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Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

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701 Mission St (between 3rd and 4th Streets)
San Francisco, CA 94103 United States

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127 events

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Motherland

Motherland

A maternity hospital in Manila, Philippines, one of the busiest in the world, bursts at the seams with the chaos of new life, as cameras capture the shock of childbirth, the exhaustion of new motherhood, the discomforts of poverty, and the valiant...

USA/Philippines | 94

Citizen Kane with William R. Hearst III

Citizen Kane with William R. Hearst III

Orson Welles’ wildly audacious breakthrough imagines the flamboyant life of mining heir Charles Foster Kane who parlays his fortune into tabloid media superstardom and runs for office as a populist savior. Welles’ 1941 masterpiece of American ambi...

USA | 120

By the Time It Gets Dark

By the Time It Gets Dark

Seeded by a historical event—the Thammasat University massacre of 1976, in which student protesters were murdered by Thai government forces—this elliptical, bewitching film unfurls like a mutant growth from the compost of the past. As a film direc...

Thailand/France/Netherlands/Qatar | 105

Next Skin

Next Skin

Costarring Sergi López and Julieta’s Emma Suárez, and gorgeously set in the Spanish Pyrenees, this tense and sexy exploration of identity and small-town suspicions concerns 17-year-old Léo (Àlex Monner, in a rich and beguiling performance), who re...

Spain/Switzerland | 103

Serenade for Haiti

Serenade for Haiti

“Music is our refuge,” says a student at the Sainte Trinité Music School in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Shot over a seven-year period both before and after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, this vibrant and inspiring tribute to the students and teac...

USA | 70

World Without End (No Reported Incidents)

World Without End (No Reported Incidents)

The poetic, political imagery that has made Jem Cohen an iconoclastic American treasure is on full display in his recent work. World Without End (No Reported Incidents), a portrait of Southend-on-Sea, a working-class British resort town near Londo...

USA | 77

Godless

Godless

In post-Communist era Bulgaria, where the shadow of oppression drives selfish behavior and hidden economies, outwardly impassive Gana works as a home care nurse—a job which provides ample opportunity to supplement her income with stolen ID cards, ...

Bulgaria/Denmark/France | 99

Golden Exits

Golden Exits

Tackling the lives and woes of the hyperarticulate and emotionally manipulative, Perry’s latest effort features an expert ensemble cast in a story about a young woman who comes to work for an archivist and causes a series of emotional ripples amon...

USA | 94

Casting JonBenet

Casting JonBenet

Kitty Green’s provocative film creates a new approach to the JonBenet Ramsey murder case, still a source of endless fascination even after 20 years. By auditioning actors from Ramsey’s Colorado hometown for a film about the crime, this stylized d...

USA/Australia | 81

At Rush!

A Tribute to Ethan Hawke: Maudie

A Tribute to Ethan Hawke: Maudie

In a career spanning thirty years and four Academy Award nominations, Ethan Hawke has solidified his reputation as a truly multifaceted artist, challenging himself as a screenwriter, director, novelist, and actor of the stage and screen. In 2016, ...

Canada/Ireland | 115

At Rush!

Life After Life

Life After Life

As the inexorable progress of industrialization in China makes its way into the lives of village residents Mingchun and his son Leilei, a surprise haunting by Leilei’s dead mother, who has an impassioned plea for her husband, points to a time when...

China | 80

At Rush!

The Incredible Jessica James

The Incredible Jessica James

As an aspiring playwright and children’s theater coach on the rebound from a long-term relationship, former Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams brings her unique mixture of blunt outspokenness and warm vulnerability to this low-key comedy ab...

USA | 83

The Death of Louis XIV

The Death of Louis XIV

In Albert Serra’s masterful The Death of Louis XIV we are a guest in the bedchamber of King Louis (Jean-Pierre Léaud) where, among his loyal servants, all energy and concern is devoted to the King on his deathbed. In the room, Serra presents a pai...

France/Portugal/Spain | 115

At Rush!

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

STEP

STEP

Stepping—a dance style of clapping, stomping, and using the body to make noise for a beat—is high-energy and precise, but the Lethal Ladies step team from The Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women has more to focus on than a cherished trophy...

