Rob Nilsson's film, Fourth Movement playing in Berkeley on March 12

Rob Nilsson's film, Fourth Movement playing in Berkeley on March 12

A film about people in San Francisco, during the night Trump won the 2016 election

By Lynda Carson - March 9, 2026

The Fourth Movement, a film directed by legendary filmmaker Rob Nilsson had a successful worldwide premier screening at the 2017 Mill Valley Film Festival. It is playing Thursday, March 12, 7:00 PM at his Rob Nilsson Art Forms Studio, at 1418 5TH St., in Berkeley. For reservations email. rnilssoncinema [at] gmail.com

When I heard from my friend Rob Nilsson earlier this evening about a possible Q & A session with him, he mentioned that he was outside his home on this lovely evening practicing his horn.

Reportedly, “Fourth Movement (2017), a Citizen Cinema Players dramatic fiction film shot by Aaron Hollander and edited by Deepika Metkar, which takes place on election night, Nov. 8, 2016, and concerns people involved in the jazz music scene; it features Brette McCabe, Marianne Heath, Lydia Becker, Melanie Shaw, Menbere Aklilu, Paul Nicholas, Paul Greenberg, Tiziana Perinotti, Howard Teich and Audrey Shiva Ghaemi, with music by the Fred Randolph Sextet.”

Fred Randolph is a jazz bass player, known for his release called Mood Walk. “FRED RANDOLPH, is a multifaceted bassist, composer, and bandleader known for his warm, swinging sound and fiery solos. He was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Fred’s passion for music, particulary jazz, led him to study ukulele, guitar, saxophone, trumpet, flute, and piano before settling on his main instrument, the bass. He has released 4 cds under his own name and has composed music for the films “Love Twice” and “Fourth Movement” directed by Rob Nilsson.

Fred maintains a busy schedule both as a freelance bassist and as a bandleader/composer. He is director of instrumental music at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland California and holds a Masters Degree in music composition from CSUEB in Hayward.

The Fred Randolph Quintet is made up of 5 of the most sought after Bay Area musicians with Erik Jekabson on trumpet, Sheldon Brown on reeds, Murray Low on piano, and Isaac Schwartz on drums. His 4 cd releases are: Learning Curve, New Day, Song Without Singing, and the recent “Mood Walk” all released on his own “Creative Spirit Records” label.”

Reportedly, “The Fourth Movement, is a film about four interlocking stories with a Jazz theme. Four Women go out to visit the sites of the jazz clubs where Lou, 65 and dying of cancer, claims she once performed as a young singer. It's election night, Nov. 8, 2016 and the women follow the results on their cell phones. It's also opening night for the C Flat jazz club where they end the evening up as their worst fears are realized: Trump has won the election.”

Additionally, according to a blurb with the Mill Valley Film Festival, “Rob Nilsson and players from his Direct Action Workshop explore the lives of nocturnal seekers on the edges of the jazz music world. It's opening night at SF's new C Flat Jazz Club and election night, Nov. 8, 2016: the 21st Century's "Eve of Destruction. Everything is about to change. Strangers, lovers, wonderers and wanderers from diverse cultures come together or break apart because of, and in spite of, the uncertain future ahead. Among them are Lou the soulful torch singer; jazz-club owner "Groove" and Nuray, a beautiful Azerbaijani refugee; German Barbara and her errant lover Errol; Italian Valentina; and free-spirited Juliana with her suite of midnight callers. All are lovingly enveloped by the smoky sounds of Fred Randolph's jazz sextet, evoking the City's deep-rooted jazz history and its current status as the rebel heart of the City. "Tear up the charts and reach for the high notes": the film fulfills its promise note for note." 

During a recent interview with Mission Local, by Claire Wu who recently graduated from Cal Berkeley last December, Rob Nilsson said, “Well, first of all, “Fourth Movement” I do because it was made out of my Citizen Cinema drama workshop group here. That’s a group that came together through various other workshops like the old Tenderloin yGroup I used to run. And I thought, let’s start with one of the best things we made together, which also happens to be about Election Day 2016, which had a very tragic result in the selection of this fool that we now have that we can laughingly call a president.
 
And so the film follows the idea of these women going through the streets while the news is coming in about what’s going on in the election, the people they meet and the circumstances that they find. And they all end up going to a new Tenderloin jazz club that’s opening up. 

And so in some ways, it’s jazz against nonsense. Jazz with the aspirations of women, and at the end, against the insanity of this country at that particular moment. So that’s why I chose to screen “Fourth Movement.” Also, because people probably haven’t seen the film for a while. And plus, I’m just very pleased with it.”

According to Wikipedia, in part it says, “Rob Nilsson (born October 29, 1939) is a filmmaker, poet and painter, best known for his feature film Northern Lights, co-directed with John Hanson and winner of the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival (1979). He also is known for directing and playing the lead role in Heat and Sunlight, produced by Steve and Hildy Burns, also featuring Consuelo Faust, Don Bajema and Ernie Fosseliius. Heat and Sunlight won the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival in 1988, and his 9 @ Night Film Cycle won the 2008 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Marlon Riggs Award for Courage and Vision in Cinema. Nilsson has also received Lifetime Achievement awards from the Fargo International Film Festival, the St. Louis International Film Festival, the Kansas City Filmmaker's Jubilee, the Master's Award from the Golden Apricot Film Festival, a Filmmaker of the Year Award from the Silver Lake Film Festival and the Milley Award from the city of Mill Valley for accomplishment in the Arts.”

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

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