Thought Provoking Documentaries To Be Featured In Annual Film Fest

SAN FRANCISCO — The 25th United Associations Film Festival might well be the go-to event for the next 7 days for anyone searching for perspective-changing documentaries that aim to make the world a better, more informed place.

Beginning Oct. 20, the festival features 60 documentaries at various locations in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, San Francisco, as well as on the Stanford University campus. It's an ambitious slate with 56 percent of the work that will be shown directed by women and 60 percent that come from filmmakers of color.

This year's UNAFF Visionary Award will be given to filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman, whose short documentary "When Abortion Was Illegal: Untold Stories (shown at the festival in 2002) today seems more pertinent and powerful than ever. Fadiman will be presented with the award after the screening of the documentary "The Janes," which is not directed by her but echoes the themes of her short, at 8:30 p.m. on closing night, Oct. 30.

The overall theme for this 25th anniversary celebration is Reflections.

Palo Alto Mayor Patrick Burt provided opening remarks Thursday, Oct. 20, at Palo Alto's Mitchell Park Community Center. The opening night selections included Maggie Friedman and Barbara Multer-Wellin's "Orchestrating Change" — dedicated to the trailblazing Me2/Orchestra, made up and operated by people living with mental illness — and the inspiring/award-winning "Writing With Fire" — on a brave team of female journalists in India. The short documentary "Maldita. A Love Song to Sarajevo" precedes "Orchestrating Change."

Here are a few recommendations:

Former Berkeley resident and documentary-maker/author Tom Weidlinger relates a painful personal story about the tall tales that his famous engineering dad used to tell him and turned out to not to be as overly embellished as he thought. In "The Restless Hungarian," Weidlinger digs into his own and his dad's past and uses various creative tools to do so, assembling a fascinating film that utilizes reenactments, photos, letters and anything else he can find to accomplish that goal. "The Restless Hungarian" proves most effective at illustrating how a son searches for more context and understanding about a man who divulged much but skipped critical aspects of his life. ( 8 p.m., Oct. 27, Stanford University, Anderson Collection, 314 Lomita Drive)

Former Oakland resident Stanley Nelson's "Attica" is a shattering portrait of racism and how it fueled a horrific outcome in the U.S.'s largest prison revolt. "Attica" is meticulously researched and recounts the New York September 1971 prison uprising in which mostly Black and Brown convicts demanded reforms after they took guards hostage. Nelson draws heavily on a vast array of archival images and footage along with candid interviews of former prisoners, relatives of the guards and journalists among others to take us through those five perilous days in which 29 inmates and 10 guards were killed. It covers the topic from various perspectives and leaves you hollowed out by the end. (8:40 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, at Palo Alto's Mitchell Community Center)

Anchored around nine Bay Area artists in recovery from addiction, San Francisco director Adriana Marchione's uplifting "The Creative High" taps into the healing and transformative power of expressing your artistic side. Marchione's documentary shows that not all stories about becoming sober are the same, reflective of the various paths taken by these creative types: choreographer/performance artist Luis Canales, expressive artist/educator Lessa Clark, hip-hop musician Brandon Michael Randle, musician Ralph Spight, photographer/theater producer Joan Osato, theater artist/drag performer Peter Griggs (now living in Portland), visual artist Kathy Page, guitarist and Rock to Recovery founder Wes Geer and stone sculptor/musician Jason Bernhardt. Each describes how their new or old craft helps them remain steady and focused. (4:40 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27 at Stanford)

For tickets and a complete schedule, visit the festival website.

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