Fog City

Sam Green, a San Francisco-based documentary filmmaker, worked at EMPAC on post-production of a 30-minute experimental documentary about fog in San Francisco. Seemingly an unlikely topic for a movie, fog can be a profoundly interesting visual phenomenon, and it is often breath-takingly beautiful. Green sought to create a portrait that is as varied and rich as the feelings stirred by the fog itself: from the sublime to the quirky to the deeply existential. At the same time, the goal was to make people more aware of the complex systems of wind, air, and water that surround us. His residency at EMPAC allowed the filmmaker to edit his film while viewing it on a large cinema screen with a 30,000-lumens projector rather than on a computer monitor—a rarity for independent filmmakers—enabling him to make informed choices about the tempo and sequencing of the film, as it would be experienced by audiences. Produced in conjunction with San Francisco’s Exploratorium Museum, Fog City premiered there with live narration by the filmmaker and music composed for the film played live by the New York City-based band The Quavers.