In case anyone missed the news: tonight's screening of People's Park in black hole cinematheque's Newsreel series has been delayed to Thursday at Bathers Library. The screening of Columbia Revolt is still scheduled for Friday at 34 Trinity. www.screenslate.com/series/newsr...

WTO/99 “From Selma to Stonewall to Seattle, we who believe in freedom will not rest until every battle is won,” the transgender communist revolutionary Leslie Feinberg wrote in a 2003 afterword to hir classi...

And Whitney Strub on WTO/99, screening Sunday at the Balboa with director Ian Bell in person:

Nadja A nerve-jangling tangle of images and sound—mostly it’s the music that terrifies—Michael Almereyda’s Nadja (1994) is inspired by André Breton’s surrealist 1928 novel of the same name, with generous in...

From the (very recent) archives for this week's screenings, here's Amy Taubin on the newly restored director's cut of Michael Almereyda's stylish vampire classic, Nadja, screening Saturday at the Roxie:

And, of course, SFFILM kicks off at the Castro on Friday—keep an eye out for our bonus newsletter later this week, with a review roundup of several picks from this year's lineup.

APRIL 20, 2026 — THE WEEK IN THE BAY Monday, Maciej Drygas begins a local run for his new archival documentary Trains at the Rialto Elmwood, get your post-season Pitt fix with realtime German ER drama Late Shift opening at the Lark, Proj...

And the roundup, feat. Spielberg A.I. on 35, Maciej Drygas tours an archival train doc around the bay, Amy Goodman makes one more Roxie stop, the Vogue has 3D desert noir Inferno, @hitfactorypod.bsky.social hosts WTO/99 director Ian Bell at the Balboa, 100 Lumiéres screen at the Smith Rafael, & more

Constructions / Destructions / Instructions: The Films of Gordon Matta-Clark Art history is easier to learn when artists and artworks are siloed into genres and movements: the chance happenings of Fluxus, the cultural appropriation of Pop Art, the postwar middle finger to trad...

For this week's feature, Shelby Shaw on “Constructions / Destructions / Instructions," six films by Gordon Matta-Clark screening tomorrow (Tuesday, April 21st), presented by @sfcinematheque.bsky.social at @grayarea.org:

Circles and Lines: A Conversation with Alexandre Koberidze More than an emotion or intellectual idea, the greatest sensation one takes leaving Alexandre Koberidze’s Dry Leaf (2025) is a sense of freedom. Made with a crew of three across a largely improvised s...

And don't miss our interview with Alexandre Koberidze, whose latest film, Dry Leaf, screens one time only on Sunday afternoon at the 4 Star theater, co-presented by @sfcinematheque.bsky.social:

On Shaking Up Perception: An Interview with Lucrecia Martel Long before the contemporary use of the trendy adjective “immersive” appeared in all sorts of descriptions that try to convince us to buy an experience, let’s say, spend a ridiculous amount of money p...

And here's our interview with Lucrecia Martel on the occasion of her residency this week at @bampfa.bsky.social (and brief visit to the Roxie on Thursday): www.screenslate.com/articles/sha...

APRIL 13, 2026 — THE WEEK IN THE BAY Monday, blackhole cinematheque's floating Newsreel Collective series continues, this week at 34 Trinity, with People's War (on 16mm), the collective's 1969 document from on the ground in Vietnam, the ...

And the roundup for the week, featuring the Lucrecia Martel in person, the Balboa's Centennary celebration, Calamity Jane on 35, Project Hail Mary on 70, even more Newsreel Collective on 16, Ozu, Fassbinder, Jude, Hitchcock season, the 120th earthquakiversary, Sky Hopinka closing at Slash, & more:

Showgirls of Pakistan Much like Saad Khan’s archival project “Khajistan,” Showgirls of Pakistan (2020) is adorned by a maximalistic, kitschy, almost otherworldly aesthetic. The documentary follows the lives of three Mujra ...

"...a fervent examination of Pakistan’s visual culture and a significant document of these women’s lives, thoughts, desires, dialects, habits, and styles—all of which are under constant threat of erasure."

This week's pick: Showgirls of Pakistan, Sun. at the Roxie with the director in person.

