SFFILM

Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back
2026-05-04 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St, San Francisco, CA, 94114, United States
After the destruction of the Death Star, Imperial forces continue to pursue the Rebels. After the Rebellion’s defeat on the ice planet Hoth, Luke journeys to the planet Dagobah to train with Jedi Master Yoda, who has lived in hiding since the fall of the Republic. In an attempt to convert Luke to the dark side, Darth Vader lures young Skywalker into a trap in the Cloud City of Bespin.

Ungrateful Beings
2026-05-03 20:45 - 23:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
David brings his two children on a summer vacation to the Croatian coast in hopes that the rustic camping and sparkling Adriatic Sea will bring his family closer together in the wake of his recent separation from the kids’ mother. Seventeen-year-old Klara struggles with anorexia, the deep toll exacted on her body and mind more apparent to her worried father with each passing day. So, when a summer romance with a local boy motivates her to start eating again, David encourages the budding relationship until a shocking incident forces the couple’s separation. David is full of good intentions as he scrambles to help his daughter regain her health, but circumstances begin to rapidly spiral out of control. Full of pitch-black humor and playfully devious turns, Ungrateful Beings is a bold and unexpected refresh of the family vacation drama. —Amber Love

Rose of Nevada
2026-05-03 20:30 - 22:30 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
George MacKay (1917) and Callum Turner (Masters of Air) star in this eerie drama as Cornish villagers who go to sea on the titular fishing vessel that recently reappeared in the harbor 30 years after vanishing along with its crew. The two men return with a huge catch and to a world that is both familiar and utterly changed—so much so that they barely recognize themselves. MacKay is especially effective as a distressed husband and father left untethered by his new reality in writer/director Mark Jenkin’s enigmatic tale. Jenkin acts as cinematographer, editor, composer, and sound designer, giving him complete control of his visual and aural landscape in this striking 16mm feature. The result is extraordinary with vivid imagery and a resonant soundscape that underlines the characters’ discombobulation in a film that invites us into the throbbing heart of an indelible mystery. —Pam Grady

Filipiñana
2026-05-03 20:00 - 22:00 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, United States
Isabel is a newly hired ball girl at a pristine golf course on Manila’s outskirts. An Ilokana from rural northern Philippines, she immediately feels out of place among the high-status guests. Motivated by the sweltering heat and her insatiable curiosity, Isabel slips away from her duties on the driving range. Over a languid afternoon, Isabel discovers the locations of blessed AC units, indulges in a finger of frosting from the buffet, and observes the peculiar routines of wealthy patrons. As her boldness grows, so do her unsettling discoveries, revealing insidious secrets lurking beneath the resort’s lavish surface. Filipiñana heralds the arrival of a striking new voice in filmmaking. Director Rafael Manuel’s first feature swings with visual splendor, wielding its imagery to deliver sharp, scintillating commentary on capitalism and corruption—even in the world’s most polished corners. —Jordan Klein

Those Who Whistle After Dark
2026-05-03 19:00 - 21:00 | BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
In Pinar Yorgancıoğlu’s atmospheric and darkly humorous tale, recently retired Melih struggles to find purpose in his post-career life. He jostles for his family’s attention while slowly preparing his late sister’s property for rent. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter pursue risky gambits in the hope of quick fortune, putting the household at risk and overlooking Melih’s mounting despondency. Into this fragile domestic world drift figures that may be ghosts—or blurred memories. Their unexpected appearance offers Melih a distraction, prompting him to conduct scientific experiments that draw him further from his wife and daughter, as both face increasing peril. Full of ironic humor and sly observations, Those Who Whistle After Dark revels in the contradictions of family life. Brimming with warmth, wit, and unexpected charm, it weaves intimate dynamics with surreal touches, creating a story that is delightfully imaginative. —Jessie Fairbanks

Enough Is Enough
2026-05-03 18:15 - 20:15 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
Arriving fresh from it’s World Premiere at Berlinale, this documentary is a rare window into the Kivu War. Enough Is Enough follows Congolese filmmaker Elisé Sawasawa, whose displacement and refugee experience shapes his unflinching journalistic lens. On the ground amid armed conflicts between Democratic Republic of Congo, rebel forces, and neighboring Rwanda military, Elisé and his friends navigate a world driven by power, greed, and the frenzy over rare minerals. With shocking firsthand footage and intimate accounts from refugees targeted by their own army, the film immerses audiences in the harrowing realities of survival and resistance. Brave, bold, and uncompromising, Sawasawa delivers a documentary that is as challenging as it is essential, offering an urgent portrait of conflict, displacement, and resilience. —Jessie Fairbanks

