The Institute

Oct 11, 2013

1h 32m

★ 6.2

Is it a cult? Is it a game? Or is it a life-changing adventure...

Overview

Thousands of participants in a San Francisco-based alternate reality game end up getting more than they bargained for. Told from the players’ perspectives, the film looks over the precipice at an emergent new art form where the real world and fictional narratives merge to create unforeseen and often unsettling consequences. Examining counter-culture, new religious movements and street art, this film takes the viewer on a journey into a secret underground world teeming just beneath the surface of everyday life.

Genres

Documentary

The Institute Trailers

Cast

Octavio Coleman Esq

Arye Bender

Creator

Jeff Hull

Drybones

Gordon McLaughlin

Kelvin Williams

Daniel Shoup

In this special edition of Globe Trekker Chinatown, Lavinia Tan, Justine Shapiro and Megan McCormick travel worldwide to explore the magic and mystery of Chinatowns across the globe. Lavinia Tan begins the journey in Malaysia and Singapore where overseas traders led the earliest migrations of Chinese people. The journey continues from there to the United States, where Justine Shapiro visits San Francisco. Megan McCormick explores New York s Lower East Side, home to the largest Chinatown in the Western Hemisphere. After a short trip to London s Soho district, Lavinia Tan ends this journey with a visit to Hong Kong exploring the world famous film industry and the 21st century migration of Chinese back to their homeland.

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0.0

CMC Teen Jazz Orchestra: Cultivating respect and self expression through music

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CMC’s visionary leaders and artists to celebrate one of San Francisco’s most-revered and longest-running community arts programs.

6.8

The Bridge

Oct 27, 2006

The Bridge is a controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - the world's most popular suicide destination. Interviews with the victims' loved ones describe their lives and mental health.

5.3

Like It Is

Jul 20, 1968

This documentary on the "youth movement" of the late 1960s focuses on the hippie pot smoking/free love culture in the San Francisco Bay area.

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0.0

CMC Young Musicians Program: Mission District youth find focus, follow dreams

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The mission of Community Music Center is to make high quality music accessible to all people, regardless of financial status.

4.0

Harmonium in California

Jan 1, 1980

Through concerts and interviews, folk-progressive group Harmonium takes Quebec culture to California. This documentary full of colour and sound, filmed in California in 1978, recounts the ups and downs of the journey of the Quebec musical group Harmonium, who came to feel the pulse of Americans and see if culture, their culture, can succeed in crossing borders.

8.0

Last Fast Ride: The Life, Love and Death of a Punk Goddess

Mar 10, 2011

Henry Rollins narrates Lilly Scourtis Ayers' no-holds-barred profile of volatile Bay Area punk legend Marian Anderson, whose hypnotic beauty, devil-may-care rebellion and shocking sexual exploits onstage launched her to infamy before tragically dying of a heroin overdose at the tender age of 33.

7.0

Carol Doda Topless at the Condor

Mar 22, 2024

On a fateful San Francisco night in the early '60s, Condor nightclub performer Carol Doda was lowered to the stage on a floating piano, topless. Word spread quickly, setting off a wave of controversy and delight, with raids soon to follow. There was even a trial for the new celebrity. Doda's dry wit and charisma made her an instant sensation of the night club scene: an empowered woman in full control. Or so it seemed.

4.6

Mondo Topless

Nov 17, 1966

Completely topless. Completely uninhibited. The craze that began in San Francisco is now exploding across the USA and Europe.

7.6

Riding Giants

Jul 9, 2004

Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.

0.0

Cold Refuge

Apr 16, 2023

Cold Refuge is about the physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of full immersion in the natural world: how, though it may seem counter-intuitive, swimming in cold water helps mitigate some of life’s most serious challenges. The film’s diverse film subjects include a wheelchair-bound, paralyzed swimmer who faces fear by diving off a high pier; a Black man who was told by whites when he was 13 that “Black people don’t swim” (it took him 30 years to try); a blind man who tethers himself to a sighted swimmer; a woman with aggressive breast cancer who “swims to chemo;” a lawyer who reduces courtroom stress in the open water; and a young woman who communes with her late mother in San Francisco Bay, where they both swam together. Along with swimmers’ stories of adversity and resilience, the film’s marine mammals, birds, artwork, and a variety of open-water locations create a visual meditation on what it means to escape our abstract digital world in favor of what’s real.

7.1

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Oct 9, 2003

A homeless musician finds meaning in his life when he starts a friendship with dozens of parrots.

7.7

Valley Uprising

Sep 1, 2014

In the shady campgrounds of Yosemite valley, climbers carved out a counterculture lifestyle of dumpster-diving and wild parties that clashed with the conservative values of the National Park Service. And up on the walls, generation after generation has pushed the limits of climbing, vying amongst each other for supremacy on Yosemite's cliffs. "Valley Uprising" is the riveting, unforgettable tale of this bold rock climbing tradition in Yosemite National Park: half a century of struggle against the laws of gravity -- and the laws of the land.

5.7

Out of Print

Aug 23, 2014

A documentary exploring the importance of revival cinema and 35mm exhibition - seen through the lens of the patrons of the New Beverly Cinema - a unique and independent revival cinema in Los Angeles.

6.1

Rebuilding Paradise

Jan 23, 2020

On November 8, 2018, a spark flew in the Sierra Nevada foothills, igniting the most destructive wildfire in California history and decimating the town of Paradise. Unfolding during the year after the fire, this is the story of the Paradise community as they begin to rebuild their lives.

6.8

Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story

Jan 28, 2020

Exploring the rise and fall of the groundbreaking animated series Ren & Stimpy and its controversial creator, John Kricfalusi, through archival footage, show artwork and interviews with the artists, actors and executives behind the show.

10.0

Escape 360

Jun 20, 2021

One man, one camera, one goal...to capture the essence of adventure. An experimental, often abstract new type of filmmaking process creating color rich visuals combined with a lush soundtrack that grounds the project. A unique cinematic experience.

8.0

The T.A.M.I. Show

Nov 14, 1964

Hailed by one music reviewer as "the grooviest, wildest, slickest hit ever to pound the screen," "The T.A.M.I. Show" is an unrelenting rock spectacular starring some of the greatest pop performers of the 60s. These top recording idols – representing the musical moods of London, Liverpool, Hollywood and Detroit – packed the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium with 2,600 screaming fans and virtually brought down the house. This is the cinematic record of that electrifying event.

0.0

Lizzie

May 16, 2022

Vans Skateboarding is proud to present Lizzie, a short 35mm film directed by renowned filmmaker Greg Hunt. Unveiling a personal, intimate account of Lizzie Armanto beyond her skateboarding accolades and identity as one of the world’s most talented skateboarders, the film is the first to explore Lizzie’s life through the lens of those closest to her, including her mother, husband as well as skate legend Tony Hawk.

The Institute

Overview

Genres

The Institute Trailers