media contact: 

DP&A, Inc, David Perry /  (415) 676-7007/ news@davidperry.com

San Francisco’s Castro Theatre Marks 100th Birthday with Week of Classic Films 

June 3 – 12 Curated by Decade

Wednesday, June 22 Celebrates the Centennial with Day of Movies Filmed in San Francisco

Annual LGBTQ Frameline Film Festival Returns June 16 – 26

13 May 2022 – San Francisco.  100 years ago next month, San Francisco’s Nasser family opened the Castro Theatre: an event that came to define an era and a neighborhood. A century on, it is the longest continually family owned movie palace in the United States. To mark the occasion, the Nasser Family in partnership with Another Planet Entertainment (www.apeconcerts.com) is scheduling a week of film screenings featuring iconic movies from each decade of the Castro’s history, June 3 – 12, some family and children’s programming and a “Happy Birthday” special event on June 22 – the actual date of the Castro’s opening day in 1922 —  with movies filmed in San Francisco. Concurrent with the centennial celebrations, the LGBTQ Frameline Film Festival will return after a two-year hiatus.

“It continues to be my family’s honor and privilege to own the Castro Theatre,” said Steve Nasser, of Bay Properties, Inc. “After two years of COVID-forced closures, it is such a joy and a pleasure to reopen and to work with the very best, and most sensitive local producers around, Another Planet Entertainment.” Steve Nasser and Elaine Nasser Padian are the third generation of this family to lead the company, founded by their grandfather Abraham and his sons having conceived and constructed the Castro Theatre in 1922.

“The Castro is much more than a theatre,” said Mary Conde, Senior Vice President for Another Planet who oversees the overall Castro Theatre Project. “An LGBTQ touchstone, a film-lovers icon, a community landmark and an architectural gem, the Castro is unique. Another Planet is honored to restore, renovate and revitalize the Castro as a home to everything we’ve come to love about the Castro, and expand its audience.”

Tickets for the special week of screenings are $16 weekdays and $18 weekend with the morning youth programming at $10/adult $6/youth up to age 12 and may be purchased online starting May 13 at 9am at https://apeconcerts.com/events/castro-100th-birthday-220603-22

While there are no vaccine or masking requirements for entry, all attendees are encouraged to have been fully vaccinated and boosted. Masking and adherence to social distancing and proper hygiene protocols are strongly encouraged.

Another Planet Entertainment is partnering with Bay Properties, Inc., owners of the Castro Theatre, on an evolution and preservation of San Francisco’s world-renowned entertainment and LGBTQ community landmark. With a long-standing history of working to preserve and improve historic buildings such as the Fox Theater in Oakland, the Greek Theatre in Berkeley and the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, Another Planet seeks to enhance the Castro Theatre by implementing significant improvements to the sound, lighting, production, HVAC, ADA access and the theatre’s trademark marquee, among other facets of the building: all of this, always, with an eye to honoring its unique place in the lives of the Castro and celebrating its communities and residents.

The Castro Theatre was built in 1922 by pioneer San Francisco theatre entrepreneurs, the Nasser brothers, who started with a nickelodeon in 1908 in the Castro neighborhood. The Castro was designed by then-unknown architect Timothy Pflueger, who later designed the Paramount Theatre, the Pacific Cost Stock Exchange, the Pacific Telephone Building and the Top of the Mark on Nob Hill. Timothy Pflueger chose an exterior design reminiscent of a Mexican cathedral. The large windows, the shape of the roof line of the front wall of the building and the plaster wall decorations all combine to convey a look of grandeur in keeping with the large scale of many theatres built in the 1920s.  Sound was installed in 1928.  The marquee and the vertical neon sign are additions from the late 1930s, but the glazed tile street foyer, ornate tent-like box office and the wooden doors are all from the early 1922.

The Castro’s interior is very diverse. One can sense Spanish, Asian and Italian influences. The auditorium seats over 1400 in a fantasy setting that is both lavish and intimate. Both side walls of the auditorium are covered with classic motif murals which were created in a wet plaster process called scrafitto. This type of wall decoration is rare. On either side of the stage and screen (the small original screen has long ago been replaced with a large screen) are large organ grills. The Art Deco chandelier dates from 1937 when a small electrical fire destroyed the original parchment fixture. It is one of the few remaining movie palaces from the 1920s that has been in continuous operation under same family ownership.

