A filmmaker who evacuated Los Angeles during the Sunset Fire will present his documentary about the Eaton Fire’s impact in Altadena this Saturday at the community library that itself survived the disaster.
Bennett Curran’s “California Is Burning” screens at 2 p.m. at Altadena Main Library, which reopened on March 4 after fire repairs. The free screening includes a live performance by composer Summer Davis, who created an original score for the project, and a filmmaker-led Q&A.
“I just had this feeling that I needed to get back and start documenting the effects,” Curran said in a University of Arizona Arts Department interview.
The Eaton Fire destroyed more than 9,000 homes and buildings across Altadena and Pasadena, killing at least 19 people and becoming the second most destructive wildfire in California history.
Curran’s film focuses on Altadena’s historic Black community, where 61 percent of Black households were within the fire perimeter and nearly half suffered major damage or total destruction. The neighborhood, where the Fair Housing Act of 1968 enabled Black families to build generational wealth, saw that wealth lost to the fires.
Among those interviewed is Matilda Williams, whose family lost four homes in Jane’s Village. “We don’t have time for pity. … It’s not so much the structure. That doesn’t make the family. It’s us that makes the family. And we were all safe,” Williams told NBC Los Angeles.
Curran shot the film on 16mm analogue film without using generative AI. “The main impact I’m trying to have with the film is to inspire people to use their hands, help the community and come together in states of crisis,” he said.
“California Is Burning” will screen Saturday, Nov. 22, at 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Altadena Main Library, 600 E. Mariposa St., in Altadena. For more information, call (626) 798-0833 or visit https://www.altadenalibrary.org/programs?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D191671499. Admission is free.
