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FILM CREW TAKES TO THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO’S MISSION DISTRICT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Erica Menjivar – 415.364.3082
pr@missionmovie.org

San Francisco, August 12, 2003The innovative feature film Mission Movie, about San Francisco’s liveliest and most celebrated neighborhood, began principal filming on July 29, 2003. This urban drama, unearthed from real-life stories, examines the question: Who does this neighborhood belong to, anyway? The movie, which promises to be as gritty, inspiring, political, and entertaining as the neighborhood itself, will be photographed in the Mission District through the beginning of September, 2003.

A bilingual film, Mission Movie inspects territory, diversity, and integration through the intertwined lives of a varied cast of characters. Mark, a white, traditionally trained artist, is forced to seek the help of Roger, a Latino artist born and raised in the Mission, to confront a group of kids who have been tagging his mural. Meanwhile, Mark and his troubled hipster roommates struggle into activism as they face eviction from their apartment. Also being evicted from the building is Rosario, a Central American immigrant who is thriving in her new country while her husband, Rene, is not. Rosario’s boss, Antonia, a third-generation Mission resident, tries to come to terms with changes in the neighborhood as she finds the fruits of her success making her an “accidental” target. And George, a Palestinian shop-owner struggles as his love for his children is challenged by a conflict of values. And threaded through it all is the editorial banter of a gay couple —new Mission homeowners—looking for an ever-elusive parking space.

The concept for the film was born a year ago, when a group of nine San Francisco artists and media makers came together through their affiliation with the movie’s director Lise Swenson. They quickly assembled a community advisory group to help dig up stories, mold a script, and now usher those stories through production with an eye on authenticity. Mission Movie has also utilized a unique improvisational model: The actors have actually helped to develop their individual dialogue and action through extensive rehearsals.

The movie has been a labor of love for Swenson, who is a veteran to the collaborative process of making films and a 14-year Mission resident. “It is not about isolation it is about coming together in a community. It is not about separatism, it is not about the individual ego. It is about how we are going to try to work it out together. And that is what the Mission represents to me, that is what the Mission has come to mean to me, and that is what the movie is about,” said Swenson.

Mission Movie will wrap shooting in September and enter post-production in October. Completion of the movie is scheduled for the end of the year.

The Mission District: 74,633 Residents, 196 Nationalities, 2 Square Miles, One Movie