Below is the schedule of Castro Theatre 100th Special Film Screenings

Friday, June 3: (Decade of the 1920s)

• Oh Doctor (2:45pm)  Reginald Denny & Mary Astor

• The Mark of Zoro (4:30pm) Douglas Fairbanks, Noah Beery, Marguerite De La Motte, Robert McKim

• Across to Singapore (6pm) Joan Crawford, Ramon Navarro,  Ernst Torrence

• The Lodger (7:45pm) Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, June Tripp, Malcolm Keen, Ivor Novello

• Sunrise (9:45pm) with Janet Gaynor, George O’Brian, Margaret Livingston, Harold Schuster, Bodil Rosing

Saturday, June 4:(Decade of the 1930s)

• Bright Eyes (10:30am) Shirley Temple

• Pardon Us (1pm) Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy

• Thin Man (2:45pm) William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O’Sullivan, Nat Pendleton

• The Adventures of Robinhood (4:45pm) Errol Flynn; Olivia de Havilland; Basil Rathbone; Claude Rains; Una O’Connor

• The Women (7pm) Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Norma Shearer, Joan Fontaine, Paulette Goddard

• Night at the Opera (9:30pm) Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Kitty Carlisle

Sunday, June 5:  (Decade of the 1940s & Special Family Feature)

• Lion King (10:30am) The Disney children’s classic, not 1940s

• Philadelphia Story (2:30pm) Cary Grant; Katharine Hepburn; James Stewart; Ruth Hussey

• The Lady from Shanghai (5pm) Orson Wells, Rita Hayworth, Everette Sloan, Glen Anders, Erskine Sanford

• Mildred Pierce (7pm) Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Eve Arden, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth

• Casablanca (9:30pm) Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Peter Lorrie, Paul Henreid, Madeleine LeBeau

Monday, June 6 (Decade of the 1950s)

• From Here to Eternity (4pm) Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra

• Some Like it Hot (6:30pm)Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon

• All About Eve (9:15pm) Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Marilyn Monroe, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Thelma Ritter, Hugh Marlow

Tuesday, June 7 (Decade of the 1960s)

• Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid (2pm) Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross

• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (4:30pm) John Wayne, James Steward, Lee Marvin, Andy Devine, Vera Miles

• Breakfast at Tiffany’s (7pm) Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, Mickey Rooney

• The Magnificent 7 (9:30pm) Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Eli Wallach, Charles Bronson

Wednesday, June 8 (Decade of the 1970s)

• Star Wars: A New Hope (4pm) Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guiness

• Chinatown (6:30pm) Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Diane Ladd

• The Godfather (9:20pm) Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Diane Keaton

Thursday, June 9  (Decade of the 1980s)

• Raiders of the Lost Ark (4pm) Harrison Ford; Karen Allen; Paul Freeman; Ronald Lacey; John Rhys-Davies; Denholm Elliott

• Amadeus (6:30pm) F. Murray Abraham, Tom Huice, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Ry Dotrice, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones, Charles Kay

• Blade Runner (9:20pm) Harrison Ford; Rutger Hauer; Sean Young; Edward James Olmos

Friday, June 10 (Decade of the 1990s)

• Casino (1pm) Robert De Niro; Sharon Stone; Joe Pesci; Don Rickles; Kevin Pollak; James Woods

• Rush Hour (4:30pm) Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Julia Hsu, Elizabeth Pena, Ken Leung, Clifton Powell

• American Beauty (6:45pm) Kevin Spacey; Annette Benning; Thora Birch; Mena Suvari; Wes Bentley; Allison Janney; Peter Gallagher; Chris Cooper

• The Bird Cage (9:30pm) Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane, Dianne Wiest

Saturday, June 11 (Decade of the 2000s)

• Ironman (1pm) Robert Downey Jr. Terrence Howard; Jeff Bridges; Shaun Toub; Gwyneth Paltrow

• The Royal Tenenbaums (4pm) Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelica Huston

• No Country for Old Men (7pm) Tommy Lee Jones; Javier Bardem; Josh Brolin

Sunday, June 12 (Decade of 2010s)

• Black Panther (1pm) Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman

• A Star is Born (3:50pm) Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott, Anthony Ramos

