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In the poorest neighborhoods of Calcutta, a lawyer turned social entrepreneur is empowering young girls and boys to take an active role in tranforming their own lives.  Through arts programs and hands-on activities such as mapping their communities, these young girls and boys have brought clean drinking water and improved sanitation in their slums.  A panel discussion follows the film.

May 23 - All May long, SFPL is having a Michael Moore-a-thon during Thursdays @ Noon!

Fahrenheit 911

(2004, 122 minutes)

Michael Moore's view on what happened to the US after September 11, 2001; and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The SFPL Library for the Blind and Print Disabled invites you to join us for an audio-described film, followed by a discussion.   The film selection for May is the 2010 version of a Western classic film, True Grit, which was nominated for 82 Awards, including 10 Oscars.

The following film description is taken from the Internet Movie Data Base:

Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney, 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. marshal she can find, a man with "true grit," Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn. Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose drinking, sloth, and generally reprobate character do not augment her faith in him. Against his wishes, she joins him in his trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney. They are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, who wants Chaney for his own purposes. The unlikely trio find danger and surprises on the journey, and each has his or her "grit" tested.

Why show Audio Described films?

A Blind or partially sighted person cannot enjoy a feature film without relying on someone to whisper the visual aspects of the movie in his or her ear.  Audio-described films allow visually impaired to enjoy movies independently because they include a second soundtrack that describes the sets, costumes and any visual cues that the director uses to establish place, create mood and foreshadow events.

Join us for a movie followed by a discussion about the film and the effectiveness of the audio-descriptions.

Sighted people are welcome.  If you find it distracting to listen to the descriptions while watching the movie, you might try closing your eyes. 

Please note that we must request noise be kept to a minimum during the film so people can hear the descriptions.

Unfortunately there currently is no option to include closed captioning for the Deaf and hard of hearing with audio description in most of these movies.

Ponyo is an animated adventure centered on a 5-year-old boy and his relationship with a goldfish princess who longs to become human.

Last Saturday of the Month Movies are for all ages.  The audience limit is 42.

The Typewriter (In The 21st Century) is a film about a machine and the people who use, love, and repair it.

The film features 30+ interviews in 10 U.S. states with Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning authors Robert Caro and David McCullough, collectors, repairmen, artists, musicians, inventors, and bloggers from The Typosphere - an online gathering place for typewriter enthusiasts.

The film was inspired by a May, 2010 article in Wired magazine called “Meet The Last Generation of Typewriter Repairman.” Director Christopher Lockett and Producer Gary Nicholson discussed the importance of the typewriter in 20th Century literature. The conclusion being that every great novel of the 20th Century was written on one, and if typewriters are in their final days, they deserved to be celebrated one last time.

It only took a few interviews to determine that the typewriter and its legion of fans is far from dead. By the time the “Last Typewriter Factory Closes Its Doors” article went viral in April of 2011, Lockett and Nicholson were not only already making the film, they were convinced they had a much bigger story on their hands. They did.

Funded largely through Kickstarter, the film eventually featured not only typewriter people – the aforementioned technicians, collectors, bloggers, users and fans – but famous typewriters as well. The film features machines once owned by Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Tennessee Williams, John Steinbeck, Jack London, Sylvia Plath, George Bernard Shaw, John Lennon, Joe DiMaggio, Helen Keller, The Unabomber, John Updike, Ray Bradbury and Ernie Pyle.

Find out more about the film at http://typewritermovie.com/the-film/

Saturday at the Movies will take place on the 4th Saturday of the month at 3:00. This month we'll show Born Yesterday (1950) Starring Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford and William Holden  

Uncouth junkyard tycoon Harry Brock descends upon Washington D.C. to buy himself a congressman or two, bringing with him his mistress, ex-showgirl Billie Dawn. Brock hires newspaperman Paul Verrall to see if he can make her more presentable in capital society. But Harry gets more than he bargained for as Billie absorbs Verall's lessons in U.S. history.

Black and White; 103 minutes.

May 30 - All May long, SFPL is having a Michael Moore-a-thon during Thursdays @ Noon!

Sicko

(2007, 123 minutes)

A documentary comparing the highly profitable American health care industry to other nations, and HMO horror stories. As the Affordable Care Act has passed into law, this film still remains highly informative and relevant.

