Honorable Ronald V. Dellums: San Francisco Foundation Community Leadership Awards 2005

The Secret of Trees

2013 · ★ 5

13-year-old inventor Aidan has discovered that trees use a mathematical formula to gather sunlight in crowded forests. Now he wonders why we don't collect solar energy the same way.

Blind Gary Davis

1964

A short documentary on the "Harlem Street Singer," blues artist Rev. Gary Davis. Features footage of his neighborhood, Davis talking about his upbringing, and two performances including "Death Don't Have No Mercy." Benefiting from New York's folk revival in the 1960s, Davis influenced artists such as Dave Van Ronk, Bob Dylan, and the Grateful Dead.

Smallpox Island

2025

Three people reckon with the legacy and impact of a tragic historical site with roots in their city. Meanwhile, a medium from out of town visits the site to see what she can learn from the energy of the land.

Godzilla: King of The Monsters- The Antarctic Base

2019 · ★ 10

In Monarch's Antarctic Base, a frozen fortress buffeted by screaming winds and surrounded by impenetrable ice, King Ghidorah shakes off his icy slumber and escapes in one of the film's most thrilling sequences. Join the filmmakers as they reveal how King Ghidorah was brought to terrifying life inside Monarch's underground biolab with its towering ice wall.

Menhaden: The Most Important Fish in the Bay

2012 · ★ 6

Menhaden: The Most Important Fish in the Bay examines the role of a little-known, oily, little fish in the Chesapeake Bay. From its original concept as a classic man-versus-environment story, the film evolved to reflect the complexity of sustaining a menhaden fishery that many diverse interests depend on. The outcome: a story that seamlessly weaves together different perspectives on the menhaden fishing industry and its culture utilizing engaging personal vignettes, scientific data and creative visual storytelling techniques. Techniques include archival footage blended with cinematic live-action footage, musical performances and original, handmade animations.

Life (cycle) of the Hong Kong Newt

2024 · ★ 7

A Hong Kong Newt once resided in a narrow irrigation channel, believing it would be confined there forever. However, an unexpected flood swept it away, carrying it through a dark passage until it arrived in a serene, azure pond. The newt found companionship among its kind and thrived in the aquatic haven. But as it ventured back onto land after the breeding season, it encountered unforeseen threats.

Peacocks and Tragopans

The Bornean Tree Partridge, Chinese Bamboo Partridge, and Indian Peafowl are some of the most colourful, most beautiful, and rarest species of pheasant in the world. Native to Asia, they can be found at The Ornamental Pheasant Trust at Norfolk Wildlife Park, Great Witchingham where the Trust’s devoted founder Philip Wayre has set up a breeding programme to save several species threatened with extinction.

Letter Beyond the Walls

2019 · ★ 8.1

Letter Beyond the Walls reconstructs the trajectory of HIV and AIDS with a focus on Brazil, through interviews with doctors, activists, patients and other actors, in addition to extensive archival material. From the initial panic to awareness campaigns, passing through the stigma imposed on people living with HIV, the documentary shows how society faced this epidemic in its deadliest phase over more than two decades. With this historical approach as its base, the film looks at the way HIV is viewed in today's society, revealing a picture of persistent misinformation and prejudice, which especially affects Brazil’s most historically vulnerable populations.

Delbert’s Metamorphosis

★ 8

In 1997, filmmaker Nic McLean shot his first documentary with Outer Banks icon Delbert Melton who was in the middle of a domestic dispute with the Town of Kill Devil Hills over persistent requests to clean up his yard.

I'dentity

2014

This documentary delves into the lives of two people who have faced a gender identity disorder (GID), where the person’s sense of being male or female isn’t definite. These individuals have a strong desire to assume the physical characteristics and gender role of the opposite sex or also a person who has undergone a hormone treatment and surgery to attain the physical characteristics of the opposite sex is what is known to be called a “transsexual”. ‘I’dentity exposes two lives of different socio-economic strata in society as we try to string together their lives via them. It’s an attempt to understand this psycho-physiological turmoil that a transsexual goes through, be it approvals or ousting. The films aim is to explore the various choices these two individuals have in hand to deal with this condition and their life long struggle to “fit in” within the confines of a civilized society.

Arizona Sheepdog

1955 · ★ 6

Arizona Sheepdog is a documentary film that was originally released to theaters by Buena Vista Distribution on May 25, 1955 as a double-bill with Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.

White Walls Say Nothing

2017 · ★ 6

Buenos Aires is a complex, chaotic city. It has European style and a Latin American heart. It has oscillated between dictatorship and democracy for over a century, and its citizens have faced brutal oppression and economic disaster. Throughout all this, successive generations of activists and artists have taken to the streets of this city to express themselves through art. This has given the walls a powerful and symbolic role: they have become the city’s voice. This tradition of expression in public space, of art and activism interweaving, has made the streets of Buenos Aires into a riot of colour and communication, giving the world a lesson in how to make resistance beautiful.