PHR Library’s Aug. 25 movie night to feature Carmel Valley filmmaker’s docs

Carmel Valley filmmaker Jared Jacobsen will host a free screening of four of his short documentary films about inspiring San Diegans at the Pacific Highlands Ranch Library on Monday, Aug. 25. The screening will run from 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. in the community room at the library and will include a question and answer session with Jacobsen and each of the documentary short subjects.

The documentaries include “The Arc” about an octogenarian for whom basketball remains an important part of his life; “The Revinventor” about a woman coping with the effects of FSHD muscular dystrophy; “Shaped by the Sea” about one Del Mar man’s 50 years of making and riding surfboards; and “Rebound” about a San Diegan named DeShjon who uses family, music and wheelchair basketball and soccer to heal emotionally after being injured in a tragic accident.

“These projects I self-fund and work on in my spare time. I have to have that passion to make it happen, I have to feel that connection with the subject matter and the subject,” Jacobsen said. “I love documentary filmmaking because you learn so much…It’s a creative process but also an educational process because you’re always learning.”

Jacobsen has been a filmmaker for 15 years, an artistic expression he maintains while working his day job in test development and educational research with Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems.

He started out doing more narrative films but moved into documentaries, finding and selecting his captivating subjects in a variety of ways. All four of the documentaries have played in multiple film festivals— “Shaped by the Sea” was an official selection at this year’s Bilbao Surf Film Festival in Spain and the Oceanside International Film Festival in February.

Each of the four documentaries, in a way, reflects a piece of Jacobsen’s own life.

He met Michael, the subject of “The Arc”, playing pick-up basketball games at Bay Club Carmel Valley. The 80-year-old plays and keeps up with players of all ages, including kids in their 20s: “He’s in a whole new league in terms of longevity…it’s phenomenal how he plays at his age.”

While volunteering for a wheelchair soccer team, he met DeShjon, whose story he tells in “Rebound”, the newest of the four films.  “When I’m thinking of doing a project, I think how well the subject can tell their story. If I have a good rapport with them and connect with them, that leads to making a project,” Jacobsen said.

He found that connection with DeShjon as well as Del Mar’s Bill Menard, the main character of “Shaped by the Sea”.

A longtime surfer, Jacobsen has been getting his boards shaped by Menard for almost 20 years: “He’s very softspoken and humble and unassuming, but yet when you get him talking, he can really tell stories and really captivate you.”

Amy, the subject of “Reinventor”,  he met through a renewed connection to the FSHD Society, an organization that focuses on facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Jacobsen’s father also had FSHD muscular dystrophy and co-founded the organization in 1980. Since his father passed away, Jacobsen wasn’t in touch with the community as much, but when he reconnected with the organization, he met the remarkable Amy. He was moved to tell her story, how she continually reinvents herself to deal with her constantly progressing disease, and helps others.

With the library event, Jacobsen was looking to find a way to do a screening and gather all of the subjects together. He believes there is a lot of value in these kinds of live screenings, being able to meet the person behind the film and bringing people together collectively to sit down and watch a movie.

Jacobsen is currently working on a longer-form documentary about a good friend who passed away in a van accident in 2022. The film will pay tribute to the life of Juan Francisco González Aguilar, known as Paco Mufote, an actor and musician who was a huge part of the Tijuana art community.

To RSVP for the free Aug. 25 screening, visit tinyurl.com/55vf2b7u The library is located at 12911 Pacific Place, Carmel Valley.