World datelines converge at fest
The old activist adage “think globally, act locally” is practically a rallying cry at the 18th San Francisco Documentary Festival, a.k.a. DocFest.
Sure, there are the “fun” docs that the two-week festival — which opened on Wednesday, May 29, and is brought to you by the folks at S.F. IndieFest — is known for. Like the opening night film at the Brava Theater, “Cassandro the Exotico!” (8 p.m. Wednesday), about one of the first openly gay lucha libre wrestlers. Or the opening night film at the Roxie Theater, “JR ‘Bob’ Dobbs and the Church of the Subgenius” (7 p.m. Thursday, May 30), about a couple of goof-offs who start their own religion in order to satirize cults, but end up gaining followers. Or the closing night film on June 13, “I Want My MTV,” a nostalgic look at the 1980s music video phenomenon. Or “Murder in the Front Row: The Bay Area Thrash Metal Story” (9:15 p.m. Friday, May 31; 9 p.m. Tuesday, June 4, at the Roxie), which tells the story of local musicians who felt heavy metal was too tame.
But if you get the feeling we’re living in dark times, this festival, which features 84 films (and eight parties) at three venues in the Mission District, is also for you. The world has a lot of problems, and several docs have a ripped-from-the-headlines feel to them.
Concerned about Russian meddling in our elections? Jakob Gottschau’s “Factory of Lies” (4:45 p.m. June 7; 12:15 p.m. June 8, Roxie) follows Russian journalists as they track and expose the methods of “fake news” propagators. Apparently, in 2012, Russian president Vladimir Putin was so stung by a wave of demonstrations and public outcry fueled by social media over his grip on power that he decided to hijack social media to boost his own profile and justify military interference in Ukraine and Crimea.
That worked so well, he decided try interfering in European and American elections. Guess how that’s turned out?
Angry at the anti-abortion laws passed in conservative states? “Our Bodies Our Doctors” (7 p.m. June 9; 7 p.m. June 10, Roxie) provides a glimpse of what’s ahead for many women. Jan Haaken’s film follows doctors, many of them female, who venture into areas where clinics are all but nonexistent to provide reproductive health and counseling, often in the face of anti-abortion activists and possible danger. Many of the women’s stories — both doctors and patients — are heartbreaking.
More than 300 laws have been passed this decade — seemingly in the last couple of months — to restrict abortion, which is, of course, legal. The focus of these doctors is on the health and care of patients, who are often scared, humiliated and angry.
“I grew up in the South,” one doctor explains. “So I saw a lot of the way women were not necessarily respected. I think that informed me to be invested in making sure that women are being taken care of.”
Alarmed at the breakdown of our ecosystem and threats to our food supply, and by extension, ourselves? The gorgeously shot “The Pollinators” (4:45 p.m. Sunday, June 2; 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 5, Roxie) not only provides a warning, but is solutions-based.
Many crops require insect pollination to exist. But because man-made environmental factors have driven away or drastically reduced insect populations, beekeepers bus truckloads of bees to farmers in need. Much of the reduction of the insect populations is due to the drastic change in the types of pesticides used in the last 20 years, according to the film.
Afraid of the rise of populism in the United States and Europe, and nervous about the recent showdown between the U.S. and Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro? Carlos Oteyza’s “I Am the People: Venezuela Under Populism” (4:45 p.m. Friday, May 31; 9:15 p.m. Sunday, June 2) posits the situation of that oil-rich country as the canary in the coal mine of the recent cycle of global populist movements, showing what can happen “when people lose their faith in democracy,” one journalist says.
And remember the part about “think globally, act locally”? Marin County filmmaker Liz Canning chronicles her discovery and embrace of the cargo bike movement in “Motherload” (4:45 p.m. June 9), which manages to provide DIY tips on environmental, health and quality-of-life issues.
“A 19th century invention is solving 21st century problems,” notes one participant. To prove it, the crowdsourced documentary ends up traveling the world (Nepal and Uganda for starters), broadening the scope beyond the bay.
And that’s the beauty of DocFest. It’s a wide-ranging, frontline report from places around the world, all without leaving the Mission District. No passports required, just an open mind.