENTRY FORM & ENTRY FEES, VIDEOFEST 2009 LABOR & DREAMS



ENTRY FORM
Videomakers must include an entry form for each
film submission.
DVD is the only preview format accepted.
MiniDV is the only exhibition format accepted.

You can download the entry form in ENGLISH HERE

Usted puede bajar el formulario de inscrición en ESPAÑOL AQUI

ENTRY FEES
Early DEADLINE: MAY 22: General $20 / Youth $10
FInal DEADLINE: JULY 20: $30 for all
We do not accept videos arriving after July 20th or mail them back.

NOTIFICATION
In August we will announce the VideoFest Official Selection

Monday, April 13, 2009

VIDEOFEST 2009 LABOR & DREAMS / TRABAJO Y SUEÑOS



OUR 6th YEAR !!!!!!

Labor and Dreams / Trabajo y Sueños
Festival Dates: October 16 and 17 2009, MCCLA Theater
Early Bird Deadline: May 22, 2009
Final Deadline: July 20, 2009

PRIZES
1rst prize: $ 1,000
2nd prize: $ 500
3rd prize: $ 300 for Youth Video
Four Star Video, in San Francisco will be giving away a 1 year
subscription for the best SF filmmaker:
www.4starsf.com

In 2009 VideoFest celebrates its 6th annual festival and contest. VideoFest offers a space for videomakers to focus their work on the theme of Labor & Dreams/Trabajos y Sueños. This combination honors the idea of work in the community, the dreams surrounding labor, the hopes that await us in the future, the significance of work done by men and women whom as beings never stop dreaming.

VideoFest Categories
- Documentary: 60 minutes and under
- Short Fiction: 20 minutes and under
- Youth Video: video makers under 21 years old, 10 minutes and under
- Video del Barrio: focusing on neighborhood issues and the sense of community in any part of the world, 20 minutes and under
- Short Experimental: video art, video-poem or video-performance, 20 minutes and under
- Super Short: 2 minutes and under

More Info and Prospectus
HERE

PLEASE spread the work sending the link of this blog or sending this postcard:



this image was created with an illustration of Mona Caron and images of archives by MCCLA.MULTIMEDIA dpt.

VideoFest Producer, Adrian Arias
contact: videofest@gmail.com

Thursday, October 02, 2008

VideoFest Screening-Program October 17 & 18



FRIDAY OCTOBER 17 - 6:30pm
Mission Cultural Center fro Latino Arts Theatre
2868 Mission Street, San Francisco CA 94110
Admission $5

CONVERSATIONS II
Director: Marianela Vega Oroza / 16:30 min

PAPIROFLEXIA
Director: Joaquin Baldwin / 2:30 min

SOLEDAD IS GONE FOREVER
Director: Mabel Valvidiezo / 14 min

IT IS A LIFESTYLE NOT A LIFE
Victorino Cartagena / 3 min

SEA CHANGE
Director: Hannah Lew/ 10:48 min

CUANDO YO SOÑABA UN MUNDO AL REVES
Director: Jorge Dalton / 25 min

CHARCOAL TRAFFIC
Director: Nathan Collet / 7 min

WHY I RIDE: FROM LOW TO SHOW
Director: Ruben Palomaris / 41 min

LOS ABC´s QUE VIVAN LOS MUERTOS!
Director: John Jota Leaños / 5 min

after screening Q&A with the filmmakers

--------------------------------

SATURDAY OCTOBER 18 - 6:00pm
Mission Cultural Center fro Latino Arts Theatre
2868 Mission Street, San Francisco CA 94110
Admission $5

CORAZON QUE NO SIENTE, OJOS QUE NO VEN
Director: Miguel Olvera / 6:47 min

RIOS
Director: Romero Alves/ 3:39 min

MY FATHER HAD NO SON
Director: Amanda Vigil / 9:50 min

YUICHI
Director: Aaron D. Guadamuz/ 1:50 min

AGAINST THE GRAIN:
AN ARTISTS SURVIVAL GUIDE TO PERU
Director: Ann Kaneko / 64 min

SOMETIMES I WISH
Director: Jonathan Sanchez / 10:47 min

A SPECIAL NIGHT
Director: Leopoldo Rivera / 3:35 min

LOS OJOS DE JAVIER
Director: Sergio Carvajal / 7:38 min

after screening Q&A with the filmmakers

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

VideoFest 2008 Winners & Selected videos

(click to enlarge image)

MCCLA's Video Fest is proud to be celebrating it's fifth consecutive year.

We received 49 videos from which our juror, Peter Bratt has selected 17 videos to present at our two day festival. Five of these videos will receive awards in each of our categories and four videos will receive cash prizes.

