LOCAL>> Mill Valley Film Festival: 5@5 Kilburn Towers

“I am a street watching the people walk as I listen to conversations glisten as they start to talk.”

This documentary-shorts program presents a collection of true-life tales from Bay Area directors about extraordinary individuals.

Of special note: 

Harris Cohen’s Phyllis: A Self Portrait (US 2020, 10 min) is an inspirational portrait of Phyllis Thelen, a 93-year-old working artist and force of nature.  A long-time Marin treasure.

In 1977, Harris Cohen joined San Francisco CBS affiliate KPIX’s Programming Department, where Cohen was Producer and/or Director/Cameraman on a multitude of short form television documentaries for shows such as Evening, PM, and Hour Magazine. In 1983, Cohen founded the video production facility Magnetic Image in San Rafael, serving a variety of broadcast, cable, and corporate clients. At 83 years of age, he can look back on over 60 years in film or video production. Since 1983, this is the fifth short documentary film of Cohen’s to have been accepted by the Mill Valley Film Festival.

[Pictured: still shot from Phyllis: A Self Portrait (detail)]

Additional shorts include:

• In Peter Spirer’s Sacheen, Breaking the Silence (US 2019, 25 min), Sacheen Littlefeather tells the real story about the courageous moment she refused the Oscar® on behalf of Marlon Brando at the 1973 Academy Awards® and raised awareness for Native American people.
• Caregiver: A Love Story from Kevin Gordon & Jessica Zitter (US 2020, 23 min) challenges viewers to acknowledge the growing strain placed on family caregivers and to envision a new approach in caring for the dying.
• In Deanne Fitzmaurice’s Small Footprint (US 2019, 4 min), we meet the Goepels who are an inspiring surfer family living life off-the-grid in Hawaii and creating the sustainable life they believe in.
• In Erin Turney & Sam Huff’s Michael Aragon: The Beat Goes On (US 2020, 7 min), we learn about the impact jazz drummer Michael Aragon has had on his bandmates, as well as the Sausalito community, having performed the same Friday night gig at the NoName Bar since 1983.
• Brandon Moore’s Dennis: The Man Who Legalized Cannabis (US 2020, 19 min) tells the story of Vietnam veteran and LGBTQ+ and cannabis activist Dennis Peron, who fought to get cannabis to HIV/AIDS patients in 1990s San Francisco.
• In One Thousand Stories: The Making of a Mural (US 2019, 14 min), Tasha Van Zandt follows renowned French artist JR in the creation of his first-ever video mural project, The Chronicles of San Francisco, which brought over 1,200 people together into a single work of art.

This is a wonderful set of stories taking place in our own backyard.