Show your love for the Mission District by joining us for an afternoon of cinematic storytelling. Program includes poetry by Cathy Arellano, music by DJ La Femme Papi, three short film screenings, and a moderated conversation with director Ray Balberan of Mission Mediarts Archive.
Schedule
- 11:30 am to 3:30 pm: Art showcase and music by DJ La Femme Papi: Kimberlynn Acevedo, Wilsey Court
- 1 to 3 pm: Poetry, film screenings, and a moderated conversation with Ray Balberan, Koret Auditorium
- Films: The Family (1971), Back on the Streets (1972), Mission Coalition Organization Demonstration and Press Conference (1973)
Conscious Youth Media Crew, in collaboration with the Ray Balberan Mission Mediarts Archive and the de Young, proudly present “Mission Love.” Enjoy rarely seen 16mm films selected from Ray Balberan’s work with the Mission Mediarts film collective founded in 1971.
This event is produced by Conscious Youth Media Crew, Film Activation Fund, Mission Love Presents, and the Ray Balberan Mission Mediarts Archive (Vero Majano, Debra Koffler, Loriz Ginger Godines, and Ray Balberan).
“These films represent a time in Mission District history when young people took to the streets in the struggle to gain access to the broadcast airwaves to serve the community, share our own views, and create systematic change around issues like empowerment, poverty, youth employment, police brutality, and racial discrimination.” — Ray Balberan
Bios
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Ray Balberan, filmmaker, activist, and community leader, is a lifelong advocate for youth rights who has documented the history of the Mission District over five decades.
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Vero Majano is a multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in San Francisco’s Mission District. As a storyteller and curator, Majano’s practice includes live cinema, archival film, performance, and collage, which preserve stories and include untold narratives in a greater San Francisco history. Her work creates space to acknowledge and remember the queer Latinx communities that have shaped one of San Francisco’s most iconic yet contested neighborhoods.
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Debra Koffler is an independent documentary filmmaker with a passion for music, oral history, and personal storytelling. She is also an arts educator with over three decades of experience starting at the Real Alternatives Program High School and later as the founder of Conscious Youth Media Crew. As a member of the Mission Mediarts Archive, she has worked with her mentor Ray Balberan in support of the custodianship of the collection’s films and videos for the last 20 years. Her widely acclaimed documentary film Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest is a winner of the prestigious 2012 Producers Guild Award and a 2012 Grammy nomination. Debra earned a degree in city and regional planning and urban anthropology from Cornell University. Her vast network of resources and relationships helps provide avenues for community building and empowerment through film, music, and cultural arts.
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Loriz “Ginger” Godines is a filmmaker based in the Bay Area. She learned film archiving as an intern at Oddball Films under Stephen Parr in San Francisco’s Mission District in the early 2000s. Ginger’s short films have been recognized by the Latino Film Festival in San Francisco. Ginger began volunteering at Conscious Youth Media Crew in 2004 and is also a member of the Mission Mediarts Archive. Her giant sense of humor and positive energy have helped keep the archive in motion. She recently received her associate’s degree in cinema production and is pursuing her BA at San Francisco State University.
Films
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The Family (1971, 12 minutes)
In the style of cinema verite, director Ray Balberan documents the beauty of his own Mission District: women around the kitchen table telling stories about raising their families, bathing and feeding children, and sharing views on current events; men playing poker and talking about supporting their families and struggles they encounter in the streets of San Francisco. The Family was broadcast nationally as part of a series about love officially commissioned by PBS television.
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Mission Streets (4 minutes)
This short montage shows vibrant street scenes in the Mission District in the ‘70s, featuring well-known neighborhood spots like Dolores Park, Mission High School, La Palma Mexicatessen, and New Mission Market, as well as young people playing music and socializing along the streets of the Mission.
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Back on the Streets (1972, 36 minutes)
This film presents a series of dreamlike images portraying a time of contradictions and hypocrisy, when young men came home from war to communities struggling for free speech and human rights. Imbued with a sense of the surreal, it moves between recreated moments on the battlefield to real life moments of war in the Mission where young people raised their voices and organized against police suppression and brutality. Back on the Streets also features well known revolutionary Nicaraguan poet Roberto Vargas reading his poem “Blame it on the Reds.”
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Mission Coalition Organization Demonstration and Press Conference (1973, 17 minutes)
This documentary focuses on the protest organized by the Mission Coalition Organization of the cancellation of the “Mission and 24th Street” program, produced by Mission Mediarts on local public television. At the press conference, Mission Mediarts founder Ray Rivera speaks about the need for employment opportunities and community-based media programming that truly represents the perspectives of youth and people of color systematically excluded by the mainstream media.
The Ray Balberan Mission Mediarts Archive holds a unique collection of 16mm films shot by Mission Mediarts in addition to other film, photography, and ephemera collections documenting local Mission District history.
Mission Mediarts was formed as a Mission District community-based youth media training program, made up of Indigenous, Latino, African American, and Asian-Pacific Islander students, artists, and working-class residents who documented their hopes, aspirations, and artistic, cultural, and political expression taking place in their neighborhood during the ’70s and early ’80s. Mission Mediarts created community access to the airwaves along with resources and youth employment in the local television industry.
Established in 2001, Conscious Youth Media Crew provides media training, resources, and opportunities for lifelong learning in underserved communities throughout southeastern San Francisco.
COVID-19 guidance
Masking is strongly recommended, but no longer required for members of the public or employees while in the museum.
Ticket info
This program is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and unassigned. Tickets are distributed on a first-come first-served basis in front of the Koret Auditorium an hour before the program begins.
Contact info
Public Programs
publicprograms@famsf.org
415.750.7694
Images courtesy of Mission Mediarts Archive
