Welcome to “The Sights + Sounds Show with Jeneé Darden, " where every week we tap into the Bay Area arts scene and bring you rich conversations with artists. On today’s show, we hear from the movie director behind the film adaptation of the memoir "Fairyland." Then, a huge exhibit has manga fans flocking to the deYoung museum in San Francisco.
Today's show is about stories and San Francisco.
Andrew Durham
The film "Fairyland" is about a complicated, loving relationship between a father and daughter. It's a film adaptation of the memoir by Allysia Abbot. Poet Steve Abbott moves he and his daughter Allysia across the country to San Francisco, after his wife is killed in a car accident. He comes to the Bay Area, in part, to live as an openly, gay man. Their relationship evolves when Allysia returns home from college to take care of Steve after he contracted the AIDS virus. The movie goes from the 1970s the 1990s.
Andrew Durham is originally from Palo Alto. He wrote and directed "Fairyland." Sophia Coppola is on of the film's producers. What's really uncanny is that Andrew and Allysia Abbot had similar experiences with their fathers around the same time. Host Jeneé Darden spoke with Andrew about these parallels and how he felt making his first film.
"Fairyland" is out in theaters right now. Look for it on streaming platforms in November
Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere
If you have kids or teens in your life who like comics, chances are they're into manga. Actually, you may be a manga fan. In recent years, the Japanese comics and graphic novels have become more popular here in the U.S. According to the publishing data source BookScan, in 2023, nearly half of all graphic novels sold in the U.S. were manga. That's over 21 million books.
Well, there's a huge exhibit all about this Japanese style of comics and storytelling. It's called "The Art of Manga." You can see it at the deYoung Museum until January 25th, 2026. With more than 600 drawings, this is the first major exhibition of manga in North America. Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere curated the exhibit. She's the professor of Japanese art and culture at the University of East Anglia, Norwich in the U.K. Host Jeneé Darden talked with Professor Rousmaniere about the history of manga and how it's been used in social and political movements.
