Nonfiction film features those on Modesto’s frayed edges

It’s easy to forget sometimes, but a river runs through Modesto.

We forget, or too often ignore, it because our river also runs through trouble. The Tuolumne River courses – well, more like trickles these days, given the drought – through our city’s southern border, which also happens to host some of our most problem-plagued regions for poverty, homelessness, violence and crime.

But all it takes is one trip to the river’s edge to be reminded of its realities.

It is on our river that Bay Area filmmaker Katy Grannan starts her stunning trailer for her first feature film, “The Nine.” Billed as a nonfiction feature, though essentially a documentary shot with some degree of poetic license, the project follows some of the real-life inhabitants of Modesto’s South Ninth Street – hence the film’s name.

I discovered the trailer, which was posted online earlier this year, through Facebook where some friends were sharing it enthusiastically on their feeds.

They had reason to cheer because, indeed, the 3 1/2 -minute trailer is starkly beautiful, lyrical even.

It helps, of course, that Grannan – who directs, edits and works as cinematographer on the film – has an amazing eye. Born in Massachusetts, the Berkeley resident is a professional photographer whose work has appeared in New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker. She also has had exhibits displayed in galleries and museums across the U.S. and Europe, including the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Her interest in Modesto’s down-and-out began seven years ago, when she began photographing the Central Valley to retrace famed Great Depression-era photographer Dorothea Lange’s steps in the region. Then four years ago, after spending time on South Ninth Street and with the people who live in its low-rent motels, she decided to turn her interest into a feature film. Descriptions of “The Nine” say it focuses on “a marginalized community that struggles to find meaning and moments of grace in a hostile environment.”

Grannan has teamed with producer Marc Smolowitz, who was also a producer for the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Weather Underground,” for the film. She already has had a number of photography exhibits and books published out of the project. One is currently on display at Salon 94 in New York. Smolowitz said while “The Nine” is not a traditional documentary, it is real life.

“To be clear, it features real people in the real world, but it is more of an immersive, poetic and existential portrait of a place. The story is told through the eyes of one main character, Kiki, and through her, we meet an amazing ensemble of people who live on ‘The Nine,’ ” he said in an email conversation with me about the film.

The trailer even garnered an article earlier this month in The New Yorker, which said for its voyeuristic look into the lives of those living on the edge, it also focuses on her subject’s dignity and humanity.

“ ‘The Nine’ is not a call to action,” she told the magazine. “It’s more personal, more intimate. It isn’t about activism so much as about allowing connections – and generosity – to flow in both directions.”

Still, as exciting as it is to have Modesto be the subject of an ambitious project like this, it also comes with reservations for many. Because, once again, what it captures is us not necessarily us at our best.

Central Valley residents are used to being the also-ran when it comes to national media coverage. All too often we’re portrayed as either just a hick town or just a crime den. The reality of Modesto is, of course, many things.

What Grannan’s film seems to capture in “The Nine” is an all-too-real slice of Modesto. But, again, it’s just a slice. You see, happy, well-adjusted people don’t really make for good movies.

“The Nine” is currently in post production. Smolowitz said the project should be finished in early 2016, and then begin premiering at film festivals. He also expressed interest in holding a Modesto premiere.

My guess is that event wouldn’t be on the so-called Nine.

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Nonfiction film features those on Modesto’s frayed edges."