Willie Brown

Governor Jerry Brown has had a storied political life, and Marina Zenovich’s tremendous portrait of him captures the highs and lows, augmented by present-day interviews with her protagonist. Ahead of his time in many ways, especially as an environmentalist, he is the longest-serving governor in the history of California, who eliminated the state’s billion-dollar deficit and enacted historic environmental and criminal justice reforms. From his early days in San Francisco as the son of Governor Pat Brown to his current work around climate change and nuclear threats, Zenovich’s timely film proposes a hopeful alternative to the current political morass.

Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney were falsely arrested for car-bombing themselves on May 24, 1990 while on an Earth First! musical organizing tour for Redwood Summer. They sued the FBI for violations of the First Amendment, claiming the FBI knew they were innocent but arrested them to try to silence them. Having survived the bomb but now stricken by cancer, Judi Bari, a leader of the movement to save California's old growth redwoods, gives her on-camera, deathbed testimony about the attempt on her life and her colorful organizing history with the radical environmental movement Earth First.

One of the most extraordinary civic buildings in America, San Francisco's City Hall rose from the rubble of the 1906 earthquake to become both the symbol of a resilient citizenry and the epicenter of a city in constant change. "The People's Palace" commemorates this remarkable piece of architecture and the dramatic events that have taken place under its dome: labor strife, political assassinations, civil rights struggles, and celebrations that have forged the character of contemporary San Francisco. Featuring interviews with mayors, journalists, scholars, and everyday citizens who have witnessed history within its walls.