By Kristin Suratt on Tuesday, May 21st, 2019 in 2019, Matheson PAC, Mendocino Village, Narrative, News.
In A Bread Factory, Patrick Wang’s award-winning two-part film, the director and his team construct a moving and spirited narrative about two women who move to a small town and buy an abandoned bread factory.
In A Bread Factory Part I: For The Sake of Gold, Dorothea and Greta transform the factory into an arts space where they host movies, plays, dance, and exhibits. The center attracts all kinds of people, with programs for children and meeting space for immigrant communities. It’s a place that creates community. Celebrity performance artists from China come to town and construct a huge arts center down the street, and suddenly, community funding for the Bread Factory is in jeopardy.
In A Bread Factory Part II: Walk With Me Awhile, the town has changed since the divisive school board meeting where funding for the two arts centers was hotly contested. A local newspaper reporter disappears, strange tourists arrive, real estate is booming. Dorothea and Greta rehearse a production of Hecuba by Euripides, which opens to a tiny audience. Heartbroken, they must decide whether to continue their struggle to build community through art.
A Bread Factory landed on many Best of the Year lists, including the New Yorker, RogerEbert.com, the LA Times, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, and more. It was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award and Best Supporting Actress Award, Film Independent Spirit Awards and the 2019 International Cinephile Society Awards for Best Picture, Best Ensemble, Best Actress (Tyne Daly), and Best Original Screenplay.
Listen to the interview with the filmmaker, as John Hardin of KMUD radio talks with the director about his intensive shooting schedule, the dramatic arc of the film, why Wang decided it needed to be two films, the joy of working with an amazing ensemble cast, and much more.
A Bread Factory Part I screens at Matheson in Mendocino Sunday, June 2 at 12:30 p.m.
A Bread Factory Part II screens at Matheson in Mendocino Sunday, June 2 at 3:00 p.m.
Discount available when tickets for both films are purchased together in advance. (No discount at the door).
There will be a Q&A with filmmaker after each screening.
A producer, host and engineer on KMUD radio, John Hardin created Wildlife Matters, which KMUD listeners twice voted Best Public Affairs Program of the Year. He produces an occasional series, The Adventurous Ear, which profiles music of exceptional originality, and is host and producer of Monday Morning Magazine which airs from 7:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m Monday mornings on KMUD. This April, John performed a short live set of drone music on electric didgeridoo to kick off the Drone Cinema Film Festival. The Drone Cinema Film Festival presented eight films created by artists from around the world who express their vision through drone music and digital imager
