The laughs didn't stop coming last Friday for a screening of the short film “The Way We Were: A Celebration of over 40 years at SF State from 1963-2007.”

Hosted by SF State cinema instructor Jim Goldner, the night brought together members of the cinema department past and present for a look back at its evolution over the years.

The evening also featured a retrospective of Goldner's life in film, one that ultimately led to his influential presence in the department since 1963. As many of his students well remember, Goldner kept his audience entertained with his engaging conversation, quick wit and enthusiasm.

To the famous ’60s electronic instrumental "Popcorn," the film spanned the eras of the department from the early days spent in the "basement" as the prior facilities were affectionately called.

Many of the 100-plus-person audience, mostly comprised of cinema alumni representing every decade from the ’60s to today, sat in the August Coppola Theatre for the screening for the first time.

“In reaching out to alumni I found that almost every film student said ‘Is Jim Goldner still there? We love him,’” said Sandra Halladey, creative arts college relations officer, of the idea for the event.

Cinema students worked closely with Goldner and used personal footage of his childhood and adolescence. More memorable film contributions from his students along the years also kept the audience laughing.

Alumni from before the late ’90s, when facilities grew to include a 2,500 foot sound stage and the screening room, remember sitting on concrete steps while Goldner critiqued their work.

Some also remember the social and political climate of the campus and the nation in the 1960s, as evidenced by the hissing at the scenes of guards and helicopters swarming the campus.

Construction footage of the shooting stage, and the department's expanding offices, studios and labs also showed the audience exactly how their surroundings came to be.

At the screening, the playful audience filled with his former students, family and friends kept Goldner on his toes.

"Should I tell a story?" Goldner playfully asked, rubbing his hands together.

"Please," someone yelled, "tell all the stories, Jim."

“He is the heart of the cinema department,” said Daniel Kielman, 21, senior cinema student. "He has been here since the beginning and makes you excited about being a part of film, no matter what part you’re in.”

Goldner's personal photographs and student films from the 1950s and ’60s showed him as a dark-haired and lanky kid, seriously working behind the camera and directing his actors in his earliest endeavors as an artist.

Dina Wilson, who has taken cinema classes for several years, enjoys Goldner's classes for both the entertainment and educational values.

"He's always doing his shtick, he's very funny," she said, describing Goldner's ever-present sense of humor and never-ending quips.

“His classes are like taking two or three classes in one because you also learn so much about history and politics,” Wilson said.

After the film, the crowd spilled into the vast blackness and spiraling iron staircase of the large cinema soundstage for a reception.

“He is one of my favorite teachers. Jim really inspired me because he took as much from the students as he gave teaching them,” said Sally Herndon Dwyer, who received her master’s in cinema.

During Goldner’s junior year of high school, he convinced his English teacher to let him teach two sessions of film history and interned on the "Lone Ranger" television program.

“He grew up in Burbank, he once showed me the route he would take on his bike to high school and he passed by all the big studios,” said Corine Aubin, 22, cinema major.

“He’s so creative, I can listen to him all day. He is a treasure and brings in this amazing knowledge of films," said Gloria Lyon, 77, a Holocaust survivor who participates in Goldner’s Film and the Holocaust class.

“I remember films I watched in Sweden when I was 15 and 16 and he knew the film's names,” Lyon said.

Eve Goldberg, a filmmaker who Goldner said “represents everything the department stands for in a socially conscious commitment to justice,” remembered his openness.

“He’s such a great teacher. He is so accepting of everyone’s own weirdness and individuality that when you’re in your 20s give you so many insecurities.”

Goldner said his greatest accomplishments come from guiding his students on their own path.

“I get satisfaction when students recognize their ability to create, especially when they discover what is unique about their work.”

Some former students came back to catch up with each other as well as honor their former teacher.

"It's wonderful to celebrate Jim's career with his old friends," said Allie Sultan, 31, who is currently digging through the archives of Francis Ford Coppola’s work as editor and assistant in his company's DVD lab.

John Korty, a filmmaker who Goldner called “The Bay Area Filmmaker,” summed up his friend’s accomplishments in saying, “He’s a legend in his own time.”