SARAH GROSS: GRAINS OF SAND
Sarah Gross is a politically engaged filmmaker, writer, and mother of three young adults. Her award-winning documentaries have been broadcast internationally on public television and screened at festivals around the world. Having grown up in a multiracial family in the U.S., Gross brings a deep personal connection to stories of racism, identity, and belonging. With strong ties to the Bay Area, she calls San Francisco her second home.
Her fourth feature-length documentary, Grains of Sand, premiered this spring at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival and received the Jury Award for Best International Documentary at the Kadin Yonetmenler Festival in Izmir, Turkey. For Gross, the most meaningful moments have been post-screening conversations, where audiences from diverse backgrounds shared their personal stories and reflections sparked by the film.
About Grains of Sand
Grains of Sand explores friendship, creativity, and aging through an intimate and poetic lens. The film asks how we sustain connection and creative practice across time, and how the small “grains” of everyday experience accumulate into meaning.
This fall, Ruth’s Table is proud to kick off the U.S. preview tour of Grains of Sand through a special artist residency and partnership with Sarah Gross. Check out the trailer for Grains of Sand here.
RESIDENCY & EVENTS AT RUTH’S TABLE
Thursday, October 3, 5 PM – Grains of Sand preview screening, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Sarah Gross and an audience discussion.
Friday, October 4 – Collage workshop with Ruth’s Table Teaching Artist Suzanne Reich, where participants will reflect on themes of friendship and art in aging through hands-on creative practice. No prior experience is needed.
Together, these events weave film and art-making into an intergenerational exchange, inviting the community to engage more deeply with the questions at the heart of Grains of Sand.
From the Artist
“We will kick off our upcoming preview tour of Grains of Sand in the U.S. with an artist’s residency and collaborative partnership with Ruth’s Table. I am excited to engage in a wide-ranging, reflective and personal conversation about friendship and creativity in aging with the Ruth’s Table community.”
— Sarah Gross
Photo credit: Film still from Grains of Sand, directed by Sarah Gross.