Tim Blevins is a classically trained opera singer who studied at Juilliard and performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Let that sink in. The Met. One of the most prestigious stages on the planet. And now he's performing on the sidewalk outside the Orpheum on Market Street.

His story — however he ended up here — has clearly resonated with people. A documentary about Blevins called Figaro Up, Figaro Down made its world premiere on April 27 as part of the 69th San Francisco International Film Festival, and it didn't just screen — it won the Audience Award for documentary. That's not a pity vote. Festival audiences chose his story over every other doc in the lineup.

This is one of those San Francisco stories that cuts in multiple directions at once. On one hand, it's genuinely inspiring — a man with extraordinary talent sharing it freely on the streets of a city that desperately needs more moments of unexpected beauty. On the other hand, it raises uncomfortable questions about how a society lets someone with elite-level training end up performing outdoors rather than inside the theater he's standing in front of.

We don't know all the details of Blevins' journey, and we're not going to speculate. What we do know is that San Franciscans are paying attention. The film festival audience clearly saw something powerful in his story, and frankly, so should the rest of us.

San Francisco loves to talk about supporting the arts. Here's a man who is the arts — Juilliard-trained, Met-tested, audience-award-winning — performing for anyone willing to stop and listen. Maybe the question isn't why he's out there. Maybe it's why more of us aren't stopping.