“If I Can Google It, It Doesn’t Belong in My Film.” Jessica Beshir On Faya Dayi Filmmaker Jessica Beshir will be in attendance this evening at the Maysles Documentary Center’s screening of her feature debut Faya Dayi. This gorgeous song of a film captures the idyllic rhythms and ...

And our interview with Jessica Bashir, whose film Faya Dayi screens Wednesday at BAMFPA: www.screenslate.com/articles/if-...

The Most Terrible Time in My Life The Most Terrible Time in My Life (1993) is the first film in Kaizo Hayashi’s Maiku Hama trilogy. Starring Masatoshi Nagase as the eponymous private eye, the series pulls viewers along in the slicked-...

And from the archives, here's Mick Gaw on The Most Terrible Time in My Life, the first of Kaizo Hayashi's Maiku Hama trilogy, screening Tuesday through Thursday at the Lark: www.screenslate.com/articles/mos...

APRIL 6, 2026 — THE WEEK IN THE BAY Monday, A Body to Live In (repeats Thursday) continues at the Roxie, who also screen Hope Along the Wind: The Life of Harry Hay with director Eric Slade in person and celebrate their 50th Anniversary ...

And here's the round-up, featuring a Borzage silent, the Roxie's 50th Arthouse-aversary screenings, Walter Murch at the Castro, more Lucrecia Martel and Fassbinder on 35mm, Mark Duplass in person, Joe Talbot in person, the latest Hong Sang Soo, and more: www.screenslate.com/articles/apr...

(If you need another reason to see it, Kael, in her typically measured manner, called it "worst-written, worst-directed, worst-photographed, and worst-edited big picture of the year"!)

The Shoes of the Fisherman Recent years have seen fresh, imaginative depictions of the leader of the Catholic Church. Paolo Sorrentino’s HBO series gave us a Young Pope, while Edward Berger’s Conclave teased a Vaping Pope and u...

This week, Connor Burns on The Shoes of the Fisherman, screening Sunday at the Orinda Theatre in their Wide Screen Road Show series: www.screenslate.com/articles/sho...

Shapeshifters is 2/3 of the way to their goal. Keep it going!

Maps to the Stars The opening weekend of the 52nd New York Film Festival kicks off with a film that is beautifully pleasing to the New York super-ego. David Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars is a send-up of Los Angeles th...

And an article from the NYFF debut of David Cronenberg's rarely screened Maps to the Stars, screening Sunday at Landmark Opera Plaza: www.screenslate.com/articles/map...

Alexander Kluge Interview New German Cinema legend, social theorist, and Theodor Adorno's former legal advisor Alexander Kluge was in town for a busy weekend, reading poetry at the Goethe Institute and introducing several scre...

And from the archive: in memory of Alexander Kluge, our interview with the influential early figure of the New German Cinema, whose debut feature, Yesterday Girl, screens Friday at BAMPFA: www.screenslate.com/articles/ale...

MARCH 30, 2026 — THE WEEK IN THE BAY Monday, Snowpiercer is at the Alamo Drafthouse Mountain View (MV), The Mummy Returns is at the Drafthouses MV and Valley Fair (VF),  Colors (on VHS) is at the Balboa, and Mulholland Drive is at t

And the round-up, feat. The Passion of Joan of Arc on 35mm, a new series spotlighting the Newsreel collective, Alice Maio Mackay in person, Abigail Child in person, a K. Kurosawa double feature, the Intl. Ocean Film Fest, Fassbinder on 35mm, Michal Mann, & more: www.screenslate.com/articles/mar...

On Shaking Up Perception: An Interview with Lucrecia Martel Long before the contemporary use of the trendy adjective “immersive” appeared in all sorts of descriptions that try to convince us to buy an experience, let’s say, spend a ridiculous amount of money p...

This week, Lucrecia Martel, interviewed by Andrea Avidad, on her new film Nuestra Tierra, upcoming in a career retrospective of her work at @bampfa.bsky.social that begins Saturday afternoon with La Ciénaga on 35mm: www.screenslate.com/articles/sha...

