Bay Area Documentaries

For more than 40 years, film festivals and television programmers around the world have recognized the breadth and depth of Bay Area documentary filmmakers. This community exposes contemporary and historical injustices at home and abroad and spotlights under-the-radar artists and thinkers. Each session will feature a new or recent film followed by a candid, in-person conversation with the director. We’ll focus on the practical, financial, creative, and ethical aspects of crafting documentaries, from initial conception to broadcast and distribution.

Here is a partial list of the directors and films that will be highlighted: 

• Christopher Beaver, Racing to Zero
• Janis Plotkin, Plastic Man: The Artful Life of Jerry Ross Barrish
• Judith Montell and Emmy Schlatter, In the Image

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Michael Fox has been a film critic and journalist since 1987. His current outlets include KQED.org/arts, Fandor.com/blog, Oakland magazine and The (East Bay) Monthly. He curates and hosts the weekly CinemaLit series at the Mechanics Institute in San Francisco and teaches documentary courses at the SF Art Institute and OLLI at SF State. He is a member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle.