Did you see a beaver kit was added to the Main street mural? I eagerly wrote delightful artist Mario Alfaro when I heard one was coming and suggested he look at the website for inspiration, or ask us if he needed more photos to work from
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It’s nice to know he found what he needed!
Ohh, and here’s a great story to start your weekend early. This trailer by Don Bernier and Anna Fitch is just waiting for the right buyer. Interested?
TRAILER: Return of the Beaver from Don Bernier on Vimeo.
Do you remember wayyyyyyy back in the seminal November meeting when we all gathered at the High School Performance Art building to make the wacky suggestion that Martinez keep its beavers? We had to march down to the microphone when our name was called and there was this slight dark young man who was actually filming the whole thing and checked the mic from time to time? That was Don Bernier, a documentary filmaker who had already started a project about Urban Wildlife, and won an award from HSUS in the process. Don just heard about the beavers on the news, and wanted to see if the story belonged in his larger project. It turned out that beavers would dominate his project, and he was in Martinez filming everything from the beaver festival to the very first meeting of Worth A Dam. He even had two friends filming the night of the April meeting when Mary Tappe wandered down the aisles with her white cardboard beaver displays.
Well, he’s in the stage of the project where you go around and tell people how cool it is and hope you get a buyer. He sent me a copy of the trailer a while back, but its finally online for you to see. Check out how charming Martinez looks on the big screen! This first interview was filmed in my living room, complete with those umbrella things that refract light and a wired microphone through my shirt. At the time it was a very unusual experience. Hmm.
TRAILER: The Concrete Jungle from Don Bernier on Vimeo.
I am reminded again what a long, successful story the Martinez Beaver Tail is, and how many, many voices it contains. Enjoy!
Yesterday was several days of wonder layered into one. Our artist, Kiriko Moth, released the final edits to the Worth A Dam Logo, and we couldn’t be more happy with it. Now its off to the printers to have it placed on a banner and display tablecloth, and maybe some teeshirts! Hopefully I can figure out how to switch it for that alarming orange rodent in the address bar that Michael installed years ago. In the mean time, I offer you a closeup for your viewing pleasure.
One thing I love about it is that even if you are ignorant of the concept of a “Keystone species” it is clear that the beaver is the key to the river, and the key itself is a kind of dam, which couldn’t be better. Any local henna artists might think about adding this to your stencils and joining us for the beaver festival this year!
The second grand layer of news was that when I came home from work there was a DVD from Don Bernier of the trailer for the Concrete Jungle. 12 minutes of introduction to the series and three of them about the Martinez Beavers. Mayor Schroder was there, sounding deceptively reasonable, Al Turnbaugh was there to be the villian of the piece, and Skip Lisle was clearly the hero. At one point there was a very intelligent female voice describing researching the statistics of rainfall and dam washouts and I thought, hey, she’s stealing my data! Who is that theif! And then saw that it was me! Ack!
All in all it looks like a unbelievably useful program and I know it will get bought up quickly. And Martinez, to be honest, was the hub of the story. With massive crowd shots, and the sweetest images of kits paddling past Starbucks. I can’t wait to see the whole thing.
Such a rich day. You would think that would be enough for any woman. But the highlight was an email from Cheryl Reynolds who snapped a photo of Mom beaver in the am. She was eating the untouched tree from yesterday’s IBB. Ahhh, it never fails to cheer me to see her. Enjoy.
Photo: Cheryl Reynolds 1-5-2010
Don Bernier, who has been filming the Martinez Beavers for his international documentary on Urban Wildlife, will be featuring one of his short documentaries at the 11th San Francisco Film Festival this weekend. “Shelf Life” will be attended by both Don and his subjects,
11th Annual San Francisco Independent Film Festival
“A Homegrown Variety” shorts program
Sat., 2/7/09 at 2:45pm
Sun., 2/8/09 at 12:30pm
The Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street @ Valencia, San Francisco CA
If you’re looking for something adventurous, stop by and say Hi!!!
