4-Star Theatre. Hunting Elephants: Jonathan (Gil Blanks) is teenager whose father (Tzvika Hadar) dies on the job as a security guard at a bank, where the unctuous manager uses a loophole in the fine print to deny the family any insurance compensation. Jonathan begins reconnecting with his estranged grandfather Eliyahu (Sasson Gabai), and along with Eliyahu's friend Nick (Moni Moshonov), they plan to rob the bank, with the help of Jonathan's Uncle Michael (Patrick Stewart), a flamboyant British stage actor. Fri., May 15. 2200 Clement, San Francisco, 666-3488, lntsf.com/4-star-theatre.html.
Balboa Theatre. Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll: John Pirozzi's documentary looks at Cambodia's music culture before the encroachment of the Vietnam War, and the subsequent genocide under Pol Pot, during which musicians and other artists had to lie about what they did to avoid being summarily executed. While it existed, Cambodia's music scene had plenty to offer both the young and old, and the lo-fi recording technology combined with the sheer energy of the performances by the Cliff Richard-inspired Baksei Cham Krung or the surf-heavy Bayon Band give the music a kind of timelessness. Through May 14. I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story: Dave LaMattina and Chad N. Walker's documentary takes us inside the man inside the world's first favorite muppet. A slathering of sentimentally triumphant music emphasizes what seems like a feeling of protectiveness for their subject, but fair enough. Seen in archive footage, the moment when Big Bird learned his human friend Mr. Hooper had died is, as ever, completely devastating. May 15-21. 3630 Balboa, San Francisco, 221-2184, balboamovies.com.
Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center. Wine Enthusiast Wine & Film Series: Oenophiles and cinephiles unite for a month of movie screenings followed by wine samplings, with the films all involving fermentation of the grape and the industries that surround it, including Bottle Shock (May 7), Somm (May 14), A Year in Champagne (May 21), and Corked! (May 28). Thursdays. Continues through May 28. $12. rafaelfilm.cafilm.org/wine-and-film. 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael, 454-1222, rafaelfilm.cafilm.org.
Clay Theatre. Iris: The final film from late, great documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles is this intimate profile of 93-year-old NYC fashion icon (and stunna shades superstar) Iris Apfel. Daily. 2261 Fillmore, San Francisco, 267-4893, landmarktheatres.com.
Embarcadero Center Cinema. The D Train: In planning his 20-year reunion, Pittsburgh schlub Dan Landsman (Jack Black) aggravates the inferiority complex he's been nursing since high school, so he contrives to nab a reunion RSVP from former class cool kid Oliver Lawless (James Marsden). Thus begins a farfetched bromantic farce in which unexpected developments ensue, including actual hilarity, amazing Black-Marsden chemistry, and a scorched-earth subversion of the default homophobia that's otherwise so common to movies like this. Daily. Wild Tales: A cornucopia of comeuppance, this exuberant pulp anthology from Argentine writer-director Damián Szifrón would like to point out how ready and willing humans still are to act like animals. The tales include a perhaps deservedly unlucky assembly of airplane passengers; a dish of revenge best served at a late-night diner; a bribery spiral spinning out of control from a drunken rich kid's hit-and-run; an elaborate road-rage duel that'll be the envy of Tarantino; a demolitionist getting his own blow-up button pushed by parking-enforcement bureaucracy; and one catastrophically tacky wedding. Daily. Clouds of Sils Maria: Much of Oliver Assayas' Clouds of Sils Maria is a terrific two-hander between successful-but-aging actress Maria (Juliette Binoche) — who has reluctantly agreed to participate in a revival of the play that made her famous 20 years prior, with her original role now assayed by a troubled, tabloid-bait starlet — and her assistant Val (Kristen Stewart), who runs lines with Maria while engaging in occasionally fourth-wall-pushing philosophical debates about innocence versus maturity, what it means to have integrity as a celebrity in modern Hollywood, and everything in between. Daily. Far from the Madding Crowd: Tonight's episode of The Dating Game comes to you from 19th-century England, where our bachelorette has just come into possession of some land and multiple options for new suitors: a steadfast shepherd, a volatile soldier, and a middle-aged fellow farmer who once wouldn't give her the time of day but now can't get her out of his mind. Director Thomas Vinterberg's tastefully lush adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel may not be the most innovative literary update, but as a new episode of an old game show, it's a swoon-worthy knockout. Daily. 1 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, 267-4893, landmarktheatres.com.
Exploratorium. Saturday Cinema: Weekly thematic film screenings presented in the Kanbar Forum by the Exploratorium's Cinema Arts program. Saturdays. Free with museum admission. Pier 15, San Francisco, 528-4444, exploratorium.edu.
