SEE HOW THEY RUN
D: Emily Morse.
Documentary First Films, World Premiere Two weeks before election day in 1999, Tom Ammiano, a stand-up comedian and gay president of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, decided he would run for mayor against Willie Brown, the black incumbent. Brown may be pro-gay (or at least professes to be: At one campaign stop, he goes along with supporters who claim he is the “king” of San Francisco who can’t allow a “queen” to take over), but his inability to curb skyrocketing rents and encroaching gentrification are liabilities that Ammiano exploits to a surprisingly effective degree, given the short span of his campaign. Morse, who is a former Brown campaign worker, follows the sometimes outrageous race and run-off with aplomb and tenacity. Like all good political documentaries, See How They Run doesn’t take the politics-as-sport approach, and comments cogently on the city in the process. (3/16, Hideout, 11am)
This article appears in March 15 • 2002.