“It is not just one more ‘Hustler’ clone, but a plunge into the hermetic world these characters have created and inhabit.” — Roger Ebert
Rob Nilsson’s CHALK (1996)
Film screening & post-show discussion + Zhan Petrov’s HOW I SEE
Thursday, May 7, 2026 | 6:00-9:00 PM
6:00pm DOORS + HOW I SEE (2025, 15 mins) / 6:30pm CHALK (1996, 140 mins)
at Tenderloin Museum, 398 Eddy St., SF, CA 94102
Tickets: $10 GA / $6 TLM members | Register via Humanitix
TC (Kelvin Han Yee), a Korean pool prodigy, dominates the local talent, but his brother (Johnnie Reese) sets up a match with ruthless, gambling tournament player Dorian James (Don Bajema) that has dire stakes for their family and local hall. Will TC fold?
Maverick filmmaker Rob Nilsson returns to TLM for a revival screening of CHALK, his 1996 pool-hustling film cast from the Tenderloin Action Group, his long-running acting workshop that mingled TL denizens and local performers. Set in 1990s Richmond, CA at the hardscrabble Crabtree pool hall, CHALK marries high-stakes billiards with family drama of Shakespearean scope.
A post-show discussion will feature Nilsson, longtime production manager Mira Larkin, Tenderloin Action Group co-founders Rand Crook and Ethan Sing, as well as professional pool player Billy Aguero, aka “Billy the Kid,” who designed the pool matches in the movie.
CHALK and the Tenderloin Action Group workshop are precursors to 9 @ Night and the Tenderloin yGroup workshop. Earlier this year, TLM and Nilsson organized a rare, complete presentation of the nine features in Nilsson’s epic 9 @ Night film cycle, part of a broader “Points Around the Bay” Nilsson retrospective (17 films across 5 venues) to which this May 7 presentation serves as a post script. Join us for this special filmmaker screening and discussion!
As a prelude to the feature, we’ll screen a 2025 short by frequent Nilsson collaborator and fellow filmmaker Zhan Petrov, HOW I SEE, which was shot on the streets of the Tenderloin and reflects on the visual parallels to his war-ravaged home country of Ukraine.
About Rob Nilsson:
Rob Nilsson is the first American film director to win both the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival (NORTHERN LIGHTS, 1979) and the Grand Prize at the Sundance Film Festival (HEAT AND SUNLIGHT, 1988). His work as a filmmaker, poet, painter, essayist, and film critic explores “the way things seem to be” in the joys and sorrows of everyday people. Born and raised in familial, social and political systems they struggle to find their way as unique individuals. This dilemma creates the paradoxes and contradictions Nilsson sees at the root of the artist’s mission.
Visit RobNilssonArtForms.com for a full listing of Cast & Crew!