SFFILM

Nuisance Bear
2026-04-26 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
A yearling polar bear is smart enough to beat a bear trap, but is he wise enough to survive the world of humans? That is a question that hovers over this Sundance grand jury documentary prize winner that follows the animal between Churchill, Manitoba, and Arviat, Nunavut. The small communities depend on bears like the one at the center of the film: Churchill relies on the dollars brought in by tourists eager to commune (at a distance) with the apex predators while Arviat’s Inuit villagers hunt the animals for their meat and skin. As the sea ice that is the marine mammals’ hunting ground shrinks, they wander into town more frequently searching for food, endangering both humans and bears. Narrated by Arviat elder Mike Tunalaaq Gibbons, this immersive, gorgeously photographed, and poetic film evolves into a powerful meditation on impacts: of painful history, climate change, ursine incursions, and human interventions. –Pam Grady

Sloan Science on Screen Award: Silent Friend
2026-04-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, 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 first to feel the pull of that tree, the quiet and enduring witness to the passage of time and ultimately a leafy companion to people whose connection to the environment is inseparable. Ildikó Enyedi’s ethereal cinematic triumph captures the essence of humanity across more than a century, a triptych of stories that take place in 1908, 1972, and 2020. With a mesmerizing array of cinematographic styles, Silent Friend creates an evocative portrait of the evolution of intellectual thought and irrepressible curiosities. Léa Seydoux costars. —Jordan Klein

The World of Love
2026-04-26 19:30 - 21:30 | BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
Boisterous, mischievous, and seemingly unassailable, Lee Joo-in is the master of her world. Whether dancing with classmates, sparring with her charismatic brother and devoted mother (Parasite’s Jang Hye-jin), or sharing tender moments with her boyfriend, Joo-in’s life appears in harmony. That balance shatters after a public confrontation and a series of unsettling anonymous messages compel her to confront difficult truths long buried. Bong Joon-ho hails director Yoon Ga-eun as a master at eliciting extraordinary performances from child actors, exemplified in newcomer Seo Su-bin’s achingly tender and multifaceted portrayal of Joo-in. The World of Love further establishes Yoon as one of the most exciting emerging voices in contemporary Korean cinema. —Jordan Klein

It Would Be Night in Caracas
2026-04-26 20:00 - 22:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
The lawlessness afoot in Venezuela’s capital city is vibrantly captured in this gripping adaptation of Karina Sainz Borgo’s novel by the filmmaking team behind Bad Hair (Festival 2014). It’s 2017, and Adelaida (Natalia Reyes) returns to Caracas to bury her mother and finds a metropolis teeming with chaos. While she huddles in the apartment she shared with her mom, memories of childhood and a doomed romance as a young adult flood back in flashbacks. Leaving one day for a brief foray for supplies, she returns to the building and finds the flat forcibly occupied by armed members of the resistance. Relocating into the abandoned apartment of a neighbor, she also rescues Santiago, a former colleague who has been jailed, and they shelter together to plan next steps. With violence at their doorstep, Adelaida and Santiago must attempt to escape from a building (and a city) that holds them captive. —Rod Armstrong

Two Pianos
2026-04-26 20:30 - 22:30 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
Arnaud Desplechin returns to SFFILM with his high-pitched drama set in the world of concert pianists. Tempestuous Matthias (François Civil) returns to Lyon from a tour in Japan, and reconnects with his mentor Elena (Charlotte Rampling, at her diva best), who plans to retire and hopes they can duet at what will be her final performance. Complicating matters is Matthias’s old flame Claude who is now married to his former best friend and whose child bears more than a passing resemblance to Matthias. Desplechin is a master at tracing fraught personal dynamics, frequently finding sly humor amid the emotional fireworks, and his script (written with Kamen Velkovsky) is buoyed by an expert cast. As Matthias wavers between romantic and professional opportunities offered by Claude and Elena, there is a constant tension over how he will respond to the desires and demands placed on him by these two strong-willed women. —Rod Armstrong

Give Me the Ball!
2026-04-27 16:30 - 18:30 | BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
Billie Jean King changed the game of tennis — on the court and across sports culture. Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff’s documentary presents the legend in full, combining rare archival footage with candid interviews to reveal the human behind the icon. King’s groundbreaking fight for equity in professional women’s sports came at personal cost: hiding her sexual orientation, struggling with eating disorders, and subordinating her own well-being to advance the cause. The filmmakers capture both her indelible victories and the challenges she endured with clarity and immediacy, presenting a portrait that is as fierce and uncompromising as King herself. Told in her own words, Give Me the Ball! is a vivid, electrifying meditation on competition, courage, and the transformative power of one fiercely determined individual. —Jessie Fairbanks

