Just got an email from Kevin Epps, director of the acclamied documentary Straight Outta Hunter's Point. He has a new one comin June, so check the email i pasted here below
RAP DREAMS" DEBUTIN' JUNE 12... SAN FRANCISCO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL
Kevin Epps, who is promoting the SF premiere of his new film will be on the local Bay Area airwaves over the coming weeks. Listen for him on KALW Radio on June 2 circa 1:30 p.m. and he is taping tv appearances for KNTV and the program Black Renaissance that airs on KBHK-TV.
Kevin's latest film debuts Saturday, June 12 at 5:15 p.m.
Rap Dreams
Director: Kevin Epps
80 min
2004/World Premiere/United States
A feature length hardcore hip-hop documentary chronicling the journey of
three African American male (Hectic, Kev Kelley, Mr. FAB) rappers from the
San Francisco Bay Area as they try to take their talents to the next level;
dealing with issues of "haterism" on the streets and in the industry. This film examines the dangerous power of hope, through a complex and thorough examination of the African American experience. "Rap Dreams" exposes the way rap has become the dominant force in the lives of many African American young men as a way of rising up above poverty in a society that only value their talents. This film is the ultimate pursuit of "Rap Dreams" as it happens.
other flix in the SF Black Film Fest that have Hip Hop Film Fest connections & would interest y'all include:
Hooked: The Legend of Demetrius "Hook" Mitchell, with Hook himself in the house!
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Meet the greatest basketball player to never make it to the NBA.
Oakland, California is the birthplace to more NBA basketball stars than any other city in the country. But there is a street ball legend named Demetrius "Hook" Mitchell who rises above them all. At 5'9', he built his legendary street status by jumping over the top of a Volkswagen and slam-dunking a basketball. As NBA superstar Jason Kidd puts it, "he could jump over a building." Gary Payton, another NBA superstar and childhood friend asserts, "He was better than me, he was better than Jason (Kidd), Antonio (Davis), he was better than everybody." But while HookÕs childhood friends, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Antonio Davis, Brian Shaw, J.R. Rider and Greg Foster all ended up playing basketball in the NBA, Hook ended up incarcerated. From the drug and crime infested streets of West Oakland to the California Men's Penal Colony, Hook made all the wrong choices. The story of how "Hook" wound up incarcerated, while the buddies he grew up with skyrocketed to superstardom with multi-million dollar salaries, is told in this poignant tale of a life gone wrong.
Hip-Hop Resurrection: From NY to NZ
Friday, June 11, 2004
Hip-Hop Resurrection: From NY to NZ
Director: Michael Deet
70 min
2003 / San Francisco Premiere/New Zealand
Director Michael Deet himself came out to Atlanta this year to preview this film at the Hip Hop Film Fest and we all were wondering, Hip Hop in New Zealand? Well this fresh documentary about the talent rich Hip Hop community of South Pacific Islanders is a colorful and visual exploration into the unique lifestyles of the island country's best and brightest musical artists. You'll meet the ground breaking performers and professionals who've set the wheels of Polynesina Hip Hop in motion.
Hip-Hop Immortals We Got Your Kids
Saturday, June 12th 3:00 p.m.
Hip-Hop Immortals We Got Your Kids
Director: Kris Palestrini
81 min
2003 / San Francisco Premiere/United States
Twenty years ago it was either Hip-Hop or crack rock. Before the mansions, videos, and soda endorsements, there was the party. It was a place to get you off the street for a few hours, or at least to get the street off your mind. Music, dance, art - it was culture. But somehow it all became a marketing tool. When did the bottom-line become more important than art? If the market is young people, does Hip-Hop have an obligation to depict truth? Do we remember what truth is? Hip Hop Immortals: We Got Your Kids asks the most controversial questions and collects the rawest answers. Interviews with Hip-Hop luminaries Rakim, Marley Marl, Gang Starr, the late Jam Master Jay, Lil Kim, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, and Fat Joe, provide clear insight to where the art form is headed. This flick was a favorite at our Hip Hop Film Fest Atlanta event this spring.
