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21 GRAND
449B 23rd St. (between Telegraph and Broadway), Oakland, (510) 444-7263, 21grand@onebox.com.
WEDNESDAY (April 30): Chicago filmmakers Jim Finn and Dean Rank in person with their Men and Animals Film Tour featuring Finn's Super-Max (2003), a tour of maximum-security prisons shot from a moving car, and the premiere of Rank's latest, Team (2003), all about man's favorite sport -- football. $5-10 sliding scale 8, 10 p.m.
ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.
WEDNESDAY (April 30): Miou-Miou, Carmen Maura, Marthe Keller, and Marisa Berenson are among the Women (1997) of Luis Galvao Teles' all-star drama 7 p.m.
SATURDAY (May 3): Aging painter Louis Ducreux is visited by his family in Bertrand Tavernier's A Day in the Country (1984) 2 p.m.
ARTISTS' TELEVISION ACCESS
992 Valencia (at 21st Street), 824-3890, www.atasite.org for most programs, www.othercinema.com for Saturday evening programs. $5 save as noted. This venue offers all manner of strange and unusual video and film.
THURSDAY (May 1): Chicago filmmakers Jim Finn and Dean Rank in person with their Men and Animals Film Tour (for details, see 21 Grand entry) 8 p.m.
FRIDAY (May 2): The Sunday Night Blues Spring Fever Film Festival screens shorts by the local comedy team 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY (May 3): A post-May Day program aims at Re-Tooling Dissent, as Street Rec's documentary of protests at a 2002 World Economic Forum puts it. Also screening are the Yes Men's Incredibly Stupid Stunt (a WTO hoax), Lord of the Rings of Free Trade, and video work by the Surveillance Camera Players 8:30 p.m.
CASTRO
429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com. $8 for regular Castro programming; 931-FILM, www.sffs.org, and $10 for SFIFF programs. The 46th San Francisco International Film Festival closes here Thursday. Short-run rep in a spectacular 1922 Greco-Roman-themed palace designed by Timothy L. Pflueger. Evening intermissions feature David Hegarty or Bill McCoy on the Mighty Wurlitzer.
WEDNESDAY: Hashiguchi Ryosuke's Hush! (Japan, 2001); see Ongoing for review 1:30, 4:15, 7, 9:45 p.m.
THURSDAY: SFIFF -- Virgin of Lust (Ripstein, Mexico) noon.Hukkle (Pálfi, Hungary) 3:30 p.m.The Closing Night film is Dopamine (Mark Decena, 2003), followed by a party at Bimbo's. Film only $20, film and party $75. It all starts here at 7 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY: Jean-Pierre Melville's restored, rediscovered thriller Le Cercle Rouge (France, 1970), with Alain Delon, Gian Maria Volonté, and Yves Montand, screens through May 15 2, 5, 8 p.m.
CLAY
2261 Fillmore (at Clay), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. "Laugh Riot," an eight-week midnight series of comedies, continues; www.8tales.com for more info. For the rest of the Clay's schedule, see our Showtimes page. $5.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY (May 2 & 3): Before A Mighty Wind there was Break Like the Wind, an album by the legendary band This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1983), with Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean. Added attractions on Saturday include a game of "What's down my trousers" midnight.
FOREIGN CINEMA
2534 Mission (between 21st and 22nd streets), 648-7600, www.foreigncinema.com. Free with meal. This restaurant screens foreign films, usually in 35mm, on the back wall of its outdoor patio, with drive-in speakers available for the tables of those who want to watch while they dine.
WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: A mail carrier (Massimo Troisi) seeks love and poetic license in Il Postino (Michael Radford, Italy, 1994), screening through May 4 8, 10 p.m.
MONDAY: Closed.
STARTS TUESDAY: Ken Russell's Tommy (1975) screens through May 25 at 8:15 & 10:15 p.m.
FOUR STAR
2200 Clement (at 23rd Avenue), 666-3468, www.hkinsf.com. $7.50. This enterprising theater hosts occasional special screenings. For regular screenings, see our Showtimes page.
THURSDAY (May 1): Werepad impresario Jacques Boyreau screens an underrated -- in fact almost unknown -- high school revenge drama, Massacre at Central High (Rene Daalder, 1976; 7, 10:15 p.m.), that as I recall builds up quite a head of narrative steam. Also, his own sci-fi spoof, Candy von Dewd (2002; 9 p.m.).
JEZEBEL'S JOINT
510 Larkin (at Turk), 820-3907, www.sfindie.com. This "Rock 'n' Roll DJ Bar" offers an "S.F. IndieFest MicroCinema" Monday through Friday (most weeks). Screenings are followed by DJ music at 10 p.m. Free.