USA | 83

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

Marjorie Prime

Marjorie Prime

Michael Almereyda’s complex and moving film introduces us to Walter Prime (Jon Hamm), a hologram meant to help the aged Marjorie (stage legend Lois Smith) recall treasured memories shared with her husband. As family members feed Walter questionabl...

USA | 99

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

The Lost City of Z

The Lost City of Z

Director James Gray’s stunning adaptation of David Grann’s bestseller traces the stranger-than-fiction history of an early 20th-century English army officer who believes he’s discovered a long-lost civilization deep in the Amazonian jungle. Part H...

USA | 140

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press

Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press

The trial between Hulk Hogan and Gawker Media seemed like a standard sex-tape lawsuit after the private video was posted online. But Hogan’s lawyers (with the help of a Silicon Valley mogul) won the case, bankrupting Gawker, and signifying a major...

USA | 93

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth

Skillfully adapted from a Russian novella rather than Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth ferociously depicts a young woman, sold into marriage on the manor, as she finds her way to blood-soaked power and sexual fulfillment. Twenty-year-old Florence Pugh gi...

UK | 89

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

Buster’s Mal Heart

Buster’s Mal Heart

In this unsettling narrative, Rami Malek (Mr. Robot) plays an unkempt man named Buster who hides out in unoccupied vacation homes and calls into radio shows ranting about Y2K. In other sequences, he is a mild-mannered hotel concierge named Jonah w...

USA | 98

At Rush!

VR Days

VR Days

Immerse yourself in contemporary cinema and cutting-edge production technology at VR Day, a pilot program at this year’s Festival designed to showcase emergent storytellers in virtual-reality filmmaking. Held at Gray Area—one of the nation’s leadi...

78/52

78/52

Taking a deep dive into Hitchcock’s shower scene in Psycho (1960), director Philippe marshals a perfect assemblage of commentators to discuss its lasting effect. From directors (Peter Bogdanovich, Guillermo del Toro) to editors (Walter Murch), com...

USA | 91

At Rush!

Persistence of Vision Award: Lynn Hershman Leeson...

Persistence of Vision Award: Lynn Hershman Leeson: Tania Libre

Recognized internationally for her innovative work investigating issues key to the workings of society—the relationship between identity and technology and the use of media against censorship and repression—Lynn Hershman Leeson’s film, installatio...

USA | 73

The Death of Louis XIV

The Death of Louis XIV

In Albert Serra’s masterful The Death of Louis XIV we are a guest in the bedchamber of King Louis (Jean-Pierre Léaud) where, among his loyal servants, all energy and concern is devoted to the King on his deathbed. In the room, Serra presents a pai...

France/Portugal/Spain | 115

Mad World

Mad World

Without sanctifying or vilifying its protagonist, Wong Chun’s first feature movingly tells the story of one man afflicted with bipolar disorder. Once a successful stockbroker, Tung (Shawn Yue) is released from a sanatorium and moves into a cramped...

Hong Kong | 101

El Mar La Mar

El Mar La Mar

“You don’t get lost because you can’t see, you get lost because you don’t know where you are.” Weaving breathtaking 16mm footage of land and sky of the Sonoran Desert and eerie off-camera interviews, filmmakers Joshua Bonnetta and J.P. Sniadecki (...

USA | 94

Marie Curie. The Courage of Knowledge

Marie Curie. The Courage of Knowledge

An engaging portrait of the turbulent life of one of history’s most celebrated scientists, Marie Noëlle’s stellar drama depicts the challenges and condescending societal attitudes faced by a woman in a male-dominated field. Noëlle gained access to...

Germany/France/Poland | 95

Muhi – Generally Temporary

Muhi – Generally Temporary

Muhi, a cherubic Palestinian toddler with a life-threatening immune disorder, was transported to an Israeli hospital as a baby for emergency treatment. He and his devoted grandfather have lived there ever since, stuck in a bizarre no man’s land, w...

Israel, Germany | 87

Godless

Godless

In post-Communist era Bulgaria, where the shadow of oppression drives selfish behavior and hidden economies, outwardly impassive Gana works as a home care nurse—a job which provides ample opportunity to supplement her income with stolen ID cards, ...