Video Fest 08 is focused on people's existence and their surroundings, the relationships that develop between the human being and nature, community, family and their social surroundings.

JUROR: PETER BRATT
Writer, Director and Producer of the critically acclaimed independent film "Follow Me Home" and also director and Producer of "Mission Street Rhapsody", upcoming full length feature film.


THE BEST of the VIDEOFEST 2008 - EXISTENCE-CO-EXISTENCE
$1000 prize
" AGAINST THE GRAIN: AN ARTISTS SURVIVAL GUIDE TO PERU "
Directed by Ann Kaneko
(2008) color, 64 mins., documentary
US-Peru-Japan


In 1989, Alfredo Márquez used an image of Mao in an artwork. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. For every artist, the need to create and be heard is as basic as food and shelter. But what happens when you live in a country where the state clamps down on free thinkers, forcing artists to censure themselves? Four Peruvian visual artists, including Márquez, defy this tyranny through their work and ignite change, challenging ordinary people to speak out. These struggles and commitments raise the question: Is freedom of expression a right or a privilege?


"I base my documentaries on personal testimonials to hopefully allow the individuals in the films to tell their own stories. In Against the Grain, I concentrated on their roles as artists and less on their personal lives. Because this film explores the subject of art and focuses on the role of artists in society, it could lend itself to a less formally conventional approach. Yet I ultimately chose to use interviews to structure the story because I felt this was the most effective means of making their message accessible and through which a broad audience could identify with these artists." -Ann Kaneko




2nd place - Best of the Video Fest
$300.00 prize
" A SPECIAL NIGHT "
Directed by Leopoldo Rivera
(2007) color, 3:25 mins., short fiction
San Leandro, California

A perfect night, teenage love, and the worst outcome.
“My interest in filmmaking began when I was in high school, after graduating from a multimedia academy. It was then when I decided to take video production to the next level. As an artist, I’ve found that filmmaking is my medium of self-expression. My favorite part of making a film is to tell a story trough visuals and sound, and to exclude dialog as much as possible”. -Leopoldo Rivera




2nd place - Best of the Video Fest
$300.00 prize
" LOS OJOS DE JAVIER " (Javier Eyes)
Directed by Sergio Carvajal
(2007) color, 7:38 mins., short fiction
Austin, Texas

Javier wakes up one day and his eyes had walked out on him. The premise may sound somewhat fantastic, and extremely fictional; however, this happens more often that one could really imagined.
"Loa Ojos de Javier" is a short narrative written, and produced on 3 days, by a crew of 4 people under a budget of 50 dollars. It was made for the coalition of Texans with Disabilities. The film deals in a light, somewhat comedic way with the serious issues of disability of the soul and loss of identity.




Best Youth Video $300.00 prize
" SOMETIMES I WISH "
Directed by Joan Sanchez (15 years old)
(2007) color, 10:47 mins., documentary
San Francisco, California

Sometimes I Wish: Young people share their real feelings about being abandoned by their fathers.
Jonathan Sanchez is a young filmmaker attending San Francisco Downtown High School. Also a talented musician, Jonathan is interested in a career in the arts.




Best Short Fiction
CHARCOAL TRAFFIC
Director: Nathan Collet
(2008) color, 7 mins., short fiction
Somalia, Africa

Charcoal Traffic is the dramatic story of two brothers trapped in a murderous cycle of environmental and cultural devastation in Somalia.
The brothers' story shows the other war in Somalia - pitting the fragile environment and the pastoral way of life against charcoal producers - out to make money whatever it takes. The first fictional film shot in Somalia in over 15 years, Charcoal Traffic was filmed entirely on location in northern Somalia featuring a local cast with no previous acting experience.




Best Experimental
" CUANDO YO SOÑABA UN MUNDO AL REVES "
(When I used to dream an upside down world)
Directed by Jorge Dalton
(2005) color, 25 mins., experimental-documentary
El Salvador

A strange voyage into childhood, a lost paradise that we rediscover through an innocent and dangerous game which unleashes love, truth, virtues and yearnings. A poem built in an unusual way, utilizing unusable cinematographic materials.




Best Experimental
" CORAZON QUE NO SIENTE, OJOS QUE NO VEN "
Directed by Miguel Olvera
(2007) color, 6:47 mins., experimental-documentary
San Francisco, California

This project was inspired by a striking image in a mural titled
"materialist displacement" which is on the corner of 24th and Folsom
Streets; this disturbing image confronts two supermarket carts, one is the reflection of reality, the other the reality of a dream.




Best Animation
LOS ABC´s QUE VIVAN LOS MUERTOS!
Directed by John Jota Leaños
(2006) color, 5 mins., experimental
San Francisco, California

Do you remember your ABCs? We think you do! Sing along with this group of animated Mariachi social documentarians who will guide you through imperial history that will make you laugh, cry, and wonder why.




