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DAILY (Closed Mondays): The original Dutch version, albeit no treat, of George Sluizer's thriller The Vanishing (1988) screens through Nov. 9 6:15, 8:15 p.m.; also Fri-Sun 10:15 p.m.
KENNEDY'S PUB
1040 Columbus (at Chestnut), 441-8855. Curry and drinks available. Free.
THURSDAY (Oct. 30): Lance Carnes and Marc Dolezal offer a film noir series screening classics on 16mm shot at least in part in San Francisco. Tonight, Orson Welles' notably bizarre The Lady From Shanghai (1948), with memorable scenes filmed in Chinatown, Steinhart Aquarium, and Playland-at-the-Beach 8 p.m.
MARIN CIVIC CENTER
Showcase Theatre, 3501 Civic Center (at Avenue of the Flags), San Rafael, 499-6800 and www.italianfilm.com for this series. The 2003 Italian Film Festival screens at this Frank Lloyd Wright-designed complex for six weeks. $10.75.
SATURDAY (Nov. 1): Tenants scheme to steal The Invisible Collection (Gianfranco Isernia, 1999) of valuable art from their nasty landlord 7 p.m. screening sold out; tickets still available at press time for 9:15 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 hosts an ongoing film series on projected video, with salon-style discussions to follow.
FRIDAY (Oct. 31): A Halloween special screening of Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla, 1960), about what happens when a strange mist leads to the birth of emotionless children. Introduced by Pamela Troy and our own Michael Fox. Costumes welcome: Come as an emotionless child 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. $9.25.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Gasoline (Elena Stancanelli, Italy, 2001). See Ongoing for review. Call for times.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Oct. 31-Nov. 6): Writer/director John Carlos Frey plays a Border Patrol agent who goes undercover among the illegals in The Gatekeeper (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. 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 series by pioneer Mexican filmmaker Fernando Fuentes concludes with the folkloric musical comedies La Zandunga (1938; 7 p.m.), with Hollywood star Lupe Velez, and Jalisco Sings in Seville (1948; 9:05 p.m.).
THURSDAY: A series of films on genetic mutations continues with Donald Cammell's Demon Seed (1977), with Julie Christie raped by a supercomputer 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY: Al Hedison is a headstrong scientist who comes face to face with The Fly (Kurt Neumann, 1958) 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY: A Japanese anime series screens Space Firebird 2772 (Suguru Sugiyama, 1980), a key work in genre history for its robot-pilot love relationship 4 p.m. Isao Takahata's character study Only Yesterday (1991), with producer Nozomu Takahashi in person 7 p.m. Medical pirate Black Jack (Osamu Dezaki and Fumihiro Yashihara, 1996) takes on superhuman athletes 9:45 p.m.
SUNDAY: Anime -- A teenager visits the kingdom of kitties in the Northern California premiere of The Cat Returns (Hiroyuki Morita, 2002), with panel discussion to follow 3:30 p.m. Anime genius Hayao Miyazaki's futuristic fable Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) 7 p.m.
MONDAY: Theater closed.
TUESDAY: "Alternative Visions," experimental films from Bay Area schools, include Ga-Ga Cha (Sally Rubin) and Mathporn (Kenny Easwaran and Lukas Biewald) 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 (Oct. 31): A Halloween double bill of the quite funny Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (Charles Barton, 1948) and the drolly amusing Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935). Doors open at 6:30 p.m., films begin at 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 (Oct. 30): "Rewind Cinema" turns the clock back to 1971 for Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange 6:30, 9:30 p.m.
SUNDAY (Nov. 2): Program 1 of the UC Berkeley School of Journalism's Documentary Festival screens Take It and Like It (Kate Davidson and Bret Sigler), about a Nevada town's acceptance of 70,000 tons of nuclear waste, plus Cheerleader (Kim Bassford), Uncovering Glen Canyon (Chris Van Bebber), and Matsutake (Todd Dayton), about the travels of a wild mushroom 6 p.m.
TUESDAY (Nov. 4): Documentary Festival, Program 2 -- Israeli doctors treat Palestinians in A Second Opinion (Hadas Ragolsky), plus Zapotec Indians in Los Angeles play Oaxacan Hoops (Olga R. Rodriguez), Talk to Me: A Documentary About Autism (Vanessa Kaneshiro), and A Voyage in Cyprus (Gerasimos Rigas and Melis Senderdem) 6:30 p.m.
MIDNIGHT SHOW (Friday and Saturday): The regular Saturday-night screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975), with live performance by Barely Legal, promises an extra-special Halloween effort this weekend (note added screening Friday). $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: Bubba Ho-Tep (Don Coscarelli, 2003) 7, 9 p.m. Casa de los Babys (John Sayles, 2003) 6:30 p.m. Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears, U.K., 2003) 8:30 p.m. Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion (Tom Peosay, 2003) 6:45, 8:50 p.m. See Ongoing for reviews.