Bulgaria/Denmark/France | 99

Half-Life in Fukushima

Half-Life in Fukushima

The soothing sound of the sea and the soft winds blowing in the pastures create a false sense of optimism, but everything in this environment is poisoned, including the delicious mushrooms that carpet the surrounding forest. With minimal commentar...

Switzerland/France | 61

At Rush!

Heaven Sent

Heaven Sent

Absurdly funny sequences punctuate this stylized comedy drama from Lebanon. Omar is a heavyset bodyguard who gets the assignment of his dreams, protecting a gorgeous TV personality, though matters are complicated when his brother Omar, a former mi...

France/Lebanon | 70

At Rush!

Serenade for Haiti

Serenade for Haiti

“Music is our refuge,” says a student at the Sainte Trinité Music School in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Shot over a seven-year period both before and after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, this vibrant and inspiring tribute to the students and teac...

USA | 70

In Loco Parentis (School Life)

In Loco Parentis (School Life)

Irish filmmaker Neasa Nî Chianáin and David Rane present a charming and deeply intimate portrait of a year at Headfort boarding school in picturesque Kells, Ireland. Following devoted and wryly funny educators John and Amanda Leyden as they battle...

Ireland, Spain | 100

At Rush!

Maliglutit (Searchers)

Maliglutit (Searchers)

Canadian-Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk’s Maliglutit (Searchers) continues in the breathtaking vein of his unforgettable Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001) with this story of cruelty and cold revenge based loosely on John Ford’s The Searchers (195...

Canada | 94

At Rush!

The Stopover

The Stopover

A planeful of French soldiers finishing a tour in Afghanistan are flown to the island of Cyprus for a three-day recuperative stint of “sport, relaxation, and collective debriefing.” For longtime friends Aurore and Marine and their cohorts, this ex...

France/Greece | 102

The Human Surge

The Human Surge

Eduardo Williams has steadily made a name for himself with a series of indelible shorts featuring young protagonists adrift in strange environments. In his debut feature, a prizewinner at Locarno, he takes the premise further, crafting a dreamlike...

Argentina/Brazil/Portugal | 97

By the Time It Gets Dark

By the Time It Gets Dark

Seeded by a historical event—the Thammasat University massacre of 1976, in which student protesters were murdered by Thai government forces—this elliptical, bewitching film unfurls like a mutant growth from the compost of the past. As a film direc...

Thailand/France/Netherlands/Qatar | 105

The Student

The Student

With visual and verbal verve, The Student tells the story of Venya, a high school student who wields his worn copy of the Bible like a hammer to use against his mom, teachers, and peers. Serebrennikov offers a potent story of bullying behavior whe...

Russia | 118

California Dreams

California Dreams

Toeing the line between documentary, fiction, and uncomfortable comedy, director Mike Ott (Littlerock, Festival 2010; Pearblossom Highway, Festival 2012) returns with an eccentric portrait of five aspiring actors in Lancaster, California, whose Ho...

USA | 85

City of the Sun

City of the Sun

The lives, dreams, and desires of three stalwart denizens of a desolate Georgian mining town provide the framework for this observational and gorgeously rendered film.

Georgia/USA/Qatar/Netherlands | 100

Winter Brothers

Winter Brothers

A powerful batch of moonshine made in the barracks of an industrial compound causes problems for Emil after his coworkers become ill.

Denmark/Iceland | 94

Makala

Makala

Reportedly the first documentary ever selected for Cannes' Critics Week and winner of its Grand Prize, Makala details the almost Sisyphean labor that 28-year-old Congolese Kabwita Kasongo undergoes to bring the charcoal he makes to market.

France | 96

At Rush!

What Will People Say

What Will People Say

Living with her Pakistani family in Oslo, smart and popular Aisha feels pretty assimilated into Norwegian culture and mores – until her father catches her making out with her boyfriend, and her life is upended completely.

Norway/Germany/Sweden | 106

A Man of Integrity

A Man of Integrity

Power struggles and moral compromises feed an escalating conflict when an uncompromising fish farmer clashes with his neighbor and a powerful company that has its sights set on his land.

