Wanda's Picks Friday, Sept. 2, 2011

STEVE JAMES, Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor, is best known as the award-winning director, producer, and co-editor of Kartemquin’s Hoop Dreams, which won every major critics award as well as a Peabody and Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 1995. The film earned Steve the Directors Guild of America Award, The MTV Movie Awards “Best New Filmmaker” and an Oscar nomination for editing. Hoop Dreams was selected for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, signifying the film’s enduring importance to American film history. Steve’s other award-winning films produced with Kartemquin include Stevie, winner of major festival awards at Sundance, Amsterdam, Yamagata and Philadelphia; the PBS series, The New Americans, which won the prestigious 2004 International Documentary Association Award for Best Limited Series; At the Death House Door, which won numerous festivals and was Steve’s fourth film to be officially short-listed for the Academy Award; and No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson for ESPN Films' International Documentary Association-winning series 30 for 30. THE INTERRUPTERS is Steve’s sixth film in partnership with Kartemquin and his fifth film to play at the Sundance Film Festival. The film will be broadcast on PBS' Frontline in late 2011. Steve’s other work includes The War Tapes, which he produced and edited, and which won the 2006, Tribeca Film Festival Grand Prize. The Interrupters opens toda, Sept. 2, in San Francisco and Berkeley.

Jetta Martin joins us to talk about "Mirrored: An Interactive Evening of Dance with Martin and Michael Velez at Dance Mission in San Francisco, Sept. 9-10. Come join us for an evening of dance, adventure and the element of choice. As a part of the Down and Dirty Dance Series Martin and Velez will present new and previously commissioned work. The audience and performers will create their own shared story each night through a combination of chance and luck. We will deconstruct coincidence vs. fate and consider the choices, if any, we really have. Visit www.jettamartin.com

Alisa Froman, Executive Director, established PlazaCUBA in the year 2000 and continues to be the visionary creator of projects and events. Alisa is an accomplished Afro-Cuban folklore and salsa dancer and performs in the Bay Area with various groups. She has studied Cuban culture and religion for many years and remains a knowledgeable and loving member of an international community interested in investigating and preserving Cuban culture. Alisa has been traveling to Cuba for 18 years and has accompanied hundreds of Americans to Cuba on music, dance and cultural adventures. Visit www.plazacuba.com