Renoir
2026-05-03 18:00 - 20:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
Set in late-80s suburban Tokyo, 11-year-old Fuki is thrust into adolescence by the harsh realities surrounding her parents. Her father Kenji (Lily Franky) is suffering from a terminal illness, and her mother Utako (Hikari Ishida) is overburdened by the consequences. For Fuki (Yui Suzuki), the specter of death begins manifesting in various corners of her daily life, leading her to seek a respite from engulfing tragedy with her irrepressible imagination. Chie Hiyakawa expands on her meditation on mortality, first explored in Plan 75, offering a distinctly arresting perspective centered on Suzuki’s outstanding performance where she channels grief in ways that feels wholly new and hauntingly truthful. Renoir serves as a provocative meditation on the ponderosity of life and ultimately what imbues it with meaning. —Jordan Klein

The Arch
2026-05-03 16:30 - 18:30 | BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
The Arch is reminiscent of a classical story in the Ibsen or Jamesian mode—in an 18th-century village, a proud widow, Madam Tung, has allowed herself to be treated almost as a deity because of her virtuous behavior. When a troop of soldiers arrive to protect the farmers from bandits, the villagers believe this is a reward from the Emperor for having requested that an arch be constructed in honor of Madam Tung and her saintliness. Exactly how Madam Tung manages to control her emotions when the troop captain attracts her (and her daughter also responds to the same man) is the crisis of this romantic tale. The visual aspects of The Arch are delicately beautiful (one notices that the cameraman is Satyajit Ray’s famous technician) and the acting is profoundly moving and romantic. There is an indescribably, haunting quality about this film—the sort that lingers in the mind when one has seen something rare, exotic, and new. —Albert Johnson, Festival 1968
The original black-and-white 35mm negatives of the film have been lost. The restoration was made using extant materials from 1968, including a 35mm release print preserved at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and a 35mm release print preserved and scanned at the BFI National Archive. The digital restoration was undertaken at Silver Salt Restoration. Special thanks to the descendants of Paul Lee; Les Blank Films; and the Hong Kong Film Archive, Leisure and Cultural Services Department. The Arch is one of the films under M+ Restored, an initiative supported by CHANEL. The Arch is presented in support by Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco.
Films from the Vault revisits previously presented titles at the San Francisco International Film Festival, highlighting the Festival’s role in championing emerging artists and iconic auteurs and inviting audiences to rediscover these films anew. —Jessie Fairbanks

Special Screening: Power Ballad
2026-05-03 16:00 - 18:00 | Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St, San Francisco, CA, 94118, United States
An unexpected night spent with former boy-band sensation Danny (Nick Jonas) upends the world of wedding singer Rick (Paul Rudd), an American transplant who traded his rock-star ambitions for a quiet life in Ireland. When Danny later adapts a song Rick wrote without permission and it becomes a massive global hit, Rick struggles to convince anyone of its true authorship. Determined to assert the song’s origins, Rick travels to Los Angeles, only to navigate the gatekeepers, protocols, and absurdities of the music industry. His efforts lead to a series of comic misadventures before culminating in an unexpected confrontation with Danny. Sweet, funny, and surprisingly moving, the film examines friendship, artistry, and the messy truths of creative collaboration. Rudd and Jonas perform their own music in the film, bringing authenticity and sparkle to their dynamic, electric portrayals of two very different musicians whose connection is immediate, complex, and often hilarious. —Jessie Fairbanks
Attendee Information
This special screening is free for SFFILM Members. Not a member? Join or renew today for access to this screening! Non-members can purchase tickets as normal.

