SFFILM

Shorts Block 3: Shapes of Love
2026-05-03 15:15 - 17:19 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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.

Beau Travail
2026-05-03 15:45 - 17:26 | 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

Special Screening: Power Ballad
2026-05-03 16:00 - 17:47 | 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.

The Arch
2026-05-03 16:30 - 18:17 | 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

Renoir
2026-05-03 18:00 - 20:06 | 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

Enough Is Enough
2026-05-03 18:15 - 19:28 | 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

Those Who Whistle After Dark
2026-05-03 19:00 - 21:17 | 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

I Love Boosters
2026-05-03 19:30 - 21:45 | Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St, San Francisco, CA, 94118, 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 accessible to all. When their exploits draw unwanted viral attention and their feud with fashion mogul Christine Smith (a hilarious Demi Moore) turns personal, the Boosters plan one final, audacious heist. Joined by unexpected allies wielding supernatural powers and time-bending technology, they discover a chance to ignite revolutionary change. Bursting with eye-popping visuals and razor-sharp social commentary, I Love Boosters is a brash, hilarious, and wholly unexpected joyride of friendship and style. – Jessie Fairbanks

Filipiñana
2026-05-03 20:00 - 21:48 | 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

Rose of Nevada
2026-05-03 20:30 - 22:32 | 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

Ungrateful Beings
2026-05-03 20:45 - 23:03 | 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

Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back
2026-05-04 19:00 - 22:07 | 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.

4
2026-05-21 12:12 | CA

Pressure
2026-05-26 19:00 - 21:00 | AMC Metreon, 135 4th St #3000, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Featuring Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, Damien Lewis, and Andrew Scott, Pressure explores the tense 72 hours before D-Day, as General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg face an impossible choice—launch the largest and most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether.
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 today for access to this screening! Please note this screening will be overbooked to ensure full attendance; we recommend those attending arrive early to secure their seat.

Doc Stories 2026
2026-11-05 19:00 - 21:00 | TBD
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.

Awards Night 2026
2026-12-07 08:00 - 17:00 | TBD
Want to support SFFILM’s work that fuels the full cycle of the cinema experience? Save the date for SFFILM Awards Night—San Francisco’s premier awards season event and vital fundraiser for the Bay Area’s leading film arts and culture institution since 1957. Awards Night 2026 will take place on Monday, December 7, 2026.
Awards Night is a dazzling celebration of the stories and storytellers that power the work of SFFILM! This annual can’t-miss event is an unforgettable evening of star power. Last year’s honorees included Scott Cooper, Benicio Del Toro, Wunmi Mosaku, and Kristen Stewart, and we still can’t catch our breath from that beautiful night. Join or renew today to be the first to learn more!
