Stories in Action

Hollywood Chinese heads to third week! After its highly celebrated two-week run at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland and the Sundance Kabuki Theater in San Francisco, Arthur Dong’s HOLLYWOOD CHINESE, a California Documentary Project film, has moved to the 4 Star Theater in San Francisco, 2200 Clement St. at 34th Ave. Screening daily @12. 3:40 and 7:20. View a clip of the film and find out more.

“Listen. This is important. This is what happened to me and to my family. It should not be forgotten.” These are the opening lines of “Multiply By Six Million,” a deeply moving short film about San Francisco Bay Area Holocaust survivors that will premiere on the Sundance Channel at 7 pm on Friday May 2, Holocaust Remembrance Day. The film, based on the work of photographer Evvy Eisen, combines photographic portraits, excerpts of survivors’ personal stories and a piano score by survivor Nicole Milner. Eisen, who received a grant from the Council to make the film, has been photographing Holocaust survivors and collecting their stories for the past 15 years. The film will also be available through Sundance’s video-on-demand service. Find out more.

What’s it like to be young and homeless? If you live in the San Diego area, two films at the San Diego Public Library will provide a window into that experience. The first is a mini documentary – “Telling the Streets: True Urban Legends” — about the stories of homeless youth that have become legends in the homeless community. The documentary was created by homeless youths themselves as part of a 15-week after-school program. The second film, “Shadow Children: Five stories From the Street,” was produced by the Production Center for Documentary and Drama at San Diego State University. The films will be shown on Sun., April 20 at 2 pm. More.

The National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association Public Programs Office are seeking libraries to host “Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience,” a traveling exhibit about black baseball history. Successful applicants will receive a $2,500 grant for exhibit-related expenses. For details, visit the Small Grants Section of the National Endowment for the Humanities website. The application deadline is April 4.

The National Endowment for the Humanities is now offering preservation assistance grants to enable libraries, museums, historical societies and other organizations to improve their ability to preserve and care for their humanities collections. The deadline for application is May 15.

Save America’s Treasures is a grant program for preservation and conservation work on intellectual and cultural artifacts and historic structures and sites that are nationally significant. Grant amounts range from $25,000 to $70,000 to conserve collections and from $125,000 to $700,000 for historic property and site projects. For details, visit the National Park Service website or contact Kimber Craine at the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, or call 202/682-5661. The deadline for applications is May 20.

The Center for Digital Storytelling and the Museum of the Person International Network have designated May 16 as the International Day for Sharing Life Stories. The day will be an opportunity for people around the world to share stories, both in person and via the Internet. The campaign website is still in draft stage but can be viewed at internationaldayblog.storycenter.org.

When artist Shoshana Brand moved from China to California’s Antelope Valley in northern Los Angeles County more than three years ago, she knew immediately that she wanted to make a film there. “I’m very interested in knowing what makes a home to people, why they live here and not somewhere else,” she told a reporter from the Antelope Valley Press. “Everyone has a different outlook on what a home is to them.”

Now the residents of Antelope Valley will have a chance to see what Brand has created at a screening of the documentary film “Building a Home in the Antelope Valley: What Is Home? Where Is Home?” Her film, supported by the Council under the California Story Fund, focuses on the stories of adult and teen residents of the area. The documentary will be presented on Sat., April 12 at 1 pm at Pete Knight High School Theater, 37423 70th St., East Palmdale.

To see another video clip of the documentary, visit the Contemporary Modern Arts Projects’ website.

Interested in applying for funding through the California Story Fund? The guidelines for the July 2008 round of funding are now available. We will post the online application on June 2. The deadline for submitting proposals is July 1.