Beau Travail
2026-05-03 15:45 - 18:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
Claire Denis adds a new visual dimension to her work with this lyrical adaptation of Herman Melville’s allegorical Billy Budd, which shifts from the battling British navy of 1797 to the superfluous French Foreign Legion of 1999. On the African coast, in a nameless country of paradisiacal beauty and hellish poverty, a detachment of legionnaires—all young, poorly educated, and fleeing France’s dismal economy—punish themselves with drills and training rituals to fight boredom. Numbed by the pointless routine, Sergeant Galoup (Denis Lavant, best known as Léos Carax’s alter ego in Boy Meets Girl and The Lovers on the Bridge) conceives an irrational hatred for Sentain (Grégoire Colin, The Dreamlife of Angels), a new recruit whose innate goodness perversely strikes Galoup as an affront. Denis films their conflict as if it were a displaced love affair, framing Galoup’s growing obsession within a homoerotic athletic display that suggests Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia. A sexual consummation is out of the question, and another resolution must be found. While little happens on the surface, Denis’s intense concentration and Agnès Godard’s dry, clear cinematography make Beau Travail hypnotic and suspenseful. —Dave Kehr
Claire Denis appeared at The Festival with the film when it screened in 2000.
Films from the Vault revisits previously presented titles at the San Francisco International Film Festival, highlighting the Festival’s role in championing emerging artists and iconic auteurs and inviting audiences to rediscover these films anew. —Jessie Fairbanks

Shorts Block 3: Shapes of Love
2026-05-03 15:15 - 17:30 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
In stories of queer love, intergenerational love, self-love, and love across borders, filmmakers deftly mediate between intimacy and universality. Seven films weave a fabric of love in many languages: phone calls, imagined conversations, home videos, handwritten letters, and stolen glances. Puppeteer Zach Dorn considers CGI-mediated closure in The Sopranos, while Mars Verrone assembles a portrait of their late grandfather as textured as the forests he cultivated. Some films imagine boundless queer and trans futures while others grieve parents and partners. At every stage—even when it doesn’t announce itself—love moves us and inspires new creative methods. From before greetings to after goodbyes, these films trace love’s ever-evolving shapes. —Sabrina Kim
Films are in alphabetical order rather than order of play. Total runtime 95 min
Betty St. Clair
Syra McCarthy, Kyle Casey Chu (USA 2025, 12 min)
A drag queen searches for the courage to perform at a senior center upon realizing that a special guest is in the audience.
Buckskin
Mars Verrone (USA 2026, 17 min)
Filmmaker Mars Verrone crafts an experimental love letter to their late grandfather, Carroll B. Williams, a pioneering forester of African American and Kiowa heritage.
Can I Put You On Hold
James Cutler (USA 2025, 11 min)
Matthew plans to reunite with his partner Dangmo, a Thai national, once her immigration to America is approved—but one question keeps standing in their way.
Living with a Visionary
Stephen P. Neary (USA 2026, 15 min)
In an elegiac epic at the end of a couple’s life together, John cares for his Parkinson’s-afflicted wife Diana and enters the world of her bottomless imagination.
Long Live Livia
Zach Dorn (USA, South Korea 2025, 16 min)
Puppeteer Zach Dorn reconstructs scenes of love and loss in his Italian American upbringing mirrored in the iconic television series The Sopranos.
Rehearsal for an Encounter
Dahee Kim (USA 2025, 5 min)
A transnational Korean adoptee rehearses greeting his birth mother.
Una Notte
Rob Harris (UK 2025, 19 min)
Strangers Luciano and Rory spend a day together in the English countryside, glimpsing through their bittersweet fleeting connection the possibilities of who they might become.

A Child of My Own
2026-05-03 15:00 - 17:00 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, United States
Based on a true story, A Child of My Own follows a woman so desperate to become a mother that she steals an infant. Director Maite Alberdi returns with a bold, inventive documentary that fuses dramatized sequences and first-person interviews to examine identity, ambition, and the weight of family pressures. At its center is Alejandra, a woman who longs to become a mother and, eager to meet the expectations of those closest to her, haplessly invents a pregnancy. What begins as a seemingly simple deception quickly spirals into a gripping story of secrets and shame. Intercutting dramatized scenes with reflections from the real-life subjects, Alberdi avoids easy judgment, inviting audiences into a deeply human, often unsettling narrative. A Child of My Own is a provocative, compassionate exploration of motherhood, desire, and the moral complexity that emerges when longing and obligation collide. —Jessie Fairbanks

