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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 films shown on projected video, with salon-style discussions to follow.
FRIDAY (July 11): Jacques Demy's good musical Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (France, 1967) is even better than the more popular Umbrellas of Cherbourg, starring sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac, plus the imimitable Gene Kelly in a "CinemaLit Bastille Week delight" 6:30 p.m.
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: A two-month series of campy takes on immorality, "Excess of Evil," screens Ken Russell's version of Aldous Huxley's history of religious madness and possession The Devils (U.K., 1971), with Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: A two-week series of the films of Finland's Aki Kaurismäki continues with Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana (1994; 7:30 p.m. ), about two Finns trying to hook up with two women from the exSoviet Union, and Drifitng Clouds (1997; 8:50 p.m. ), about a couple who lose their jobs -- considered by many to be Kaurismäki's best film.
FRIDAY: Kaurismäki's Drifitng Clouds at 7:30 p.m. , followed by the funny Ariel (1989), about the misadventures of an unemployed miner.
SATURDAY: Aki Kaurismäki -- Jean-Pierre Léaud seeks death but changes his mind in I Hired a Contract Killer (1990; 5:20, 9 p.m. ). Kaurismäki remakes the old play about bohemian students and their lovers as La Vie de bohème (France, 1992; 7 p.m. ).
SUNDAY: Kaurismäki -- The Match Factory Girl (1990; 5:30 p.m. ) plots revenge. Screens with Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana 7 p.m.
MONDAY: Theater closed.
TUESDAY: A series of the films of Lithuania's Sarunas Bartas continues with Few of Us (1996), about a woman's visit to some distant mountains 7:30 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 (July 11): The original King Kong (1933) -- probably due for some lousy CGI reincarnation any year now. Accept no substitutes! Doors open at 7 p.m. , film at 8 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 (July 10): The Brainwash Movie Festival offers "mind blowing" shorts. See www.BrainwashM.com for more 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), 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: A spelling bee leaves kids Spellbound (Jeff Blitz, 2003) 6:30 p.m., also Thurs 8:40 p.m. Jacques Perrin's Winged Migration (France, 2002) 7, 9 p.m. See Ongoing for reviews.
WEDNESDAY: Nowhere in Africa (Caroline Link, Germany, 2002) 7:30 p.m. A two-day Hip Hop Film Festival screens a program of shorts, including Spike Jonze's What's up Fatlip? 9 p.m.
THURSDAY: Hip Hop Film Fest -- Kevin Epps' Straight Outta Hunters Point 7 p.m. Isreal's The Freshest Kids 9 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY: The resored western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, Italy, 1966) opens; Spellbound and Winged Migration continue. Call for times.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY: In honor of Bob Hope, a new print of My Favorite Blonde (Sidney Lanfield, 1942) -- the one about the penguin 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: Lukas Moodysson' s Lilya 4-Ever (Denmark, 2002), about a 15-year-old Russian girl victimized by the international capitalism of prostitution 2, 7, 9:20 p.m.
THURSDAY: "Sound and Vision," a program of short films, offers screen collages by the Overdub Club at 7:30 p.m. plus "Barbie Explosion" at 9:30 p.m.
FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY: A compilation of 80-year-old French porn, The Goold Old Naughty Days (France, 2002) 7:30, 9:30 p.m.; also Sat & 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: What I Want My Words to Do to You: Voices From Inside a Women's Maximum Security Prison (Madeleine Gavin, Judith Katz, and Gary Sunshine, 2003) documents a writing workshop led by Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues). Screens through July 16. Ensler in person for 6 and 8 p.m. shows on Wednesday, July 9. See Opening for review 6, 8, 10 p.m.; also Wed, Sat, & Sun 2, 4 p.m.
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.
THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY (July 3-5): A bourgeois woman and a prostitute bond in Coline Serreau's Chaos (France, 2001) Thurs 7 p.m.; Fri 5, 7, 9 p.m.; Sat 9 p.m.
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.
