Etc.
Commentary by Gregg Rickman (greggr1@mindspring.com). Times compiled from information available Tuesday; it's always advisable to call for confirmation. Price given is standard adult admission; discounts often apply for students, seniors, and members.
We're interested in your film or video event. Please send materials at least two weeks in advance to: Film Editor, SF Weekly, 185 Berry, Suite 3800, San Francisco, CA 94107.
ACT ONE/TWO
2128 Center (at Shattuck), Berkeley, (510) 843-FILM, www.landmarktheatres.com. $6. This duplex offers a midnight movie series (plus "drawings for valuable and coveted prizes") on Saturdays. For additional screenings, see our Showtimes page.
SATURDAY (March 15): The Warriors (Walter Hill, 1979) come out to play in Walter Hill's stylish gang movie midnight.
ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.
WEDNESDAY (March 12): Lebanese-born filmmaker Maroun Bagdadi's last movie, La fille de l'air (France, 1992), involves a jailed couple in love. Subtitled 7 p.m.
SATURDAY (March 15): A Swiss comedy, Attention aux chiens (Christophe Marzal, 1999), a tale of a drug-addicted private eye 2 p.m.
AMC KABUKI
1881 Post (at Buchanan), 931-9800. This just-off-Geary multiplex is one site for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. For more info, see www.naatanet.org. Festival tickets $9, before 5 p.m. $6, save as noted. (For the rest of the Kabuki fare, see our Showtimes page.)
WEDNESDAY (March 12): Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity (Mina Shum, Canada, 2002) 7 p.m. "Handmade" (shorts) 7:15 p.m. Four Indo-Canadians are Bollywood Bound in Nisha Pahuja's documentary (Canada, 2002) 7:30 p.m. Unknown Pleasures (Jia Zhang-Ke, China, 2002) 9:15 p.m. Suburban videogamers compete in Tamara Katepoo's Bang the Machine (2002) 9:30 p.m. "Crouching Asian, Hidden Cheese" (shorts) 9:45 p.m.
THURSDAY: Closing Night Gala Screening of Robot Stories (Greg Pak, 2002), with reception to follow. $20 7 p.m. "All in the Family" (shorts) 7:15 p.m. TBA 7:30 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 (March 13): "Ladies and boys and touching," a program of audio and video curated by Astria Suparak, includes Jacqueline Goss' Slapstickers (1999), which asks the question, "What if Dian Fossy and her favorite mountain gorilla Digit had survived and moved to Generica , USA?" Also, Ann Wethersby's Humane Restraint, Karen Yaskinsky's Fear and Alex Villar's Upward Mobility 8 p.m.
FRIDAY (March 14): James Reed's bike messenger documentary [Helmet Optional] screens with Benjamin Connelly's personal documentary about the merits of bikes over SUVs, Widdershins 8 p.m.
SATURDAY (March 15): Live music by Hans Grüsel accompanies the early American avant-garde shorts by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) and Lot in Sodom (1933). Also, Michael Wilson's Flora's Film, about the life and death of the wife of screen pioneer Eadweard Muybridge; and magic lantern slides 8:30 p.m.
CASTRO
429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com. $8. 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: The American Film Theatre series of filmed plays concludes its Castro run with Alan Bates' turn as a bisexual teacher in Simon Gray's Butley (Harold Pinter, U.K., 1974) 2:40, 7 p.m. Jean Genet's tale of two murderous servants, based on a true incident, The Maids (Christopher Miles, 1975), stars Glenda Jackson and Susannah York 12:45, 5:05, 9:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: The Frameline-hosted series "Close-Up: Visionaries of Modern Cinema" offers an evening with independent filmmaker Barbara Hammer, interviewed onstage by Patty White. $12 8 p.m.
FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY: ³The Big Picture², a three-week series marking the 50th anniversary of CinemaScope, opens with a new print of Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) -- a sexploitation soap opera parody that probably isn't what studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck had in mind when Fox introduced the format back in 1953 (though he was still at the studio in 1970). Call for times.
TUESDAY: The Big Picture -- The subtly scary The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963) screens with Tony Scott's unsubtle The Hunger (1983), the lesbian vampire tale with Catherine Deneuve and David "I'm melting" Bowie. Call for times.
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.
DAILY (Closed Mondays): Terry Gilliam's retro futurescape Brazil (1985) screens through March 23 at 6:30, 8:45, 11 p.m.
JEZEBEL'S JOINT
510 Larkin (at Turk), 820-3907, www.sfindie.com; and 401-9768 and www.sfstage.org for the Absolute Time Film Festival, here Friday-Sunday. This "Rock 'n' Roll DJ Bar" offers an "S.F. IndieFest MicroCinema" Mondays through Thursday (this week). Screenings are followed by DJ music at 10 p.m. Programs are free save for the Absolute Time Film Festival, $5 at the door.
WEDNESDAY: Oscar-winning street musician Thoth (Sarah Kernochan, 2002) 8 p.m.
