A stalwart figure of the Bay Area film community, Michael Wallin (1948–2016) began making independent films in 1968 while studying and working with Canyon Cinema co-founder Bruce Baillie. Wallin studied film as an undergraduate at Yale University and University of California, Berkeley, and received an MA in Film from San Francisco State University in 1976. In addition to working as a lab technician, freelance editor and camera operator, he was the manager of Canyon Cinema from 1975-1978 (and later a longtime board member) and taught film production and theory at California College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland, Antioch/West College, and San Francisco Art Institute. He was a licensed psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco, and also owned and operated a San Francisco-based negative conforming business for many years.
Canyon’s Michael Wallin Collection includes primary and secondary documents such as photographs; handwritten correspondence; screening posters, flyers, and postcards; production materials; newspaper clippings; and more.
