Premium grind: Another local rap movie? Yeah, but producer Dave Yanofsky thinks his new documentary about Bay Area would-be hip-hop stars, Grind & Glory: From the Streets to the Stage, brings it like no other. Picture a sort of American Idol for rappers starring five artists, ages 17-21 — Sincere, Mistreat, D Nok, Trinidad, and Trunk Boiz — brought together by the DJ Project and the Ella Baker Center’s Silence the Violence campaign. The thrust of the project is community involvement, to help “provide a path out of that gloom and destruction,” in Yanofsky’s words. “We had a youth crew,” he declares. “It’s a hybrid. Some of the crew were not involved in hip-hop.” He and writer-editor-producer-director Keith Morikawa have made docs on youth and social issues. Their company, NewVoices Media, is captained by Carl Rosendahl, a veteran commercial maker whose biggest screen credit is executive producer on Dreamworks’ 1998 animated hit, Antz. Grind & Glory receives its world premiere Wednesday, November 7, 7 p.m., at Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater, hosted by Mistah FAB. $5. Take a sneak peek at: GrindandGlorytheMovie.com
NICE dreams: Usually we disdain to send our readers across the bridge, but two series from the very ambitious San Francisco Film Society open this week, and they’re definitely worth the trip. Starting November 11, the popular New Italian Cinema Events (NICE) showcases eight days’ worth of films that will probably never screen here again, including three by director Francesca Comencini, whose 2006 drama, A casa nostra (Our Country) opens the mini-fest Sunday (6 p.m.). All NICE shows take place at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema. As if they weren’t busy enough, the SFFS folks are presenting the second annual San Francisco International Animation Festival, beginning Thursday, November 8, also at the Embarcadero. Highlights of the four-day fest: The Pixar Story (of course), Best of Annecy 2007, Komaneko: The Curious Cat, and more short, cute toons than Roger Rabbit’s bachelor party. Learn more: SFFS.org
Shat down beside her: There’s no stopping the Thrillville Shatfest, Will Viharo’s annual tribute to that prodigious thespian, William Shatner. This year’s Shatfest moves from the Parkway to Speakeasy’s ritzier Cerrito, with what Viharo claims is a mint print of Incubus, a 1965 fantasy of man vs. succubus on an enchanted island, made all the more incomprehensible by being presented in Esperanto, with English subtitles. Live gyrations by the Devil-ettes. Thursday, November 8, 9:15 p.m., $8. CerritoSpeakeasy.com