THURSDAY: The underground Austin drug/rock scene's the setting for Bob Ray's Rock Opera (1999) 8 p.m.
FRIDAY: The Absolute Time Film Festival is "devoted to films written, directed, or produced by women and people of color." Tonight, a shorts program includes Maria Gonzalez Palmier's White Like the Moon and Michael Cheng's A Berkeley Love Story 7 p.m.
SATURDAY: Absolute Time -- Lesbian-themed shorts include Jennifer McGlone's Breaking up Really Sucks 7 p.m.
SUNDAY: Absolute Time --Brenda Keesal 's Jack & Ella (2001) is described as "an erotic neurotic love story between an African-Canadian man and Jewish-Canadian woman" 7 p.m.
MONDAY: MicroCinema resumes with their weekly silent, Douglas Fairbanks carving his way through California in The Mark of Zorro (Fred Niblo, 1920) 8 p.m.
TUESDAY: Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968) would be about old enough now to be president ... Hmmm 8 p.m.
MECHANICS' INSTITUTE LIBRARY
57 Post (near Market), 393-0100 and www.milibrary.org/events for information; phone or e-mail rsvp@milibrary.org for reservations. $5. This cultural asset of long standing offers a March series of courtroom dramas on projected video, with salon-style discussions to follow.
FRIDAY (March 14): Otto Preminger's absorbing Anatomy of a Murder (1959), with James Stewart of all people in a seamy tale of rape 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: The Son (Dardenne Brothers, Belgium, 2002); see Ongoing for review. Call for times.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (March 14-20): Im Kwon-Taek's Chi-hwa-seo (Painted Fire, Korea, 2000); 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. 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: Roberto Rossellini's neorealist classic Open City (Italy, 1945) 3 p.m. The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival concludes its run here with Refugee (Spencer Nakasako, 2002) 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: "Rock the Projects," experimental films from UCB undergrads 7 p.m.
FRIDAY: A New Japanese Cinema series commences with Chicken Heart (Hirioshi Shimizu, 2002), a comedy about three losers from Beat Takeshi's longtime A.D. 7:30 p.m. A melancholy love story set in a roadside diner, Hole in the Sky (Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, 2001) 9:15 p.m.
SATURDAY: New Japanese Cinema -- A Korean-Japanese teen awakens to social prejudice in Sang-Il Lee's Blue Chong (1999) 5 p.m. Lee's second feature, Borderline (2002), interweaves three stories 7 p.m. Chicken Heart 9:20 p.m.
SUNDAY: "For the Love of It," the Fifth Annual Celebration of Amateur Film Clubs, screens locally made homemade films from 1964-2002 3 p.m. New Japanese Cinema -- Documentary filmmaker Seiichi Motohashi's Alexei and the Spring (2002) revisits Chernobyl 5:30 p.m. Hiroshi Shinomiya's God's Children (2001) records the effects of a landslide in a Philippines garbage dump where people scavenge for a living 7:35 p.m.
MONDAY: Theater closed.
TUESDAY: A program of Polish Avant-Garde shorts made in 1930-45, including The Adventure of a Good Citizen (Franciszka and Stefan Themerson, 1937), which inspired Polanski's Two Men and a Wardrobe 7:30 p.m.
PARKWAY
1834 Park (at Lake Merritt), Oakland, (510) 814-2400, www.picturepubpizza.com. $5 save as noted. Pizza, beer, and movies on two screens. Call theater for programs, booked a week in advance. The Parkway also offers occasional scheduled special programs.
THURSDAY (March 13): The scheduled Thrillville screening of The Brain from Planet Arous has been cancelled; in its place will rise Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (Charles Lamont, 1953). Live and in person, a Metaluna Mutant 9:15 p.m.
MIDNIGHT SHOW (Saturday): The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975), with live performance by Barely Legal. $6.
RAFAEL FILM CENTER
1118 Fourth St. (at A Street), San Rafael, 454-1222, www.finc.org. $8.50 save as noted. This three-screen repertory theater is operated by the California Film Institute. Programs are complex; check carefully and call for confirmation.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark (Russia, 2002) 6:30, 8:30 p.m. Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, Australia, 2002) 8:45 p.m. Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary (André Heller, Othmar Schmiderer, Austria, 2002) 7, 9 p.m.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: The American Film Theatre series of filmed plays screens Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance (Tony Richardson, 1973), with Katharine Hepburn, Paul Scofield, Lee Remick, Joseph Cotton -- wow Fri 7 p.m.; Sat 4 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY: Call for other films and times.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY: AFT -- For whatever reason, Lee Marvin was cast in the role supposedly owned by Jason Robards, Hickey in the AFT film of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh (John Frankenheimer, 1973), and by all accounts was more than credible. The great cast includes Robert Ryan, Jeff Bridges, Fredric March, and Moses Gunn Sat 7 p.m.; Sun 2 p.m.
SUNDAY & MONDAY: AFT -- Harold Pinter's The Homecoming (Peter Hall, 1973), with Cyril Cusack and Ian Holm 7 p.m.
