La La Land Comes to San Francisco

Photo Credit: Drew Altizer

Last night, the stars of La La Land, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, came to the Castro Theatre for a special screening and live Q&A. The event was a part of SF Honors, a new San Francisco Film Society award made possible by a gift from Todd Traina (who is the vice president of the board) and his mother Dede Wilsey. According to the SF Film Society’s website the award “is designed to bring particular attention to innovation and audacity in current cinema with a screening and special onstage tribute to the creators and cast of one of the best films of the year.”

Photo Credit: Drew Altizer

La La Land is a musical from director Damien Chazelle that pays homage to Los Angeles. The score was written by Justin Hurwitz, who happened to be Chazelle’s roommate at Harvard. The movie, which was released on December 9, has received rave reviews. The Chronicle’s Mick LaSalle calls it “beautiful, hopeful, and one of the year’s best” movies.

Before the showing of the film, Gosling, Stone, Chazelle, and Hurwitz were joined onstage by Chris Columbus, another member of the film society’s board, for a short conversation. The stars talked about the rehearsing that went into shooting dance and song numbers in one take. The theatre was packed with a sold out crowd eager to experience the uplifting film and tribute to the musicals of a past era. The La La Land team headed to a private dinner with the film society’s VIPs at Ken Fulk’s Magic Factory.

Learn more about La La Land by watching the trailer below.