In Production

When women challenge the bulls(---)

The great Western director Budd Boetticher returned to Mexico in 1951 to make a semi-autobiographical movie, "Bullfighter and the Lady." If the crusty, charming coot were still with us, I suspect he’d try and badger Gemma Cubero and Celeste Carrasco into naming their upcoming documentary "Bullfighter Is the Lady." Not that he’d get anywhere with the spirited Spaniards, who wisely chose a less awkward and more assertive title: She Wants to be a Matador.

The doc, which blends history with up-to-the-minute profiles of acclaimed Spanish bullfighter Mari Paz Vega and Italian neophyte Eva Florencia, is not the gritty feminist empowerment story some might expect, but, according to Carrasco, it’s "more about pursuing a dream and being passionate about something [when] you have all the obstacles to get there."

topics: bay area, documentary, features, festivals, independent film, world cinema

Q&A

MVFF: Andy Abrahams Wilson tracks the Lyme epidemic that's "Under Our Skin"

Documentaries rarely get confused with horror films, but Andy Abrahams Wilson’s Under Our Skin has the singular ability to inspire nightmares. This elegantly crafted film is a far-ranging portrait of the underreported epidemic of Lyme disease, and the health care community’s underestimation of the disease’s effects and treatments. Blending the painful experiences of several powerfully articulate patients, from a former forest ranger to a U2 tour events manager, with a bevy of doctors that run the spectrum from risk-taking pioneers to establishment hacks, the documentary expertly balances emotion and reason. (Wilson singles out local editor Eva Ilona Brzeski for special praise.) Under Our Skin, which marks the Bay Area filmmaker’s first feature-length film after a number of shorter works, has its local premiere this Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12, in a pair of screenings at the Mill Valley Film Festival. We spoke with Wilson on the phone a few days ago.

[SF360.org editor’s note: This is the third of three articles on local filmmakers in the 31st Mill Valley Film Festival, continuing through Oct. 12.]

topics: bay area, documentary, festivals, horror, independent film

Critic's Notebook

Dead Channels comes alive

Fall is here in earnest, and all good moviegoers know it is time at last for the studios to unleash its least brain-numbing efforts of the year with Oscar in mind. Finally, we can enjoy serious cinematic art based on reputable literary sources, directed by Clint Eastwood, and/or featuring Catherine Deneuve.

But for a moment yet…screw that noise!

Those more inclined toward healthy doses of sleaze, gore and retro-shlock can rejoice that it’s also time for the second annual edition of Dead Channels. It’s dedicated to bringing "entertaining and intelligent science-fiction, fantasy, horror, action, exploitation and a few weird unclassifiable cinematic gems” to Bay Area audiences, this year encompassing one evening at Oakland’s Parkway in addition to a week at SF’s Roxie Cinema.

topics: directors, festivals, genre films, horror