Iran | 118

The Distant Barking of Dogs

The Distant Barking of Dogs

In the midst of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, a loving, wise, and defiant grandmother raises her two young grandsons.

Denmark/Sweden/Finland | 90

At Rush!

Take a journey through the stars, in this ever-growing experimental work from filmmaker Johann Lurf.

Austria | 99

At Rush!

City of the Sun

City of the Sun

The lives, dreams, and desires of three stalwart denizens of a desolate Georgian mining town provide the framework for this observational and gorgeously rendered film.

Georgia/USA/Qatar/Netherlands | 100

At Rush!

Makala

Makala

Reportedly the first documentary ever selected for Cannes' Critics Week and winner of its Grand Prize, Makala details the almost Sisyphean labor that 28-year-old Congolese Kabwita Kasongo undergoes to bring the charcoal he makes to market.

France | 96

Claire’s Camera

Claire’s Camera

In Hong's effervescent new work, a trio of Koreans in Cannes for the film festival circle around one another and a camera-toting tourist from Paris, played by Isabelle Huppert.

France/South Korea | 69

Generation Wealth

Generation Wealth

As a visual artist and filmmaker, Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles, Festival 2012) has obsessively documented the ultra-wealthy and the gulf between their extravagant lives and their fundamental dissatisfaction as human beings for over 2...

USA | 107

At Rush!

Un Traductor

Un Traductor

Bringing to light a little-known piece of Cuban history, this moving and understated medical drama set in 1989 tells the story of a Russian teacher in Havana drafted to serve as a translator for children brought from Chernobyl for medical treatment.

Canada/Cuba | 108

At Rush!

The Next Guardian

The Next Guardian

In the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, teenage siblings Gyembo and Tashi share a passion for soccer, Facebook, and girls. Gyembo enjoys reading classmates’ Facebook posts while Tashi turns heads with her confident, boyish demeanor.

Hungary/Netherlands | 74

The Third Murder

The Third Murder

Master director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film is a tour-de-force examination of guilt and justice.

Japan | 125

Take a journey through the stars, in this ever-growing experimental work from filmmaker Johann Lurf.

Austria | 99

At Rush!

Purge This Land

Purge This Land

Weaving the story and letters of radical American abolitionist John Brown and the attack on Harper’s Ferry with her own personal history, filmmaker Lee Ann Schmitt (The Last Buffalo Hunt, Festival 2011) uses her signature essay style to create a p...

USA | 80

Tre Maison Dasan

Tre Maison Dasan

Tre, Maison, and Dasan are three boys who all share something in common – one of their parents is in jail.

USA | 94

Those Who Are Fine

Those Who Are Fine

Through striking framing, intense angles, fragmented scenes, and amusing conversations that at first seem to be unrelated, Those Who Are Fine weaves together stories of a young woman at a telemarketing company who takes advantage of the elderly by...

Switzerland | 71

We the Animals

We the Animals

Director Jeremiah Zagar uses the dreamy language and impressionistic narrative of Justin Torres's novel of the same name to tell the coming-of-age story of three young Puerto Rican boys growing up in a loving family shadowed by domestic violence.

USA | 90

At Rush!

City of the Sun

City of the Sun

The lives, dreams, and desires of three stalwart denizens of a desolate Georgian mining town provide the framework for this observational and gorgeously rendered film.

Georgia/USA/Qatar/Netherlands | 100

Claire’s Camera

Claire’s Camera

In Hong's effervescent new work, a trio of Koreans in Cannes for the film festival circle around one another and a camera-toting tourist from Paris, played by Isabelle Huppert.

France/South Korea | 69

At Rush!

The Judge

The Judge

Judge Kholoud Al-Faqih became the first female appointed to any of the Middle East’s Shari’a courts in 2009, challenging longstanding traditions and customs of women’s roles in society.

USA/Palestine | 82

The Children Act

The Children Act

The masterful Emma Thompson delivers an exceptionally compassionate performance as Fiona May, a British High Court judge who is given a challenging case that asks her to balance deeply held religious beliefs and the state's duty to protect children.

UK | 105

At Rush!

