Events

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Band’s legendary farewell concert, Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz captures an unforgettable night at Bill Graham’s Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, creating one of cinema’s most influential music documentaries.

Celebrating SFFILM’s 10th year partnering with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, we bring you this year’s Sloan Science in Cinema prize winner, Project Hail Mary.

Club Kid plunges audiences headfirst into the exhilarating, sybaritic universe of New York City nightlife. First-time writer-director Jordan Firstman stars as Peter, a magnetic club promoter whose lifestyle of revelry is upended when he unexpectedly discovers he fathered a young boy. Join us this November 2 to watch Club Kid in 35mm at the Castro Theatre.

Ava DuVernay examines the enduring promises of the 14th Amendment through a powerful chorus of voices, joining us in person to discuss this vital new documentary.

Doc Stories is a highlight of San Francisco’s unparalleled film scene, celebrating documentary film as an essential art form. The program deepens understanding of the real-life events, stories, and perspectives that shape our world. Over four expertly curated days, Doc Stories audiences are treated to early, exclusive screenings, captivating shorts, probing conversations, and inspiring Q&As with filmmakers from around the world. The 2026 edition will take place from November 5–8, 2026. Click here to learn about SFFILM’s Doc Stories over the years.

Continuing our beloved tradition of a dedicated shorts block featuring new and upcoming films from The New York Times’ Op-Docs desk, this year’s selection offers five singular stories that find humor, humanity, and unexpected drama in the lives of their subjects.

The extraordinary singer Darlene Love has lived a big life with its concomitant ups and downs, and this film covers them all as Love herself charts her career, leading with joy and humor rather than anger and bitterness.

Amid shifting landscapes, fading memories, buried histories, and threatened communities, six films explore how attention can reveal what is hidden, preserve what remains, and keep what matters from being forgotten.

Join Ben Proudfoot, two-time Academy Award®-winning filmmaker and the founder and CEO of Breakwater Studios, for a teen-centered documentary workshop.

Join us for an intimate and candid fireside conversation with filmmakers Laura Poitras and Rachel Lauren Mueller, who will discuss the timeliness of their film, They’re Here about a Minneapolis community during a wave of ICE raids.

This moving, creative, and seminal documentary depicts the final reunion of an all-Black six-man patrol team in Vietnam, ensuring that their courage and experiences are not lost to history.

Doc Talks continues with filmmakers Jeanie Finlay (All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea), Luke Lorentzen (Boatbuilders), and Erik Shirai (Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing), as they discuss of the cinematic power of observational storytelling and their unique approaches to working as both directors and cinematographers.