Bay Area filmmakers featured at SFFILM Fest

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The San Francisco International Film Festival will continue to showcase films through April 27. While there are dozens being featured from all around the world, Bay Area filmmakers are also well represented. 

Filmmakers Dr. Jessica Zitter and Kyle Casey Chu are both SF FilmHouse residents for emerging filmmakers. Their films screened this week during the festival. Both say they’re honored to share the art they made in the Bay Area with SFFilm. 

“It’s wonderful to present the film in this place it was made,” said, Dr. Zitter. “This is where the crew is, this is where the patients featured in the film live, it’s a very powerful place to be sharing the film for the first time.”

“I feel like it being here makes it the most special screening for me,” said Chu. “All of the art I create centers around stories of queer and trans people in the Bay Area and this short film is no different. It also honors all of my Asian American drag family The Rice Rockettes who are featured in it, and all of the community members who helped me during my darkest times.”

Chu’s 15-minute short “After What happened at the Library” is a fictional film, detailing the direct aftermath of the 2022 hate incident she endured while hosting a Drag Queen Story Hour event at the San Lorenzo Library. The event was disrupted by a group of Proud Boys, shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs. Chu says his short film, doesn’t just replay the incident itself — it is instead saying something broader about the trauma she experienced. 

“We wanted to say something more interesting,” explained Chu. “What we’re saying is what might just be a blip on your newsfeed about a hate crime, has a very lasting impact on the person receiving it — that these experiences stay with us.” 

Dr. Zitter says she’s also sending a broader message in her documentary “The Chaplain and the Doctor”. 

“From a healthcare perspective, I want people to realize, we can do better,” said Dr. Zitter. 

Her film was shot over eight years at Highland Hospital in Oakland. It follows the unlikely relationship, friendship and colleagueship between herself and Chaplain Betty Clark. 

“We’d worked together for 15 years, but it took a few years for me to even notice what she was doing. She’s an incredible person, thoughtful, caring, compassionate,” Dr. Zitter said. “This is really a film for this moment. Really showing how coming together with different skills and diverse perspectives really makes the caring and healing better for patients and each other.”

Dr. Zitter hopes to get her film in front of as many healthcare professionals as possible. There is currently a crowdfunding campaign to increase screenings. 

“After What Happened at the Library” is set to screen again in May during CAAM Fest.