Figaro Up, Figaro Down
2026-04-27 18:00 - 20:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, 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 of his destiny, staging a comeback that restores not only his place on stage but also his role in his family’s life. Filmed with care and grace, this San Francisco-set tale of fame, loss, and redemption illuminates a life as remarkable as the operas he mastered. —Bedatri Choudhury

Who Moves America
2026-04-27 18:15 - 20:15, 2026-04-27 20:45 - 22:45 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
Who Moves America explores the lives of UPS Teamsters facing long hours, unsafe conditions, and relentless physical demands. The film reveals the pressures on delivery drivers and logistics workers who keep cities—and the country—moving, highlighting the stakes behind everyday services often taken for granted. Through intimate portraits and on-the-ground reporting, the documentary showcases the power of collective action, capturing organizing efforts led by union leaders as they negotiate fair pay, safer working conditions, and job security for members of North America’s largest labor organization. By tracing the strategies, struggles, and solidarity of these workers, Who Moves America illuminates the human backbone of modern commerce and offers a vivid, urgent portrait of labor in motion—a story of resilience, organizing, and the fight to reclaim dignity on the job. —Jessie Fairbanks

An Evening with Ritesh Batra + The Lunchbox
2026-04-27 19:00 - 21:00 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, United States
Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox unfolds as a quietly radiant tale of connection amid the everyday bustle of Mumbai. Ila (Nimrat Kaur) prepares daily meals for her husband, but a mistaken delivery through the city’s famed dabbawala network sends her lunches to Saajan (Irrfan Khan), a solitary office worker nearing retirement. Over time, the pair build an unexpected bond through notes tucked inside the lunchboxes, sharing thoughts and small confidences that bridge their separate lives. Batra’s debut feature offers a luminous observation of loneliness and intimacy, capturing city rhythms with warmth, humor, and humanity. Anchored by the magnetic performances of Kaur and Khan, the drama transforms an ordinary culinary mishap into a moving story of hope and the quiet power of human connection. —Jessie Fairbanks

Sound and Cinema Showcase
2026-04-27 19:30 - 21:30 | San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), 200 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA, 94102, United States
The 2nd annual Sound and Cinema Showcase celebrates our partnership with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, our filmmaking fellows, and student composers. After the films screen, there will be a Q&A with the participants.
Films are in alphabetical order rather than order of play. Total runtime is 90 min.
Breathing Room
Elivia Shaw (USA 2026, 18 min)
In California’s Central Valley—the region that feeds the nation—a team of Mexican doctors fights to provide essential care to a community caught between environmental hazards and inhumane immigration policies.
The Darkest Night
Andrés Gallegos (Chile 2026, 22 min)
Driven by desperation, 16-year-old Diego uses stolen cash to save his beloved mentor, igniting a confrontation that will change who he is forever.
Perm and Circumstance
Maria Victoria Ponce (USA 2026, 12 min)
Inspired by his idol and wanting to impress the teacher he is crushing on, 13-year-old Juan Po gets a DIY perm done by his father. Now he must survive an entire day at school with a mangled ‘fro.
This program is in partnership with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

First They Came for My College
2026-04-27 20:30 - 22:30 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
Echoing the reality of schools across the country, Sarasota’s New College is caught in the middle of a war on “woke.” With an ambition to “reclaim” the liberal arts institution, Florida governor Ron DeSantis intends to do away with what he perceives as its liberal ideology and replace it with regressive doctrine in alignment with conservative tenets. A group of students band together in resistance, determined to prevent the state from fundamentally changing the school and its mission. With an agitated urgency, Patrick Xavier Bresnan’s essential documentary captures the students as they collaborate with their professors, attend board meetings, question New College’s leadership, and push back against a cultural war that aims to snuff out the very ideas they cherish and emulate. First They Came for My College is both a portrait of conservative overreach and a record of the fearless resistance against it. —Bedatri Choudhury

Figaro Up, Figaro Down
2026-04-28 16:30 - 18:30 | BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States

Centerpiece: I Love Boosters
2026-04-28 18:30 - 20:30 | Grand Lake Theatre, 3200 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA, 94610, 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

Enough Is Enough
2026-04-29 17:00 - 19:00 | BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94720, 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
2026-04-29 17:45 - 19:45 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, 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

