Basso took a collaborative approach to much of the film programming for BAN 9, but in this instance, the artists have created something else altogether. “They’ve really got this energy and excitement of working together,” Basso says. “In this iteration I’ve been very on the outer rings of this endeavor.” She and Kathleen Maguire, the former director of public and educational programs at YBCA, will be present on Saturday for a post-screening talk with the artists.

Projected images of clocktower on scrim with person looking down on overhead projector behind — Lydia Greer, from a live performance of ‘Robber Bridegroom.’ (Courtesy of the artist and Shapeshifters Cinema)

The relocation to Shapeshifters is one way unsurprising (Quillian is the programming director for the microcinema), but Basso would love for this trend to continue. She hopes to find the other programs — including Rosenberg’s half-seen commission — new homes as well. The film series was originally scheduled to run for the length of BAN 9, through May 5.

How YBCA might now fill that screening room is an open question. The artists and filmmakers Basso was working with on future programming also no longer want to show at YBCA. “There’s trepidation for sure,” she says. “They wanted to stand in solidarity with the [BAN 9] artists.” For Basso, working for YBCA on a hyper-local level, collaborating with Bay Area artists, distributors, programmers and archives, is just no longer possible.

“To lose the opportunity of that space and that place for film, again,” she sighs, referencing the 2018 “haitus” of YBCA’s in-house program. “It was getting there and people were like, ‘Yay, it’s back!’”

But when our large local arts institutions flounder, it’s the artist-run spaces like Shapeshifters that match their mission statements with actions — and can provide space for the conversations that moments like these require.

‘This Room is Nothing Without You’ screens at Shapeshifters Cinema (567 5th St., Oakland) on Saturday, March 23, 6–9 p.m. Click here for tickets and more information.

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