Foothills Poet Gary Snyder a hit at S.F. Film Festival

Sierra Foothills’ Poet Gary Snyder was a hit at the San Francisco Film Festival, where the movie about him, “The Practice of The Wild,” debuted this week.

We visited with Gary, fellow Poet Jim Harrison, Will Hearst and his wife, Margaret, Chronicle Editor-At-Large Phil Bronstein and former Gov. Jerry Brown before the film at a small reception. I’ve crossed paths with Jerry over the years (once he interviewed me on a radio talk show about Pacific Lumber’s controversial logging practices under a Texas tycoon), and I know the others from working in San Francisco. Phil and I had some laughs about the past — and the present. Will was wearing some natty black film-maker attire.

Gary and Jerry are longtime friends: He was named head of the California Arts Council when Jerry was governor. Now Gary is 79 years old and Jerry is 72. Some long-timers around here tell stories about how Jerry sent a car up to the Ridge to pick up Gary when he was on the Arts Council (AKA, Governor “Moonbeam” days).

“The Practice of the Wild,” named after one of Gary’s books, featured conversations with Gary and Jim about many topics: writing poetry, whether reincarnation is real and the conflict between being an environmentalist and a hunter (both Gary and Jim have hunted). It also included voice-overs of Gary reading his poetry, as well as archival footage of the days of the Beat Generation.

The film did a splendid job of showing the close, lifelong friendship between the two famous poets as they walked the hills of California, with Gary’s dog.

In a Q&A session, Jim said their friendship grew out of old-fashioned letter writing, not emails. Gary said the poets he looked up to included Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and D.H. Lawrence.

Gary told me later he liked the film because it wasn’t “boring,” his biggest concern about most documentaries. He also talked about his dog, “Emi,” a standard apricot-colored poodle who roams his homestead on the Ridge. While a poodle on the Ridge seems incongruous, Emi has chased down bears, Gary said.

Though a “minimalist,” he’s adopted a technology lifestyle, using a Mac laptop and a satellite dish with a broadband provider out of Quincy.

Gary is interested in bringing the film up here, and I suspect that it will happen.

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