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MISSION MOVIE PRESENTS SNEAK PREVIEW AT GALA COMMUNITY CELEBRATION
June 4, 2004, at San Francisco’s Mission Village

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Stephanie Lim– 415.533.8085
steph3280@hotmail.com

San Francisco--March 27, 2004—Mission Movie, the new independent feature film about San Francisco’s Mission District, directed by award-winning Bay Area filmmaker Lise Swenson, will have its first public screening at a festive community celebration Friday, June 4, 2004, at Mission Village, located at 2949 18th Street in San Francisco. Preceding the movie’s theatrical release, this one-time event features guest appearances by performers from the film along with live music and an outdoor screening. The celebration begins at 7:30 p.m. and is free to the public.

The passionate, soulful urban drama about the inner life of San Francisco’s most diverse enclave tells five intersecting stories that take place over one summer. The cast is lead by veteran Colombian actor Diego Vasquez and features many Bay Area actors, including cameos by well-known local artists and activists. In form true to the Mission District, the bilingual film will feature both Spanish and English subtitles.

In the film, a narrative based entirely on true stories, a Central American immigrant couple is torn between one’s love of American city life and the other’s discomfort with it. The politics of eviction play into their lives as well, but mostly disturb those of their upstairs neighbors — a hipster set of four roommates. One of these is a white artist who also faces other challenges in the neighborhood. When four kids keep tagging the mural he has been commissioned to paint, he seeks the help of a Latino artist to intervene. And two older Mission business owners — one a third-generation Latina and the other a Palestinian immigrant — both find themselves trying to defend their property and protect the lives they have established here.

The Mission Movie community gala is a celebration of both the film and the neighborhood that inspired its creation. The producers and directors chose Mission Village — occupying the open block bounded by 18th, 19th, Florida, and Alabama Streets — as the event site primarily because of its connection to and location within the community. Swenson noted, “The location truly represents all the different kinds of activity in the Mission.”Mission Movie, the new independent feature film about San Francisco’s Mission District, directed by award-winning Bay Area filmmaker Lise Swenson, will have its first public screening at a festive community celebration Friday, June 4, 2004, at Mission Village, located at 2949 18th Street in San Francisco. Preceding the movie’s theatrical release, this one-time event features guest appearances by performers from the film along with live music and an outdoor screening. The celebration begins at 7:30 p.m. and is free to the public.

The passionate, soulful urban drama about the inner life of San Francisco’s most diverse enclave tells five intersecting stories that take place over one summer. The cast is lead by veteran Colombian actor Diego Vasquez and features many Bay Area actors, including cameos by well-known local artists and activists. In form true to the Mission District, the bilingual film will feature both Spanish and English subtitles.

In the film, a narrative based entirely on true stories, a Central American immigrant couple is torn between one’s love of American city life and the other’s discomfort with it. The politics of eviction play into their lives as well, but mostly disturb those of their upstairs neighbors — a hipster set of four roommates. One of these is a white artist who also faces other challenges in the neighborhood. When four kids keep tagging the mural he has been commissioned to paint, he seeks the help of a Latino artist to intervene. And two older Mission business owners — one a third-generation Latina and the other a Palestinian immigrant — both find themselves trying to defend their property and protect the lives they have established here.

The Mission Movie community gala is a celebration of both the film and the neighborhood that inspired its creation. The producers and directors chose Mission Village — occupying the open block bounded by 18th, 19th, Florida, and Alabama Streets — as the event site primarily because of its connection to and location within the community. Swenson noted, “The location truly represents all the different kinds of activity in the Mission.”

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