• Bohemian Rhapsody (6:30pm) Rami Malek; Lucy Boynton; Gwilym Lee; Ben Hardy; Joe Mazzello; Aidan Gillen; Tom Hollander; Mike Myers

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (9:15pm) Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley

Wednesday June 22nd (Actual Opening Date in 1922) Movies Filmed in San Francisco

• San Francisco (10:30am) Clark Gable, Janette McDonald, Spencer Tracy
• Mrs. Doubtfire (1pm) Robin Williams, Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein
• Dirty Harry (3:30pm), Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino
• Sudden Fear (6pm) Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Graham
• Bullitt (8:15pm) Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn

#  #  #

media contact: 

DP&A, Inc, David Perry/ (415) 676-7007/ news@davidperry.com

Celebrating the Legacy of Harvey Milk on his 92nd Birthday and Honoring Open Hand Founder Ruth Brinker

Sunday, May 22 Events at Castro Theatre feature free screenings of “The Times of Harvey Milk” 

and 

Premiere of “The Ruth Brinker Story”

Free Public Events in Jane Warner Plaza Adjacent to Castro Theatre: 12noon – 5pm

11 May 2022 – San Francisco:  Another Planet Entertainment(www.apeconcerts.com) will host a special day of programming at the Castro Theatre to celebrate two community icons: Harvey Milk and Project Open Hand founder Ruth Brinker.  Castro organist David Hegarty will play before each show with the exception of the 11am screening.

As part of Castro’s Harvey Milk Day celebration, The Times of Harvey Milk will return to the same screen which premiered the 1984 Oscar-winning documentary. Castro Theatre will screen The Times of Harvey Milk at 11am followed by The Ruth Brinker Story at 2pm, and a double feature of both works at 3pm. At 6pm, Project Open Hand will host  a special Gala Screening of The Ruth Brinker Storywill take place, including panel discussions and a post-film reception in the Castro Theatre mezzanine.  

The screenings of The Times of Harvey Milk and The Ruth Brinker Story afternoon screenings are free and un-ticketed.  All seating is first come, first serve. Tickets for the 6pm Gala Event and benefit are $ 50 and must be purchased in advance online at https://BrinkerStory.givesmart.com.

“As stewards of the LGBTQ icon that is the Castro Theatre, Another Planet is honored to help facilitate this special day celebrates the lives and legacies of two community icons, Harvey Milk and Ruth Brinker, ” said Mary Conde, Senior Vice President for Another Planet who is in charge of the overall Castro Theatre Project. “This is exactly the sort of collegial, community partnership we look forward to continuing in years to come.”

In addition to the special Harvey Milk Day screenings, Another Planet will be featuring a number of special events and film screenings in the lead up to Pride Month. 

A full schedule of all Castro Theatre events may be found online at https://apeconcerts.com/venues/castro-theatre/

● Sunday, May 15: The Sound of Music Sing-A-Long

● Tuesday, June 14: A Musical Celebration Starring Debbie Wileman as Judy Garland celebrating Garland’s 100th Birthday

● June 16 – 26: The Frameline International LGBTQ Film Festival

● In the coming days, a series of special film screenings will be announced to mark the 100th anniversary of the Castro Theatre’s 1922 opening.

“We are absolutely thrilled to be telling the story of Ruth Brinker through the beautiful, visual storytelling of this short documentary by Burn A Light Productions. Her story is not just about providing food. It’s about showing compassion to people in your community who are in dire need,” Project Open Hand CEO Paul Hepfer said. “Ruth’s legacy is alive because it is at the heart of everything we do at Project Open Hand. She is our compass, and we are excited to share her story with the hopes that others will follow her path.”

At the age of 63, retired food-service worker Ruth Brinker became a pioneer of HIV care in her community and would become a legend among San Franciscans. The AIDS epidemic hit San Francisco the hardest and created a wave of fear and uncertainty that left many victims feeling hopeless and alone. 

Brinker, a woman whose deep compassion became a source of strength for others struggling to cope with the times, began cooking meals in her kitchen to deliver to her neighbors who were too ill to take care of themselves. Her goal was to not only provide meals but to also revitalize the city’s sense of community and spend time with HIV/AIDS patients to end the isolation they experienced. Providing meals with love became the hallmark of her mission. The work of Brinker and her growing team of volunteers led to Project Open Hand, the largest provider of nutrition to the HIV/AIDS community with sister organizations across the country. Ruth Brinker’s legacy carries on today as Project Open Hand has once again joined the frontlines in facing the crisis of the COVID19 pandemic.

