The [Prodigal] Son
The [Prodigal] Son
SF Latino Film Festival, Diwali performances, and a sweet treat for those that vote
Distance can make the heart grow fonder but also more detached. I know because of half a decade of long distance relationship-ing and my partner's family living a skip and a jump across the Atlantic. Remote work has made it easier incorporate family time in Germany (even if it requires the occasional 2am Zoom call), and the time difference means that we can attend midnight mass in a German village chapel and arrive in Texas on Christmas Day while my siblings are (somehow?) still rolling out of bed. But my partner and I are documented, which means that borders are a formality and not an adversary. We can see each other's family without risking the life we’ve built together.
Follow the lives of Peruvian and Cuban immigrants as they navigate relationships across continents, craft away your election anxiety, and grab a glass of Chardonnay while celebrating Northern Californian artists.
San Francisco Latino Film Festival: Prodigal Daughter
Category: Film
Date: Saturday, November 2nd @ 2pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF)
Price Range: $12+
Why I Care: 40% of undocumented immigrants experience mental health challenges due to familial isolation. Director Mabel Valdiviezo left her home country of Peru due to leftist insurgent groups, dictatorship, and the accompanying political shrapnel, but strained family relations and her undocumented status prevented her return home for 16 years. This documentary follows Valdiviezo as she navigates sanctuary and financial security in San Francisco and resuscitates family ties in Peru.
The film is one of several remaining in the SF Latino Film Festival, so grab a pass and popcorn for stories of fraught romance, wrestling, and a kid-friendly Día de los Muertos animated tale.
Sangam: A Diwali Odissi Recital
Category: Dance
Date: Friday, November 1st @ 7pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Dresher Ensemble Studio (East Bay)
Price Range: $34
Why I Care: If The Office is your main exposure to Diwali, consider this recital a Michael Scott replacement. Diwali is a Hindu, Sikh, and Jain religious festival of lights with a range of origin stories but a common adoration of light over darkness. The Paul Dresher Ensemble is honoring the festival with a performance of Odissi, a two-thousand year old Indian dance practice with sacred roots in the temples of southeastern India. Two traditions within Odissi, Nritta (pure dance) and Nritya (expressive dance), will be performed by stars of the Odissi Vilas and Rudrakshya Foundation, bringing together local and international talent in the space right here in the Bay.
Diwali celebrations are taking place across the Bay all weekend, including a Bollywood brunch where your festive attire and dancing are highly encouraged.
Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation Election Day Open House
Category: Art
Date: Tuesday, November 5th @ 12pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: The fact that this is my last newsletter before the election is… le sigh. If you need community and therapeutic quilting on election day, you'll find those at Saint Joseph’s, where their exhibition on gerrymandering will serve as a home for community building and therapeutic quilting. And if arguments of civic duty and defending democracy haven’t really done it for you, the foundation is giving free treats to those with “I vote” stickers. So whatever works.
di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art Makers Market
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, November 2nd @ 11am (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art (North Bay)
Price Range: $10
Why I Care: Day trip! The di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art is a Bay Area arts fever dream: the collection sits in a 200-plus acre Napa nature preserve and is considered the “world’s most significant holding of Northern California art.” The center rebounded from a near deaccessioning of its collection, with donors and artists such as Berkeley graduate Mark di Suvero rallying for alternative solutions to budget deficits. Its financial recovery has facilitated a reaffirmation of the center’s mission: supporting Northern Californian artists.
So find yourself a designated driver and enjoy the arts & vineyards of our Bay Area sibling to the north.
2024 Murphy & Cadogan Opening Reception & Awards Ceremony
Category: Art
Date: Friday, November 1st @ 6pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: SOMArts (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Since 2023, San Francisco Art Institute has shut down and the California College of the Arts (CCA) has seen enrollment decrease by 33% in part due to student loan burdens. SOMArts and the San Francisco Foundation are combating these economic pressures with a scholarship and awards program for local MFA students. Students from UC Berkeley, Stanford, San Jose State, San Francisco State, and CCA have been chosen as recipients, and the event will further reinforce the importance of supporting Northern California’s future generation of artists.
Because, hey, I need a pipeline of gallery openings to write about in 2030.
Cuban Cinema Without Borders: Calls from Moscow
Category: Film
Date: Sunday, November 3rd @ 2pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (East Bay)
Price Range: $14
Why I Care: Cuban artists face the conundrum of either being silenced within their own country or forced to abandon the land they call home in the pursuit of voice. The INSTAR film festival recognized this tension and have made it their mission to create a platform for local and diasporic Cuban artists to be seen and heard. The Cuban Cinema Without Borders series presents works from the festival that weave together stories of the displaced, including documentary Calls from Moscow. The film centers on how the cell phone has become a digital passport for the diaspora as four queer young Cuban immigrants in Ukraine navigate the current war.
Opening Reception: What Doesn’t Kill You
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, November 2nd @ 5pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Hashimoto Contemporary (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: It’s giving…demented Lisa Frank? Hashimoto Contemporary is one of several galleries at Minnesota Street Project, a nonprofit that supports artistic practice in the Bay through its Dogpatch warehouse spaces. The show will be artist Megan Ellen MacDonald’s third solo exhibition with Hashimoto but first for the gallery’s San Francisco outpost. MacDonald finds inspiration in sci fi, the every day, and as indicated by her Instagram handle @paintscats, creatures of the feline kind. Shoutout to reader Irenne for the flagging the opening.
Disclaimer: I cannot be held liable for neon-colored kitten nightmares.
Next Drop: Thursday, November 7th