LGBTQ

In ‘No Straight Lines,’ We Meet Groundbreaking Queer Comic Artists

06.11.2021
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In the new documentary “No Straight Lines,” artists who took serious risks by outing themselves and creating comics about the experiences and lives of LGBT Americans look back on their work and its impacts. Director Vivian Kleiman, a Peabody Award winning filmmaker, producer, director and writer, talked with “Civic” about how these artists shaped the underground comics scene and some of the film’s more poignant moments.

Arts & Culture
Roxie Theater members at a preview event in May 2021 before the cinema’s reopening.

Return of the Roxie: SF Nonprofit Cinema Cautiously Reopens

06.04.2021
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With vaccination rates on the rise and lockdown restrictions lifting, audiences are returning to indoor venues. For community cinemas like the Roxie Theater, reopening is emotional. The Roxie’s executive director Lex Sloan told “Civic” that limited seating for recent screenings sold out quickly, filling her with hope that cinephiles are eager to return in person.

Health
The Grier family, featured in the documentary film “Sky Blossom.”

Documentary ‘Sky Blossom’ Highlights Young Caregivers

05.12.2021
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Millions of Americans have stepped in as caregivers for loved ones with illnesses or injuries that mean they need help with daily living. The work is generally unpaid and often invisible to the world outside the family. Some of these caregivers are children. A new documentary, “Sky Blossom: Diaries of the Next Greatest Generation,” highlights young people who are taking on these roles in their families. Director and co-producer Richard Lui, a news anchor at MSNBC and NBC News, talked with “Civic” about why and how young people are stepping in to do this work and what it means to be a caregiver. 

“Sky Blossom” will screen at CAAMFest on May 18 at 6 p.m. It will also air on MSNBC May 29 and 30, and will reach a theater in every state on May 26. 

“Caregiving for my own father is what probably opened my eyes to this.

Arts & Culture

Installation at Yerba Buena Center Examines Mourning in a Time of Isolation

04.29.2021
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An installation at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts called “Mourning is an Act of Love” uses non-traditional forms of documentary film as well as poetry and photography, which visitors can view from the outside of the building, to explore concepts like memorials, grief and public space. Documentary filmmaker Susannah Smith, who curated the exhibit, and filmmaker and cinematographer Melinda James talked with “Civic” about mourning and connecting at a time when people are isolated by pandemic restrictions. Smith said there have been several deaths among her family and friends in recent years. “The main way that I dealt with it, that felt constructive, was really sharing stories and being with people and that kind of collective process,” she said. 

But the pandemic hindered mourners’ ability to gather. “The pandemic has shifted the ways that we are able to mourn the ways that we come together, collectively and as a community,” James said.

“Civic” Podcast

The First Draft of 50 Years of LGBTQ History

04.12.2021
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The Bay Area Reporter distributed its first edition on April 1, 1971. While publisher Bob Aaron Ross may have chosen April Fool’s Day as a light-hearted start for the gay community’s latest bar “rag,” the newspaper would go on to do serious journalism, covering the major events of the post-Stonewall era.

Arts & Culture

Love Notes, Care Packages as Film Fest Reflects on Homelessness

02.10.2021
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At this year’s SF Urban Film Fest, several programs examining homelessness include activities in which participants will be asked to connect with perfect strangers. In one case, they’ll be prompted to write love notes or put together care packages. Multimedia journalist Yesica Prado and Fay Darmawi, the film festival’s founder and executive director, curated the events and discussed on “Civic” how participants might gain new perspectives on homelessness.

Arts & Culture
Photo courtesy of Tongo Eisen-Martin

SF Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin on Poetry as Revolution

02.01.2021
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San Francisco’s new poet laureate, Tongo Eisen-Martin, is a city native raised by local organizers, and his work is deeply political. On “Civic,” Eisen-Martin reflected on national politics in the wake of the summer uprisings against police brutality and racism, the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the presidential inauguration.

Arts & Culture
Still image from “Playing for Keeps.”

Documentary on Importance of Play Features SF Skater, Dancer

01.26.2021
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A new documentary, “Playing for Keeps,” posits that humans benefit greatly from playing and suffer when we are deprived of play. Isabella Miller, who prior to the coronavirus pandemic would regularly go swing dancing, and David Miles Jr., the proprietor of San Francisco’s Church of 8 Wheels, are featured in the film and joined “Civic” to reflect on how they play and how that has shaped their lives.