Amílcar
2026-05-03 14:00 - 16:00 | BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
Agricultural engineer Amilcar Cabral (1924–1973) dreamed of freedom for Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde in West Africa and set about making that liberation happen. In this impressionistic documentary, the life of this remarkable revolutionary unfolds through letters Cabral wrote to his wives, set to a soundtrack of slogans and dreams. Shot in 16mm, the film tells a tale of love, political idealism, and betrayal as Cabral’s guerrilla war against Portuguese rule ultimately led to freedom he would not live to see. Assassinated by members of his own party, Cabral nevertheless served as the architect of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde’s independence, creating a blueprint for Pan-African revolts against colonialism. Poetry, photographs, and archival footage join the letters in recounting the story of an extraordinary life and enduring legacy. —Bedatri Choudhury

Broken English
2026-05-03 13:00 - 15:00 | Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St, San Francisco, CA, 94118, United States
I never saw myself as a pop singer,” says Marianne Faithfull in this wonderfully imaginative portrait of the iconic chanteuse that includes her last recorded performance. She’s speaking about her life to the Record Keeper at the Ministry of Not Forgetting (played by George MacKay), a fictional institution dedicated to examining historical myths and truths, managed by a stern Overseer (Tilda Swinton). Rather than dwell on the more challenging moments of her life, directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard use this clever framework to focus on Faithfull’s extraordinary career—from the seminal release of her eponymous debut album to her distinctive interpretations of Brecht/Weill songs to collaborations with Nick Cave and other contemporary musicians. Rounding out this unique biopic are performances of classic Faithfull songs by vocalists including Beth Orton, Natasha Khan, and Courtney Love. —Rod Armstrong

The Son and the Sea
2026-05-03 12:30 - 14:30 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
British writer/director Stroma Cairns makes a resonant feature debut with this coming-of-age drama focused on a young man trying to find his place in the world. The film is a family affair as Cairns collaborated on the screenplay with her mother Imogen West and cast as the tempestuous protagonist her brother Jonah West. In his first film role, he impresses as Jonah, who is determined to sort himself but unsure of what that means as he travels from London to Scotland’s Aberdeenshire, his mate Lee (Stanley Brock) in tow. The two make a new friend in deaf Charlie (Connor Tompkins), who is dealing with his own issues. Ruben Woodin Dechamps’s glorious cinematography captures the wild beauty of the Scottish coast as the roiling sea reflects Jonah’s emotional state as he grapples with the uncertainty in his life and what it means to be a man. —Pam Grady

Special Screening: The Kidnapping of Arabella
2026-05-03 12:00 - 14:00 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, United States
Seven-year-old Arabella (Lucrezia Guglielmino) only wants to go Taco King, not listen to her boring father give a speech (Chris Pine, speaking flawless Italian). Given no choice in the matter, the precocious child opts for revenge. She finds her instrument in Holly (Benedetta Porcaroli), convincing the troubled young woman to let her join her road trip. Trouble is, Arabella’s family think some villain snatched the little girl. Writer/director Carolina Cavalli’s (co-screenwriter, Fremont, Festival 2023) sophomore feature is a heady blend of deadpan comedy and road movie, a deceptively lighthearted surface in a film that poignantly observes Holly’s mental instability and social isolation. Where Arabella is all insouciant scheming, there is deep sadness and only a tenuous grip on reality in her older companion. As they travel across Italy, they are a striking pair, in no small part thanks to the actors’ committed performances. —Pam Grady
Attendee Information
This special screening is free for SFFILM Members. Not a member? Join or renew today for access to this screening! Non-members can purchase tickets as normal.

Space Cadet
2026-05-03 10:00 - 12:00 | Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St, San Francisco, CA, 94118, United States
Canadian DJ and multihyphenated artist Kid Koala brings his unique gift for storytelling to a new medium as he makes his directorial debut with this delightful, animated adaptation of his award-winning graphic novel. When young astronaut Celeste embarks on her first interstellar mission, she leaves behind her dedicated caretaker Robot to navigate a new unfamiliar loneliness. Like an empty nester, he struggles to cope, clinging tightly to memories of raising the child he once tended to daily. Drawing inspiration from silent-era legends like Charlie Chaplin, Koala crafts a wordless experience that utilizes his mastery of music and sound to deftly convey emotion. Cleverly placed songs from artists such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O, and Digable Planets’ Mariana “Ladybug” Vieira complement his own playful score. Told with an abundance of heart, Space Cadet celebrates friendship, kindness, and empathy, all while shooting for the stars with a thrilling adventure that spans the universe. —Keith Zwölfer
Please join us after the screening for an open studio crafting hour with guest Lillian Chan, where families will explore fun activities inspired by the film, like origami folding and building flip books. Recommended for ages 6 and up.

