Coit Tower Turns Into a Theater for Thanksgiving

Tonight, San Francisco's Coit Tower will  once again be transformed into a cylindrical movie screen, projecting films  about the American Indian occupation of Alcatraz to mark the event's 40th  anniversary.

For a second night starting at about sundown, a series of films dealing  with the region's American Indian heritage will be projected all around the  tower. Several focus on the island's nearly two-year occupation by the group  Indians of All Tribes that began in November 1969.

The large-scale movie display is the work of local artists and  collaborators Ben Wood and David Mark. They will use three high-powered  projectors placed on separate Telegraph Hill rooftops to transform the tower  into a 360-degree series of movies screens, each 210 feet high by 60 feet  wide. Mark, who works in both art and cinematography, uses sophisticated  software to ensure the high-definition images aren't distorted as they wrap  around Coit Tower's curved and grooved exterior.

The series of films will run consecutively all night until sunup,  and again starting at sundown on Thursday. Viewers can tune to radio station  KPOO at 89.5 for accompanying audio during the evenings.

In addition to Telegraph Hill, the display will be  visible in the North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, Russian Hill, Chinatown  neighborhoods, and the northern part of the Financial District.

The films include original works, as well as parts of the popular  2001 public television piece Alcatraz is Not an Island.