Filmmaker Apo W. Bazidi was born in Eastern Turkey to Kurdish parents. He grew up amid the social injustices and inequality that beset his community. These experiences drove his desire to become a storyteller so he could shed light on these important issues. After high school, he immigrated to the United States and went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Film & Television Production from the University of Southern California in 2011. Apo’s films are primarily concerned with social issues and the importance of global cultural interactions. His feature film, Resistance is Life, won eight festival awards including six for Best Documentary Feature. Apo believes in making a positive change through visual storytelling. His lifelong motto is to “be creative and inspire”. Apo is the founder and CEO of Burn A Light Productions.

On what will be the 92nd birthday of Harvey Milk, the screenings of The Times of Harvey Milk will help mark San Francisco and Castro’s Harvey Milk Day celebrations organized by the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District, the Castro Community Benefit District, the Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza, and the Castro Merchants Association.

“92 years since Harvey Milk’s birth, we face a country much changed and yet very much similar to The Times of Harvey Milk,” shares Jeffrey Kwong of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, which has organized screenings of the documentary for years. “With a skyrocketing number of anti-LGBTQ bills filed over the past several years – from 41 in 2018 to 238 in just the first three months of 2022 – this Harvey Milk Day is a crucial moment to remember the life and to live out the words of Harvey Milk.”

The screenings of both films coincide with a full day of free community events celebrating Harvey Milk’s legacy from 12 noon to 5pm in Jane Warner Plazaimmediately adjacent to the Castro Theatre.

Premiering at the Castro Theatre in 1984, The Times of Harvey Milk chronicles the political career of Harvey Milk, San Francisco’s first openly gay elected official, and his rise from a neighborhood activist to a symbol of gay political achievement, through to his assassination in November 1978.  Receiving international acclaim, awards and selection into the National Film Registry in Library of Congress, the documentary later became inspiration for Gus Van Sant’s 2008 Oscar-winning biopic, Milk. 

Background on our Partners:

Another Planet Entertainment is partnering with Bay Properties, Inc., owners of the Castro Theatre, on an evolution and preservation of San Francisco’s world-renowned entertainment and LGBTQ community landmark. With a long-standing history of working to preserve and improve historic buildings such as the Fox Theater in Oakland, the Greek Theatre in Berkeley and the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, Another Planet seeks to enhance the Castro Theatre by implementing significant improvements to the sound, lighting, production, HVAC, ADA access and the theatre’s trademark marquee, among other facets of the building: all of this, always, with an eye to honoring its unique place in the lives of the Castro and celebrating its communities and residents.

About Project Open Hand:

Founded in 1985 as a grassroots response to the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, Project Open Hand is an innovative, outcome-driven, client-centered partner in the public health and medical arenas, preparing over 2,500 medically tailored nutritious meals daily for clients with chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and HIV/AIDS in San Francisco and Alameda counties.

About The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club

Founded by Harvey Milk in 1976, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club continues Harvey’s legacy through political activism, electoral organizing, and building progressive power across communities and issues in San Francisco. To learn more about the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club or to become a member, visit www.milkclub.org. We’re here to recruit you! @harveymilkclub#HarveyMilk2022

Monday, May 9, 2022

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications,mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org

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MAYOR LONDON BREED APPOINTS MATT DORSEY TO THE SAN FRANCISCO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

City government veteran and acknowledged member of the substance-use recovery community will represent a district hard hit by City’s drug overdose crisis

San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed today appointed Matt Dorsey to serve on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, making him the first self-identified member of the substance use disorder recovery community to serve on the Board in a generation. The appointment comes at a time when San Francisco is experiencing an addiction and overdose crisis that is impacting many neighborhoods, including District 6.

Dorsey is a respected City government veteran who currently serves on the staff of the San Francisco Police Department as the communications director. Previously, Dorsey served for fourteen years in the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, where he worked to support groundbreaking cases around marriage equality, education access, public health, tenants rights, and worker protections. He will complete the unexpired term of former supervisor Matt Haney, who was elected to the California State Assembly last month. Dorsey is an out gay man who will join Supervisor Rafael Mandelman as the Board’s second LGBTQ member.