Shorts Block 4: Shades of Menace
2026-04-29 18:00 - 20:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, 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 shorts. Filmmakers from six nations deftly wield their mastery over their craft as they demonstrate the many shades of humanity’s dark side. —Jordan Klein
Films are in alphabetical order rather than order of play. Total runtime 89 min
Callback
Matthew Puccini (USA 2026, 16 min)
Max’s acting career has hit rock bottom, but when his boyfriend nabs a callback for a coveted role, Max discovers how much lower he can go.
Corpus Christi
Bea Lema (Spain 2025, 12 min)
A seamstress begins seeing nightmarish visions, but the fabric of her reality is far more sinister than what is woven deeply into her psyche.
The Fall
Maxime Tevissen, Tom Alcamo, Hugo Hannache, Dylan Cam, Alexandre Velves, Titouan Kervajan, Yaëlle Alberti (France 2025, 7 min)
At the site of a plane crash in the high Alps, a mysterious masked mountaineer makes an ominous discovery … they are not alone.
The Veil
Gabriel Motta (Brazil 2025, 20 min)
When he reluctantly participates in one of father’s cultish rituals, Junior witnesses something horrifying beneath a ghostly white veil.
Vultures
Dian Weys (France, South Africa 2025, 15 min)
In the dead of night, a tow truck driver arrives at the scene of an accident where he discovers his payday is far more than he had bargained for.
A Year of Marriage
Pablo Camargo López (Mexico 2025, 19 min)
Things go bump in the night when a newly wedded couple receives a gift, part of a longstanding tradition. A tradition that hungers for raw meat.

The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford
2026-04-29 18:00 - 20:00 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, 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 sidelines cherished traditions. Kenneth’s carefully ordered world begins to unravel. As costumed fans flood the streets and pop‑culture spectacle overshadows local lore, Kenneth’s grasp on reality falters and he plots his own lo‑fi film production. Anchored by Mullan’s commanding performance and a brilliant ensemble, The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford delivers sharp satire and witty reflections on family, obsession, and the quirks of smalltown life, all set against evocative imagery and the stunning Scottish countryside. —Jessie Fairbanks

POV Award: Lynne Sachs + Every Contact Leaves a Trace
2026-04-29 19:00 - 21:00 | BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94720, 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 amassed over 40 years, representing everyone from a boy she slept with in college to tradespeople to film world associates. She settles on a handful to probe in depth—including a textile artist, a hairdresser, a therapist, a film festival director, and Lawrence Brose, a gay filmmaker “canceled” after his controversial conviction for possessing child pornography. With a mass of swirling imagery, Sachs’s own narration, and a sonic sound design underpinned by Stephen Vitiello’s omnipresent score, the film becomes a personal epiphany as Sachs comes to realize that the trace is not only in the cards but in her own imperfect memory. —Pam Grady

Blue Heron
2026-04-29 20:30 - 22:30 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, 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 behavior from her older brother Jeremy. Sasha takes these moments in stride but notes her parents’ conversations in their native tongue that suggest something more serious and worrisome is happening. Director Sophy Romvari captures the sights and sounds of adolescence impeccably and, when the film employs a brave narrative gambit around its halfway point, she ineffably delineates the blur of memory and the tragic inability to avert crisis where one’s personal history is concerned. The extremely intentional camerawork by Maya Bankovic is vibrant but unobtrusive, observing the family (and especially Sasha) with a gentle but probing eye. —Rod Armstrong

Cronos
2026-04-29 20:45 - 23:00 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, 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 device turns up in an antique store. By accident, Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi) learns part of its secret and soon develops a longing for blood—any sort of blood will do, but human is best. All of this is observed by Jesus’s small granddaughter, who alone seems to understand what is happening to him. The film treats its subject matter seriously, but there’s a delicious current of humor underlying the narrative. The sets and art direction are superb; the actors walk a razor-thin line between the overwrought and the ridiculous, without missing a step. Del Toro mixes genres with elegant rhythm and style. This intelligent film is one hell of a debut. —Festival 1994.
Cronos screened at The Festival in 1994 with Guillermo del Toro in person.
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

Lost Land
2026-04-29 20:45 - 23:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, 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 and human dangers that arise on their trek, and the terrifying possibility of separation as they travel towards some new notion of home. Japanese director Akio Fujimoto has been working on films in Malaysia for over a decade and, after witnessing the cruelty inflicted upon the Rohingya people firsthand, he began work on this powerful film. Working closely with cinematographer Yoshio Kitagawa with the camera often at the eye level of the two children who anchor his film, the resulting work has an immediacy that raises awareness of the crisis while also telling a remarkable human story. —Rod Armstrong

Sloan Science on Screen Award: Silent Friend
2026-04-30 16:00 - 18:00 | BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States

The Arch
2026-04-30 18:00 - 20:00 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, 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

