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The story of East Bay punk told loudly and with love in "Turn It Around"

Murray Bowles
Green Day plays Gilman, 1991

 

Documentary filmmaker Corbett Redford grew up in Pinole in the 1980s and 1990s, where he says he felt “trapped in a monoculture of fast-food, identical homes and dead-end jobs.”

In his late teens, hungry for excitement and creativity, he discovered Berkeley’s all-ages punk club and collective, 924 Gilman. The community surrounding it became a formative influence on his life. His first film, TURN IT AROUND: THE STORY OF EAST BAY PUNK, is a lovingly-crafted history of that community. It's full of archival photos, videos, zines, and flyers from the scene that birthed well-known bands like Green Day and Rancid--as well as now multiple generations of socially-conscious punks. Corbett Redford spoke with KALW’s Jen Chien about the making of the film.

 

TURN IT AROUND: THE STORY OF EAST BAY PUNK, will have its world premiere on May 31, 2017, as the opening night film of the 16th Annual SF DocFest, and then be released in theaters on June 2.

 

Jen Chien was the managing editor for Crosscurrents and KALW News from 2016 to 2018. She has been a contributor to All Things Considered, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, BBC/PRI’s The World, Making Contact, SF Public Press, East Bay Express, New America Media, and KPFA in Berkeley, where she took part in the First Voice Apprenticeship Program. She is the recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Emerging Journalist Award from the Society of Professional Journalists of Northern California. She holds a BA in American Studies from Smith College, and an MA in Interdisciplinary Performance from New College of California. Before entering the field of journalism, she had a successful career as a professional dance and theater artist, teacher, and massage therapist.