sf indiefest

Roxie Cinema     2/15/2007     9:30PM

Victoria Theater     2/17/2007     12PM

This verité documentary shows a day in the life at Levels, a bustling barbershop located in the heart of Harlem. The film shows the vital role community barbershops play as a forum for black men to discuss any topic, whether controversial or banal, sacred or profane, political or personal. And with the increasing gentrification of the area, a number of diverse clients (including a white gay man) occasionally enter the mix. Topics discussed in the film include HIV/AIDS, infidelity, gay marriage, greedy preachers, Bill Clinton, the world's sexiest actresses, and more.

Barbershops are "the nexus of all black male life: young, old and everything in between. It's where brothers come to show love and get the latest styles... As barbers, we consider ourselves craftsmen, artists. …But above all, a shop is a place where brothers come to converse: to rhyme, to clown, to wage verbal warfare about race, politics, sex, our kids, our relationships, our struggles, our joys... [It is] our town hall, our sanctuary."

With

Loops

M.R. Dhar

USA, 2006, 13 min

The hopes, fears, regrets, and ambitions (or lack thereof) of three golf club caddies.

Do You Want the Elephant Music?

Leslie Dektor

USA, 2006, 17 min

The lives and feelings of circus performers.

Los Tabaqueros

Russell Griffin

USA, 2006, 8 min

Passion, love, and tobacco... all rolled up in this doc on the life and art of handmade cigars.