Arts & Culture :: Movies

Declarations of independence: SF IndieFest

Declarations of independence: SF IndieFest

  • by David Lamble
  • Jan 21, 2020

The 22nd edition of the San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF IndieFest) is our local version of that great film launching pad, Sundance.

Global dark times: 'Noir City' begins

Global dark times: 'Noir City' begins

  • by Tavo Amador
  • Jan 21, 2020

Eddie Muller's 18th Annual San Francisco Film Noir Festival, "Noir City: International II," opens at the Castro Theatre on Jan. 24. The program features rarely seen movies from around the world.

Ciao, Fellini!

Ciao, Fellini!

  • by Sura Wood
  • Jan 14, 2020

"The cinema is very much like the circus," Federico Fellini once said. "In fact, if it didn't exist, I might well have become a circus director. I close my eyes and the festival begins."

David Lynch & the darkness next door

David Lynch & the darkness next door

  • by Sura Wood
  • Jan 7, 2020

A well-deserved if incomplete retrospective at BAMPFA, "Next Door to Darkness: The Films of David Lynch" includes his flawed masterpieces.

Let's do the Time Warp again!

Let's do the Time Warp again!

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Jan 7, 2020

Hard to believe that it's been 45 years since audiences first danced in the aisles and shouted back at the screen at showings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

Remembering Mark Finch, 25 years later

Remembering Mark Finch, 25 years later

  • by Jenni Olson
  • Jan 7, 2020

Local queer filmmaker and former Frameline festival programmer Jenni Olson offers up a remembrance of her festival co-director Mark Finch. Olson and Finch also co-wrote the B.A.R.'s Out There column together in 1994.

Comedy & noir at the Castro Theatre

Comedy & noir at the Castro Theatre

  • by David Lamble
  • Jan 7, 2020

The year opens at the Castro Theatre with a bevy of special-event screenings including some under the banner of the 19th edition of the San Francisco Comedy Festival, or SF Sketchfest.

Cunningham, dancing through time

Cunningham, dancing through time

  • by David Lamble
  • Dec 30, 2019

Director Alla Kovgan's captivating bio-doc "Cunningham" (1919-2009) provides a hypnotic view of the fabled gay star dancer/teacher Merce Cunningham's choreography.

Best Films of 2019

Best Films of 2019

  • by David Lamble
  • Dec 23, 2019

Part Two of our Best Films of the year round-up is meant to lasso some late-season releases into the list, and hint at some of the strongest contenders for the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

Best films of 2019

Best films of 2019

  • by David Lamble
  • Dec 17, 2019

Week 1 of our annual Top Films salute is full of spectacular work drawn mostly from pre-Turkey Day releases.

Family plot: 'The Kingmaker'

Family plot: 'The Kingmaker'

  • by David Lamble
  • Dec 17, 2019

In director Laura Greenfield's poignant new doc "The Kingmaker," the dark recent history of the Philippines is explored around the bigger-than-life history of former first lady Imelda Marcos.

Up, up & away!

Up, up & away!

  • by David Lamble
  • Dec 10, 2019

At the Castro Theatre the other night I watched actors Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones soar into the sky over jolly old England, circa 1862, in the breathtaking new Amazon Studios feature "The Aeronauts."

30 years of Strand

30 years of Strand

  • by David Lamble
  • Dec 3, 2019

With "30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing," the venerable gay-owned film distribution company Strand Releasing celebrates its 30th anniversary in a special program at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on Thurs., Dec. 5.

Our Miss Andrews

Our Miss Andrews

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Dec 3, 2019

Julie Andrews' "Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years" begins with her arrival in Hollywood in 1963 to make her screen debut in Disney's "Mary Poppins."