About old film stars, someone once said "they had faces then." As it turns out, they also had stories to be told.

Like others, I've long had the fantasy of being a disc jockey. As a DJ, I would share favorite music with listeners, introducing songs and artists with the occasional anecdote or bit of trivia only I might know.

With its many festivals devoted to so many different aspects of film, festivals goers in San Francisco are especially fortunate in their opportunity to take in movies others may have only heard or read about.

More than 20 years ago, I stepped into Video Wave, which was then on Castro Street in Noe Valley. It was a Friday night, and not having anything in particular to do, I thought I would rent a movie.