“Matt Dorsey is uniquely positioned to understand our city government and its current challenges — professionally and personally, from public health to public safety,” said Mayor Breed. “San Francisco needs a strong voice and forceful advocate to help lead our efforts through a drug crisis that is costing lives and devastating neighborhoods — including many in District 6. As an accomplished City government veteran, and as a member of the recovery community, Matt is ready to not only make the hard decisions, but to understand the impacts those decisions will have on people’s lives. I trust Matt to work cooperatively, creatively, and effectively to help solve the problems facing our city.”

In addition to leading on solutions around substance use and recovery, Dorsey will bring his personal and professional experience to focus on the issues impacting San Francisco and District 6, including building more housing, protecting tenants, addressing transportation and traffic congestion, supporting small businesses, advancing LGBTQ rights, and supporting San Francisco’s recovery from the pandemic.

“I am honored and humbled by the trust Mayor Breed has placed in me to serve my city and my District 6 neighbors on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors,” said Matt Dorsey. “I’m a believer in what good government can accomplish, and I intend to be a full partner with Mayor Breed and my board colleagues in governing our city responsibly, accountably and effectively. I am also a three-time drug rehab graduate. I know well the challenges facing those, in my district and elsewhere, who grapple with substance use disorder. I believe in the promise of recovery, and I think our local government has an essential role to play in helping fulfill that promise. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve, and excited to get to work for my city.”

Dorsey served on former City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s executive staff for 14 years, whereas senior advisor and communications director he helped to lead high-profile efforts by that office on history-making cases that won marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples in California; saved City College of San Francisco from imminent closure; protected countless renters from evictions; recovered millions of dollars from predatory employers for victims of wage theft; and more. He was among the progressive slate candidates elected to a four-year term on San Francisco’s Democratic County Central Committee in 2012. As San Francisco’s only openly HIV-positive elected official during his term on the DCCC, Dorsey authored resolutions to elevate awareness for San Francisco’s “Getting to Zero” initiative and helped to defeat the controversial 2016 statewide ballot measure, Prop 60, which would have imposed draconian restrictions on the State’s adult film industry and delegitimized public health advances in pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.

Prior to joining SFPD in 2020, Dorsey led Tobacco-Free Kids’ communications strategy for the 2019 No on Prop C campaign, soundly defeating a multimillion-dollar ballot measure by vaping giant JUUL Labs, Inc. that became the most expensive per-vote loss in San Francisco history. He is also a founding board member of the nonprofit neighborhood advocacy organization, Mid-Market Neighbors.

“This is bittersweet news for all of us in the San Francisco Police Department, but great news for the City and County of San Francisco,” said Chief of Police William Scott. “We look forward to working with Matt on the Board of Supervisors, but we will miss the thoughtful and principled leadership he brought to our staff. Matt Dorsey has earned the respect and appreciation of the men, women, and nonbinary members of SFPD for his service here. We’re grateful for the wealth of knowledge he will bring to City Hall about the public safety and police staffing challenges facing our city, and the promise of 21st century police reform. We applaud Mayor Breed’s pick, and we wish Matt well in his new public service role.”

“Matt Dorsey is an inspired choice for the Board of Supervisors, and my congratulations to Mayor Breed for recognizing how extraordinarily well matched Matt is to the challenges facing San Francisco,” said SFPUC General Manager and former City Attorney Dennis Herrera. “I’ve known and trusted Matt for more than two decades, and he is widely respected among the City government colleagues and journalists with whom he has worked over the years. He created the City Attorney’s Good Government Guide, which has become a cornerstone of ethics and Sunshine training citywide. He is a fearless champion for good government and public integrity, and I know he will work tirelessly to fight waste, fraud and abuse. San Franciscans will be well served by his leadership.”

According to monthly data reports on accidental drug overdose deaths from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood, which is part of District 6, typically ranks second or first in the number of fatal overdoses based on locations of death and victims’ residential neighborhoods. Only the Tenderloin, which is now in District 5, occasionally surpasses SOMA as a locus of San Francisco’s drug OD and open-air drug dealing crisis.

Former San Francisco Supervisor Bill Maher, who served on the Board of supervisors from 1983 to 1995, was the prior board member to publicly acknowledge his history with substance use disorder. Maher and his brother, John, founded the Delancey Street rehabilitation center in San Francisco in 1970.

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