Details

What: Eighth annual Davis Film Festival

When: 7 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday, 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Veterans’ Memorial Theater, 203 E. 14th St.

Tickets: $10 general, $7.50 for students per session; a festival pass is $25, available at Armadillo Music, 205 F St., online (http://www.davisfilmfest.org) or at the door

Info: http://www.davisfilmfest.org or (530) 759-9448

When the eighth annual Davis Film Festival plays out Friday and Saturday, a spectrum of the human condition will be presented.

While a dark “Sleeping Awake” shows how insomnia has stolen Rosiana’s life, the breezy “Remember Your First Bike” celebrates an Oregon cycling trip.

“Wishful Thinking” is Jane Sablow’s delightful four-minute look at a child’s birthday wish while “Folsom Prison Blues” — “the most controversial testament of a ruthless life ever captured on film,” according to festival creator Judith Plank — shows a heart-breaking side of a criminal.

In this rollercoaster ride of cinema there remains a dichotomy…

A 15-minute film by members of a Davis High School race and social justice class talks with a local woman who has embraced the world around her: a woman who is married to the love of her life, someone who is an accomplished musical performer and once was a terrific athlete, a champion of the Davis Food Co-op and an advocate for, as she recently said, “those less fortunate.”

What DHS student Maria Walker and her classmates have produced is a talk with ALS sufferer Cathy Speck — a lifelong Davis resident who, if you didn’t know she was dying, seems on top of that world she has so brightened.

“As a group, we decided to (focus on) gay marriage,” Walker explains. “The idea of filming Cathy Speck came to us. … The first thing I noticed was how happy she looked.”

Happy? Dying?

Speck said last December “there is nothing I can do about this, except live my life to the fullest … make those around me comfortable with this — and work as hard as I can for the end of this (disease).”

Speck, just into her 50s, is married to Linda Duval. Together they have been advocates for gay rights. As a musical duo, Duval Speck, they have entertained countless regional audiences. Back in the 1970s, Cathy Speck was one of California’s top athletes — a member of CIF’s first two championship basketball teams from Davis High.

Last year, Speck and Duval were still performing. A year ago — almost to the day — Speck went skydiving in an effort to raise money and awareness in the fight against ALS. She “played” in last fall’s DHS alumni basketball game, and recently was a willing subject for Walker and her classmates.

The film dwells on Speck’s fight against physical and social injustice, but her battle with ALS isn’t ignored.

“Most of my family members … died within 2 1/2 years of diagnosis,” Speck says of her rare type of ALS that is passed along through heredity. “Each of my surviving siblings and, sadly, their children, have a 50/50 chance of inheriting the (disease).”

The other fight for which Speck has been a spokesperson is government recognition of same-sex marriage.

“Since Cathy’s marriage is not recognized, leaving Social Security to her partner is impossible,” Walker points out. “She explained to us how she … has had no luck in any court (trying to change the laws).

“Filming, and being a part of this movie, changed my life because I think it really can change some people’s stance on the issue. I feel truly blessed I was able to meet Cathy Speck and tell her story.”

Coming off last weekend’s sneak peeks and reception at International House, the festival coordinators now head into the three-part main body of the independent film celebration.

Friday features “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Afghan” (a Pardis Parker effort that looks at crime, humor and friendship), among other selections. Doors at the Veterans’ Memorial Theater open a half-hour before the 7 p.m. screenings begin.

Saturday’s short-subject screenings — which include the Speck interview and a question-and-answer session — start at 12:30 p.m. (Doors open at noon.)

Saturday at 7 p.m., in a collaboration with the annual United Nations Association Film Festival, the Davis Film Festival presents “Climate Refugees,” “Tesfaye” and “Which Way Home?”

Tickets per session are $10 general or $7.50 for students. A festival pass good for all sessions costs $25. Tickets are available at Armadillo Music, 205 F St., online (http://www.davisfilmfest.org) or at the door.

For more information, visit the website or call (530) 759-9448.

Notes: Sponsors of the Davis Film Festival include The Avid Reader, Strands Salon and Spa, International House of Davis, Fleet Feet, Davis Food Co-op, Lyon Real Estate, Sudwerk, John Lescroart, Natural Food Works, Marcelo Campos of Lyon Real Estate, Virtual Market Enterprises and the Hallmark Inn. …In addition to a handful of Davis area selections, films shown come from Iran, France, Japan, China, Sweden, Germany and Israel. …Ironically, Plank’s own entry — a ditty called “Butterscotch” which looks at a three-way friendship — is part of a menu of films that includes “Beatboxing: the Fifth Element of Hip Hop,” which stars Davis’ own “America’s Got Talent” winner Antoinette Clinton, aka Butterscotch.

— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at [email protected] or (530) 747-8047.

Art for livingW

“Art for Living,” by Cara Hagan, explores the story of a visual artist who channels her grief into her artwork. This sculpture honors her late husband Dan, who died of concern four years before the making of the film. Courtesy photo

CathySpeckW

Cathy Speck is known as half of the popular singing duo Duval Speck and as a gay rights activist and now, advocate for ALS research. Enterprise file photo

TesfayeW

Environmental damage in Ethiopia is featured in a short documentary that will screen Saturday night at the Davis Film Festival, in conjunction with the United Nations Association Film Festival. Courtesy photo

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