WEDNESDAY: Alex Cox's acid western Straight to Hell (1987) 8 p.m.
THURSDAY: Bay Area premiere -- Karen Fischer's The Fischerspooner Documentary (2003) records the electroclash duo, known for performing with glitter, confetti, and chocolate sauce (I thought that was Karen Finley) 8 p.m.
FRIDAY: A young woman falls for a teenage rebel in Dani Minnick's Falling Like This, praised for its "truth" by Cameron Crowe 8 p.m.
MONDAY: "Silent Monday" screens John Barrymore as Don Juan (Alan Crosland, 1926) 8 p.m.
TUESDAY: Thanks to an accident and some experimental surgery, Marilyn Chambers passes along a deadly plague in David Cronenberg's Rabid! (Canada, 1977). Much more of a movie than many of Cronenberg's later, more conceptual works 8 p.m.
MECHANICS' INSTITUTE LIBRARY
57 Post (near Market), 393-0100 and www.milibrary.org for information; phone or e-mail rsvp@milibrary.org for reservations. $5. This cultural asset of long standing offers a May series of the films of Michael Powell. Shown on projected video, with salon-style discussions to follow.
FRIDAY (May 2): Critic David Thomson introduces the series with the phantasmagoric Stairway to Heaven (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, U.K., 1946), with David Niven an aviator on heavenly trial 6:30 p.m.
OPERA PLAZA
601 Van Ness (at Golden Gate), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. This multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater. For the rest of the Opera Plaza's schedule, see our Showtimes page. $8.75.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Lukas Moodysson's Lilya 4-Ever (Sweden, 2002). See Ongoing for review. Call for times.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (May 2-8): Damian Pettigrew's documentary portrait Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (France, 2002). See Opening for review. Call for times.
PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE
2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch), Berkeley, (510) 642-1124, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. $8, second show $2 for regular programs; 931-FILM, www.sffs.org, and $10 for SFIFF programs. The 46th San Francisco International Film Festival screens at this venue through May 1. The East Bay mecca for film scholars, part of UC's Berkeley Art Museum, thrives at its on-campus location, up the steps on Bancroft between Telegraph Avenue and the Hearst Gym.
WEDNESDAY: SFIFF -- Hukkle (Pálfi, Hungary) 7 p.m. We Are the Music (Paris, Cuba) 9 p.m.
THURSDAY: SFIFF -- Women's Prison (Hekmat, Iran) 7 p.m. The midlife crisis of a Sunday painter foregrounds Monday Morning (Iosseliani, France) 9:30 p.m.
FRIDAY: A series of classic Chinese martial arts films opens with King Hu's debut, Come Drink With Me (Hong Kong, 1966), which created a new form by blending Chinese opera and Japanese samurai films. New print 7:30, 9:25 p.m.
SATURDAY: Another key early Chinese martial arts film, Zhang Che's One-Armed Swordsman (H.K., 1967), introduced kung fu 2:15, 7 p.m. Che's sequel to Come Drink With Me, Golden Swallow (H.K., 1968) 4:30, 9:15 p.m.
SUNDAY: Eisner Award-winning short films from UCB students 5:30 p.m.
MONDAY: Theater closed.
TUESDAY: "The Inquiring Camera," a new series of documentaries, opens with Kenneth Anger's The Man We Want to Hang (2002), about occultist Aleister Crowley, and Chris Marker's Remembrance of Things to Come (France, 2002), on photographer Denise Bellon's work. Also screening is Marker's Embassy (France, 1974), on the coup in Chile 7 p.m.
PARAMOUNT
2025 Broadway (at 20th Street), Oakland, (510) 465-6400, www.paramounttheatre.com. $5. This beautifully restored picture palace's ongoing "Movie Classics Series" regularly includes a feature plus a newsreel, cartoon, previews, and a few spins of the Dec-O-Win prize wheel.
FRIDAY (May 2): Oakland is to Brooklyn as San Francisco is to Manhattan -- Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977) includes some Brooklyn childhood flashbacks, so it passes as Oakland entertainment. Doors open at 7 p.m., film at 8 p.m.
RAFAEL FILM CENTER
1118 Fourth St. (at A Street), San Rafael, 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $9 save as noted. This three-screen repertory theater, now officially the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, is operated by the California Film Institute. Programs are complex; check carefully and call for confirmation.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Aki Kaurismäki's The Man Without a Past (Finland, 2002) 6:45, 9 p.m. Andrzej Wajda's Zemsta (Poland, 2001) 6:30 p.m. Nowhere in Africa (Caroline Link, Germany, 2002) 7:30 p.m. Pedro Almodóvar's Talk to Her (Spain, 2002) 8:45 p.m. See Ongoing for reviews.
