Water Under the Bridge

something in the past that cannot be controlled or undone, but must be accepted, forgiven, or forgotten

 

Water Under the Bridge is a timely portrait of the city of San Francisco as told by a diverse group of people trying to build or maintain a life here. Historically a place that symbolizes the pursuit of dreams, and one that currently also represents the nation’s rapidly growing disparity between the rich and the poor, with skyrocketing rents, widespread displacement, and an ongoing culture war, San Francisco defines its citizens as much as they define San Francisco. Through a unique spread of authentic experiences, Water Under the Bridge asks: what kind of home is San Francisco, and what kind of home is it becoming?

Directed by Mila Puccini and Katie Wheeler-Dubin

a timely, moving, and engaging film about San Francisco and San Franciscans that beautifully reflects the spirit of our city, its citizens, and the phenomenon that is Quiet Lightning

— Charles Kruger, Flickstorm

Upcoming Screenings

We’ll announce more screenings soon.

Past Screenings

Each of the first three screenings included live performances blending storytelling specific to that host city with visual art made by other artists in conjunction with the stories—a collaboration with Story²:

Thursday, March 3 @ Vogue Theatre (San Francisco)

w/performances by:

Richard Toomer & Kelly Taylor
Christopher Moore & Rachel Marino
Natalia Vigil & Amanda Vigil

Richard Toomer is stand up comedian and producer based out of San Francisco, California. He also co-produces a monthly show called Crushes, Loves, & One Night Stands and was an artist on 2016’s SF Sketchfest. 

If u see Kelly Taylor, say hi. She lives in the East Bay.

Christopher Moore is a local sound-performance artist and contributing editor of KEEPEYES magazine. Drawing from experiences while living in San Francisco, his works have sampled the City’s soundscape while juxtaposed with open form poetry. For Water Under The Bridge premier, Christopher will be performing “Passing of the Storm”: a sound-poem that subjectively reflects the artist’s schizophrenic perception of the ever-changing City.   

Rachel Marino graduated with a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  Her works traverse through different mediums from illustration to painting to sculpture. Through perverse and macabre humor, Rachel’s works have thematically groped the human essence to reveal us at our basest, mundane, and trivial.

Natalia Vigil is a queer Chicana writer, multi-media curator, and big sister  born and raised in San Francisco. Her multi-genre writing arises from the voices and  stories  of  the  people  around  her and mixes  poem,  memoir, song,  feminism,  Xicanisma,  loss,  and  myth.  Her  work has   appeared   in numerous publications   and   shows  around the Bay Area.  She is the proud co-founder and curator of Still Here San Francisco a performance and community dialogue project highlighting the experiences of Queer/LGBTQI people raised in S.F.

Amanda Vigil is a San Francisco born and raised filmmaker, educator, & media artist. She began working as a video artist at the age of 17 with the Young Artist At Work program (YBCA) and now holds a BFA in Film/Video from the California Institute of the Arts (CALARTS). She has proudly focused her talents as a video production educator for the last 8 years and is now the Media Arts Director at Mission High School. Find her at vimeo.com/amandavigil.

Saturday, March 5 @ The New Parkway (Oakland) – 3pm

w/performances by:

Matt Lieb is a comedian, writer, actor and one-man Bone Thugs-N-Harmony cover band. He has opened for Jeff Ross, Rory Scovel, Gilbert Gottfried, W. Kamau Bell, and 3rd Eye Blind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpia-otXmkM

Jordan Cerminara is an award winning cartoonist by day and hilarious comedian at night who is a regular at all the cool comedy places in the Bay Area.

Sunday, March 6 @ The New Parkway (Oakland) – 2:45pm

w/performances by:

Leslie Small, a SF Bay Area native is probably the coolest person you haven’t met but you absolutely should. She spends her days bathing in the tears of her enemies and nights killing the game, basically the life you dreamed of but never attained.

Auden Lincoln-Vogel grew up in Massachusetts and attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he studied studio art and Russian. He now lives in Oakland and teaches art for a San Francisco non-profit. His animations, films and video installations employ hand-drawn, collage, computer, rotoscoping and experimental techniques and have been shown at numerous film festivals and exhibitions in the US, Europe and Asia. More of his work can be found at audenlincolnvogel.com.

Chris Riggins is an Oakland based comedian who travels all over the country making people laugh with his quick wit and lovable demeanor. He regularly opens for Dave Chappelle.

Erica Webster is a human female composed of 75% water. She has no art website, but the social justice warriors among you can check out where she works at cjcj.org.

Water Under the Bridge Shoot # 3 w/Andrew McKinley

Katie and Mila had the lovely pleasure of spending a morning and afternoon in life of Andrew McKinley, as he walked from his apartment on 18^th street to Tartine Bakery and through the Mission to his warehouse at Toxic Beach, discussing in the travel the many changes he’s witnessed and experienced in his 25 years in San Francisco’s Mission District. The following morning, Katie and Mila hazarded hospital conditions to film Katie discussing her coming-of-age at UCSF when her mother died in 2009. Hearty and heavy week.

Water Under the Bridge Shoot # 2 w/Mickey Costello & Winnie Chang

Mila and Katie feel like surfers riding 20-ft waves, like hangliders off tornados, like brown bears at an eating contest!! Their second and third shoot, with Mickey Costello and Winnie Chang, respectively, went spectacularly. Up at 4:30 AM to catch the dawn in Golden Gate Park, they interviewed Mickey Costello, 4^th generation San Franciscan, former track star and dream facilitator. After Golden Gate Park and Sutro Baths, Mila and Katie napped at a café in the Richmond before driving over to Ghirardelli Square to meet up with Winnie Chang, the unofficial ambassador of San Francisco. Winnie Chang introduced Mila and Katie to all the cable car drivers, having grown up with them in Nob Hill, and told them of how she feels about San Francisco’s changing currents amidst the roar of drivers on break, and exclaiming tourists drunk off Lombard street.

Water Under the Bridge Shoot # 1 featuring photographer Vivian Fu & Friends

We’ve embarked!! Water Under the Bridge began filming at Heron’s Head in Bayview. Situated between the Recycle Center at Pier 96 and Hunters Point, six pool animals made their way into the summer Bay waters for a casual party, drifting slowly towards the open ocean. 

Thanks to Vivian Fu, Jodie Barbin, Zachary Siddle-Manas, Jose Abad, Toni Rodriguez, Kelsey Westphal, Kyle DeMedino, and Keri Shewmaker for their participation! 

First image is a still; images 2 and 3 courtesy Vivian Fu