The Festival ¡Cine Latino! lineup looks great again this year -- no surprise, really. As usual, it boasts films made all over Latin America and beyond, from Florida to Brazil. And as movie-mad Bay Area audiences have come to expect, shorts, documentaries, and feature films are all on the bill, which covers themes like immigration, politics, and the melding of African and Latin American histories. Organizers are especially proud of the curatorial work of local filmmaker Pepe Urquijo in the shorts program "Fact vs. Ficcion," but what sounds the most exciting to us is one of the opening night pictures: Two 9/11s in One Lifetime/Dos 11 de Septiembre en Una Vida. For Chileans, that date has had a sad significance since 1973, when many fled the right-wing coup of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. A lot of those folks came to the United States, with babes in arms. Those babies are now of filmmaking age, one of them being Ariel Lopez, who seems to be trying to make sense of the day that's twice as bad for Chileans living here. The festival begins at 7 p.m. Friday and continues through Sunday at the University of San Francisco's Presentation Theatre, 2350 Turk (at Masonic), S.F. Admission is $5-30; call 422-2434 or visit www.cineaccion.com.
-- Hiya Swanhuyser
Film Threat
"Trannyshack" takes the lead
TUES 9/21
Tuesday nights at the Stud have been a descent into DIY art-/mind-fuck madness since 1996, when performer Heklina first started throwing the weekly dragfest known as "Trannyshack." In that time, the temptresses who have mounted the stage -- and anything else that didn't fight back -- have ranged far from the traditional soignée female celebrity impersonators. Tonight you'll get to see some of the all-time classics as regulars prepare to have their hijinks recorded for posterity in the now-in-production "Trannyshack" documentary (which Heklina and filmmaker Sean Kandohla-Mullens hope will be ready in time for film festivals in 2005). Catch Peaches Christ and Squeaky Blonde's Charles Manson/Sharon Tate number; the return of the first Miss Trannyshack, The Steve Lady; and Buttlicka's, um, twisted dog show at 10 p.m. at the Stud, 399 Ninth St. (at Harrison), S.F. Admission is $7; call 252-7883 or visit www.studsf.com.
-- Joyce Slaton
Dirty Work?
Hotshots of S/M play in time for the Folsom Street Fair
SAT 9/18
For more than two decades, photographer Barbara Nitke has presented a stunning visual narrative of sexuality, her haunting images capturing intimate S/M moments between consenting adults that are graphic but never obscene. A book (Kiss of Fire), a high-profile lawsuit challenging John Ashcroft on Internet free speech, a faculty position at the School of Visual Arts, and many one-woman shows later, Nitke brings her work to S.F. with a weeklong lineup of events. The festivities kick off with an opening party for the "Sex, Art & Politics" show, featuring photos by Nitke and others, at 8 p.m. at the Mark I. Chester Studio, 1229 Folsom (at Eighth Street), S.F. Suggested donation is $5-10; call 364-1820 or visit www.barbaranitke.com.
-- Charyn Pfeuffer
Grope a Luminary
SAT 9/18
Ever felt up someone semifamous? If not, your opportunity arrives tonight at the "Celebrity & Star F*#!ers Gala," a benefit featuring turns from author Michelle Tea, songstress Tami Hart, the Big Bottom Burlesque Dancers, plus a kissing booth with SuicideGirls and Lusty Lady peelers, starting at 7 at Femina Potens, 465 South Van Ness (at 16th Street), S.F. Admission is $5-10; call 861-2240 or visit www.feminapotens.com.
-- Joyce Slaton
