The silly season is over. Children are back in school. It’s fall, and the race for little gold statuettes is on (mostly for the better, but not entirely). At our more esoteric venues, the voices of experimental and iconoclastic filmmakers ring out, and film festivals reclaim their place on the calendar. Take your vitamins, your double espresso, or your chem-lab energy drink: From here to Christmas, it’s pedal to the metal.
Kerry Laitala has the rare ability to summon the ghosts hiding between the frames. The internationally acclaimed San Francisco filmmaker (newly installed as interim chair of the San Francisco Art Institute’s Film Department), rescues and reclaims old films, infusing artifacts with a bemused yet respectful sensibility. Laitala inaugurates Shapeshifters Cinema, a monthly live-cinema series created and curated by Gilbert Guerrero and Kathleen Quillian on the first Thursday at the Arbor Cafe in North Oakland, with two new pieces, Trip the Light Fantastic (a collaboration with Neal Johnson) and Velvet of Night (with musician John Davis) on Sept. 6. For more information, visit shapeshiftercinema.com.
Beauty Is Embarrassing
The artist’s life consists of more than trading witticisms with one’s muse. (Even if he/she is imaginary.) Wayne White is revered in certain circles for his multiple Emmy Award-winning work on Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and his contributions to classic music videos such as Peter Gabriel’s Big Time. But he also went through a blue period, and we’re not talking Picasso or Redd Foxx. Neil Berkeley’s wonderfully titled documentary, Beauty is Embarrassing blends biography and performance into an intimate and refreshingly real portrait. Beauty is Embarrassing plays Sept. 14-17 at the Roxie, with White in the house Sept. 15. For more information, visit roxie.com.
Runaway (Udhao)