SFIFF 50: "Look at Mr. Lee" (i)

Until last night, I'd never been in a room with Spike Lee. The list of people I have to thank for making that happen will only get shorter if I start mentioning names now.

First would be Kevin Smokler, who took a chance on me and heads-upped me last year when the San Francisco International Film Festival gave a few local bloggers press credentials. Smokler's giving tends to acquire a momentum of its own. It feels like a continuous no-look pass on a basketball court that expands from moment to moment. I had a lot of fun last year.

Second would be Hillary Hart and Cindy Lang, whose persistence, kindness and aplomb over the last two months are not to be believed. They wanted me to participate, and it felt good to be able to show up and take them up on their offer. How much of success is that showing-up thing again?

I got home, turned around and bid A. goodbye, walking south and west. I slipped past the Oakland Unified School District complex, the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center and Laney College campus to Lake Merritt BART station. The wait there for the next thing smoking into San Francisco felt strange. I'd just heard that BART had just had their biggest day ever. (By their lights, Wednesday was still about 10 percent above normal weekday numbers, passenger-wise.) There did seem to be more people around than I was used to seeing at that hour, not that I did a lot of going into the city this way.

The train came. I got on and we rode across West Oakland and down through the Transbay Tube and slid into Embarcadero BART. I didn't really know where I was going, even with the directions describing the afternoon's event -- 132 The Embarcadero, between Mission and Howard -- but I felt lucky about stepping up and out of the station, among milling office workers and businesspeople, getting my bearings from a MUNI driver who'd parked her bus and was feeding pigeons from her seat behind the wheel, and wandering over to the Bay along the very perimeter of the city. Set foot beyond that fence and you'll find nothing solid to put your foot on until you get to the island with the tunnel, part of the bridge, running through it.

Chaya Brasserie is glass panes and a fancy sign and a hush once you step off the street and through the door. The tall well-dressed white guy behind the booth was talking all friendly to a colleague, but he politely asked if he could help me. I mumbled something about the film festival. He smiled, waving me on and back and to the right.

In there I smiled politely at a small phalanx of poised and efficient young women, who didn't have to do much but watch as Hillary introduced herself and took my event pass and my riding-the-late-freight press application off my hands. I found a corner of the room, had an hors d'oeuvre and a glass of beer and listened in on three men -- Ivan Jaigirdar of 3rd I, a brother named Carlos who wrote for the Oakland Post (which I didn't know has some woes of its own) and a local indie television producer. We talked about Brazil, ultimate fighting, places to live in the United States, Manchester United and (courtesy of a tangent introduced by another gentleman passing by) black animation.

Then I looked down at my watch and realized I needed to get over to the Castro Theater. I excused myself and ran over to Market Street, barely catching a F trolley car.