Garden Party Under the Stars benefiting SCFF
About this Event
A Garden Party Under the Stars
Food. Wine. Film. A little magic under the Santa Cruz sky.
Join the Santa Cruz Film Festival for an intimate garden party at HOME Restaurant, where Chef Brad and his marvelous team will welcome us for an evening designed to be savored.
We’ll begin with a delectable dinner and hand-picked wines, generously donated by Karen and Todd Bria, enjoyed outdoors among friends, filmmakers, film lovers, and members of our creative community.
Then, as the evening settles in, we’ll turn our attention to the screen for a special film presentation followed by a Q&A and conversation with the filmmaker: Dan Eason
Portland-based filmmaker, producer, and location manager Dan Eason has spent his career helping stories find their place in the world—literally and creatively.
Originally from Cincinnati and raised in Northern Kentucky, Dan studied Film at Drexel University before building an extensive career across feature films, television, commercials, music videos, and reality television.
His feature credits include Eagle Eye, starring Shia LaBeouf and Billy Bob Thornton; The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, starring Robin Williams, Mila Kunis, and Peter Dinklage; Maniac, starring Elijah Wood; and I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, starring Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood.
His television work includes multiple seasons of NBC’s Grimm, along with Netflix originals The OA and Everything Sucks! Dan has also worked on major commercial campaigns for brands including Nike, Apple, Adidas, Amazon, Uber, Ford, Crocs, and Formula E.
Now, his work turns toward a deeply personal story of identity, friendship, addiction, community, and survival.
At the center of the film is Paul Johnson, a lifelong skater who came of age at Portland’s legendary Burnside Skateparkduring its lawless early-’90s heyday.
Paul is Black and deaf, navigating a skate culture—and a larger world—that is predominantly hearing and predominantly white. Through the years, his board has been both refuge and constant. So has his friendship with Bryan, who is also Black and deaf. Together, the two find a rare space where neither has to explain himself—a sense of belonging that can be difficult to find anywhere else.
But Paul’s story is also one of reckoning.
His struggle with sobriety unfolds alongside a changing Burnside. The gritty, fiercely independent skatepark is facing its own growing pains as construction threatens decades of routine and a younger generation begins asking the park’s original skaters to step into a different role: not just as rebels, but as elders.
Paul has watched friends disappear to addiction, hardship, and time. As he works to build more structure into his own life—a job, an apartment, a steady relationship—he faces the difficult realization that survival sometimes means becoming someone new.
The path isn’t linear. Neither is growing up.
But for Paul and the community that raised him, one truth becomes increasingly difficult to ignore:
There comes a moment when evolution is no longer optional.
This is a story about skateboarding, but it is also about far more—identity, sobriety, friendship, belonging, aging, and what it means to fight for a community while also fighting for yourself.
Exactly the kind of bold, human storytelling we love celebrating at the Santa Cruz Film Festival.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
6:00 PM
HOME Restaurant
$75 per person
Come raise a glass, share a table, and help us continue creating a home for bold storytelling, independent filmmakers, and unforgettable cinematic experiences.
Celebrate stories. Support independent film. Be part of the story.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 81.88 to USD 250.00