Join us at the 3rd San Francisco Green Film Festival for this special free event!

This year, attendees will learn about the threats of plastic pollution to animals and humans, and talk with experts in this area.

Film line-up:

-  Winners from the 2013 Breathe California student video contest (8 mins) - sponsored by SF Green Film Festival.

-  “Scars of Freedom” (6 mins) - A moving film about a whale’s struggle for survival off the coast of Chile’s Juan Fernandez Archipelago, from filmmaker Celine Cousteau.

-  “Coastguards” (4 mins) - A short film about humanity’s obsession and mixture of fear and fascination for sharks.

-  “Plastic Paradise” (57 mins) - Travel with filmmaker Angela Sun to Midway Atoll, a remote island in the Pacific, as she seeks to uncover the mystery behind the island of garbage that everyone has heard of but no one truly understands. What she discovers is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an island littered with plastics, causing great harm not only to our beaches, oceans, and sea life, but to ourselves. Midway sees 20 tons of plastic trash wash ashore each year and as we watch her sift through ordinary household items among the debris – reusable coffee mugs, flip flops, lighters, even a computer monitor – we find ourselves uncomfortably complicit. This film tackles a seriously daunting problem with high energy and humor, archival footage, and animation as it tracks down the who, what, where and why of this phenomena. Along the way Sun speaks to scientists, environmental activists, the plastic bag guy, marine researchers, plastics industry representatives, even Jack Johnson, to get a sense of how our obsession with plastic began, where it all went wrong and how we can fix it.   Discussion following films.

All are welcome to attend this free festival program. Further Information: http://sfgreenfilmfest.org  

 This is a Stegner Environmental Center, San Francisco Green Film Festival and Green Stacks Program.

On Location: the Golden Gate Bridge on the Silver Screen

The Golden Gate Bridge has starred in more movies than any other American architectural icon. From Dark Passage (1947) to The Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) the iconic span appears in wide range of films including Superman, Star Trek, Time After Time, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Love Bug, A View to a Kill, Monsters vs. Aliens, Interview with a Vampire, X-Men. In honor of its 75th anniversary, Jim Van Buskirk, author of Celluloid San Francisco, (and former SFPL librarian) offers a clip-filled program of hilariously horrifying depictions of San Francisco’s beloved bridge.

Movie

Ma Vie en Rose by Alain Berliner

Ludovic is waiting for a miracle. With six-year-old certainty, he believes he was meant to be a little girl and that the mistake will soon be corrected. But where he expects the miraculous, Ludo finds only rejection, isolation and guilt--as the intense reactions of family, friends, and neighbors strip away every innocent lace and bauble. Winner of the 1998 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. Produced in Belgium. (1997, 88 min. In French with English subtitles)

Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.

Tough cop Detective Frazier matches wits with a clever bank robber Dalton in a tense hostage drama. Dalton is calling the shots in this dangerous cat and mouse game but a wild card emerges. Madeliene is a power broker with a hidden agenda who brings even more instability into an already volatile situation.

Directed by Spike Lee.  Starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe.  Universal Pictures; Rated R; 129 mins.; 2006

A world of girders and cable, that's where Mack Hale works, supervising the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. In its shadow is a world of hopes and fears. That's where Lynn Palmer works, aiding travelers stranded in an unforgiving city during the depths of the Depression.  From 1935.  72 minutes.

San Francisco Public Library's theme for the summer is our own great City!

Don't forget to check out our June 5th presentation,  "The Golden Gate Bridge on the Silver Screen".  Jim Van Buskirk, author of Celluloid San Francisco, (and former SFPL librarian) offers a clip-filled program of hilariously horrifying depictions of San Francisco’s beloved bridge.  6-7:30pm.

Movie

The Golden Gate Bridge has starred in more movies than any other American architectural icon. From Dark Passage (1947) to The Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) the iconic span appears in wide range of films including Superman, Star Trek, Time After Time, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Love Bug, A View to a Kill, Monsters vs. Aliens, Interview with a Vampire, and X-Men.

In honor of its 75th anniversary, Jim Van Buskirk, author of Celluloid San Francisco, (and a former SFPL librarian) offers a clip-filled program of hilariously horrifying depictions of San Francisco’s beloved red bridge.

