SFFILM 2026 Audience Award Winner
“A virtuoso portrait.”
— Press Democrat
“Figaro Up, Figaro Down rejects simplistic interpretations.”
— Márcio Sallem, FIPRESCI Critic
“This was opera and life in the crucible together in a way I’ve never before seen.”
— Matthew Shilvock, General Director, SF Opera
“Extraordinary.”
— San Francisco Examiner
In the shadow of San Francisco's Tenderloin, Juilliard-trained baritone Tim Blevins moves with a presence that refuses to shrink. Once commanding global opera stages, he now turns subway tunnels and alleys into a visceral street opera—wrestling with addiction, survival, and the outsized roles he played long after the curtain fell. But when an unexpected chance to see his children after a decade cuts through the chaos, Tim is pulled into an intense reckoning between personal ruin and the stubborn persistence of song.
Team
Javid Soriano (Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Producer) studied Philosophy at NYU and worked as a social worker for foster teens in the Bronx before turning to filmmaking. Figaro Up, Figaro Down, his debut feature documentary, was supported by the Sundance Documentary Institute, SFFILM and the Gotham Film & Media Institute. Soriano is also the editor of the forthcoming The G Word and American Justice on Trial: The Huey P. Newton Story. He is a co-creator and co-teacher of the San Quentin Filmmaker Training Program.
Rob Richert (Producer) co-wrote and co-produced The Last Black Man in San Francisco for A24, which won two Special Jury Awards at Sundance 2019 and was later named one of Barack Obama’s favorite films of the year.
His work as a writer, director, and producer has screened at Sundance, Telluride, and SXSW. He currently teaches at California State University, Northridge.
William Ryan Fritch (Composer) is a Northern California–based composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work blends orchestral, ambient, and experimental music traditions.
His credits include The Waiting Room, Artifishal, and more than one hundred narrative and documentary films.
Samora Pinderhughes (Composer) is a composer, pianist, vocalist, and multidisciplinary artist whose work blends jazz, classical music, and social practice.
A Juilliard graduate, his projects include The Transformations Suite, The Healing Project, and the acclaimed album Grief.
Dave Nelson, MPSE (Supervising Sound Editor & Re-Recording Mixer) is a Supervising Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer at Outpost Studios SF with more than two decades of experience in film sound.
His credits include collaborations on films by Werner Herzog and numerous acclaimed independent productions.
Kara Young Ponder, PhD (Advisor) is Vice President of Knowledge, Impact, and Strategy for the National Council of Nonprofits. Previously, she served as Director of Community Engagement and Racial Justice at the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.
She holds degrees from Brown University and UC Berkeley.
Robert Arnold (Online Editor & Colorist) is a San Francisco–based colorist and founder of RDAcolor whose work includes acclaimed independent films such as Stray, State of Pride, and The Seer and the Unseen. Known for his nuanced and cinematic approach to digital finishing, Arnold has collaborated on numerous documentary and narrative features.
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