Best Video del Barrio
" WHY I RIDE: FROM LOW TO SHOW "
Directed by Ruben Palomaris
(2007) color, 41 mins., documentary
San Francisco, California

Why I ride is an entirely youth produced documentary company. The history, activism and policity of lawriding in the Mission District w/ the emerging scraper car culture in East Oakland




SELECTED VIDEOS

" RIOS "
Animation
Director: Romero Alves, Brazil
Rios is a trip down a river in brazil where sounds and images combine to make abstract references to the germination of the Manguebit movement

" PAPIROFLEXIA "
Animation
Director: Joaquin Baldwin, Paraguay-Los Angeles
Papiroflexia (Spanish for “Origami”) is the animated tale of Fred, a skillful paper folder who could shape the world with his hands. Originally created as a poem by the director, it was turned into a short animated film created in the UCLA Animation Workshop.

" CONVERSATIONS II "
Documentary
Director: Marianela Vega Oroza, Peru-US
“Conversations II” offers an intimate look at the female universe, a journey in time through evocative images and testimonies of women from the same family. The personal search of a daughter in the life of her mother and grandmother, confusing the experiences of 3 generations.

" SOLEDAD IS GONE FOREVER "
Short Fiction
Director: Mabel Valvidiezo, San Francisco, CA
A film about a young woman in search for the truth about her father. This drama explores the chilling consequences of political persecution through the eyes of a Chilean photographer living in San Francisco.

" YUICHI "
Animation
Director: Aaron D. Guadamuz, San Francisco, CA
Hand drawn animation introducing Yuichi the electronics wizard who finds a simple way to create physical and mechanical monstrosities in his lab powered by Boston Terriers.

" IT IS A LIFESTYLE NOT A LIFE "
Youth Video
Victorino Cartagena, San Francisco, CA
Its about a man facing his alcoholic issue.

" SEA CHANGE "
Short Fiction
Director: Hannah Lew, San Francisco, CA
Experiencing Life on Two Different Dimensions of Reality. Film was shot in new Orleans and in San Francisco

" MY FATHER HAD NO SON "
Short Fiction
Director: Amanda Vigil, San Francisco CA
After the unexpected death of her father, Alma struggles with her grief while working to help support herself and family.

SF VIDEOFEST 2008 - Dates of screening:
October 17 and 18 at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Theater

Friday, August 29, 2008

VideoFest clip

This video contains images from slected and winners of past VideoFest 2004-2007
VIDEOFEST DEADLINE to accept videos is SEPTEMBER 11
for Documentary, Fiction, Video del Barrio, Youth video, Experimental
contact: videofest@gmail.com

Thursday, July 10, 2008

VIDEOFEST is part of the VIDEOAKT - BERLIN


VIDEOFEST is part of the
INTERNATIONAL VIDEOART SHOW
July 11-13
Since the first video camera appeared in the early 1960s—the “Porta pack“, the grandmother of the current camcorder—not only tourists and families but many artists have used the tool as a medium and support for their works. Pioneering figures like Nam June Paik and the Fluxus artist group (including Berliner Wolf Vostell) were extremely important in developing video as a contemporary art, and the genre has been gaining a more privileged place in the art world ever since. Nevertheless, we are still talking about a young art form which is why we decided to create VIDEOAKT, opening a space to authors who cultivate video. In the show we want to give a place both for emerging artists and for those who have consolidated their trajectory, revealing a wide variety of languages derived from the use of video.

more about the VIDEOAKT FESTIVAL in JULY 11 - 13, 2008

to see the VIDEOFEST participants in VIDEOAKT-BERLIN click HERE

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Peter Bratt in VIDEOFEST 2008

Writer, Director and Producer of the critically acclaimed independent film "Follow Me Home". Peter Bratt will be the Juror for this year's VideoFest EXISTENCE-CO-EXISTENCE.



"Follow me Home" received the Best Director award at the 1996 American Indian Film Festival, the Best Feature Film Audience Award at the 1996 San Francisco International Film Festival and was also an Official Selection in the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. Bratt is also the Writer, Director and Producer of "Mission Street Rhapsody", upcoming full length feature film.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

INTERNATIONAL CONTEST - VIDEOFEST 2008 - - - - - - - - EXISTENCE - CO - EXISTENCE

Welcome to the Mission Cultural Center
International VIDEOFEST 2008
Existence-Co-Existence



MCCLA's Video Fest is proud to be celebrating its fifth consecutive year.
The title and theme for Video Fest 2008 is Existence-Co-Existence. Video Fest 08 will focus on people's existence and their surroundings, the relationships that develop between human beings and nature, community, family and social surroundings. Existence-Co-Existence encourages submissions of videos with themes related to ecology, sustainability, community development and social and/or family stories.

