TELL THEM WE WERE HERE

Tell Them We Were Here (2021), a film by Griff & Keelan Williams, chronicles visual/multidisciplinary artists currently living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area and how they extend the historical legacy of Bay Area creativity, activism, and community. Reflecting the spirit of Fort Mason Center and its vibrant connection to local art and artists, the film centers the idea of art as a reflection of the place from which it emerges, and helps to define the unique character of the Bay Area scene over the past 25 years.

The film follows the work of Sadie Barnette, Amy Franceschini (Futurefarmers), Jim Goldberg, Tucker Nichols, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Alicia McCarthy, Nigel Poor (Ear Hustle), and Michael Swaine, a select group of artists who have chosen a less worn path. It touches on the disappearance of cultural communities due to gentrification and economic instability, while reminding us of art’s power to transform and how vital creative communities are to healthy societies and political change.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with director Griff Williams, artists Amy Franceschini and Tucker Nichols, and curator René de Guzman (all featured in the film), exploring how the local art scene has continued to evolve in the five years since the film’s premiere.