Rituals of communion, mourning, and celebration express the beating hearts of our communities. Often, community artists assume the role of catalysts, organizers, and ministers – involving neighbors and residents in transformational acts of creation. The program includes a digital photo exhibition of two important annual rituals: the San Francisco Drag Eucharist and the Marcha de las Putxs; as well as images of Skywatcher’s performances in the streets. The program will initiate with three live performances from the Skywatchers collective. The films feature Mission and Tenderloin artists whose work with locals has adorned those neighborhoods with murals and performances, inspiring collective action while ritualizing belonging and identity. After the screening, join us for a discussion with panelists responsible for impactful social ministry, health, and artistic creation in the Tenderloin and Mission neighborhoods.
Panelists
Robin Abad Ocubillo (Moderator)
Curator and Producer, SF Urban Film Fest
John M. Brett (Moderator)
Chaplain
Rev. Dr. Glenda B. Hope
Founder of SF Network Ministries
Celestina Pearl
LVN/Outreach Director, St. James Infirmary
Father Richard Smith
Priest Associate, St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church
Performance by ABD/Skywatchers
Kim Diamond
(Ensemble Member), Skywatchers
Shavonne Wong
(Ensemble Member and Facilitator), Skywatchers
Joel Yates
(Ensemble Member and Facilitator), Skywatchers
Films
Blessed Street Ritual
2 mins. | Directed by Sam LaDue
San Francisco Drag Eucharist, 2021 and 2022. Photos by Sam LaDue of San Francisco Night Ministry.
He Had Wings
USA | 2022 | 29 mins. | Directed by Jeanne Marie Hallacy
He Had Wings is a documentary film about the artist Ronnie Goodman, homelessness, and the streets of San Francisco. The half-hour film is a portrait of a prolific artist who created paintings, lino prints, and posters to portray the painful struggle for dignity of an estimated 8000 homeless people in one of the wealthiest cities in the United States.
Skywatchers: The Slow Art of Belonging
USA | 2022 | 38 mins. | Directed by ABD/Skywatchers
Looking back over 10 years of Skywatchers’ relational, durational art making, this documentary film illuminates a pioneering community arts program that’s deeply embedded in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. Engendering a growing sense of belonging among its ensemble and deep partnership throughout the Tenderloin, Skywatchers has made boundary breaking multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary performance works in service of celebration, interrogation, disruption, social justice, and community wide transformation.
Partners
