This week, we look at the East Bay-focused PBS series “The Class,” the 22nd San Francisco Greek Film Festival and timely documentaries about the state of American journalism and a group of Israelis and Palestinians seeking peace.
The insightful six-part PBS docuseries “The Class” describes the unprecedented challenges facing six students from Deer Valley High School in Antioch during COVID, when stultifying Zoom classes began. Executive produced by Oakland renaissance man Daveed Diggs, the series concentrates on the graduating seniors, their college adviser, and, to a lesser extent, parents and school officials as they wind their way through the tumultuous, uncertain 2020-21 school term. A bright light shining through the series is the inspiring, determined adviser, an East Oakland native who graduated from Deer Valley High, who clearly understands and empathizes with the teens as he helps them fulfill their dream to go to college. The series receives a red-carpet premiere at 11 a.m. March 16 at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. The screening of the first episode also includes a Q&A with Diggs, directors-producers Jaye and Adam Fenderson and people from Deer Valley High. Tickets cost $10-$13, and students will be admitted for free with a valid ID. To register, visit kqed.org/event.
“The Class” does a masterful job of depicting the disrupted, stressed lives of Deer Valley High students Ahmad, Ebei, Emily, Javonte, Kadynce and Raven during a time many would like to forget. One teen cannot play and practice basketball, even while trying to get an athletic scholarship; another works at the neighborhood Chipotle as an essential worker to financially help her family. The series also illustrates how the long-delayed reopening of the school created more headaches and obstacles
The Fendersons, who are married, catalog all of it, carrying on their explorations of the education system in 2011’s “First Generation” and 2019’s “Unlikely.” They include data points throughout, such as the surge in the number of Fs students earned on the national level during COVID. They also survey how changes in the cost of Antioch real estate turned the region into a magnet for families; and how nimbyism played out with their arrival. While “The Class” focuses on the six seniors, it also finds a hero in the persistent and compassionate Mr. Cam, who stays in touch with the students and helps them meet deadlines for college applications. It also points to the need for more motivators like Mr. Cam who really connect and relate to students. “The Class” airs on KQED 9 at 8 p.m. Fridays, starting March 21; at 6 p.m. Saturdays, starting March 22; and at 9 p.m. Mondays, starting March 24. It will be on KQED Plus at 8 p.m. Sundays starting March 23. Visit pbs.org/show/the-class.
In its 22nd iteration, the San Francisco Greek Film Festival (March 15-22 in person and March 15-April 5 online) unpacks 29 films. Eight are narrative features, nine are short narratives and 12 are documentaries.
Screenings are at San Francisco’s comfy Delancey Screening Room at 600 The Embarcadero. The program kicks off at 6 p.m. March 15 with the genre-diverse “Greek Mothers Never Die,” a comedy-romance-fantasy-drama partly inspired by a true story. Director Rachel Suissa’s tale finds a 36-year-old woman reacquainted with a former love as she deals with the presence of her strong-willed mother’s ghost. It’s paired with the 16-minute narrative short “The Cardinal.”
Ghosts and grief figure into director Yorgos Zios’ “Arcadia,” a drama about a couple grappling with both following a fatal car crash. It screens at 7 p.m. March 16, paired with the 33-minute, award-winning drama “The Chaos Left Behind.” Director Sofia Exarchou’s detailed character study “Animal” describes how things take a dramatic turn in the life of a female dancer who entertains tourists at a middling Greek island resort. It screens at 7 p.m. March 18 with the coming-of-age short “Numb.”
Fans of Greek tragedy will want to see “Meat” by filmmaker Dimitris Nakos at 7 p.m. March 21. With a contemporary setting, it’s about a patriarch who faces a fateful decision involving his son and the boy he raised after a longstanding feud escalates to murder. It screens at 7 p.m. March 21 with the short “The Tooth and the Rock.” In-person screenings conclude with Penny Panayotopoulou’s hard-hitting drama “Wishbone” at 6 p.m. March 22. Praised for its award-winning cinematography and authenticity, it focuses on how shifting personal responsibilities placed on a barely scraping by hospital security guard (Giannis Karampampas) lead him to consider a proposal that could have serious repercussions. It’s paired with the short “Abel.” Screenings cost $15 (but $65 on opening and closing night), and $155 for a pass. Streaming costs are $10 for narratives and documentaries over an hour and $5 for short films. For tickets and the schedule, visit grfilm.com.
As journalists today are dealing with an acrimonious White House, the crucial role they play in society is becoming even more important. For that reason and more, do check out documentary maker Rick Goldsmith’s “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink.” While film is indeed disheartening, describing how a hedge fund company gobbles up ailing newspapers and then pumps them dry, Goldsmith finds hope in the nonprofit world where investigative journalists remain resolute and undaunted in their quest to expose malfeasance.
After a string of sold-out Bay Area screenings, “Stripped for Parts” returns. It’s being shown at an SF Public Press fundraiser at 6 p.m. March 13 at the Roxie in San Francisco; 7 p.m. March 13 at the Hillside Club in Berkeley; 7 p.m., March 20 at the Smith Rafael Film Center; 6:45 p.m. March 27 at the Orinda Theatre and 2 p.m. March 29 at the Pleasanton Library, 400 Old Bernal Ave. A virtual national screening is at 5 p.m. March 29. For information and tickets, visit strippedforpartsfilm.com.
Another timely documentary also with rays of hope is Stephen Apkon’s “There Is Another Way.” It’s about Combatants for Peace, a group of Palestinians and Israelis advocating for a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Gaza and beyond. It focuses on two women, Iris Gur and Mai Shahin, as they tirelessly lead an effort toward a path other than the one being taken. “There Is Another Way,” executive produced by James Cameron, screens at 7 p.m. March 13 at the Smith Rafael Film Center, with a Q&A with Apkon, Gur and Shahin. The film also screens at the Roxie in San Francisco at screenings at 6:30 p.m. March 14, 3:40 p.m. March 16 and 6:30 p.m. March 19, some with appearances by pertinent parties.
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