Our Art Saturday programs run every 1st and 3rd Saturday from September 18th through May 7th. No need to RSVP. Students tour downtown galleries and museums to take in the very latest in contemporary art before they are treated to a picnic lunch. After lunch we go see a new release film. Unless noted otherwise, we meet on the balcony outside Metreon overlooking Yerba Buena Park between 10:30 and 11am. Come join us.

Cine/Club is held on Friday nights. These events are free to students, their guests, mentors, parents and friends of Art & Film. No need to RSVP. Screenings are held at the Randall Museum (199 Museum Way) and at Dolby Labs (100 Potrero Avenue). Refreshments are served at 6:30 and the film begins at 7 unless otherwise noted.

Discussions are held after each film with moderators Heather Woodward of School of the Arts, and Ronald Chase, director of Art & Film.



Friday 3: Cine/Club: Randall Museum

Robert Altman's NASHVILLE (1969, USA)

Altman’s masterpiece about the booming country and gospel music scene in the 1960s weaves the lives of 24 main characters into a rich tapestry about music and relationships in a time of great flux and political change. People have loved this movie for 40 years and you will too!

 
WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?

We are delighted to share this terrific film with you. Certainly it’s one of the most original political films ever made, framing national politics through the currents of country music. Also chosen as a compliment to Punishment Park. Here is one of Altman’s most complex films, mixing some 23 characters and featuring all of his signature touches like overlapping dialogue, creating an entire cosmos of social interactions. You’ll have a ball!


   
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Altman is an example of a hard working director that got little credit during his early years in film. He toiled making industrial films, an independent feature, and churned out TV drams for the Hitchcock series. But his interests and his ideas about style and content were being developed. His major breakthrough came with a film about the Korean War called MASH, which won the major prize at Cannes and launched one of the longest-running and most beloved television series.
   
He followed this up with McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and other films that had moderate success including Nashville. He continued with many misses until he bounced back in the 1990s with The Player, a satire on Hollywood. By then he was renowned for his unique style and continued to make fine films until his death, including Short Cuts and Gosford Park.

Saturday 4: Art Saturday

10:30 Meet on the balcony outside Metron overlooking Yerba Buena Park (on Mission between 3rd & 4th)
11:00 We'll go see galleries, followed by a picnic lunch and see a film in the afternoon.
Friday 10: Cine/Club: Randall Museum

David Lynch's THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980, USA)

This is David Lynch’s first big film under the Hollywood system with some big names power behind the film such as Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, not to mention an astonishing and powerful performance by John Hurt as the grotesque freak who becomes the toast of London. About courage and character.
 
WHY WE CHOSE THIS FILM?

For David Lynch this film was his debut with big actors, sets, budgets, etc. Eraserhead was an underground film made at home and cost 5 years of devoted work, Elephant Man was a huge production in a Hollywood studio. It also is one of the most unusual collaborations in film history, because a number of Hollywood types, including Mel Brooks, took Lynch under their wing. They gave him top-notch actors, and a top notch cameraman and producer, and together they taught Lynch how to make a big budget film, which, fortunately, turned out to be a work of art.
   
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

David Lynch is certainly one of the most unusual of all film directors—his constant work produced relatively few films. Perhaps being a devout student of trancendental meditation for nearly 40 years has something to do with his patience and persistance. He began outside of the Hollywood system (like so many film makers today), and put together his first big hit, Eraserhead, in his basement, working scene by scene over many years. He was then embraced by Hollywood, and triumphed with The Elephant Man. He followed this by a unpopular science fiction film called Dune. After his Blue Velvet was well received he became for a time a star with his TV series, Twin Peaks. More recent sucesses include Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. His films are considered cult objects because their strangeness limits some of their appeal.
Friday 17: Cine/Club: Randall Museum

Bergman's FANNY AND ALEXANDER (1972, Sweden)

This film is both a fairy tale and a swansong to theater life. Bergman’s last film was a surprise hit everywhere. Two children lose their father and must go live with an evil stepfather who banishes them to a tower and tortures them with Puritan ideals. Filled with great imagery, vivid performances and an astonishing love of life.

 
WHY WE CHOSE THIS FILM

Not only is this one of the great films, it is absolutely the greatest Christmas movie ever. It begins at Christmas and ends at Easter, with a wonderful fairy taleunfolding in between that takes our hero and heroine on adventures unprecedented. There is a miracle, yes, and lots of mood and atmosphere, and some unforgettable imagery and incedent. With all this, we can’t think of one reason we shouldn’t choose this film. It’s a must-see. We show it as often as we can, and get lots and lots of “thank yous” afterwards.
   
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Two directors define the middle half of 20th century film: FELLINI and BERGMAN. Their influence on filmmakers has been enormous, and they are the staple of film studies courses in college. During the late 30’s and early 40’s Bergman directed theater. He was hired to write only one screenplay called Torment which was made by Alf Sjoberg. He then made his first film called Crisis and continued from there. It was with The Seventh Seal, which won Cannes and threw him into international fame, he began producing a yearly output of thoughtful, visually bold and psychologically profound works that kept him at the head of the class. His best films were made when he decided to produce them himself and to free himself from the studio system.
   
In 1976 however, a crisis came, when he was arrested for tax evasion. It was a traumatic event which left him hospitalized with a nervous breakdown. He left Sweden for a number of years and made films abroad. Long past his zenith as a film maker he surprised everyone with his last film Fanny and Alexander, a film that was an enormous critical and popular success throughout the world. Bergman retired from film and took over as head of the Royal Theater in Stockholm, where he directed plays and was considered one of a handful of the finest stage directors in the world until his death in 2007.

Saturday 18: Art Saturday

10:30 Meet on the balcony outside Metron overlooking Yerba Buena Park (on Mission between 3rd & 4th)
11:00 We'll go see galleries, followed by a picnic lunch and see a film in the afternoon.