Each year the producers of the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival roll out a dazzling array of documentary features. This year the 15th SF DocFest unfolds from Thursday, June 2, through Thursday, June 16, at the Roxie, Great Star and Vogue Theaters.
Below find capsules on 10 not-to-be-missed films. A complete schedule can be found at the Festival website, sfindie.com
Becoming Visible Pamela French's intimate and thought-provoking glimpse at the worlds of several trans women and one trans man in New York City begins near a Harlem housing project as Olivia, a beautiful, model-thin transwoman. explains herself to three skeptical African American teens, one of whom pointedly demands, "Are you a man or a woman?"
"I'm a woman. I'm what you call a transgendered woman. I was born a woman, but I was born with a genetic disorder that makes me look more masculine than most woman. Like my voice is deep, I'm kind of tall, and my hands are big. I'm a girl, I was just born a little different than most girls."
Later, back home, she describes her complicated Gotham journey. "I knew what it meant to be gay, I knew what it meant to be straight, I knew what bisexuality was. I had no idea what transgender was, or transsexual. I didn't fit in any category. I felt like a woman who was attracted to men. So how do you explain that at eight, nine years old?"
Morgin admits how crazy it made her when the hospital presented her with the forms before her surgery. "Telling me that there was the possibility of death in any surgery. I don't want to know about the possibility of me dying, that's scary!" Morgin confesses that she knew who she was at age five, but kept it to herself because "my mom's a minister, my aunt's a minister."
"So you guys know that I'm going through my hormone therapy and testosterone, which makes you crazy." Sean is a transman who has incorporated his transition into his standup comedy act at the NYC LGBT Center. "My mom's been great about it. She's learning a little too much about what it's like becoming trans."
A harder road is faced by Katherine, a transwoman from a conservative Third World family. "The family and I just co-exist with each other, more like ghosts living with ghosts."
The filmmaker's philosophy is neatly expressed in this quote from a bestselling children's book: "Once you are real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." - from "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams. This is a not-to-be-missed exploration of a too-often-ignored or maligned part of our community. (World Premiere, Roxie, 6/10, 7 p.m.; Vogue, 6/11, 6:45 p.m.)
The Hollywood Shorties Ryan Steven Green takes us back to the late 1930s, when hundreds of "Little People" were attracted to Hollywood to audition for roles in "The Wizard of Oz." The success of the film led to Southern California eventually becoming home to the largest concentration of dwarves in the Americas. The film explores the history of a Little Person's basketball team that eventually assumed the same kind of acclaim as the legendary touring Harlem Globetrotters. (West Coast Premiere, Roxie, 6/12, 7 p.m.; 6/14, 9:15 p.m.; Vogue, 6/16, 9 p.m.)
It Ain't Pretty Bay Area docmaker Dayla Soul provides a visually stunning and narratively fascinating account of the stories of women who surf the rough waves at Ocean Beach. Prone to rip tides, sharks and sharp rocks, our local scene proves irresistible to dozens of women, one of whom confesses to having pestered her mom for her first board at age eight. (World Premiere, Great Star, 6/2, 8 p.m.)
Silicon Cowboys If you're looking for a story of the little guy battling the evil corporations and actually winning, for a while, check out Jason Cohen's detailed history of Compaq Computer. Hatched by three buddies in 1982 at a Houston diner, this start-up enterprise pioneered a line of personal computers long before the rise of Apple. Back in the '80s, IBM was the big bully on the block, and the film describes the delicious ways the little guys out-thought the big boys, only, of course, to be crushed and superseded in the end. Look for local computing luminaries at the screening. (West Coast Premiere, Roxie, 6/16, 7 p.m.)
In California French filmmaker Charles Redon unfolds the distressing story of his girlfriend, who left Paris with the ambition of becoming a Bay Area ballet dancer. The film is a story of obsession: hers for the dance world, and his to document if not prevent her downward spiral. (Roxie, 6/5, 4:30 p.m.; 6/7, 7 p.m.; Vogue, 6/12, 6:45 p.m.)
Off the Rails Doubtless you've caught his escapades on the evening news. Adam Irving now delves into Gotham City's famed transit thief, a 50-year-old guy who lives to joy ride on NYC buses and trains. Possessing an encyclopedic knowledge of New York transit schedules, Darius McCollum is a real-life version of The Kingston Trio's fabled transit gate-crasher, "Charlie on the MTA." (Roxie, 6/12, 4:30 p.m.; Vogue, 6/14, 9 p.m.)
Midsummer Newtown Lloyd Kramer recounts the stories behind a local teenage production of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" designed to revive spirits in a community devastated by a horrific shooting. (West Coast Premiere, Roxie, 6/11, 2:15 p.m.; 6/16, 9:15 p.m.; Vogue, 6/14, 6:45 p.m.)
Kate Plays Christine Filmmaker Robert Greene probes behind the bizarre 1974 incident in which a newscaster shot herself to death on camera. The incident, which inspired the Oscar-winning movie "Network," is here investigated by an actress hired by Greene, who doggedly searches out survivors of this modern-media horror story/urban legend. (West Coast Premiere, 6/9, 7 p.m.)
Live Another Day In a timely entry for this political season, Didler Pietri and Bill Burke probe the details behind the 2008 collapse of the Big Three auto companies in Detroit. The story behind this messy corporate welfare bailout might inspire a little grass-roots pushback. (West Coast Premiere, Roxie, 6/5, 2:15 p.m.; Vogue, 6/12, 4:15 p.m.)
Orange Sunshine The inside-skinny, behind-the-scenes story of the couple who promoted American use of LSD back in the 60s. This drug fad would accidentally kick off today's huge illegal drug traffic. The film casts light on the desire for social justice that took a crazy turn to the dark side. (West Coast Premiere, Roxie, 6/12, 9:15 p.m.; 6/15, 7 p.m.; Vogue, 6/13, 9 p.m.)