The 17th annual San Francisco Black Film Festival continues its run through the weekend, showcasing a host of shorts and feature-length films. But before the festival became a Bay Area mainstay, one woman’s relentless efforts, public relations acumen and savvy marketing skills brought the festival into being. A Fillmore District fixture, Ave Montague created the San Francisco Black Film Festival with a $200 budget and a dream.
A career publicist, Montague wanted to use her skills to change the cultural dynamic of the local African Diaspora by shedding light on creative individuals and showcasing their work. In 1998, she launched the first-ever Black Film festival with screenings in Oakland in collaboration with the Juneteenth celebration, which celebrates the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. (This year's Juneteenth celebration takes place tomorrow in the Fillmore; find more information here.)
From that small beginning, a world-class festival was born. In the ensuing years, filmmakers and celebrities such as Spike Lee, Sidney Portier, Taraji P. Henson and Danny Glover made appearances and showed their support (to name a few). In addition to attracting big names, the film festival also began showcasing foreign films from Brazil, Cuba and Africa.
A resident of San Francisco’s Fillmore District, Montague worked with local businesses to host VIP parties and screenings for the festival. She's recognized as bringing energy and foot traffic to a neighborhood that was struggling culturally and economically, with many crediting her sound advice, determination and results-oriented mind in making the festival a success.
In 2009, just days after hosting the official West Coast celebration of President Barack Obama’s Inauguration, and just months before the 11th Annual Black Film Festival, Montague passed away at age 64. Her untimely death left a void, particularly in the Fillmore community that she had worked hard to support.
Her son Kali Ray made it his personal goal to keep the festival alive, and continues to co-direct the festival. Now in its 17th year, the San Francisco Black Film Festival opened on Thursday evening and continues through the weekend with a full schedule of films, including more films created by Bay Area locals than ever before. Read on for a list of films by local filmmakers, and the time/location of screenings.
Friday June 12th, 5:15pm block
African American Art & Cultural Complex , 762 Fulton St.
Point of Pride
The People’s View of Bayview/Hunter’s Point, Point of Pride is a documentary film about the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. The film combines archival footage from the 1950s, '60s and '70s with present-day viewpoints and reactions to these images from the past to create a compelling portrait of a community marked by struggle and fueled by hope. (Produced by Bay Area Video Coalition)
Saturday June 13th, 12pm-2pm block
Second Act Marketplace & Events, 1727 Haight St.
#Blacklivesmatter – 12pm (montage)
The Black Lives Matter music video incorporates footage of national and international Black Lives Matter protests, alongside images of the victims who have lost their lives at the hands of police. Also, interwoven within the video are subtle but intimate clips that capture Hoffman during the recording process. (Directed by Lovely Hoffman)
Da Cotton Pickas – 12pm (after #blacklivesmatter montage)
Da Cotton Pickas film project is about the understanding of a the day and a life of a person who picked cotton on the southern plantations after the slavery era in America.Its covers the sharecropping arrangement between the cotton pickas and the land owners,it takes you on a journey as the narrator gets vivid description of the migration of the cotton pickas to west and north, when they finally decided to leave the south. (Written and Directed by Robert Bowden)
Moses 1pm
A short film on human trafficking. (Directed by Uzoma Okoro)
rites: 2pm
A father takes his 4 year-old son to get his very first haircut, but when violent intruders raid the barbershop, the outcome has unexpected consequences for both father and son. (Written by Cheo Tyehimba Taylo, Directed by Stacey Malbrough)
Zola 4:15pm
Zola, a poor boy in a remote village of Africa, is devastated when his father leaves to work in the South African mines. The situation gets worse when his mother dies of AIDS. Zola is forced to live with his uncle, a subsistence farmer who lives alone and drinks too much. Zola’s life takes a dramatic turn when he auditions for dance competition. All he needs to change his life is a miracle. (Directed by Sanelle Sibana)
In an Ideal World: 6pm
[Free for anyone touched by incarceration (email [email protected])] Direct from the frontlines of America’s locked down racial system, follow three men over seven years inside one California prison. Their stories expose and honor the human drama at its core, revealing the institutional nature of racial hierarchies, and the hope and hidden risks of transformative change. (Directed by Noel Schwerin)
Sunday June 14, 12pm
African American Art & Cultural Complex, 762 Fulton St.
Pull Your Pants Up
Educator and humanitarian Tracy Jenkins articulates his views on sagging pants, the style of dress defined by the Urban Dictionary as: Hip-hop and gangster cultural fashion: Wearing one’s pants below the level of the waist, sometimes below the level of the buttocks, with one’s boxer shorts showing ... Through interviews with others who voice their opinions, Tracy strives to give viewers his Food for Thought awareness. (Written, Produced and Directed by Tracy Jenkins)
6pm block
Boom Boom Room, 1601 Fillmore St.
Mac Dre: Legend of the Bay
Bay Area rapper Mac Dre began his career at 18 and quickly became an influential force in early west coast hip-hop. In 1992 he was convicted of conspiracy to commit bank robbery when his lyrics were used against him in court. He left prison with a new lease on life, founded an independent record company, and then was murdered just when he began to emerge as a star. For the first time ever, his mother Wanda reveals the true experiences of a hip-hop legend. (Directed by Zachary Butler)
For the full schedule, visit www.sfbff.org
This video tribute to Ave Montague from 2010 features testimonials from Fillmore District’s community stakeholders. If you want to learn more about her and the lives she impacted, take a look.