Main Library, Koret Auditorium. Scapegoat: The 1871-1906 San Francisco City Hall: Architect, historian, and filmmaker Glenn Lym presents his hourlong documentary about the history of the S.F. City Hall building, with a primary focus on how its destruction following the 1906 earthquake made it a symbol for public concerns of corruption within its walls. After the film, Lym joins Stanford architectural history professor Paul V. Turner and historian Chris Carlsson for a Q&A session. Wed., May 20, 6 p.m. Free. lymarch.com. 100 Larkin, San Francisco, 557-4595, sfpl.org.
New People. Cinema Armenia Film Festival: In memory of the Armenian genocide's centennial, this three-day festival presents a series of short films, documentaries, and dramatic features, including several Bay Area premieres: The Cut by Fatih Akin, 1915 by Garin Hovannisian & Alec Mouhibian, Paradjanov by Olena Fetisova & Serge Avedikian, and SaroyanLand by Lusin Dink. May 15-16, 2-11 p.m.; Sun., May 17, 2-10 p.m. $10-$25 per program (or $50-$70 for all-access festival pass). rememberanddemand.org. 1746 Post, San Francisco, 525-8630, newpeopleworld.com.
The Omni. Sex Work ≠ Trafficking: The San Francisco Bay Area Sex Worker Film & Arts Festival and Red Light Legal join forces to fight stigmas and legal oppositions to sex work with an evening of documentaries and discussions. Films to be screened include Carol Leigh's Collateral Damage: Sex Workers & The Anti-Trafficking Campaigns, Muchaneta's Being a Refugee Is Hard, and Becky's Journey by Sine Plambech. Wed., May 20, 7 p.m. $10-$40. sexworkerfest.com. 4799 Shattuck, Oakland, omni-oakland.org.
Opera Plaza Cinemas. What We Do in the Shadows: In this mockumentary written and directed by two Flight of the Conchords guys, Vladislav, Viago, Deacon, and Nick are vampires of varying antiquity who cohabitate in a grungy flat in New Zealand. Followed by a documentary crew, they go on about the business of both being undead (if foppish) ghouls who feed on the blood of humans to survive, as well as being a bunch of straight men living together, which means the dishes and other basic chores tend to go undone. Daily. Tangerines: Essentially a chamber-drama allegory, writer-director Zaza Urushadze's Tangerines takes its title from its setting — a war-defiled grove of citrus trees in Georgia — and is powered by casually great, lived-in acting, particularly from Lembit Ulfsak as the old man under whose roof a gruff Chechen mercenary (Giorgi Nakashidze) and his sensitive young Georgian foe (Mikheil Meskhi) find themselves facing off. Being a heart-on-sleeve humanist, Urushadze doesn't get into the particulars of the civil war in question, as if not to dignify them. Being also an Eastern European, he very helpfully doesn't dignify sentimentalism either. Daily. Dior and I: Frédéric Tcheng's latest contribution to ever-burgeoning field of fashion documentaries follows newbie Christian Dior artistic director Raf Simons, erstwhile fashion "minimalist," through the expedited creation and delivery of his first haute couture collection, seeming like the movie equivalent of one of those glossy multi-page ad spreads that thicken up your favorite perfume-scented magazines. Or, at best, like an extended and extremely haute episode of Project Runway. Daily. Félix and Meira: Ever since the first full-length talking picture, Alan Crosland's 1927 The Jazz Singer, the struggle between Orthodox Judaism and the secular world has been a recurring theme. In Maxime Giroux's Félix and Meira, the latter (Hadas Yaron) is a young Hasidic wife and mother living the sheltered life her culture demands, when a chance encounter with the kind yet secular Félix (Martin Dubrueil) inspires Meira to consider the possibility of living life on her own terms, rather than those dictated by her religion and her strict husband Shulem (Luzer Twersky). Daily. Dark Star: H.R. Giger's World: As the overture of Belinda Sallin's film recounts it, approaching the late H.R. Giger's woods-ensconced Zurich home felt a little like going upriver in Apocalypse Now, on account of the jungly enclosure, and the many skulls, and the general aura of derangement. But of course the main Giger movie association will always be Alien. Talking-head consensus seems to be that Giger's work tapped into the otherwise unremembered trauma of the perinatal journey; all he really knew was that in general he put his exquisitely creepy visions on canvas to keep them from freaking him out. Starting May 15. Daily. 601 Van Ness, San Francisco, 777-3456, landmarktheatres.com.
Park Branch Library. Asian Rock Films: In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Richie Unterberger screens performance clips of musicians from Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines, including songs by Shonen Knife, Dengue Fever, Cibo Matto, and many more. Wed., May 20, 6:30 p.m. Free. 1833 Page, San Francisco, 355-5656, sfpl.org.
Presidio Officers' Club. Rising from the Ashes: Robert Byrne discusses the restoration of Siegmund Lubin's 1913 film When the Earth Trembled, an early epic (at least according to the standards of the time) that re-created the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 — and the restored version of which will make its premiere May 29 at the Castro Theatre as part of this year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Thu., May 14, 7 p.m. Free with RSVP. silentfilm.org. 50 Moraga, San Francisco, 561-4000, presidioofficersclub.com.
