Out There goes out & about to arts & cultural events five nights out of seven most weeks. It's a good way to stay involved, be a part of the city, see different neighborhoods and get out of our own personal bubble.

Some Best Picture Oscar winners were instantly inexplicable choices — "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952), "Crash "(2005) — while others are a reflection of their time. Many transcend their eras. Several are worth watching again.

The late Marlon Riggs (1957-94) captured a cultural movement in his 1989 music- and poetry-driven documentary "Tongues Untied: Black Men Loving Black Men."

In filmmaker Richard Yeagley's fly-on-the-wall documentary "The Sunday Sessions" (on DVD from FirstRun Features), behind-the-scenes footage reveals how a manipulative process works.

In Germany's official entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar "Never Look Away," director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck takes us through a horrific episode from the WWII genocidal tragedy known as the Holocaust.

Even though Out There is a very urban person, we know that it's very important to get out of the big city every now and then. So we try to get away, and high on our list of destinations are the resorts, eateries and wineries of Sonoma County.

Here's a rundown of 18 Sundance 2019 winners, along with a brief description of why they stood out among the thousands of submissions received by the Sundance judges every year.

An Israeli documentary about a transgender woman and her relationship with her family is among the highlights of the 6th Annual WinterFest, the Jewish Film Institute's special presentation of new Jewish cinema.

Highlights from the Mostly British Film Festival

A moving tale of survival against all odds, "Arctic" is a crazy-quilt mix of elements.

"Shampoo" is an emblematic if somewhat neglected period piece from the fabled Hollywood Renaissance of the late 1960s and early 70s.

Eddie Muller's Noir City film festival concludes at the Castro Theatre on Sun., Feb. 3. Movies revealing the widespread anxieties gurgling beneath the surface of what would be inaccurately called "The Fabulous Fifties" in America will be screened.

February is Oscar month, therefore a very special time at the Castro Theatre. The theatre launches the month with a selection of this award season's most-talked-about films.

The 2019 San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF IndieFest) returns (Jan. 30-Feb. 14) with a bevy of challenging films that include two outstanding LGBTQ narratives.