MARCH 23, 2026 — THE WEEK IN THE BAY Monday, 35 Milli-murder presents Lucio Fulci's The Beyond (on 35mm) at the Balboa, the SF Dance Film Festival presents The Prix, oops we overlooked Berlin and Beyond last week, but the last few festiv...

And here's the round-up for the week's screenings, including Fulci on 35mm, a new monthly series on women directors pairing features with 16mm shorts, a celebration of ATA, fútbol on film, and much more: www.screenslate.com/articles/mar...

Fear of Fear MoMA’s 1963 series “Television USA: Thirteen Seasons” marked the museum’s inaugural exploration of the young medium. Over fifty years later, “Television Movies: Big Pictures on the Small Screen” revis...

From the archives, R W Fassbinder's rarely screened and under-appreciated Fear of Fear is on 35mm this Saturday at @bampfa.bsky.social : www.screenslate.com/articles/fea...

Survival and Nothing Else: Christian Petzold on Miroirs No. 3 The German auteur Christian Petzold’s abiding commitment to remake Vertigo (1958) with each film is second only to his will to denaturalize our innermost desires and foibles onscreen. In his latest, M...

Also catch our interview with Christian Petzold, whose new film, Miroirs No. 3, opens this Friday at the Vogue: www.screenslate.com/articles/sur...

Matinee A Joe Dante film reliably delivers plots involving a particular brand of American normalcy upended in chaotic fashion, dazzling practical effects, cinephilic easter eggs, and, of course, guest spots f...

This week, Joe Dante is in person at the Orinda Theater for screenings of Gremlins 2, Inner Space, and our feature this week, his love letter to schlocky B movies, Matinee www.screenslate.com/articles/mat...

MARCH 16, 2026 — THE WEEK IN THE BAY Monday, My Father’s Shadow continues at the Roxie, Cinequest continues in the South Bay, Satyajit Ray's Days and Nights in the Forest (through Wednesday, and at the Roxie Wed.-Sun.) moves to the Smith...

And now, for the round-up, featuring Roseanne Barr facing off against Meryl Streep on 35mm, the original horror comedy spoof, Oscar winner PT Anderson on 35mm, the Silent Film Fest's return to the Castro, Herzog's breakout feature, and more: www.screenslate.com/articles/mar...

Punk Rock Docs: Crime 1978 & Outsider Artists Dave and Greg Clifford’s Outsider Artists: The Story of Paranoid Visions (2025) digs deep into the group’s staunchly DIY ethos and wholehearted rejection of a traditional career as musicians through i...

And a music doc series featuring local and international legends: www.screenslate.com/articles/pun...

Rotating Signals: The Contemporary Korean Avant-Garde The first program of “Rotating Signals: The Contemporary Korean Avant-Garde,” a screening series that has toured the United States since July, opens with a 16mm black-and-white silent film by Heehyun ...

The local stop of a Contemporary Korean Avant-Garde program that toured the country: www.screenslate.com/articles/rot...

The Fourth Wave is a Lens: Kathleen Quillian and Amy Reid on the Bay Area’s New Feminist Film Series Before Shapeshifters Cinema co-founder Kathleen Quillian met filmmaker Amy Reid last spring, she had been dealing with a lot of guys. “A lot of guys whose work I love,” Quillian clarified when the thr...

An interview about their now long-running and expansive feminist film series: www.screenslate.com/articles/fou...

Lifting the Veil: Palestine in Jocelyne Saab’s Cinema “A child’s face elicits from us conflicting responses,” writes André Bazin in the opening to an essay on Roberto Rossellini’s Germany Year Zero (1947).

If you need a reminder why, here's some of our coverage of the essential programming Shapeshifters does. On Palestine in Joscelyn Saab's films: www.screenslate.com/articles/lif...

Donate to Support Shapeshifters Cinema, Brewery & Café, organized by Shapeshifters Cinema, Brewery and Café All around us we are witnessing the collapse of the San Franc… Shapeshifters Cinema, Brewery and Café needs your support for Support Shapeshifters Cinema, Brewery & Café

Before we get to the round-up, everyone go give Shapeshifters some support: www.gofundme.com/f/support-sh...