Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Mark Bradford transforms found material – much of it paper from sources such as billboards and newspapers – into large-scale collages and installations. Included in YBCA’s presentation is the large-scale work Detail, an ark-like sculpture reconstructed from components of Mithra, a piece created in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Also on view at YBCA will be Bradford’s socially charged 2011 work, Rat Catcher of Hamelin, which is composed of components of 50 billboards collected from all around South-Central Los Angeles. This comprehensive survey of Bradford’s career to date is co-presented by YBCA and SFMOMA and will be on view at both venues. Please note that there are separate admission policies for each institution.

Gina Osterloh’s new film project, Anonymous Front, is a visual essay on physical blindness and identity, created in collaboration with a vocational massage therapy school for the blind in the Philippines.

This four-part epic weaves together dialogues from the Midnight Sun Film Festival, which has hosted an international who’s who of directors.Today we present the first two segments. (2011, 149 min total running time, digital, ten minute intermission between parts)

The Century of the Cinema: The twentieth century as told by great filmmakers. The origin stories of films reveal histories lived, stories from childhood, and the early years “before I became a filmmaker.” Featuring, among others: Michael Powell, Abbas Kiarostami, Joseph H. Lewis, Youssef Chahine and Francis Ford Coppola.

The Yearning for the First Cinema Experience: The question that always opens the discussion: What is the first film you saw? So often that “chance” foreshadows the future artist’s identity as a filmmaker. Featuring, among others: Samuel Fuller, Jean Rouch, Agnes Varda, Jerzy Skolimowski and Jafar Panahi.