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY (March 18-19): AFT -- Alan Bates stars as a bisexual teacher in the bitterly witty Butley (Harold Pinter, U.K., 1974), with Jessica Tandy 7, 9:35 p.m.
RED VIC
1727 Haight (at Cole), 668-3994, www.redvicmoviehouse.com.; www.hiphopfest.com for Thursday-Saturday programs. $6.50 save as noted. There's a spot on the couch for you at this collectively owned rep house.
WEDNESDAY: Hilary Birmingham's small-town drama Tully (2002) 2, 7:15, 9:25 p.m.
THURSDAY: A three-day Hip Hop Film Fest opens with Tony Greer's Word, on New York's indie scene, featuring Company Flow, MOP, Eminem, and others 7:15 p.m. Isreal's The Freshest Kids tells the "unknown history of hip hop's first dance" 9:15 p.m.
FRIDAY: Hip Hop -- Street Legendz with Mystic Journeymen and Living Legends Crew; director Todd Hickey in person 7:15 p.m. Joey Garfield's Breath Control: The History of the Human Beatbox, director in person 9:15 p.m.
SATURDAY: Hip Hop -- Nobody Knows My Name (director not listed, appropriately enough), with Medusa 2:15 p.m. A Hip Hop Shorts Program features Spike Jonze's What's Up Fat Lip? 4 p.m. A preview screening of Soundz of Spirit (Joslyn Rose Lyons, 2003), with KRS-One, Blackalicious and more. Director in person 9:15 p.m.
SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY: The Red Vic has booked The Trials of Henry Kissinger (2002); now when will someone book Kissinger? 7:15, 9:15 p.m.; also Sun 2, 4 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.
DAILY: Roland Suso Richter's Cold War drama The Tunnel (Germany, 2001); see Opening for review 6, 9 p.m.; also Wed, Sat, & Sun 2:30 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: Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary (André Heller, Othmar Schmiderer, Austria, 2002); see Ongoing for review. Call for times.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (March 14-20): Im Kwon-Taek's Chi-hwa-seo (Painted Fire, Korea, 2000); see Opening for review. Call for times.
STANFORD
221 University (at Emerson), Palo Alto, (650) 324-3700, www.stanfordtheatre.org. $6. This handsomely restored neighborhood palace usually screens pre-1960 Hollywood fare in the best available prints, with excellent projection and a courteous staff.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Ruth Chatterton runs an auto plant and picks her men at will in Female (Michael Curtiz and William Dieterle, 1933; 7:30 p.m.) while Barbara Stanwyck is the Night Nurse (William Wellman, 1931; 6:05, 8:40 p.m.) protecting her charge from kidnapper Clark Gable.
FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: Two excellent films noir, both directed by Nicholas Ray, In a Lonely Place (1950; 7:30 p.m.; also Sun 3:55 p.m.), a very mature film about Hollywood and its doings with Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, and They Live by Night (1949; 5:40, 9:15 p.m.), a great story of two young lovers (Farley Granger, Cathy O'Donnell) on the run.
MONDAY & TUESDAY: Theater closed.
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 by Swedish video artists through April 13 -- On Wednesdays, Annika Ström's The Artist Live; on Thursdays, Ström's Ten New Love Songs; on Fridays, Anneè Olofsson's Ricochet and The Thrill Is Gone; on Saturdays, Annika Larsson's Cigar; on Sundays, Larsson's 40-15; on Tuesdays, Olofsson's You Need Her and You Want Her Golden Hair. Free with gallery admission 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
WEDNESDAY (March 12): The Latino Film Festival screens Eliseo Subiela's Don't Die without Saying where You're Going (Argentina, 1995), a tale of reincarnated lovers over centuries from the director of Man Facing Southeast." Subiela in person. $8 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY (March 13): The S.F. Cinematheque offers a program of "Post-Industrial Speculations" by Gibbs Chapman (An Examination of Exhibits A(1) -- E(5); congressional hearings reordered in Your Tax Dollars at Work) and James T. Hong (Behold the Asian: How One Becomes What One Is). Filmmakers in person. $7 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY: "Dirty Poole," a two week series of films by gay adult film director Wakefield Poole, commences with the pioneering gay porn films Boys in the Sand (1971; 7 p.m.) and Bijou (1972; 9 p.m.).
SATURDAY: More "Dirty Poole" -- his one "straight" porn film, The Bible (1974) starred Georgina Spelvin in a spoof of silent films 7 p.m.
TUESDAY: An Arab Film Festival screening of Tawfik Saleh's The Dupes (Al Makhdu'un, Iraq, 1972), about three Palestinian refugees in an early film on the theme of exile. $7 7:30 p.m.
FILM NOTES: Local author Rebecca Solint lectures on still photographer Eadweard Muybridge at the S.F. Cinematheque, 800 Chestnut, on Sunday March 16 at 7:30 p.m. Her discussion of her new book, River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West will be accompanied with an illustrated lecture. Call 822-2885 for more info.