Suleiman Mountain

Suleiman Mountain

Without preamble, a young Kyrgyz boy is taken out of an orphanage and into the lives of his supposed parents who make ends meet by running various cons on unsuspecting villagers.

Kyrgyzstan/Russia | 103

At Rush!

I Am Not a Witch

I Am Not a Witch

"The child is a witch,” exclaim the villagers in the opening of this strikingly beautiful first feature by Rungano Nyoni.

UK/France/Zambia/Germany | 93

At Rush!

The Distant Barking of Dogs

The Distant Barking of Dogs

In the midst of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, a loving, wise, and defiant grandmother raises her two young grandsons.

Denmark/Sweden/Finland | 90

Carcasse

Carcasse

Extraordinary images abound of an imagined future or past: the abandoned husk of a downed airplane used as an animal shed, chickens pecking feed from an old construction helmet, a raft with a roof made from an old car, transporting sheep across a ...

Iceland/France | 61

Purge This Land

Purge This Land

Weaving the story and letters of radical American abolitionist John Brown and the attack on Harper’s Ferry with her own personal history, filmmaker Lee Ann Schmitt (The Last Buffalo Hunt, Festival 2011) uses her signature essay style to create a p...

USA | 80

The Sower

The Sower

In a rural mountain village in 1851, it is up to the women to bring in the grain harvest after all their men have been arrested for sedition.

France/Belgium | 100

Angels Wear White

Angels Wear White

The assault of two underage girls by a local official in a sunlight-bathed seaside town becomes the focal point for this seething study of the challenges women face in Chinese society.

China/France | 107

Shirkers

Shirkers

"When I was 18, I had so many ideas," reflects Sandi Tan in this buoyant personal documentary.

USA | 96

At Rush!

Carcasse

Carcasse

Extraordinary images abound of an imagined future or past: the abandoned husk of a downed airplane used as an animal shed, chickens pecking feed from an old construction helmet, a raft with a roof made from an old car, transporting sheep across a ...

Iceland/France | 61

The Grand Bizarre

The Grand Bizarre

A tantalizing, textile overload, experimental animator Jodie Mack’s feature debut vibrates with color, sound, and place. Shot on 16mm and guided by a playful and pulsating soundtrack, The Grand Bizarre is a visual delight of texture and fabri...

USA | 61

Lapü

Lapü

Doris is a young Wayuú woman who dreams of a reunion with her deceased cousin. After seeking advice from her grandmother, she learns that this vision obligates her to exhume her cousin’s remains from her grave and lead a "second burial,” whic...

Colombia | 75

Ramen Shop

Ramen Shop

After his father’s death, bicultural chef Masato heads to Singapore to find out more about his mother and the culinary bounty that has made the island city-state such a foodie destination. Guided by food blogger Miki, Masato seeks the perfect...

Singapore | Fiction Feature | 90

Minute Bodies: The Intimate Lives of F. Percy Smith

Minute Bodies: The Intimate Lives of F. Percy Smith

Scientist F. Percy Smith pioneered “micro-cinema” – building his own equipment for time-lapse photography and other techniques to film plants and organisms at a microscopic level. Weaving together Smith’s black-and-white found footage from th...

UK | 63

Belmonte

Belmonte

A moody Uruguayan artist who paints nudes, Belmonte is facing a midlife crisis while preparing for an exhibition. As his ex-wife prepares for motherhood with her new lover, he seeks a closer relationship with his precocious daughter Celeste a...

Uruguay | Fiction Feature | 75

Wild Rose

Wild Rose

The Innocent

The Innocent

The Grand Bizarre

The Grand Bizarre

Lapü

Lapü

Belmonte

Belmonte

What We Left Unfinished

What We Left Unfinished

A Faithful Man

A Faithful Man

Asako I & II

Asako I & II

At Rush!

Night and Day

Night and Day

This year’s Mel Novikoff Award winner, the BBC series Arena, celebrated its 40th anniversary of arts programming in 2015, with Night and Day. Co-created and directed by Anthony Wall, the series’ longtime executive producer, the film is a dist...

UK | 540

First Night Nerves

First Night Nerves

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