Bayflicks.net

The July/August Pacific Film Archive schedule arrived in yesterday’s mail. It makes me want to move permanently into that theater.
They’re running five series this summer, honoring a director, a cinematographer, a novelist, a studio, and an aspect ratio.
The studio is United Artists, receiving its yet another 90th anniversary retrospective. But unlike the UA series at [...]

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Two of my biggest passions–Judaism and cinema–come together this summer like they do every summer for the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. (Come to think of it, some of my other big passions–music, history, and sex–turn up here, as well.) The organizers are calling the 28th SFIFF the largest one ever, with “70 films from [...]

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Just before I left on vacation I received a press release for two upcoming series at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I’m finally now getting to it.
As the name implies, Jean Cocteau: The Orphic Trilogy screens only three films, Le Sang d’un poète (Blood of a Poet), Orphée (Orpheus), and Le Testament d’Orphée [...]

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The good news: The Castro’s 3rd annual 70mm Film Festival opens July 1. The bad news: It’s smaller than last year’s. Whether this was because of disappointing box office or problems getting prints, it doesn’t bode well for the future of this great way to see big movies. (If you’re not sure what I’m talking [...]

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School is out, and parents yearn for quiet. What better time to get out of the house and watch a silent film?
Perhaps that’s why the Bay Area’s two big weekend-long celebrations of movies with live music come two weeks apart in late June and early July. If you’ve never experienced that unique blend of live [...]

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I just saw the Stanford’s summer schedule. As usual, it’s the best time of the year to see classic Hollywood films on the Peninsula. Someone has put a lot of thought into the double bills, most of which go together nicely for an evening’s entertainment. And every other Wednesday they screen [...]

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Just a quick note on changes to Speakeasy’s Parkway and Cerrito. Mostly the Parkway.
I guess the Parkway must be losing some momentum, customer-wise. First, Speakeasy spokeperson Will Viharo announced that his Thrillville series, which he’s been splitting between the two theaters, will find its permanent home at the Cerrito. Then, just this week, he tells [...]

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When people think of San Francisco, horror, science fiction, and people of African descent don’t immediately leap to mind. But lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders truly fit the shallow, stereotyped model. So it’s appropriate that as the Black Film Festival and Another Hole in the Head draw to a close, Frameline32: San Francisco [...]

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What could be scarier than another film festival starting less than a month after the San Francisco International festival closes? How about two film such festivals? And one of them sounds very scary, indeed.
Let’s start with the festival that won’t give you a fright (although judging from recent exit polls, it might scare people in [...]

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Believe it or not, the following has nothing to do with San Francisco International Film Festival. Just two unrelated news items:
First, Frank Lee has restored San Francisco’s Marina Theatre, and it opens Friday as the third house in Lee’s 4Star/Presidio mini-empire. Originally built in 1928, the Marina is now a 2-screener, made out of the [...]

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