If We Don’t Burn, How Do We Light Up the Night
2026-05-02 20:45 - 23:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
The placid surface of a rural Costa Rican town hides a mystery in Kim Torres’s striking debut feature. A newcomer to the village, teenaged Laura (Lara Yuja Mora) takes wary steps toward her new home and adulthood with a curiosity and confusion typical of her age. But even as she makes new friends in this idyllic setting, Laura perceives a sense of violence underscoring all their lives. While she and her pals swim, run through the forest, and make bracelets for one another, an unease continues to grow before taking the shape of a devastating loss. The stakes are high for Laura as this coming-of-age tale slowly unfolds to reveal the menacing secret that threatens to destroy her fragile sense of self. —Bedatri Choudhury

Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)
2026-05-02 20:00 - 22:00 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, United States
One of director Anna Fitch’s closest friends, Yo was adventurous, self-assured, and headstrong. Before Yo passed away in 2013, Fitch spent countless hours capturing memories and anecdotes of Yo’s colorful life. That documentation became a broader project through which Fitch processed her grief as she crafted a meticulous miniature recreation of the home where Yo spent her final years. In Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), Fitch and co-director Banker White meld together Fitch’s cherished vérité footage with stunning puppet recreations and the miniature home to memorialize Yo in all her highs and lows. By harnessing the craft of puppetry to explore Yo’s life in Switzerland, her struggles with motherhood, and experiences with aging on her own terms, this hybrid documentary becomes a whimsical record of friendship and the love that bloomed between Fitch and Yo. —Amber Love

Inside Amir
2026-05-02 20:00 - 22:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
While he awaits the approval of a visa to join his girlfriend, Tara, abroad in Italy, Amir inhabits an existence in limbo. He spends his days biking through Tehran, delivering packages and visiting with friends across the city where hot afternoons playing table tennis intermingle with his memories of first meeting Tara. As Amir hovers on the precipice of a major life change, each conversation explores the push and pull of emigration and the uncertainty of leaving home, even if departing means rejoining a cherished relationship. With intimately rendered performances and an eye toward making even the present feel nostalgic, director Amir Azizi paints an evocative portrait of being not quite here, yet not quite there. In both its quiet drama and its sweeping imagery of Tehran, Inside Amir is a warmly honest portrayal of life’s in-between moments. —Amber Love

Scenes from the Divide + The Baddest Speechwriter of All + La Tierra del Valor (The Home of the Brave)
2026-05-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St, San Francisco, CA, 94118, United States
A trio of documentaries survey the American political landscape, both past and present. Featuring Martin Luther King Jr. speechwriter Clarence B. Jones (in Stephen Curry’s directorial debut); rising voice Nezza, who sings an anthem of hope at an LA Dodger game; and the supporters and opponents of Zohran Mamdani within NYC’s Jewish community.
Films are listed in order or play. Total runtime is 84 min.
Scenes from the Divide
Alison Klayman (USA 2026, 32 min)
Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for New York City mayor exposes divisions within the city’s Jewish communities, reflecting broader national debates on Palestine. Director Alison Klayman takes viewers into deeply personal conversations across generations as they navigate questions of Zionism, socialism, and anti-Semitism. Through intimate portraits and candid exchanges, Scenes from the Divide highlights the personal and political stakes of civic engagement. Klayman’s observational lens offers a nuanced portrait of a community negotiating heritage, ideology, and morality. —Jessie Fairbanks
The Baddest Speechwriter of All
Ben Proudfoot, Stephen Curry (USA 2026, 29 min)
Stephen Curry’s directorial debut, co-directed with SFFILM alumni Ben Proudfoot, follows Clarence B. Jones, Martin Luther King Jr.’s speechwriter, blending storytelling and playful animated sequences to celebrate his life and impact.
La Tierra del Valor (The Home of the Brave)
Cristina Costantini (USA 2026, 23 min)
Nezza (Vanessa Hernandez) defies orders at a Dodgers game, singing the US national anthem in Spanish, honoring the 1945 “El Pendón Estrellado” and inspiring hope in her community.

