On March 10th, 2023, Johnathan Gong, founder and president of the UCSD Costco Club, made history by eating an ENTIRE rotisserie chicken in front of UCSD's Geisel Library. One year later, John reflects on how the stunt represented more than just eating a chicken, and how the event became a symbol of campus unity and spontaneity.
A short documentary about the life and love of New York surf culture following transplanted San Diego surfer, Shawlin Tucker, who forced found a way to bring his passion with him when a college acceptance from New York University summons him to the big apple.
Coffee Banana Cigarette
2021
0
Street art, creativity and revolution collide in this beautifully shot film about art’s ability to create change. The story opens on the politically charged Thailand/Burma border at the first school teaching street art as a form of non-violent struggle. The film follows two young girls (Romi & Yi-Yi) who have escaped 50 years of civil war in Burma to pursue an arts education in Thailand. Under the threat of imprisonment and torture, the girls use spray paint and stencils to create images in public spaces to let people know the truth behind Burma's transition toward "artificial democracy." Eighty-two hundred miles away, artist Shepard Fairey is painting a 30’ mural of a Burmese monk for the same reasons and in support of the students' struggle in Burma. As these stories are inter-cut, the film connects these seemingly unrelated characters around the concept of using art as a weapon for change.
Art as a Weapon
2014
6
This 10-minute short documentary exploring the shifting state of the American poultry industry was preserved in 2015 from an original nitrate print. More information is available on the film's page in the National Film Preservation Foundation's website, where this version can be found featuring original music by Michael D. Mortilla.
The Last Word in Chickens
1924
7
A documentary about the life and music of Justin Pearson. An enigmatic underground musician and owner of Three One G records.
Don't Fall in Love with Yourself
2022
0
A documentary that approaches polyamory from the intimate point of view of an Afro-American family who decided to live an authentic life without denying the option of diversity in their love and family.
Poly-Love
2016
1
Documentary by Jean-Pierre Gorin about twin girls who spontaneously developed their own unique language as children.
Poto and Cabengo
1980
6
Chicano Park
1988
0
San Diego’s sand, surf, and flawless weather attract millions of visitors each year. But it isn’t just “America’s Finest City” – it’s also America’s wildest! Mountains, ocean, and desert collide here to create the most biodiverse landscape in America. But to survive in an ecosystem utterly transformed by their 3.3 million human neighbors, wildlife must adapt or perish.
San Diego: America's Wildest City
2024
7
From 1953 to 1987, no beer was brewed on a commercial basis in San Diego County, period. Now some two decades plus on, San Diego County wins more brewing medals in national and international competitions than entire US states. In the 2010 World Beer Cup, one of brewing's most prestigious international contests, San Diego brewers and breweries took home more medals than Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom combined! SUDS COUNTY, USA tells the remarkable story of this brewing renaissance and covers the inextricable connection between the local pro brewers and home brewers who made this transition possible.
Suds County, U.S.A.
2012
0
In a futuristic, antiseptic food factory, workers select healthy chicks, while the rejects are carried along a conveyor belt until they are crushed by a mallet and drop into a garbage bin. A single black chick appears among the yellow and is shoved toward the garbage bin. Before the mallet strikes, the gasping chick rebels.
Malj
1977
7
A visually expressive documentary about salt mining and its perils - done in a style that most subversively evokes a certain then-current official Spanish cinema, made to sell the fascist nation as a holiday paradise. The final image of some boys with a fighting cock is more devastating than hopeful.
Autour des Salines
1964
4
An ode to man's capacity to care for all creatures throughout their sometimes greatly protracted existence, displayed through the homegrown remedies Tom and Debbie Nicholson create for disabled animals.
Pickle
2016
6
Documentation of three Survival Research Laboratories events, 1983-1984. Meet Stu, the SRL guinea pig, and see him training to operate the 4-legged Walking Machine, see 10-barrel shotguns, hear the "Stairway to Hell".
A Scenic Harvest from the Kingdom of Pain
1984
0
Loosely based on Charles Dicken’s book “A Tale of Two Cities”, Working Class tells the tale of underground street artists Mike Giant and Mike Maxwell and their decade long friendship that started with a tattoo. The story is told through the cities they call home by, cutting back and forth between the neighborhoods of San Francisco and San Diego, as the artists talk about their life philosophies and the work they create.
Working Class
2011
5
Through mordant social commentary and symbolic irony, Amiralay focuses this film on the chicken farming industry in the rural Syrian village of Sadad. He documents the burdened livelihoods of farmers and the economic policies of the government that encouraged industrial egg productions rather than artisanal trades, a switch that ultimately led to the plight of the Sadad's rural peasant class.
الدجاج
1977
8
A documentary about the San Diego bar punk scene and how all the bands fight amounst themselves. Featuring JFA, Gizzards, The Yucks, DPI, Bowel Tones and many more.
Punk vs Punk
2006
0
Los 8 Niños
0
Tragedy strikes a married couple vacationing in the Moroccan desert, which jumpstarts an interlocking story involving four different families.
Babel
2006
7
Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev travels to America to make a documentary. As he zigzags across the nation, Borat meets real people in real situations with hysterical consequences. His backwards behavior generates strong reactions around him exposing prejudices and hypocrisies in American culture.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2006
6
In 1973, 15-year-old William Miller's unabashed love of music and aspiration to become a rock journalist lands him an assignment from Rolling Stone magazine to interview and tour with the up-and-coming band, Stillwater.
Almost Famous
2000
7