Tenderloin...Love Me Tenderloin
Monday, July 31, 2017 at 12:21PM
This film is about a different side of everyone’s favorite ‘city by the bay’, which bears no resemblance to its history of the literary Beats of North Beach, the free-wheeling hippies of Haight Ashbury, or the colorful LGBT culture of the upscale Castro District.
Just below Nob Hill resides possibly the most notorious neighborhood in the United States: ‘The Tenderloin’. In the ‘20s, its gambling dens, billiard halls and ‘speakeasies’ were depicted in the hard-boiled detective fiction of resident Dashiell Hammett (‘The Maltese Falcon’), all of his characters based on people he had known on its streets. The area’s vibrant diversity over the decades would welcome legendary jazz clubs and classic theatre venues, and play an important role in the LGBTQ movement.
So, who is Del Seymour? (New York Times, Thursday May 21, 2020)
Watch the film trailer here...
LOVE ME TENDERLOIN...NEIGHBORHOOD RECOVERY IN SAN FRANCISCO_TRAILER_1080_EN.mp4 from sarasotafringefilms on Vimeo.
Stroll the Tenderloin today and you will still see hope and despair on open display. A haven for the homeless, the area has historically resisted gentrification. Crime, squalid conditions, illegal drug trade, prostitution, liquor stores and strip clubs continue to give the neighborhood its well-deserved gritty reputation.
So why would any sane person want to pay a visit?
You might, after you meet the four people—Joe, Brigitte, Arnold and Woody—featured in this moving film, who offer us their uncensored stories of life on and off the streets. They have pasts, and possible futures, with the help of cheap SRO hotel rooms and apartments, soup kitchens, non-profit agencies, health clinics and religious institutions, but they are for the most part out there on the streets, going about their daily lives. Life can be tough, but these four, and inhabitants like them, have developed a strong sense of community, watching out for each other, and sharing personal triumphs or tragedies.
‘Tenderloin’ has moments of true grace and humor, but this is not exactly an ‘upbeat’ story in the cinematic sense, and can be difficult to watch. Yet the film should be viewed, with compassion, by everyone who cares about the state of this country, and its priorities. It may give you a sleepless night or two, but it is absolutely guaranteed to wake everyone up to the reality we live with, side by side, in most American cities.
This film is dedicated to ‘Mayor’ Del Seymour, for 18 years a chronically homeless cocaine addict and dealer in the Tenderloin. After being clean for 8 years and at the age of 70+, he has become a well-known activist and civic leader who runs a nonprofit called Code Tenderloin, helping the formerly incarcerated and marginalized to develop job skills and find work. In 2016, he was an honored guest at the Obama White House.
Streaning on KANOPY begins June 2023
Tenderloin Academic DVD With PPR Purchase Options
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