HITCHCOCK LAUNCHES

SEBASTOPOL FILMMAKERS SAMPLERS

A series of banners rustle in the breeze at the entrance to the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, "PAINT," "WRITE" "DANCE," and "FILM" they ambiguously proclaim, leaving passersby to interpret the words as either nouns or verbs.

Variations of the "FILM" component will become clearer on several Saturday evenings this summer as the SCA launches an ambitious program of "Filmmakers Samplers" "honoring the outstanding local films and filmmakers whose stories and visions have made Sonoma County one of Hollywood's favorite places to create movie magic.

"The new film series is modeled after our successful Writers Samplers programs," SCA director Linda Galletta says. "They offer something for movie fans, and fanatics, as well as professionals and amateurs working on both sides of the camera. It also allows us to augment our acclaimed Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival by expanding into all film genres and presenting programs year-round."

"We open with a Hithcock retrospective on June 6th entitled 'How Hitchock's Childhood Fears Shaped His Films.'" Galletta continues, 'It will screen clips from over 30 different movies made by the 'Master of Suspense" and his imitators. It's going to be a lot of fun."

"Cinema Toast blogger Gil Mansergh will be curating this ambitious new program, and chose Sir Alfred Hitchcock as our first filmmaker since he earned the right to be called 'the most famous director of cinema's first century' partly because of Shadow of a Doubt and The Birds which he set and filmed in Santa Rosa, Bodega Bay, and other locations close by. Besides, as a psychological educator, Gil couldn't pass up the opportunity to delve into Hitchcock's childhood, for Hitch's genius was how he carefully constructed his films to play on the audience's fears and dreams by bringing his own demons to the screen."

The British-born director created over fifty feature-length films and many of the clever short programs aired on his "Alfred Hitcock Presents" TV show and every one carries stylistic elements which makes them distinctively "Hitchcockian."

Some of these elements are well known: the beautiful but aloof blonde heroine (Kim Novak in "Vertigo," Grace Kelly in "Rear Window"; the innocent and wrongly accused hero on the run (Cary Grant in "North By Northwest," Gregory Peck in "Spellbound"); the MacGuffin "that mysteriously elusive object that could prove the hero's innocence (the raincoat in "Young and Innocent," the necktie in "Frenzy"), the dastardly, amoral villain, (Robert Wagner in "Strangers on a Train," Anthony Perkins in "Psycho") and, of course, Hitch's brief cameo appearance (walking two dogs in "The Birds," sitting on a bus in "To Catch a Thief").


This Summer's Filmmakers Samplers are shown at 7:30, on select Saturday evenings in the SCA Screening Room at 6780 Depot Street in downtown Sebastopol. $15.00 Tickets are available at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts at 6780 Depot Street, (707-829-4797), or online at brownpapertickets.com


¢ June 13th The San Francisco Chronicle dubbed Gil Mansergh "a Hitchcock expert" for deftly using dozens of the most memorable and suspenseful visual experiences ever put on film to explore How Hitchcock's Childhood Fears Shaped His Films.
¢ July 11th Renowned film editor Vivien Hillgrove (Unbearable Lightness of Being, Henry and June, The Heart of the Sea: Kapolioka'ehukai, and Sundance winner Senorita Extraviada) offers an insider's look at the challenging and creative process of filmmaking in her entertaining and fun presentation: Putting All the Little Bits Together.
¢ August 1st You may know your neighbor is a farmer, bartender, school principal, teacher, waitress or traffic cop, but they may also have the distinction of appearing as "extras" in a movie filmed right here in Sonoma County. Come hear (and see) what it's really like to be on-screen with stars like Harrison Ford, Kathleen Turner, Nicolas Cage, Zooey Deschanel. Martin Short, Forrest Whitaker, Jamie Lee Curtis, Alfre Woodard or John Travolta, in: Hey, Look Up There. That's Me!

P.S. GIL NEEDS YOUR HELP AUGUST 1st
Have you (or your house, automobile or whatever) been an "extra" in a studio film made locally. E-mail gilmansergh@comcast.net