The New Italian Cinema runs through Sunday, while the Chinese American Film Festival continues through Tuesday. B Kings of Pastry, Balboa, Elmwood, Lark, opened last Wednesday. You may have seen, or heard of, two shows on The Food Channel called Iron Chef and Ace of Cakes. Combine the two, and slow down the editing for … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 19 – 25

The San Francisco International Animation Festival continues through the weekend. New Italian Cinema opens Sunday. The Chinese American Film Festival starts Wednesday. And the Napa Valley Film Festival run Friday through Sunday. And on Sunday, the Club Foot Orchestra returns to the Castro, accompanying four silent movie screenings. I discuss specific movies at the end … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 12 – 18

With all the other festivals going on lately, I somehow missed the South Asian Film Festival, which opened last Wednesday. It continues through Sunday. A Double Feature: Hail the Conquering Hero & The Great McGinty, Stanford, Saturday through Monday. Only the great writer/director Preston Sturges could have found a way to satirize patriotic hoopla at … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 5 – 11

Festival news: Berlin & Beyond continues through Saturday. United Nations Association Film Festival ends Sunday. French Cinema Now continues through Wednesday. A- Bonnie and Clyde, Castro, Wednesday. This low-budget gangster movie, produced by and starring Warren Beatty , hit a nerve with young audiences in 1967 and became one of the big surprise hits of … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 29 – November 4

A lot of festivals this week: The Arab Film Festival continues through Sunday. Docfest continues through Thursday. Global Lens 2010 continues through the week. The Petaluma International Film Festival opens tonight and runs through the weekend. So does Taiwan Film Days Berlin & Beyond opens tonight and runs through the week and passed it to … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 22 – 28

The Mill Valley Film Festival closes Sunday, without my getting a chance to attend anything. The Arab Film Festival continues throughout this week. Docfest opens tonight, starting a two-week run. And Global Lens 2010 opens Tuesday. A The Kids are All Right,Castro, Thursday. Lisa Cholodenko’s serious comedy  about a middle-aged lesbian couple, their teenage children, … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 15 – 21

The Mill Valley Film Festival, which opened last night, runs through this week and into the next. I’ve placed festival events at the end of this newsletter. And the Arab Film Festival opens Thursday at the Castro before moving to less grand locations around the bay. Left in the Dark Book Events. Photographer R.A. McBride’s … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 8 – 14

A American Splendor, Pacific Film Archive, Saturday, 8:30. Directors Shari Springer  Berman and Robert Pulcini mix biopic and documentary methods to tell the story of Harvey Pekar, a frustrated, angry, and intelligent man who found modest fame but little fortune as the writer (but not the illustrator) of a series of biographic comic books. For … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 1 – 7

The Irish Film Festival, Latino Film Festival and Isle of Wight 40th Anniversary Film Festival (which is not about people the Isle of Wright ethnicity) are all currently running and will all close this weekend. Both the Berkeley Video and Film Festival and the International Children's Film Festival open their three-day runs today. Red Vic … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 24 – 30