Roxie Theater. Heaven Adores You: The tricky thing about being a successful artist is actually dealing with that success. Some weather it well, while others — like Elliott Smith, the subject of Nickolas Dylan Rossi's loving tribute Heaven Adores You — not so much. Smith's Oscar-nominated song "Miss Misery" found him in the global spotlight, whether he liked it or not, and though his death by double stab wounds to the chest at age 34 is left unexamined, Heaven Adores You means to celebrate Smith's life, not his death. Through May 21. Impossible Light: Learn the story behind the shining success of Leo Villareal's popular Bay Lights art project, which lit up the Bay Bridge with towering strands of silvery LED lights despite immense logistical difficulties. Thu., May 14, 7 p.m. $10-$25. impossiblelightfilm.com. Is It Really So Strange? The Smiths Music Video Sing A Long Show: SF IndieFest invites you to poof up your pompadour for a night of musical miserablism featuring Smiths and Morrissey videos, a Moz costume contest, and special guests Konrad Knutsen from This Charming Band and Steve "DJ Shindog" Indig from New Wave City. Fri., May 15, 9:30 p.m. $12. sfindie.com. Finding the Gold Within: Nearly four years in the making, this documentary follows a half-dozen young black males — all participants in Ohio's Alchemy, Inc., youth storytelling and community support program — as they make the difficult transition to adulthood. This week director Karina Epperlein and protagonists Brandyn Costa and Darius Simpson make a series of Bay Area appearances to talk about their experiences, including stops at the Roxie Theater (7 p.m. Sunday, May 17), David Brower Center (7 p.m. Tuesday, May 19), and Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center (7 p.m. Wednesday, May 20). Sun., May 17, 7 p.m. $10. goldthefilm.com. American Vagabond: Despite its reputation as a homosexual mecca, San Francisco's harsh financial realities become all too painfully apparent to two gay runaways in this 2013 documentary by Finnish filmmaker Susanna Helke, who makes a personal appearance tonight to discuss the movie with Tom Sika of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. Mon., May 18, 7 p.m. $7.50-$10. 3117 16th St., San Francisco, 863-1087, roxie.com.
Sundance Kabuki Cinemas. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared: When the 100-year-old man in question — the simpleminded Allan (Robert Gustafsson) — gets revenge on the fox that killed his cat by blowing the fox up, he's exiled to a nursing home. Allan's subsequent escape leads to a cross-country chase involving the police, a motorcycle gang, and an elephant while Allan flashes back to key moments from his century. Comparisons to Forrest Gump are inevitable, but unlike that film's unpleasantly conservative morality, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is gleefully amoral, while also ruminating on how families are formed. Starting May 15. Daily. The 55th Film Finals: Jury-selected showcase of the year's best films by students from the SFSU Cinema Department. Tue., May 19, 7 p.m. Free. sffilmfinals.com. 1881 Post, San Francisco, 346-3243, sundancecinemas.com/kabuki.html.
Vogue Theatre. Albert Maysles Memorial Film Festival: It's hard to believe there's never been a full-on retrospective of documentarian Albert Maysles' work, and it's a shame that it took his death this past March for such a thing to occur, but better late than never! More than a dozen of his films from 1962 to 2011, many in collaboration with his brother David, will be shown over the course of a week, including Grey Gardens, Anastasia, Meet Marlon Brando, the Oscar-nominated LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, the 10-minute Orson Welles in Spain, multiple films about the Rolling Stones and Christo, and more. Through May 14. 3290 Sacramento, San Francisco, 346-2288, voguesf.com.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Basketball Jones: Hoops on Screen: From loving tributes to NYC pickup ballers to bittersweet documentaries about could-have-beens and should-have-beens, the YBCA takes it to the hole in May with four films about b-ball: Hoop Dreams (2 p.m. Saturday & Sunday, May 9-10), From Deep (7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 14), Doin' It in the Park (2 p.m. Sunday, May 17), and Lenny Cooke (2 p.m. Sunday, May 24). Thu., May 14, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., May 17, 2 p.m.; Sun., May 24, 2 p.m. $8-$10. Kevin Jerome Everson: Frames Connecting Necessity and Coincidence: San Francisco Cinematheque and the YBCA co-present a two-night survey of works by the prolific filmmaker who takes an experimental approach to documenting contemporary African-American life. Tuesday's feature, The Island of St. Matthews, looks at the relationship between a frequently flooded riverside community and the river that simultaneously nourishes and threatens it, while Wednesday's program focuses on seven of Everson's recent short films. May 19-20, 7:30 p.m. $6-$10. sfcinematheque.org. 701 Mission, San Francisco, 978-2787, ybca.org.
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