Sunday, June 13, 2004
11:30 a.m
The Cuban Hip-Hop All-stars
Director: Joshua Bee Alafia
63 min
2004 / West Coast Premiere/Cuba/Spanish with English subtitles
In 1999, Papaya Records, recorded the Cuban Hip Hop All-stars, the islands first hip hop compilation. Two years later, filmmaker Joshua Bee Alafia, went down to Habana to do a follow-up documentary on hip hop artists from the ground-breaking album and Habanas burgeoning hip hop scene. With interviews, freestyle ciphers, dramatic recreations and live footage of Ananimo Consejo, Instincto, Obsesion, Hermanos de Causa, Explosion Suprema, Papo Record, Pablo Herrera, Sexto Sentido, 100% Original, and others, this film captures some of the explosive vitality of a hip hop scene comparable to New Yorks in the late 80s. If you dug Cubamor by Joshua Bee Alafia at any of our previous screenings, you know the filmmaking prowess he employs.
more info on this event and Kevin Epps' special RAP DREAMS PREMIERE AFTER PARTY @ http://www.sfbff.org
+++ SF D.I.Y Filmmakers panel & Bar-BQ +++
Sunday May 30- Guerilla Film Making Panel
@ Sadie's Flying Elephant -
491 Potrero, SF - 5PM - free
Local indie filmmakers will throw down the skinny on how they got their projects off the ground. They'll share insights and how to keep the low budget production ball rolling. They will outline the creation of a fictional film from concept to distribution; and leave room for people to ask any burning questions they may have.
guests will include:
Justin Hibbard http://www.overpoweringmusk.com
Jesse Spencer http://www.phlyingphrogphilmz.com/
Plus Sadie's will be throwing down $1 beers and a bring your own meat or veggie Bar-BQ with bartender Sunshine Haire of Waycross in the house. 21+ only
http://www.flyingelephant.com
+++ News From Conscious Youth Media Crew +++
Free Youth Film Fest - Screening Night
When: Thursday, June 3, 7:00pm to 9:30pm
Location: Brava Theater
2781 24th Street (@York St.), San Fran, CA
FREE/DONATIONS WELCOME
Greetings from Conscious Youth Media Crew!
Come out and enjoy an evening of brand new creative films brought to you by Conscious Youth Media Crew...Hear our voices and see the world through our eyes!
Conscious Youth Media Crew is an after-school program that teaches young people in San Francisco camera production and digital video editing using the latest software and MiniDV camera equipment and technology.
We are dedicated to providing opportunities for youth to become life-long learners and positive, productive leaders in their communities. Our goal is to empower young critical thinkers to develop their voice and share their diverse perspectives and stories using digital video while raising their own awareness about the power of communication and ideas.
RAP DREAMS" DEBUTIN' JUNE 12... SAN FRANCISCO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL
Kevin Epps, who is promoting the SF premiere of his new film will be on the local Bay Area airwaves over the coming weeks. Listen for him on KALW Radio on June 2 circa 1:30 p.m. and he is taping tv appearances for KNTV and the program Black Renaissance that airs on KBHK-TV.
Kevin's latest film debuts Saturday, June 12 at 5:15 p.m.
Rap Dreams
Director: Kevin Epps
80 min
2004/World Premiere/United States
A feature length hardcore hip-hop documentary chronicling the journey of
three African American male (Hectic, Kev Kelley, Mr. FAB) rappers from the
San Francisco Bay Area as they try to take their talents to the next level;
dealing with issues of "haterism" on the streets and in the industry. This film examines the dangerous power of hope, through a complex and thorough examination of the African American experience. "Rap Dreams" exposes the way rap has become the dominant force in the lives of many African American young men as a way of rising up above poverty in a society that only value their talents. This film is the ultimate pursuit of "Rap Dreams" as it happens.
other flix in the SF Black Film Fest that have Hip Hop Film Fest connections & would interest y'all include:
Hooked: The Legend of Demetrius "Hook" Mitchell, with Hook himself in the house!
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Meet the greatest basketball player to never make it to the NBA.
Oakland, California is the birthplace to more NBA basketball stars than any other city in the country. But there is a street ball legend named Demetrius "Hook" Mitchell who rises above them all. At 5'9', he built his legendary street status by jumping over the top of a Volkswagen and slam-dunking a basketball. As NBA superstar Jason Kidd puts it, "he could jump over a building." Gary Payton, another NBA superstar and childhood friend asserts, "He was better than me, he was better than Jason (Kidd), Antonio (Davis), he was better than everybody." But while HookÕs childhood friends, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Antonio Davis, Brian Shaw, J.R. Rider and Greg Foster all ended up playing basketball in the NBA, Hook ended up incarcerated. From the drug and crime infested streets of West Oakland to the California Men's Penal Colony, Hook made all the wrong choices. The story of how "Hook" wound up incarcerated, while the buddies he grew up with skyrocketed to superstardom with multi-million dollar salaries, is told in this poignant tale of a life gone wrong.
