My Grandmother's Suitcase
A talk with slides by Jim Van Buskirk

At the age of 54, Jim Van Buskirk, who had been raised "devoutly Unitarian" met with him mother after a long estrangement. Facing her own mortality, she said she had something to tell him: "You are Jewish." She went on to give him a suitcase filled with photographs, letters, and documents. Jim began to look for answers to his family's history --and his own identity -- by researching his genealogy, talking to previously unknown relatives, and examining the contents of his grandmother's suitcase. The uncovered family saga ultimately stretching over 120 years and three continents was more complicated than he'd ever imagined. This audio-visual presentation is adapted from his memoir-in-progress.

"On Location: The Golden Gate Bridge on the Silver Screen"
A talk with film clips by Jim Van Buskirk

The Golden Gate Bridge has probably starred in more movies than any other American architectural icon. From Stranded (1935) to The Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), the iconic span appears in wide range of films including Dark Passage, Superman, Star Trek, Time After Time, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Love Bug, A View to a Kill, Monsters vs. Aliens, Interview with a Vampire, and X-Men. In honor of the bridge's 75th anniversary, Jim Van Buskirk, author of Celluloid San Francisco (and former SFPL librarian), offers a clip-filled program of hilariously horrifying depictions of the Bay Area’s beloved bridge.

Before the Rainbow Flag: California's Early Gay History
A talk with slides by Jim Van Buskirk

From the Amazonian Queen Califia, whose name the state bears, through gender variant characters to the early struggle for same-sex civil rights, California has always been a harbinger of sexual bohemia. This lecture, including over 40 slides, adapted from Gay By the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area (Chronicle Books, 1996) chronicles California's early years through 1966.

Starring San Francisco
A talk with slides and film clips by Jim Van Buskirk

San Francisco has appeared in hundreds of movies and television series, some famous, others obscure, from Eric von Stroheim's 1924 Greed to Dirty Harry to Zodiac. This presentation, based on Celluloid San Francisco: The Film Lover's Guide to Bay Area Movie Locations by Jim Van Buskirk & Will Shank, presents film stills and clips demonstrating the Bay Area's rich cinematic history. Among the many familiar (or not-so-familiar scenes) are the Alta Plaza Park steps being chipped in What's Up, Doc?, the futuristic skyline in Towering Inferno and Bicentennial Man and the geographically inconsistent chase sequence in Bullitt.