Try Harder!

This fascinating documentary chronicles the intense rivalry between high schools in Southern Indiana to win a prestigious festival performance with lavish student musical productions that often cost in the tens of thousands of dollars to produce.

Documentary about San Francisco photographer Michael Jang

The Fillmore was once a thriving, vibrant, and multicultural community with one of the most prominent jazz scenes on the West Coast and hundreds of black-owned businesses. The neighborhood’s prosperity quickly came to an end as urban redevelopment tore through neighborhoods, pushing thousands of families and businesses out of the area. Despite this, hundreds of community activists today worked tirelessly to help reclaim the “Harlem of the West.”

At Ella Hill Hutch Community Center in the Fillmore, magic is happening. Throughout the 2024 school year, Magic Zone students in Citizen Film's filmmaking and media production class collaborated in painting murals that represent their community, cultivating a beautiful garden, learning how to cook nutritious meals and documenting community stories through still photography, video and graphic design.

The Bridge is a controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - the world's most popular suicide destination. Interviews with the victims' loved ones describe their lives and mental health.

High school graduation doesn't come around often. Not only is it a day of celebration, but also a day of tears and apprehension. Milestone No. 1 follows Jack, a senior at the local high school, who is getting ready for his day of graduation, and the various tasks he needs to complete before arriving at the venue.

This documentary on the "youth movement" of the late 1960s focuses on the hippie pot smoking/free love culture in the San Francisco Bay area.

Two countries, two restaurants, one vision. At Gabriela Cámara's acclaimed Contramar in Mexico City, the welcoming, uniformed waiters are as beloved by diners as the menu featuring fresh, local seafood caught within 24 hours. The entire staff sees themselves as part of an extended family. Meanwhile at Cala in San Francisco, Cámara hires staff from different backgrounds and cultures, including ex-felons and ex-addicts, who view the work as an important opportunity to grow as individuals. A Tale of Two Kitchens explores the ways in which a restaurant can serve as a place of both dignity and community.

Completely topless. Completely uninhibited. The craze that began in San Francisco is now exploding across the USA and Europe.

Un printemps de square

This short film reveals the inspiration, motivation and political challenges at San Francisco City Hall during the frantic days leading up to the first government-sanctioned same-sex marriage.

Murder In The Front Row: The San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal Story. In the early 1980’s, a small group of dedicated Bay Area headbangers shunned the hard rock of MTV and Hollywood hairspray bands in favor of a more dangerous brand of metal that became known as thrash! From the tape trading network to the clubs to the record stores and fanzines, director Adam Dubin reveals how the scene nurtured the music and the music spawned a movement. Murder In The Front Row is told through powerful first person testimony and stunning animation and photography. The film is a social study of a group of young people defying the odds and building something essential for themselves. Featuring interviews with Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Exodus, Testament, Death Angel, Possessed and many more! Narrated by Brian Posehn.

Peer behind the curtain as a cast of neurodivergent teens prepare to come of age and hit the stage in their school’s time-travelling, John Farnham–themed musical.

Set in the cutthroat, boy-dominated world of high school debate where tomorrow’s leaders are groomed, GIRL TALK tells the timely story of five girls on a diverse, top-ranked Massachusetts high school debate team as they strive to become the best debaters in the United States on their own terms.

Henry Rollins narrates Lilly Scourtis Ayers' no-holds-barred profile of volatile Bay Area punk legend Marian Anderson, whose hypnotic beauty, devil-may-care rebellion and shocking sexual exploits onstage launched her to infamy before tragically dying of a heroin overdose at the tender age of 33.

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.

BIG VOICE captures a tumultuous year in the life of a visionary high school choir teacher and his students as they overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to become one big voice in this inspiring musical documentary.

This Traveltalk series short celebrates San Francisco, past and present.

Following the class of 2020 at Oakland High School in a year marked by seismic change, exploring the emotional world of teenagers coming of age against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world.

A Foot in the Door tells the story of Kindergarten to College (K2C), the first universal children’s savings account program in the United States. Launched by the City and County of San Francisco, the program automatically provides a college savings account to children when they start kindergarten.