The new film ‘26.2 to Life,’ shot almost entirely within the walls of the Marin County prison, opens Friday at Rialto Cinemas Elmwood.
Movies
Berkeley filmmaker’s 1989 tribute to Cajun & zydeco music is newly restored and screening in the Elmwood
The Friday screening of Les Blank’s ‘J’ai été au bal (I Went to the Dance)’ at Rialto Cinemas Elmwood will feature live music and a talk with Blank’s son Harrod and the movie’s editor.
Charming new art-house movie about a young Afghan woman living in Fremont is a gently told delight
Babak Jalali’s new film is a terrific character study that was shot on location in Fremont and at an Oakland fortune cookie factory.
Pacific Film Archive is airing run of films by the bawdy classic comedy auteur Preston Sturges
‘The Palm Beach Story,’ an 80-year-old film with snappy, rapid-fire dialogue that flirts dangerously with the Hays Code, is playing this Saturday.
New movie ‘Shortcomings’ was filmed in a bevy of iconic Berkeley places
Adrian Tomine, who wrote the screenplay and the graphic novel the film is based on, spoke with us about the Berkeley spots that have inspired him.
At Jewish Film Festival: A documentary about ‘A Compassionate Spy’ and a comedy set in Gaza
The ethical dilemma of Ted Hall, a Manhattan Project scientist who leaked to the Soviets, is explored in ‘A Compassionate Spy, one of the movies on view at the SF Jewish Film Festival.
Will small local movie theaters survive?
Movie houses have closed in Berkeley and across the East Bay. We checked in on the New Parkway, the Piedmont Theatre, and the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland.
Teen strife, military coup set stage for LGBTQ+ films streaming via Frameline festival
Set in 1987, ‘Before I Change My Mind’ depicts the awkward time when teens struggle to figure out who they are. In ‘House of Izabel,’ male leaders of Brazil’s 1964 coup live as women in a remote hideaway to forget their crimes.
Albany Twin movie theater will close Thursday
The Landmark Albany Twin on Solano Avenue, which has been operating for over 80 years, is the latest local movie house closing its curtains.
Berkeley filmmaker who celebrated garlic eating and shoe swallowing gets his day at PFA
Les Blank’s ‘Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers’ and ‘Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe’ (he really did — after Alice Waters cooked it!) will be shown on the big screen Saturday. Blank died in 2013.
Fantastic Negrito tells his own story in new documentary
‘Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?’ — a feature-length film following the performer’s journey from rural Massachusetts to Oakland — is one of the highlights of San Francisco DocFest, which starts Thursday.
‘Starling Girl’ meets dashing youth pastor: Story of evangelical angst told with nuance in new film
The characters in ‘The Starling Girl’ — opening Friday at San Francisco’s AMC Kabuki 8 — are believable, fallible human beings struggling to avoid sin.