Celebrated filmmaker Kelly Reichardt directs an unforgettable Josh O’Connor in The Mastermind, her latest Cannes triumph. In a sedate Massachusetts suburb circa 1970, unemployed family man and amateur art thief J.B Mooney sets out on his first heist. With a museum cased and accomplices recruited, he has an airtight plan. Or so he thinks. A […]
From writer/director Nia DaCosta comes a provocative, modern reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play. Hedda (Tessa Thompson) finds herself torn between the lingering ache of a past love and the quiet suffocation of her present life. Over the course of one charged night, long-repressed desires and hidden tensions erupt—pulling her and everyone around her into […]
Fans of Jayne Mansfield will not want to miss this moving and revelatory documentary about the actress, directed by her daughter, Mariska Hargitay. “I want to understand her now,” Hargitay says as the film opens, and the reasons behind the distance and the time it took to tell this story become clear as it proceeds. […]
Seymour ‘Sy’ Hersh is a renowned and respected—and at times divisive—Pulitzer prize-winning journalist. His remarkable six‑decade career includes groundbreaking coverage on the My Lai massacre, Watergate scandal, the horrors of Abu Ghraib, and much more. Filmmakers Laura Poitras (All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Doc Stories 2022) and Mark Obenhaus worked for 20 years to […]
Seymour ‘Sy’ Hersh is a renowned and respected—and at times divisive—Pulitzer prize-winning journalist. His remarkable six‑decade career includes groundbreaking coverage on the My Lai massacre, Watergate scandal, the horrors of Abu Ghraib, and much more. Filmmakers Laura Poitras (All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Doc Stories 2022) and Mark Obenhaus worked for 20 years to […]
SFFILM’s partnership with the New York Times’ Op-Docs, a short-form documentary series, presents its 11th-annual iteration with a curated program of five short films that invite you to see from new perspectives. From an international ensemble of filmmakers and subjects, these films interrogate vital current topics, spanning artificial intelligence, disability, climate change, and beyond. Expanding […]
Robert Gordon and Joe Lauro’s comprehensive archival assemblage of the seminal Newport Folk Festival from 1963-66 covers the history of the festival, the importance of folk music in America, how race and culture were brought to bear, and finally and most importantly, the glorious music. A list of featured performers is a veritable who’s who […]
Two-time Academy Award-winner Ben Proudfoot returns to Doc Stories with his feature debut, which tells the enchanting story of Ghanaian documentarian Chris Hesse. At 93 years old, Chris reflects back on the early days of his career as a personal cinematographer for former Ghanaian president and revolutionary Kwame Nkrumah. Hesse’s proximity to Nkrumah allowed him […]
Join James Robinson, Emmy-award-winning filmmaker, video producer for New York Times Opinion, and author of the recent young adult book Whale Eyes: A Memoir About Seeing and Being Seen, for a documentary workshop for teens focused on generating understanding through creativity. By sharing his personal experiences as well as the stories of others, James’s short […]
Following his Persistence of Vision Award at the 2025 San Francisco International Film Festival, Sky Hopinka returns with a stirring new vérité documentary. Presented as a single day at a contemporary powwow gathering, Hopinka observes rituals, regalia, and song. The film team organized the powwow event themselves, inviting dancers, singers, and vendors to both participate […]
From the co-director of the Oscar-nominated Honeyland (Festival 2019) comes this poetic story of family, land, and storks. In the countryside of North Macedonia, elderly farming couple Nicola and Jana are working on the second story of their home, hoping their extended family will return there from abroad. Falling crop prices and overall economic troubles […]
Robb Moss continues his longitudinal personal filmmaking with his exquisitely crafted final film in the River trilogy. For over forty years, Moss has followed the lives of dear friends, initially captured in youthful, nude exuberance during a multi‑week rafting trip in Riverdogs (1982), and later in The Same River Twice (Festival 2003). Moss reunites once […]
This collection of four documentary shorts epitomizes the symbiotic work of journalism and filmmaking from voices including Emmy-winning Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda and veteran CBS reporter Steve Hartman.
