It’s been two decades since Judy Irving produced, directed, filmed and edited her celebrated documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, a charming and contemplative film about one man’s relationship with a flock of wild parrots. So much has changed over those years, and yet the city she captured in 2003 is still familiar — a little softer around the edges then, with a lower skyline — and the story she tells remains a quintessential San Francisco story.
Now, audiences new and old will get a chance to see the film restored in 4K. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill screens Jan. 12–18 at the Roxie, Jan. 14 at the Smith Rafael Film Center and Feb. 3 at the Bolinas Community Center. Mark Bittner (the film’s human star) and Irving will be in person at many of the screenings.
The focus of this film is now the city’s “Official Animal” (thanks to a contest organized by the San Francisco Chronicle last year). But in the early 2000s, the flock of non-native cherry-headed conures of unknown origin was a bit more of a novelty. (An “Urban Legends” segment in the film delivers locals’ various theories, which include pet shops, an SFO breakout, a South American ship and annoyed roommates.)
At the heart of it all is Bittner, a sweet and gentle man who moved to San Francisco in search of a music career and spent 15 years on the streets, doing odd jobs and sleeping in odd places, before landing in a cottage in Telegraph Hill.
“I haven’t really paid rent in 25 years,” he says at one point. Irving’s presence in the film arrives in periodic voiceovers, asking the questions we all have after meeting Bittner: “How does he get away with that?”