Mel Novikoff Award: Michelle Satter + Beasts of the Southern Wild
2026-04-30 19:30 - 21:30 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, United States
Below the levee, the Bathtub exists as a tightknit community unto itself, practically a separate nation from Louisiana and the rest of the United States. There, six-year-old Hushpuppy (Oscar® Best Actress nominee Quvenzhané Wallis) lives a hardscrabble existence with her ill, alcoholic father Wink (Dwight Henry). When Katrina hits, the rising waters engulf the Bathtub while advancing aurochs further threaten Hushpuppy and the rest of the tiny enclave. Benh Zeitlin’s astonishing directing debut won the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize and captured four Academy Award® nominations for a drama that observes the chaos and loss brought forth by the 2005 hurricane through the eyes of a child. What unfolds in this gorgeously shot drama is dreamy and even hallucinatory. And as dire as things sometimes seem, a sense of hope remains in this resilient little girl, carried forth by her boundless imagination. —Pam Grady

The Son and the Sea
2026-04-30 19:30 - 21:30 | BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94720, 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

Elder Son
2026-04-30 20:15 - 22:30 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
“Where are you from?” That question asked of native-born Argentinian teenager Lila (Anita B. Queen), whose parents immigrated from Korea, hovers over Cecilia Kang’s remarkable drama inspired by her own family’s story. The documentary director’s first narrative feature unfolds in three parts as Lila and her taciturn father Antonio (Chang Sung Kim) join a reunion with his rowdy friends to fish and talk about the old days. Then traveling back in time, the drama observes a brash, young Antonio (Sang Bin Suh) in Uruguay as he struggles to make a life for himself and with guilt over leaving his wife and Lila’s older sister in Korea. The last act gets to the heart of the matter in documentary footage of Kang’s parents poring over old photos as they reminisce about settling in South America. Gorgeously photographed, in both fiction and fact, Kang pays loving homage to her parents’ immigrant journey. —Pam Grady

Still Playing + The Curfew + Nava
2026-04-30 20:30 - 22:30 | Marina Theatre, 2149 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States
Three protagonists and their quietly courageous gestures of resilience weave together a cinematic journey across the world. Documenting a father’s struggle in Palestine, a woman’s fateful return to Iran, and the quotidian experiences of Pakistani diaspora, this trio of films raises essential questions about proximity to cruelty, colonialism’s lasting impacts, and what it means to show love and devotion under harrowing circumstances.
Films are listed in order of play. Total runtime is 72 min.
Still Playing
Mohamed Mesbah (France 2025, 37 min)
Palestinian video game creator Rasheed Abueideh raises two sons in the West Bank, where Israeli army raids are as common as his children’s robotics competitions. Interspersed with clips of streamers playing a game of Abueideh’s creation, Liyla and the Shadows of War, this documentary examines the depth of empathy—and apathy—for the Palestinian cause. In continued advocacy for Palestinian liberation, Abueideh’s programming work acts as a medium for grief that honors his land and fallen compatriots. Indeed, the film seeks to interrogate filmmakers and viewers alike, gauging their positionality as conditions in Gaza further deteriorate under Israeli occupation. A portrait of a father committed to his family, homeland, and craft, Still Playing raises essential questions about proximity to cruelty, life under occupation, and the power and limits of multimedia storytelling. —Sabrina Kim
The Curfew
Shehrezad Maher (USA 2025, 19 min)
As Pakistani American Ayaan moves into a new apartment and becomes the caretaker for his grandmother, he hears intergenerational echoes of language and history.
Nava
Dena Rassam (Iran 2025, 16 min)
Iranian singer Nava has 24 hours to spend with her father before she must leave the country.

Salvation
2026-05-01 16:00 - 18:00 | BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94720, 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

How to Clean a House in 10 Easy Steps
2026-05-01 18:00 - 20:00 | Premier Theater at One Letterman, 1 Letterman Dr # B, San Francisco, CA, 94129, United States
Family separation defined the childhood of filmmaker Carolina Gonzalez Valencia, whose mother Beatriz moved to the US from Colombia to provide for her children by working as a domestic house cleaner. Years later, when Gonzalez Valencia tries to make a film about her parent, she discovers it is easier to resort to playful conversations and lots of sequins than it is to probe the immense pain and sacrifice that define her mother’s life. What emerges in this striking directorial debut, replete with playful animated sequences, is a tribute that bends the formal limits of documentary by inviting magic and mischief into the tale. On the brink of another separation, González Valencia and her mother embark on a journey of healing, bringing their community along on an unexpectedly fun ride. How to Clean a House In 10 Easy Steps honors the labor that supports us while celebrating the joy that sustains us. —Bedatri Choudhury