Milk Teeth
2026-05-02 18:00 - 20:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
Maria’s older sister Alina vanishes without a trace, last seen by Maria cutting through the schoolyard to take out the trash. That image haunts her as Alina remains missing and everyone from their parents to the local authorities question *Maria* about her sibling’s last known movements. Set on the cusp of a new era in 1980s Romania, Mihai Mincan’s drama is less concerned with the facts surrounding the disappearance than of the emotional toll it takes. With brilliant performances and dreamlike imagery, the narrative interrogates how the sudden loss of Alina disrupts the fabric of the lives of her family and community. As Maria sets out on a mission to find her sister, a tale unfolds of the slow loss of innocence and the inability to go home again. —Amber Love

To Hold a Mountain
2026-05-02 17:15 - 19:30 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
At first glance, Gara is a simple farmer, tending her crops and animals, making cheese, and caring for adolescent Nada. But there is far more to this woman who lives amid the beauty and isolation of Montenegro’s mountainous Sinjajevina plateau. Gara’s quiet but intense love for Nada is an extension of the deep love she feels for this land she calls home. Her story is intertwined with that of this breathtaking region, the place where she protects Nada and nurtures the girl’s future with hard-earned wisdom. When NATO forces propose turning the area into a field for military exercises, Gara further demonstrates her grit as she takes action to oppose the plan. A mesmerizing vérité plunge into rural life, what could have been a simple and romanticizing document of women’s lives in Montenegro is instead a portrait of quiet and steadfast resilience. —Bedatri Choudhury

Salvation
2026-05-02 17:00 - 19:00 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, United States
Winner of the Berlinale’s Silver Bear, Emin Alper’s (Frenzy, Festival 2016) electrifying drama of power struggles in a Turkish mountain village exposes the chaos that erupts when territorialism takes root. In the unnamed community, two tribes clash over land and the right to harvest it. Mesut, haunted by troubling dreams he believes are prophetic, stakes his claim as the new sheikh. As his power grab fans inflammatory rhetoric, he becomes the figure rallying those who long for revenge. Alper’s assured filmmaking blurs dreams and reality, while a tremendous ensemble cast conveys both vulnerability and menace. With striking visual flair, Salvation illuminates how fear, suspicion, and strongman rhetoric create circumstances where no one is safe … or saved. —Rod Armstrong

Amílcar
2026-05-02 15:30 - 17:30 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States

Mysterious Bird with Musical Performance by Gabriela Quintero featuring Daniel Ho
2026-05-02 15:00 - 17:00 | Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St, San Francisco, CA, 94118, United States
From Grammy-winning duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Music + Film returns to the Festival with guitarist Gabriela Quintero and her first solo project. Featuring the World Premier of Beth Aala’s intimate new documentary, which follows Gaby as she creates her debut independent album. In her hometown of Zihuatanejo, Mexico, the film captures the intersection of Gaby’s music with her passions—advocating for animal welfare, supporting local female artists, and exploring a softer, more personal musical expression.
After the screening, audiences will enjoy a live performance by Gabriela Quintero, joined by Grammy-winning producer and collaborator Daniel Ho. The program wraps with a conversation featuring the filmmaker and musicians, offering insight into the creative process and the stories behind the music. Visually sumptuous and sonically immersive, this program is a celebration of artistry, passion, and discovery—a cinematic and musical experience not to be missed. —Jessie Fairbanks

