The Library’s Documentary Film Series Continues

Zen philospher Alan Watts’ private library*    © Marcy Mendelson

 

The Sausalito Public Library’s documentary series continues with short films that feature two of Sausalito’s most celebrated residents: artist Jean Varda and philosopher Alan Watts.

Uncle Yanco is the beautifully remastered 2015 version of Greek filmmaker Agnes Varda’s 1967 film about the life and ideas of her distant relative Jean Varda, who lived on the houseboat Vallejo in Sausalito’s “aquatic suburbia.”

Druid Heights is a new film by Marcy Mendelson that tells the story of Alan Watts’ wilderness retreat on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais. Druid Heights was a wild and wooly place where sex, drugs and philosophy thrived among the eucalyptus trees.

Mendelson and scholar Erik Davis, author of The Visionary State, will be on hand to discuss the film and answer questions after the screening. 


Friday, January 22, 2016

7:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Sausalito Public Library

420 Litho Street

Free Admission

This program is co-sponsored by the Sausalito Historical Society.

* Designed as a collaboration between Watts and Roger Somers, the influence of Japan as well as contemporary water towers is obvious. The interior walls, once lined with books, and center oculus, were a perfect location for meditative contemplation. Watts’ main home, the Mandala House, is just down the hill to the left, tucked into the eucalyptus groves. Without historic status, this house will be torn down by the National Park Service upon the last residents leaving Druid Heights.

Marcy Mendelson. More at Mendelson Images.