Big Screen: Highlights from a Year of Virtual Cinema

Big Screen features a number of special presentations: Ryanaustin Dennis, guest cocurator of Black Life, introduces Melvin Van Peebles's poignant 1968 feature, The Story of a Three Day Pass. This groundbreaking film was recently restored and is most deserving of greater attention and recognition. Oakland-based filmmaker Veronica Selver and her New York-based codirector Susan Fanshel present Irmi, a 2020 documentary made with great sensitivity and depth, for its first local screening in a cinema. Filmmakers Griff Williams and Keelan Williams also join us to share their new film, Tell Them We Were Here (2021), an important examination of eight Bay Area artists, whose work overlaps with and has many connections to BAMPFA's exhibition history. --Susan Oxtoby, Director of Film and Senior Film Curator