“He called me a liar, and I couldn’t let it stand,” says E. Jean Carroll when asked why she sued Donald Trump for rape and defamation – and then sued him again. In this scintillating portrait of the writer, advice columnist, and TV personality, Carroll emerges as a multifaceted person who advocated for strong women […]
Documented over the course of a year, Iranian dissident filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held a series of dialogues with Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona. Captured ineluctably through WhatsApp calls, Fatma speaks of the harrowing circumstances she is living in, while Gaza City is under siege from a barrage of Israeli military airstrikes. What begins as a series […]
Tasha Van Zandt returns to SFFILM (After Antarctica, Festival 2021), with a luminous profile of pioneering marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder and together they take audiences on an thrilling deep-sea mission. Fueled by a cinematic and scientific determination to capture bioluminescent life as it has never been filmed before, this visually stunning film is a […]
Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation. A retelling of the classic novel about what it means to be human, to crave love, and seek understanding. The Sloan Science in Cinema Prize […]
Inspired by a harrowing true story, Lucy Liu is transformative in a riveting, career-redefining performance as an ailing woman who takes drastic measures to protect her troubled teenage son (Lawrence Shou). As his dark obsessions grow and time runs out, she is forced to make impossible choices: How far will she go and what is […]
A withering corporate satire forms the backbone of Park Chan-wook’s new film which is replete with the bravura set pieces for which he’s known. Man-su (Korean superstar Lee Byung Hun) has it all—great job, wife, two kids, two dogs—until the paper corporation he works for lays him off. When a new job doesn’t manifest after […]
Oscar-nominated actor Kristen Stewart marks her first feature-length directorial foray with The Chronology of Water. Adapted from Lidia Yuknavitch’s acclaimed memoir, Stewart crafts an unflinching portrait of womanhood, survival, and artistry. Starring an impressive Imogen Poots as Lidia, the film follows a gifted swimmer raised in an abusive household who finds refuge in water until […]
From 20th Century Studios, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere chronicles the making of Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 Nebraska album when he was a young musician on the cusp of global superstardom, struggling to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past. Recorded on a 4-track recorder in Springsteen’s New Jersey bedroom, the album […]
SFFILM’s Awards Night is a star-studded fundraiser celebrating unique and extraordinary achievements in film. Support SFFILM’s mission to discover, nurture, and showcase the next generation of film artists. Awards Night 2025 will take place on Monday, December 8, 2025. Click here to see the 2025 Awards Night page.
KPop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey use their secret identities as demon hunters to protect their fans from an ever-present supernatural threat. Together, they must face their biggest enemy yet—a rival boy band of demons in disguise. ATTENDEE INFORMATION This special event, hosted by SFFILM Education under its Family Programming initiative in collaboration with SFMOMA, […]
As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex (Will Arnett) faces middle age and an impending divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene while Tess (Laura Dern) confronts the sacrifices she made for their family—forcing them to navigate co-parenting, identity, and whether love can take a new form. SF Honors is an award presented […]
Set against the sun-bleached grit of California coast, Crime 101 weaves the tale of Mike, an elusive jewel thief (Chris Hemsworth) whose string of heists along the 101 freeway have mystified police. As Mike plots his next move, one that could result in walk away money, , his path crosses that of a disillusioned insurance […]
Midwinter Break is a stirring meditation on faith, commitment, and the enduring power of love, as a longtime couple takes a life-changing trip to Amsterdam. ATTENDEE INFORMATION This event is a benefit of SFFILM Membership. Please make sure you are signed in to your SFFILM account before clicking “RSVP.” Not a member? Join or renew […]
After chasing success in the North, twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi to open a juke joint. As music and dance meld in celebration of artistry, culture and history, an evil descends, threatening to devour the heart and soul of the community. This special screening will […]
Here at SFFILM we have been long time admirers of Cartoon Saloon, the renowned Irish studio known for their beautifully crafted hand drawn animation for more than 25 years. Our first program was back in 2010 with The Secret of Kells and studio co-founder Tomm Moore. Since then we’ve been able to present almost every […]
Join us at the Marina Theatre in San Francisco for a special screening of the Academy Award Nominated short films Two People Exchanging Saliva and Butterfly, followed by a Q&A with Two People Exchanging Saliva co-writer and co-director Alexandre Singh. .film-card, .film-card-2 { display: flex; flex-direction: row; gap: 1.5rem; align-items: center; } .film-card { margin-bottom: […]
A celebration of life filled with raw honesty, surreal bursts of imagination, and brazen irreverence, André Is an Idiot shows us what it really means to live happily, truthfully, and hilariously. In this Sundance award-winning documentary, André Riccardi sets out to chronicle his final journey after receiving a diagnosis he could have prevented, through comedic […]
