Reps Etc.

Commentary by Gregg Rickman (greggr1@mindspring.com). Times compiled from information available Tuesday; it's always advisable to call for confirmation. Price given is standard adult admission; discounts often apply for students, seniors, and members.

We're interested in your film or video event. Please send materials at least two weeks in advance to: Film Editor, SF Weekly, 185 Berry, Suite 3800, San Francisco, CA 94107.

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.

WEDNESDAY (Aug. 28): Three love stories dovetail in Rendezvous in Paris (Eric Rohmer, France, 1996) 7 p.m.

SATURDAY (Aug. 31): Rendezvous in Paris 2 p.m.

CASTRO

429 Castro (at Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com. $7 save as noted. Short-run rep in a spectacular 1922 Greco-Roman-themed palace designed by Timothy L. Pflueger. Evening intermissions feature David Hegarty or Bill McCoy on the Mighty Wurlitzer.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: A new, restored version of Fritz Lang's visionary science-fiction classic Metropolis (Germany, 1926); see Ongoing for more 7, 9:20 p.m.; also Wed 2, 4:30 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: A 70mm print of Ron Fricke's global immersion in exotic scenery and people, Baraka (1992), screens through Sept. 12 7, 9:30 p.m.; also Wed & Fri-Mon 2, 4:30 p.m.

FINE ARTS CINEMA

2451 Shattuck (at Haste), Berkeley, (510) 848-1143, www.fineartscinema.com. $7. The scheduled demolition of this Berkeley landmark has been pushed back, and there will be a fall season for this innovatively programmed art house.

WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: Mickey Lemle's popular Ram Dass: Fierce Grace (2001; 7:30 p.m.), tracing the recovery from a stroke of the self-made spiritual leader, screens with Gustavo Mosquera's Moebius (Argentina, 1996; 9:25 p.m.; also Sun 5:40 p.m.), about the mysterious disappearance of a subway car.

MONDAY & TUESDAY: Closed for the Labor Day holiday.

FOREIGN CINEMA

2534 Mission (between 21st and 22nd streets), 648-7600, www.foreigncinema.com. Free with meal. This restaurant screens foreign films, usually in 35mm, on the back wall of its outdoor patio, with drive-in speakers available for the tables of those who want to watch while they dine. Closed Mondays.

DAILY: How do you solve a problem like Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France, 2000)? How do you hold a CGI pixie in your hand? The sweetheart of Paris screens here through Sept. 15 7:45, 9:45 p.m.; also Fri & Sat midnight.

JEZEBEL'S JOINT

510 Larkin (at Turk), 820-3907, www.sfindie.com. This "Rock 'n' Roll DJ Bar" offers an "SF IndieFest MicroCinema " in its 40-seat theater. All screenings are followed by DJ music at 10 p.m. Free.

WEDNESDAY (Aug. 28): A young woman falls for a teenage rebel in Dani Minnick's Falling Like This, praised for its "truth" by Cameron Crowe 8 p.m.

THURSDAY (Aug. 29): The female prisoners of Louisiana are the subject of Laleh Khadivi's documentary 900 Women 8 p.m.

FRIDAY (Aug. 30): Jessica Villines' Plaster Caster profiles legendary "band aid" Cynthia Plaster Caster. Cameron Crowe stayed silent about this one! 8 p.m.

MONDAY (Sept. 2): Jeff Economy and Darren Hacker's tribute band tribute An Incredible Simulation 8 p.m.

TUESDAY (Sept. 3): Mark Neale's William Gibson -- No Maps for These Territories follows the literary cyberpunk on a journey through California 8 p.m.

OPERA PLAZA

601 Van Ness (at Golden Gate), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. Taking over from the Lumiere this fall season, this multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater. For the rest of the Opera Plaza's schedule, see our Showtimes page. $8.75.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Swimming (Robert J. Siegel, 2000). See Ongoing for review. Call for times.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Aug. 30-Sept. 5): Benoît Jacquot's version of the opera Tosca (France, 2001). See Opening for review. Call for times.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE

2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch), Berkeley, (510) 642-1124, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. $7, second show $1.50. The East Bay mecca for film scholars, part of UC's Berkeley Art Museum, thrives at its on-campus location, up the steps on Bancroft between Telegraph Avenue and the Hearst Gym.

WEDNESDAY: In place of the scheduled Blue Sunshine this venue is offering On Her Bed of Roses (aka Psychedelic Sexualis), a 1966 Albert Zugsmith exploitation melodrama from the producer of Touch of Evil 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Two collaborations by Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville, a 49-minute video 2 x 50 Years of French Cinema (France, 1995), plus a video essay on "the status of the fine arts at the end of the Twentieth Century," The Old Place (1999) 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: A weekend tribute to the late Billy Wilder offers the evergreen Some Like It Hot (1959; 7 p.m.) and the never popular save to hipsters everywhere Kiss Me, Stupid (1964; 9:20 p.m.).

SATURDAY: Billy Wilder's deservedly acclaimed The Apartment (1960; 7 p.m.), a bittersweet moral tale, plays with the sulfurous Cold War comedy One, Two, Three (1961; 9:25 p.m.).

SUNDAY: A series of Italian filmmaker Elio Petri's political fables commences with The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971; 5:30 p.m.), with Gian Maria Volonté as a "model worker," and The Lady Killer of Rome (1961; 7:45 p.m.), with Marcello Mastroianni as a playboy murder suspect.

MONDAY: Theater closed.

TUESDAY: "Counterfeit Films," a program of digital videos by Brett Simon, includes Soft and Hard (France, 1985), followed by Miéville's Reaching an Understanding (France/Switzerland, 2000), a four-way dialogue featuring Godard bursting into tears 7:30 p.m.

RAFAEL FILM CENTER

1118 Fourth St. (at A Street), San Rafael, 454-1222, www.finc.org. $8.50. This three-screen repertory theater is operated by the Film Institute of Northern California. Programs are complex; check carefully and call for confirmation.