This film discusses how faith, love, marriage, homosexuality and the Episcopal Church collide in the first openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.  An audience discussion with Rev. Jim Mitulski of the Pacific School of Religion  follows the film.

Movie

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger games. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her younger sister's place and must rely upon her sharp instincts when she's pitted against highly trained Tributes who have prepared their entire lives. She must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Rated PG-13, 142 minutes.  2012.  Ages 13-18.  Snacks provided.

Tomboy by Celine Sciamma

Laure is 10 years old and a tomboy. On arrival in a new neighborhood, she lets Lisa and her crowd believe that she is a boy. Summer becomes a big playground and Laure pretends to be Mikael, a boy like the others, different enough to get the attention of Lisa, who falls in love with him. Laure takes advantage of her new identity as if the end of the summer would never reveal her unsettling secret. Audience Award, Best Feature, SF International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (2012, 84 min. French with English subtitles)

When filmy spores fall from space and take root in San Francisco, the city is beautifully transformed by spectacular and exotic flowers. But these lovely extraterrestrial blossoms have gruesome plans for their earthly admirers. These blossoms are going to slowly clone human bodies and then dispose of the originals.  From 1978.  117 minutes.

San Francisco Public Library's theme for the summer is our own great City!

Don't forget to check out our June 5th presentation,  "The Golden Gate Bridge on the Silver Screen".  Jim Van Buskirk, author of Celluloid San Francisco, (and former SFPL librarian) offers a clip-filled program of hilariously horrifying depictions of San Francisco’s beloved bridge.  6-7:30pm.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated feature and one of the top ten all-time money makers. It is still considered by many critics one of the 40 greatest American films, animated or not.  Come watch Doc, Happy, Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy, and Dopey sing "Whistle While You Work" and vanquish the evil queen on our big screen!

Take an auditory and visual journey down San Francisco´s Market Street -- one that reveals the perspectives of everyday users alongside those of designers and planners. The film, shot in 2012, intends to create a dialogue about the future of Market Street and preserve, on film, an experience of the corridor before its transformation. Join us afterwards for a discussion with designers, planners, the filmmaker and everyday users about the future of San Francisco´s greatest street. Presented by Walk San Francisco.

Movie

The SFPL Library for the Blind and Print Disabled invites you to join us for an audio-described film, followed by a discussion.  The  selection for June, Dogs and More Dogs, was produced by the award-winning science filmakers at NOVA for PBS. 

Film Description from the Nova Website:

Where do dogs in all their amazing diversity come from? Tradition says that thousands of years ago someone tamed a wolf pup, thus creating the first of our best friends.  But many scientists disagree. On "Dogs and More Dogs," NOVA goes to the dogs—and to leading researchers—to find out the truth.

Narrated by John Lithgow, the program ranges from a wolf research facility in rural Indiana to the Westminster Dog Show in New York's Madison Square Garden. NOVA makes a fascinating detour to the city dump in Tijuana, Mexico, where viewers get surprising insight into the origin and evolutionary strategy of our canine companions.

Why show Audio Described films?

A Blind or partially sighted person cannot enjoy a feature film without relying on someone to whisper the visual aspects of the movie in his or her ear.  Audio-described films allow visually impaired to enjoy movies independently because they include a second soundtrack that describes the sets, costumes and any visual cues that the director uses to establish place, create mood and foreshadow events.

Join us for a movie followed by a discussion about the film and the effectiveness of the audio-descriptions.

Sighted people are welcome.  If you find it distracting to listen to the descriptions while watching the movie, you might try closing your eyes. 

Please note that we must request noise be kept to a minimum during the film so people can hear the descriptions.

Unfortunately there currently is no option to include closed captioning for the Deaf and hard of hearing with audio description in most of these movies.

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Join us for a film screening of The Social Network (PG-13).  This film tells the story of the founders of the social-networking website, Facebook. Adapted from Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal. You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies!

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Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.

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Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.

Movie

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Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.

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Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.

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Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa.

Green Saturdays@ Bernal takes place the second Saturday of every month. The program features hands-on activities and useful information for sustainable living.  This program is for all ages and we encourage family participation.

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