SFAI Student Filmmakers Go to Court 1969

With the completion of the 1969 building there was space for a robust Film Department headed by Robert Nelson.  This poster illustrates the lively nature of the department by  announcing “Continuous Projections of Films by Students” with a photograph by Dennis Hearne of a July 1968 film shoot by student filmmakers, Michael Wiese and Steven Arnold  near Sebastopol.  Wiese described how "we were shooting a naked couple dancing through a field when...we found ourselves surrounded by 8 deputized men with rifles pointed at us....They said a Girl Scout troop often walks through this field.  We were arrested and thrown into jail.  The police confiscated our camera equipment...fortunately they don't open the film cans...marked..."Film: Do Not Open," or they would have found some of the country's best marijuana."  Once they got to court the judge warned Weise, "I never want to hear that you are making films again!" Standing before him with my fingers crossed, "Oh, no sir.  Promise.  I'll never make a film again."  The charges are dropped."  [from Michael Wiese's autobiography, Onward and Upward, p. 61]

With permission, SFAA is re-posting the emails Jeff Gunderson Librarian/Archivist Anne Bremer Memorial Library has been sending out since March 2020. Please enjoy this magnificent archive.