• Figaro Up, Figaro Down

    BAMPFA 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, United States

    A Juilliard-trained baritone, Tim Blevins performed on the world’s most prestigious opera stages, tackling challenging roles with skill and power. A rare Black presence in a white-dominated art form, he rose to fame—but lost everything to addiction: his career, family, and home, leaving him unhoused in the Tenderloin. After decades in despair, Blevins takes control […]

  • Centerpiece: I Love Boosters

    Grand Lake Theatre 3200 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA, United States

    A fearless crew of inventive young women turns shoplifting into a radical act of defiance. Led by Corvette (Keke Palmer), they move across Oakland, boosting coveted goods as both survival and protest—challenging a system built on exclusion and excess. They even offer a community service, selling their stolen wares at deep discounts to make fashion […]

  • Enough Is Enough

    BAMPFA 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 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 […]

  • Those Who Whistle After Dark

    Marina Theatre 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 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 […]

  • The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford

    Premier Theater at One Letterman 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, United States

    In a windswept Scottish village, widower Kenneth (Peter Mullan) takes pride in his role as the local history guide, donning period costume to honor his claimed ancestor, Sir Douglas Weatherford, an eccentric 18th‑century philosopher and inventor. But when a flamboyant fantasy television production descends on the town and commandeers the local visitor center, the invasion […]

  • Shorts Block 4: Shades of Menace

    Marina Theatre 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, United States

    In the absence of love, menace takes shape. Six sinister stories invite viewers on a journey from the familiar corners of homes and highways to darker and more treacherous places in the spirit of twisted family traditions. Depravity reaches new heights, bringing unsuspecting souls into the clutches of supernatural forces in this spellbinding tapestry of […]

  • POV Award: Lynne Sachs + Every Contact Leaves a Trace

    BAMPFA 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, United States

    In forensic science, “trace” is the material left behind at crime scenes: fibers, gunshot residue, and other evidence that detectives use as they develop suspects and leads. SFFILM Persistence of Vision award winner Lynne Sachs takes inspiration from this concept to investigate her own life and assumptions, using as her “trace” 600 business cards she […]

  • Blue Heron

    Marina Theatre 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, United States

    A masterful debut, this depiction of a young girl whose family is contending with a challenging older sibling weaves autobiographical and documentary elements seamlessly into a singularly poignant package. Sasha’s family emigrated from Hungary to Vancouver Island in the 1990s. Life there is pretty bucolic—outdoor swims, watching cartoons—but there are outbursts of increasingly odd, antisocial […]

  • Lost Land

    Marina Theatre 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, United States

    Nine-year-old Somira and her younger brother Shafi are the focus of this moving drama that follows the Rohingya siblings as they journey from a refugee camp in Bangladesh to a relative’s home in Malaysia. By boat, in trucks, and on foot, the children and their family along with other refugees face smugglers’ extortionate demands, natural […]

  • Cronos

    Premier Theater at One Letterman 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Cronos is a vampire movie with a Latin American twist as director/writer Guillermo del Toro gets to the heart of the eternal myth in Mexican style. The tale begins in 1536, when an alchemist, fleeing the Inquisition, arrives in Veracruz with a fantastic invention that prolongs and regenerates life. Almost 500 years later, the Cronos […]

  • Sloan Science on Screen Award: Silent Friend

    BAMPFA 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, United States

    On the cusp of the Covid-19 pandemic, Tony (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), a Hong Kong neuroscientist conducting research at a German university, observes a botanical garden’s ancient gingko tree one lonesome and chilly evening. The mysterious arboreal entity enchants him, leading him to a synthesis between scientific pursuit and the beauty of nature. Tony is not […]

  • The Arch

    Marina Theatre 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 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 […]