Shorts Block 1: Human Flow
2026-05-02 14:45 - 17:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
Traverse cityscapes, valleys, highways, and borders through films by an international ensemble of storytellers. In these vivid portraits of gathering and return, the dialogue between people and land is as alive as human conversation. From an afternoon game of pelote in Belgium to climber Ashima Shiraishi’s meditations in the Payahuunadü valley, movement becomes both medicine and medium for connection. Latin American migration histories trace new paths along California highways, while lives intersect on the margins of bustling Guangzhou. A filmmaker celebrates his migrant parents’ homecoming in the Philippines, and a Sudanese family’s archives honor the resilience of displaced generations. These six films illuminate the people who shape places and move within them, flowing between past and future, private and public, estrangement and kinship, in tales of settling, returning, and finding home. —Sabrina Kim
Films are in alphabetical order rather than order of play. Total runtime 84 min
Drifting, South
Di Zhang (China, Canada 2025, 19 min)
An ambient snapshot of Guangzhou’s Xiaobei Road through the eyes of three individuals on the city’s margins.
highways take me anywhere I want
María Luisa Santos (USA, Costa Rica 2026, 8 min)
Against a backdrop of California highways and amidst the traces left behind by migrants, a father and daughter contemplate whether home is Cuba, Costa Rica, or elsewhere.
In the Morning Sun
Serville Poblete (Canada, Philippines 2025, 21 min)
“Alexa, what is the weather in the Philippines?” In a cinematic study of his migrant parents, Filipino Canadian filmmaker Serville Poblete explores intergenerational play, grief, and gathering.
La Petite Reine Blanche
Théo Hanosset, Mathieu Georis (Belgium, France 2026, 15 min)
Traffic comes to a halt in a small Belgian town when residents take over a parking lot to play a game of pelote.
Tamashi
Jess X. Snow, Ashima Shiraishi (USA, France 2026, 13 min)
Festival alumni Ashima Shiraishi and Jess X. Snow synthesize movement, landscape, and poetry as Shiraishi and their father, a Butoh dancer, pay tribute to the lost water of the Payahuunadü valley.
Villa 187
Eiman Mirghani (Sudan, Qatar 2025, 8 min)
A displaced Sudanese family’s voice notes and family archives chronicle memories made—and left behind—in their home of three decades in Qatar.

Jaripeo + Born at Night
2026-05-02 14:30 - 16:30 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, United States
Within the world of bucking broncos and bull rides of the Michoacán jaripeo lurks a partially obscured world where queerness, masculinity, and desire churn together in a generative friction. This evocative documentary carries us on a sensory journey into Central Mexico’s rodeo culture and observes the queer community that embraces and challenges it. Vérité Super 8 footage and expressionistic sequences immerse us in the seen and unseen signals that pass through the cheering crowds like electricity. Co-director Efraín Mojica is among the subjects in this vivid essay that moves deftly between kaleidoscopic portraits of gay men enmeshed in this world and the sport itself. Three main subjects each navigate their gender expression and sexuality within the traditional towns that surround them, while reflecting on how those conservative values have also shaped them. Mojica and co-director Rebecca Zweig deliver this lingering ode to the jaripeo with tenderness and intimacy. —Amber Love
Jaripeo will be preceded by the short film Born at Night, directed by Alba Cros Pellisé (Spain, 18 min).
Over the course of a single night in South Barcelona, two individuals explore desire, gender, and intimacy on their own terms, discovering connection, vulnerability, and the courage to define themselves freely.

Hair, Paper, Water…
2026-05-02 13:00 - 15:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
Cao Thị Hậu and her family live in Vietnam surrounded by rolling green hills enveloped in mist. Here, she sits with her grandchildren tending to their pains and spinning stories of the cave in Quảng Bình where she was born. Folk tales, bees, tigers, and home remedies all braid themselves into her fables and the wisdom she imparts. As a storyteller and one of the few remaining indigenous Rục people, Hậu is the keeper of memories and knowledge. She is the steward of a fast-disappearing language, and it is her duty to fill the lives of her descendants with her words as she prepares to answer that last call from the faraway cave. Using Bolex cameras and a lush sound design, filmmakers Nicolas Graux and Trương Minh Quy deliver a visual treat along with an invitation to enter Hậu’s extraordinary world. —Bedatri Choudhury

One in a Million
2026-05-02 12:00 - 14:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
Change unfolds swiftly and powerfully in this intimate, decade-spanning portrait of Syrian refugee Israa and her family as they navigate life across multiple countries. In 2015, directors Itab Azzam and Jacob MacInnes discover the vivacious 11-year-old selling cigarettes on the teeming sidewalks of Izmir, Turkey, where she introduces them to her favorite food vendors and reveals that the family is trying to make their way to Germany. Not only does this journey prove challenging—they board a dinghy filled with dozens of others for a nighttime crossing to Greece—but many other difficulties await them when they finally arrive in Germany. Israa grows into a rebellious teen, her father Tarek fumes about Europe’s permissiveness, while mom Nisreen finds her own quiet liberation. The filmmakers rivetingly juxtapose messy and loving family moments against luminously staged talking-head interviews that further delineate the family members’ conflicts as well as their differing memories of their homeland. —Rod Armstrong
