The summer outdoor music season is bigger, better and longer than ever in Richmond.

Point Richmond Summer Concert Series

The kickoff event for the highly popular and free Point Richmond Summer Concert Series will be Friday, June 13, 5:00 - 7:30 p.m., in Baltic Square, 125 Park Place, with Jenna Mammina and Quadraphonics. For complete information on artists and future dates, see http://www.pointrichmond.com/prmusic/index.htm.

Music on Main

On Richmond’s traditional ”Main Street,” The 1^st free Concert is next Thursday, June 12^th at 5:00-7:00 p.m in the evening at Macdonald and 12^th Streets. and features recording artist “Victor Fields”.  Victor has been invited to tour with Nancy Wilson and to perform at this years Monterey Jazz Festival. For more information, call 236-4050.

Latino Film Festival

For a film diversion, take in the Latino Film Festival at Richmond Public Library, June 12^th, featuring “Under California, The Limit of Time” --  monthly film shows featuring award winning  Latino films. Each month on the second Thursday of the month, a film from the archive of the Latino Film Festival will be presented free of charge.  The film series will be held in the Main Library’s Madeline F. Whittlesey Community Room, 325 Civic Center Plaza in Richmond.   All programs will begin at 7 p.m. and will be shown using a large screen video projector.    Seating is limited to 100 and will be allotted on a first come, first served basis. The films will be in Spanish with English subtitles and will vary in length and content.  The films are selected on the basis of their high quality and the series is an important means of promoting cultural diversity in the community.  The Latino Film Festival of the San Francisco Bay Area, now in its seventh season, celebrates the beauty and diversity of Latino culture. Sylvia Perel, Executive Director and founder of the Film Festival, has a firm belief in the inspirational power of film.  Under her direction, the Film Festival has stepped outside the usual boundaries by embracing outreach programs, such as the one which has been coming to Richmond.   This dynamic Community Outreach Program presented by the Latino Film Festival and the Richmond Public Library is truly ground-breaking;  it  is the first  time that Films from the Festival  have come to a public setting in the East Bay.  This significant cultural event which is being offered to the  people of Richmond is  co-sponsored by the Friends of the Richmond  Public Library and is made possible  by a grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The next screening, on Thursday, June 12th 2003, will feature “Under California, The Limit of Time/Bajo California, El Limite de Tiempo”, directed by Carlos Bolando (Mexico, 1998,  runtime  96 minutes).   A work of stirring beauty, “ Under California*” dramatizes the spiritual  and physical odyssey of a man  traversing a sand ravaged coastline in search of his indigenous grandmother’s gravesite and reckoning with his soul.   Part passion play, part western, part road movie, Bolando’s debut feature is a breath-taking homage to the powers of nature, art, ritual and love.  The Mexican cave paintings of Baja California  are a stunning surprise. 

The Library is located just off Macdonald Ave., near 26th  Street.  There is plenty of free parking in the lot and on the street in front of the library.  The building is wheelchair accessible.  For more information or to find out the film schedule, call the Reference desk of the Richmond Public Library at (510) 620-6561.   For information about membership or volunteering  for the Latino Film Festival, please call (415) 454-4039 or  visit the Festival’s website at  www.latinofilmfestival.org.