Curated by Cecilia Araneda for the Gimme Some Truth Documentary Festival
Introduced by Sam Green
Screening: Sat, May 30 at 8PM, at the Winnipeg Cinematheque
American independent documentary filmmaker Sam Green’s body of work is a reflection on the fading moment of idealism and the impermanent nature of things. Green frequently casts his strong cinematic eye on the ordinary or long-forgotten, asking us to reconsider these things for what they tell us about both ourselves and the essence of human nature. This program of shorts includes an investigation of fog in San Francisco, a reflection on the anonymity of the teenager killed at a Rolling Stones concert in 1969, and an examination of the force of hope behind the Esperanto language. This program also includes an early documentary collaboration on the making of The Fabulous Stains, with DIY filmmaker Sarah Jacobson, who passed away in 2004 at age 32.
Lot 63, Grave C
Dir. Sam Green, 2006, USA, 10 min
Lot 63, Grave C is about Meredith Hunter, the teenager who was killed by Hell’s Angels at the Rolling Stones’ notorious Altamont concert in 1969.
A Cinematic Study of Fog in San Francisco
Dirs. Sam Green & Andy Black, 2013, USA, 10 min
An investigation of fog, a remarkable weather phenomenon that profoundly characterizes the San Francisco Bay.
The Fabulous Stains: Behind the Movie
Dirs. Sam Green & Sarah Jacobson, 1999, USA, 11 min
The Fabulous Stains explores the making of one of the weirdest movies ever made; the 1981 cult film The Fabulous Stains.
Clear Glasses
Dir. Sam Green, 2009, USA, 4 min
This film is a poem of sorts about a pair of glasses that Mark Rudd, one of the former members of the Weather Underground and one of the main subjects of my film on the group, sent me out of the blue a few years ago. He had been wearing that specific pair of glasses when he turned himself in 1977 and I recognized them from news footage and photos of the event. He sent me the glasses as a way to say thanks for making the film.
The Universal Language
Dir. Sam Green, 2011, USA, 29 min
Esperanto and English, with English subtitles
The Universal Language traces the history of Esperanto, an artificial language that was created in the late 1800s by a Polish eye doctor who believed that if everyone in the world spoke a common tongue, humanity could overcome racism and war. Fittingly, the word “Esperanto” means “one who hopes.”