curated and presented by Jim Granato
presented in association with The Exploratorium
[Exploratorium admissions apply]

They give us those nice bright colors. They give us the greens of summers. Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day… So Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away. (Paul Simon)

The world’s first commercially successful color film, immortalized in song by Simon, spent seventy-five years in Kodak’s portfolio. It enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s but in recent years has nudged closer to obscurity. Due to its complicated chemistry and the advent of digital photography, Kodak pulled the plug on Kodachrome production in 2009. The only authorized lab left in the world that could process Kodachrome—Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons KS—ceased doing so at the end of 2010. Film purists around the world seemed to have kept a back stock of this unique colorful film saving it for that “sunny day.” When word got around that processing would come to a halt, there was a mad dash by photographers and filmmakers alike to shoot their remaining rolls. This program commemorates this event and celebrates this amazing film stock with this collection of films (most shot—or at least finally processed—in 2010) by Bay Area filmmakers which celebrate color and demonstrate a rich diversity of narrative, documentary, experimental and home movie styles. Accompanying some of these new films will be “live” soundtracks from the filmmakers and special guests. Filmmakers include Brecht Andersch, B. Berzins, Paul Clipson, John Davis, Jim Granato, Nicole Minor, Danny Plotnick, Thad Povey, Doug Schultz, Anjali Sundaram, Phoebe Tooke and more! Come join us for an evening filled with both a vivid look back at personal memories well-preserved and a 21st century way of life through antiquated strips of celluloid. (Jim Granato)