Hip-Hop Resurrection: From NY to NZ
Friday, June 11, 2004
Hip-Hop Resurrection: From NY to NZ
Director: Michael Deet
70 min
2003 / San Francisco Premiere/New Zealand
Director Michael Deet himself came out to Atlanta this year to preview this film at the Hip Hop Film Fest and we all were wondering, Hip Hop in New Zealand? Well this fresh documentary about the talent rich Hip Hop community of South Pacific Islanders is a colorful and visual exploration into the unique lifestyles of the island country's best and brightest musical artists. You'll meet the ground breaking performers and professionals who've set the wheels of Polynesina Hip Hop in motion.
Hip-Hop Immortals We Got Your Kids
Saturday, June 12th 3:00 p.m.
Hip-Hop Immortals We Got Your Kids
Director: Kris Palestrini
81 min
2003 / San Francisco Premiere/United States
Twenty years ago it was either Hip-Hop or crack rock. Before the mansions, videos, and soda endorsements, there was the party. It was a place to get you off the street for a few hours, or at least to get the street off your mind. Music, dance, art - it was culture. But somehow it all became a marketing tool. When did the bottom-line become more important than art? If the market is young people, does Hip-Hop have an obligation to depict truth? Do we remember what truth is? Hip Hop Immortals: We Got Your Kids asks the most controversial questions and collects the rawest answers. Interviews with Hip-Hop luminaries Rakim, Marley Marl, Gang Starr, the late Jam Master Jay, Lil Kim, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, and Fat Joe, provide clear insight to where the art form is headed. This flick was a favorite at our Hip Hop Film Fest Atlanta event this spring.
Sunday, June 13, 2004
11:30 a.m
The Cuban Hip-Hop All-stars
Director: Joshua Bee Alafia
63 min
2004 / West Coast Premiere/Cuba/Spanish with English subtitles
In 1999, Papaya Records, recorded the Cuban Hip Hop All-stars, the islands first hip hop compilation. Two years later, filmmaker Joshua Bee Alafia, went down to Habana to do a follow-up documentary on hip hop artists from the ground-breaking album and Habanas burgeoning hip hop scene. With interviews, freestyle ciphers, dramatic recreations and live footage of Ananimo Consejo, Instincto, Obsesion, Hermanos de Causa, Explosion Suprema, Papo Record, Pablo Herrera, Sexto Sentido, 100% Original, and others, this film captures some of the explosive vitality of a hip hop scene comparable to New Yorks in the late 80s. If you dug Cubamor by Joshua Bee Alafia at any of our previous screenings, you know the filmmaking prowess he employs.
more info on this event and Kevin Epps' special RAP DREAMS PREMIERE AFTER PARTY @ http://www.sfbff.org
+++ SF D.I.Y Filmmakers panel & Bar-BQ +++
Sunday May 30- Guerilla Film Making Panel
@ Sadie's Flying Elephant -
491 Potrero, SF - 5PM - free
Local indie filmmakers will throw down the skinny on how they got their projects off the ground. They'll share insights and how to keep the low budget production ball rolling. They will outline the creation of a fictional film from concept to distribution; and leave room for people to ask any burning questions they may have.
guests will include:
Justin Hibbard http://www.overpoweringmusk.com
Jesse Spencer http://www.phlyingphrogphilmz.com/
Plus Sadie's will be throwing down $1 beers and a bring your own meat or veggie Bar-BQ with bartender Sunshine Haire of Waycross in the house. 21+ only
http://www.flyingelephant.com
+++ News From Conscious Youth Media Crew +++
Free Youth Film Fest - Screening Night
When: Thursday, June 3, 7:00pm to 9:30pm
Location: Brava Theater
2781 24th Street (@York St.), San Fran, CA
FREE/DONATIONS WELCOME
Greetings from Conscious Youth Media Crew!
Come out and enjoy an evening of brand new creative films brought to you by Conscious Youth Media Crew...Hear our voices and see the world through our eyes!
Conscious Youth Media Crew is an after-school program that teaches young people in San Francisco camera production and digital video editing using the latest software and MiniDV camera equipment and technology.
We are dedicated to providing opportunities for youth to become life-long learners and positive, productive leaders in their communities. Our goal is to empower young critical thinkers to develop their voice and share their diverse perspectives and stories using digital video while raising their own awareness about the power of communication and ideas.
