This interesting movie had it's singular SF showing on Tuesday. It was held in the historic Castro Theater and was a sold out crowd. Being in one room with so many bay area coffee Illuminati and fans was quite a treat. I dragged my big camera down with me and took a few snapshots of the Q&A that was held afterwards. There was only two other photographers there, likely someone from Sprudge and one for the production company behind the movie. None of us were using flash, so you'll have to deal with the grainy shots in some.

The beautiful marquis outside. I wanted to get an evening shot with all the lights, but they had already changed the sign on the boards.


James Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee was featured in the film and participated in the Q&A. The opening sequence of the film included a voice over by Eileen Hassi Rinaldi (owner of Ritual Coffee) while it showed a macro video shot of someone preparing a siphon brew, with all the sounds captured with a telescoping microphone. It really immersed the viewers in the experience and was all the better seeing it on the big screen. It made me want to come home and dust off my unused halogen burner lamp and siphon.


Eileen Hassi Rinaldi, again of Ritual Coffee, also participated in the short Q&A. It was great to have them up there with the director of the film, but some of the questions from the audience seemed a bit odd; " what are your thoughts about tea?" briefly stumped James and Eileen. I was standing right underneath them below the stage and got a bit of a chuckle at their equal reaction to an off topic question like that but they both did a wonderful job and elevated the whole experience for everyone there.


From left: Brandon Loper- director, James Freeman -Blue Bottle Coffee, Eileen Hassi Rinaldi- Ritual Coffee



I wanted to try to capture some of the beauty of this wonderful theater. It was my first time here and was really stunned by the amount of detail in the murals and ceiling.



Just before the film started, I got as far back into one corner as I could and braced the camera as best as I could, so I could get one shot without the ISO being cranked sky high.


I of course wasn't going to take images of the film, but it was incredibly beautiful and worth checking out when it comes out on DVD later this year. It didn't pander to coffee snobs, nor bore with regurgitated info. It was a beautiful work, fine cinematography and interviews of producers, baristas, experts in the field. I was surprised when we walked in and found some seats (they were rapidly filling up) we ended up being sat right behind Mayra Orellana-Powell, one of the women behind the scenes bringing great Honduran coffees to the masses, and about 8 feet away from a good friend, Andrew Barnett of Linea Caffe. I had hoped that he was going to take part of the panel. This is just another shot of the ceiling, kinda dark.


Another shot of the title of the film. Apparently this theater remains as one of the actual "silver screens" right behind the curtains. There was some great footage and interviews, and the crowds favorite, by far, seemed to be Bear Pond Espresso in Tokyo and the quirky, funny owner behind it.


More information about the film can be found here

Really bummed I wasn't able to go with you to this, seems I missed a good time.