STARTS FRIDAY: Lars von Trier's Medea (Denmark, 1988); see Opening for review. Call for times and other films.
SUNDAY (May 4): The family series "Beyond Borders" screens Tony Collingwood's animated The King's Beard (U.K., 2002), about a king whose beard won't stop growing and an evil sorcerer voiced by Jim Broadbent 1 p.m.
RED VIC
1727 Haight (at Cole), 668-3994, www.redvicmoviehouse.com. $6.50 save as noted. There's a spot on the couch for you at this collectively owned rep house.
WEDNESDAY: Young woman, dead boyfriend -- Lynne Ramsay's Morvern Callar (U.K., 2002) 2, 7:15, 9:25 p.m.
THURSDAY: Eat it and like it -- Delicatessen (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro, France, 1991) 7:15, 9:20 p.m.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: Jeunet and Caro's sinister dream The City of Lost Children (France, 1995). There's quite a difference between these dark early works and the sweetness and light of Jeunet's Amélie -- but the love of coincidence remains the same 7:15, 9:40 p.m.; also Sat 2, 4:20 p.m.
SUNDAY & MONDAY: Japanese filmmaker Hiroshi Teshigahara's look at Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi (1985) 7:15, 9:15 p.m.; also Sun 2, 4 p.m.
TUESDAY: Early Scorsese -- Mean Streets (1973), when all involved were lean and mean 7, 9:20 p.m.
ROXIE
3117 16th St. (at Valencia), 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $8. Short-run repertory in one of the most adventurously programmed theaters in the U.S.A.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Monika Treut's Warrior of Light (Germany/Brazil, 2001); see Ongoing for review 6, 8, 10 p.m.; also Wed 2, 4 p.m.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (May 2-8): Lars von Trier's Medea (Denmark, 1988); see Opening for review 6:15, 8, 9:30 p.m.; also Wed, Sat, & Sun 2, 4 p.m.
SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE
800 Chestnut (at Jones), 822-2885, www.sfcinematheque.org. $7 save as noted. The San Francisco Cinematheque specializes in avant-garde, historical, and experimental films at venues around the Bay Area, including here, its home base.
SATURDAY (May 3): A seven-hour marathon of the films and sound experiments of Jun Jalbuena, "Bridge Pattern for Apology," with artist in person. Titles include The Experience of Airplanes and Tourists Around the World, Cars Animal People, and The Sound of Kids or the Moonless Nights of March 4 p.m.
SF LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER
1800 Market (at Octavia), 865-5555. "Free admission, hot popcorn, cold drinks every last Wednesday of the month." Captioned.
WEDNESDAY (April 30): You're invited to "sing along in black fishnet stockings with party favors provided" at The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1977) 7 p.m.
SHATTUCK
2230 Shattuck (at Kittredge), Berkeley, (510) 843-3456, www.landmarktheatres.com. $9. This venerable theater assigns one of its eight screens to repertory programming. For the rest of the Shattuck's schedule, see our Showtimes page.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Lukas Moodysson's Lilya 4-Ever (Sweden, 2002). See Ongoing for review. Call for times.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (May 2-8): Damian Pettigrew's documentary portrait Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (France, 2002). See Opening for review. Call for times.
SPANGENBERG THEATRE
Gunn High School Campus, 780 Arastradero (at Foothill Expressway), Palo Alto, (650) 354-8263, www.spangenbergtheatre.com. This newly refurbished Center for the Arts offers a 35mm film series on a large 30-foot screen. $5.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY (April 30 & May 1): And the word was Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978) 7 p.m.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY (May 3 & 4): Grease Sat 3:30 p.m.; Sun 2:30 p.m.
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS
701 Mission (at Third Street, in Yerba Buena Gardens), 978-2787, www.YerbaBuenaArts.org. $6 save as noted. This venue's Screening Room is a home for film and video programs of all sorts. Closed Mondays.
DAILY: Continuous-loop screenings of three DVDs, part of the visual arts exhibition "Time After Time: Asia and Our Moment," run through July 13 -- From China, Chinese Utopia and Living Elsewhere, plus Haunted Houses, on Thai soap operas 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
WEDNESDAY (April 30): The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival screens Gebürtig (Robert Schindel & Lucas Stepanik, Austria, 2001), a Holocaust-themed film about a now-successful refugee's return to Austria to testify against a former concentration camp manager. $7 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY (May 2): "On Fire," a monthlong series of recent Korean films, begins with Hong Sang-soo's comedy Turning Gate (2002), about an actor traveling across the country after his latest movie bombs. $6 7 p.m.
SATURDAY (May 3): "On Fire" -- Park Chan-uk's JSA-Joint Security Area (2000), a very popular drama set on the border between North and South. $6 7:30 p.m.
