17th Annual Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema

Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema (BHOC) showcases diverse work of local San Francisco Bay Area filmmakers and artists living and working in and around San Francisco’s historic Bernal Heights neighborhood. In its 17th season, BHOC features an end-of-summer 3-day festival of free screenings staged in parks, playgrounds and other venues located throughout the neighborhood. With all consideration given to the Health Department's guidance on health and safety in this time of COVID-19, our hope is to stage two outdoor screenings as part of the end-of-summer kick-off:
• Friday, September 11, 2020 — a first ever pop-up drive-in, "South Slope Cinema" at Alemany Market Plaza;
• Saturday, September 12, 2020 — the traditional in-the-park screening, "Under the Star"s at Precita Park;
• Best of Bernal, date TBA — screening of the award-winning films of the season
• Quarterly "Face-to-Face with the Filmmaker" screenings in January, April and June 2021 — dates TBA

NOTE: Should any of these events be cancelled due to safe distancing guidelines, we will schedule virtual presentations at a later date. Your submission gives Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema permission to make your film accessible on Vimeo for a limited time

The BHOC line-up features short films or videos — 20 minutes or shorter— in all genres, in which: 1) local Bay Area residents have participated in any aspect of production or distribution; or 2) the subject matter or theme resonates with current sentiments, issues and challenges facing the neighborhood and residents of Bernal Heights.

Four non-monetary awards are presented to featured filmmakers:

- "Best of Bernal," "Spirit of Bernal" and "Bright Star Emerging Filmmaker" are determined by the Submissions & Selection Committee

- "Good life Audience Award" is determined by the audience.

The Awards presentation and award-winning films will be presented at the final event of the season, "Best of Bernal" screening, awards presentation and reception. TBA