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San Francisco Black Film Festival News Conference & Sneak Preview of "Restored Me"
Tuesday, June 14 @ AMC Van Ness 14, 1000 Van Ness
San Francisco-Media and the public are invited to attend the San Francisco Black Film Festival news conference and sneak preview screening of "Restored Me" directed by Rhyan LaMarr Shaw.
"Restored Me," is a universal story of what to do when you are boxed in by society, falsely accused, you pay your debt to society and it's still not enough. The film includes Actor, Director, Producer & Humanitarian Bill Dukes (Not Easily Broken Predator, Menace II Society)Malik Yoba ( Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?/Too, New York Undercover, Copland, Nafessa Williams (Whitney, The Man in 3B, Streets), Gary Owen ( Ride Along, Think Like A Man, Gary Owen:True Story), Richard T. Jones (Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?/Too, Godzilla, Concussion), Ariana Neal (Young Nicki Minaj in ABC's Upcoming "Nicki," Fruitvale, Christmas on the Bayou) Beau Casper Smart,(Perfect Match, Street, Wild for the Night), Steven Bauer ( Ray Donovan, Scarface, Primal Fear), Will Yun Lee ((Wolverine, Total Recall, San Andreas), Noel Gugliemi ( The Dark Knight Rises, The Fast and the Furious, Training Day) and stars Giovanni Watson, (Known on Social Media for his Bobby Love persona, The Jenkins Show, The Perfect Man) as Julio Velasquez.
Julio Velasquez, a Puerto Rican/Black ex-con who was wrongfully accused is tested to his limits to keep on the straight and narrow when his "god-send" opportunity" has the devil in the details.
In the "land of the free and the home of the brave," "Restored Me" tackles the story of mass incarceration and recidivism in the life of one man just trying to make it.
In addition to the 688,000 people released from prisons each year, almost 12 million people cycle through local jails each year. Jail churn is particularly high because at any given moment most of the 722,000 people in local jails have not been convicted and are in jail because they are either too poor to make bail and are being held before trial or or because they've just been arrested and will make bail in the next few hours or days. The remainder of the people in jail - almost 300,000 - are serving time for minor offenses, generally misdemeanors with sentences under a year.
With millions being imprisoned and it is well-noted in this election year that many formerly imprisoned U.S. citizens do not have the right to vote and influence policy that could help them overcome the incarceration loop, "Restored Me" is among the thought-provoking films of the San Francisco Black Film Festival that includes comedy, romance, drama, and documentaries from around the world.
(As a sidebar soundbite: "Little Ariana Neal's performance of "Come As You Are" with Shirley Murdock is gonna steal your heart. After listening to this "cutie pie tike" with her powerful voice, you won't have a heart to leave in San Francisco, Ya'll. O.k. Let's talk about that Restored Me Soundtrack for half a second... Nina Simone, Ya'll! Ledisi Ya'll...Let- us -seehow great it is...Bay Area Gospel Diva Tramaine "I'm So Glad He Changed Me" Hawkins, Ya'll. I can hear my grandma saying now, "Hush Your Mouth, Chile!" That's just what you'll do if you take a listen to that Soundtrack. I'm not calling out any mo names cauz somebody'll get mad I didn't mention them.
Come to the sneak preview... pick up the soundtrack....J. Red, Clifford Brown Jr., Sheila Robinson, and All the Gospel DJ's Out There, Where Ya'll At?... Move over Fred Hammond, Israel Houghton, Regina Bell...Somebody needs to add Little Miss Ariana Neal to the Festival of Praise Tour (Saturdays only. She has to keep up those good grades)" J.W. I'm Jus' Sayin' )
San Francisco Black Film Festival XVIII News Conference
6:00 p.m. Doors Open for Media
6:30 - 7 p.m. News Conference
Meet Restored Me Filmmakers
Get highlights of the film festival: Opening Night, Thursday, June 16 with "Lambadina" and "Cassius Ali" at SF State University's School of Cinema "Coppola Theatre"
Meet other filmmakers with SFBFF screening
Media passes for coverage of the festival will be distributed
"RESTORED ME" PUBLIC SCREENING 7:30 P.M.
Tickets can be purchased at AMC Van Ness 14
Doors Open for Public at 7:00 p.m.
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1000 Van Ness Home of
AMC VAN NESS 14 |
Stay tuned for the additional screening of "Restored Me" during the San Francisco Black Film Festival.
San Francisco Black Film Festival XVIII
OPENING NIGHT THURSDAY, JUNE 16 AT 6 P.M. SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF CINEMA'S "AUGUST COPPOLA THEATRE"
"Cassius Ali" by Evan J. Bochetto, a short documentary (15 min) that details the early years of the late great Mohammad Ali in his childhood home on Grand Street in Louisville, Kentucky and Ethiopian feature film "Lambadina" are featured Opening Night. The San Francisco Black Film Festival XVIII Opening Night, Thursday, June 16th at the "Coppola Theatre" will not only be a feast for the eyes with Lambadina" demonstrating cultural diversity, it will also be a feast for the palate as well. The 6 p.m. reception will include the taste of Ethiopia with catering by "Shoulder Dancing." The films will follow the reception at 7 p.m.
"The San Francisco Black Film Festival is providing a feast for the eyes with the Ethiopian
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film "Lambadina" and a feast for the palate by including 'Shoulder Dancing, Authentic Ethiopian Foods' as caterer on opening night," said Wolde Haileselassie, owner of "Shoulder Dancing", a San Francisco local Ethiopian Food packaging Company. "It demonstrates that the San Francisco Black Film Festival is increasingly stimulating opportunities for small businesses, like us, and tourism."
SFBFF Mission
The San Francisco Black Film Festival is multicultural in that people of all racial, ethnic and cultural groups are invited to participate in the organization's great mission.
The mission of the San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF) is to celebrate African American Cinema and the African Cultural Diaspora by showcasing a diverse collection of films - from emerging and established filmmakers. By presenting Black film, which reinforce positive images and dispel negative stereotypes, while providing local, national and international filmmakers a forum for their work to be viewed and discussed; SFBFF believes film can lead to a better understanding of and communication between, people of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles, while simultaneously serving as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times.
For more about the San Francisco Black Film Festival visit: www.sfbff.org
OTHER SFBFF NEWS:
Fly to San Francisco Black Film Festival to See Ethiopian "Lambadina" at SF State School of Cinema's Coppola Theatre
"Cassius Ali,"-Early Days of Muhammad Ali, Jeff Adachi's "Racial Facial" Screen June 18th at SF Black Film Festival
People's Minister of Information, JR Valrey interview with Messay Getahun, writer, producer, director of "Lambadina"
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