MIDDLETOWN — Coyote Film Festival highlights the independent bookseller with two screenings of “Paperback Dreams” on Saturday. The filmmaker Alex Beckstead will be on hand for audience Q&A after each screening.
The afternoon matinee is at 1:30 p.m. and the evening screening is at 7:30 p.m. at Calpine”s Cartwright Geothermal Visitors Center, 15500 Central Park Road, Middletown. There is plenty of parking, large restrooms and refreshments for sale.
Admission is $10 at the door. Children age 16 and younger will be admitted for $5.
“Paperback Dreams” is the story of two landmark independent bookstores and their struggle to survive. The film follows Andy Ross, owner of Cody”s Books, and Clark Kepler, owner of Kepler”s Books, over the course of two tumultuous years in the book business. “Paperback Dreams” features multiple bombings, political intrigue, major political figures and a rock star.
According to Beckstead, independent bookstores function as literary laboratories and publishers rely on them to champion new and controversial work. To passionate booksellers, selling books remains revolutionary. “Paperback Dreams” celebrates what these stores offer local communities and mourns the cultural loss that comes when a good bookstore closes its doors.
Beckstead is a San Francisco-based documentary filmmaker. “Paperback Dreams” is his second ITVS-funded project as a director. The first was “Trailer Park Blues,” an observational portrait of his grandparents, Bill and Peggy Heiner and of Bill”s lifelong struggle with alcoholism in a trailer park north of Phoenix, Ariz. It aired on public television stations in more than 30 markets.
Beckstead produced segments in Kenya and Uganda for the 2005 PBS special “Ending AIDS: The Search for a Vaccine.” Other credits include associate producer of “Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet,” a two-hour prime time PBS special that was both a biography of Islam”s founding prophet and a profile of contemporary American Muslims. Beckstead also served as associate producer and sound recordist for several companion documentaries for the DVD release of the HBO dramatic series “Deadwood.”
Beckstead”s first film, the short documentary “SXE,” screened at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.
Coyote Film Festival is the fundraising arm of EcoArts of Lake County, a 501(c)(3) non profit arts organization dedicated to providing visual art opportunities to the residents and visitors of Lake County. Contact Karen Turcotte at Karenturcotte@yahoo.com for more information.