Video Fest 2008 Categories:
Documentary (not longer than 60 minutes)
Short Fiction (not longer than 20 minuter)
Youth Video* (must be 18 years old or younger / not longer than 10 minutes)
Video del Barrio / Neighborhood Video / From or about a Neighborhood (not longer than 20 minutes)
Experimental (not longer than 20 minutes)

We will not accept videos created before 2004.

Prizes:
1rst prize: $ 1,000
2nd prize: $ 500
3rd prize: $ 300 for Youth Video
There will be a juror specialized in film and video for the video selection.

DEADLINE for submitting videos: 9/11/08



Selected videos and winners will be announced by September 23
Festival dates: October 17 and 18 at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Theater
For more information and complete guidelines and entry form please visit:
missionculturalcenter.org

VideoFest is associate with other Video Festivals in the world:
VIDEO AKT BERLIN 2008
Festival La Noche de Los Cortos, Peru
International Latino Film Festival in Sydney

Adrian Arias, VF producer
Sebastian Davila MCCLA Events coordinator
Sabina Nieto, Multimedia Dpt. assistant

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Video Fest 2008/2009 Committee Guidelines



We are looking to form a strong working committee that can commit to work on both Video Fest 2008 and Video Fest 2009.

Committee members cannot submit their own videos for Video Fest 08/09.
Committee members are not the jurors for the contest.
The title and theme for Video Fest 2008 is Existence-Co-Existence, committee members will be part of the discussion for the title and theme for Video Fest 2009.

Committee members are expected to:
- Attend all meetings (first Wednesday of each month, first meeting will be in July 2nd at 6pm)
- Have contacts in video communities to help bring a broader selection of videos to the contest.
- Have contacts in communities interested in video to help bring a larger audience to the festival.
- Help find donations to be used as prizes.
- Help advertise the festival.

If you are interested in being a Video Fest 2008/2009 committee member please download and fill out the Video Fest 2008/2009 Committee Member Application and submit it by June 13, 2008. You can send these applications to Sebastian Davila at events@missionculturalcenter.org, fax 415 6480933 or mail it to MCCLA 2868 Mission Street. San Francisco. CA 94110

Please forward, If you know somebody that might be interested.

Download the complete form at:
www.missionculturalcenter.org

Thank You

Sebastián Dávila
Events and Media Coordinator
415.643.2796

Adrian Arias
VideoFest producer
multimedia@missionculturalcenter.org

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

VideoFest 2007 Oct 27 MCCLA Theatre show and ceremony

SATURDAY OCTOBER 27, MISSION CULTURAL CENTER Theatre
Miguel de La Barra Gomez, winner of the VideoFest 2007 and images from his movie "Los Gigantes, Alcibiades y el bosque de Piedras"

Reception with the winners at the MCCLA lobby and theatre
in the picture Anna Fitch and Javier Amaro, MCCLA board director and friends of the VF

Video installation "Hope" by Susana Aragon, Carolina Stankiewich and Voitek Szymkiewich



Jennie Rodriguez, MCCLA director, Won-Tae Seo with Miki de La Barra and volunteers...

video-installation by Dennis Maxwell


Singer, composer, activist Meklit Hadero



Video poema Flamenco by La Tania,
images by Adrian Arias


The ceremony award: Jannet Nuñez Best Dramatic Short "Torn Together"

Silvia Parra talks about Best video activist "We don´t play golf here..." by Saul Landau, the Roxie Award

Maria Medina Serafin, Master of Ceremonies with Pepe Ozan, sculptor and filmmaker, part of the VF committee and jury this year, with Michael Street, Best Super Short "Suicide" receiving the prize designed by Pepe Ozan.

Miki de La Barra, Best of the VideoFest 2007 "Los Gigantes, ALcibialdes y el bosque de piedras"


Thanks to all our filmmakers, MCCLA Staff, VF committee and volunteers !!!!!!!

VIDEO FEST 2007 !

MCCLA VideoFest 2007 at the Roxie, Friday October 26...



Video-installation "The mind eating rat" by Dennis Maxwell




in the picture: Dennis Maxwell, videoartist, Sabina Nieto, MCCLA Multimedia dpt and artist, Adrian Arias, Axel Herrera, musician, Marla Leech,selected with "Cigarra Capoeirista" and friends of Capoeira...


Inside the Roxie...



Saul Landau winner of the Roxie Award with "We don´t play golf here and other stories of globalization"


Maica Folch selected by "El Hotel de Ninguna Parte", Anna Fitch, best documentary "man made:The Bra" and Adrian Arias, VF producer