I’m sure there have been plenty of times in Norm Mineta‘s life when someone’s told him, “Your life would make a great movie.” Now that notion is a reality, thanks to director Dianne Fukami, whose documentary “An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy” will have its world premiere Thursday night in San Francisco.
The film about the former San Jose mayor, Congressman and cabinet secretary to two U.S. presidents is the opening night film of the Center for Asian American Media film festival, known as CAAMFest. Mineta, 86, also will be honored by the city of San Francisco on opening night as part of the 40th anniversary festivities for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
Mineta’s story really is a classic American tale of success, with the tragic irony that begins it: As an 11-year-old, he was interned with his family at Heart Mountain, Wyo., during World War II. (Even that story has a cinematic twist: Mineta met fellow Boy Scout and future Sen. Alan Simpson there.) In 1971, he became the first Asian-American elected mayor of a major U.S. city and served two decades in Congress, starting in 1975. He was appointed U.S. Secretary of Commerce by President Clinton in 2000 and served as Secretary of Transportation under President George W. Bush in 2001.
Karen Philbrick, executive director at the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State, says Mineta is truly an inspiration to all. “The nation is fortunate to have such a visionary leader who has served in so many important roles,” she said.
Tickets for the opening night show at the Castro Theater, as well as the rest of the festival, which runs through May 24, are available at caamfest.com.
A WOMAN’S PLACE: At an opening ceremony Friday for Tara Mechani by Dana Albany and Ursa Mater by Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson, Albany said she loves the placement of her statue in the center of Plaza de Cesar Chavez.
“This is a bad-ass woman and she’s sitting in the middle of a park,” Albany said, noting that at downtown parks around the world, most of the statues you see are of men. “They’re dudes, and they’re in war regalia and they’ve got guns and they’re on horses. It’s nice to represent a beautiful female being that represents compassion and have her hang out in our public plaza.”
Both pieces are part of the Playa to the Paseo partnership with Burning Man Arts. Ursa Mater — a sculpture of a bear family created with more than 200,000 pennies — will be on display through the end of May. Tara Mechani will be around until early June.
ARTISTIC ASSESSMENT: Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone‘s keen eye for home values apparently extends to artwork, too. He and his wife, Carmen, have an extensive collection at their home and won two bidding wars at the Triton Museum of Art’s annual auction Saturday night to add to it. One was “Head Dress,” a sculpture by Francisco “Pancho” Jimenez that was featured in his wildly successful solo show at the Triton last year, and the other was an abstract painting by Lou Bermingham.
CURSE OF THE CLOCK?: San Jose resident John Mitchell has long been advocating for the restoration of the clock tower at the San Jose Museum of Art. The upper portion of the tower, originally built in 1892, toppled during the 1906 earthquake and has never been fully rebuilt. Never one to miss an opportunity, Mitchell points out that 112 years of negligence has taken its toll on San Jose. “Since that time, in addition to many other calamities that have befallen our fair city, the San Jose Sharks have never won the Stanley Cup,” he said. “You can look it up.”
I guess he’s blaming the Sharks’ playoff loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on time management.
