WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt's "The Animation Show" 6:45, 9 p.m. Surfers Step Into Liquid (Dana Brown, 2003) 7:15, 9:15 p.m. Jacques Perrin's Winged Migration (France, 2002) 6:30 p.m. The Secret Lives of Dentists (Alan Rudolph, 2003) 8:30 p.m.
FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY: Postmen in the Mountains (Huo Jianqi, China, 1998); see Ongoing for review. Producer Kang Jianmin in person Friday 7:30 p.m. Call for other films and times.
RED VIC
1727 Haight (at Cole), 668-3994, www.redvicmoviehouse.com. $6.50 save as noted. There's a spot on the couch for you at this collectively owned rep house.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Outlaw Johnny Hallyday comes to town in Patrice Leconte's very entertaining Man on the Train (France, 2002), and not to play Gallic rock either 7:15, 9:20 p.m.; also Wed 2 p.m.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: Cult band They Might Be Giants is memorialized in Gigantic (A.J. Schnack, 2003). A screening of the 1971 comedy They Might Be Giants with George C. Scott thinking he's Sherlock Holmes would be good around now wouldn't it? 7:15, 9:25 p.m.; also Sat 2, 4:15 p.m.
SUNDAY: A look back at the American films of the late 1960s and 1970s, A Decade Under the Influence (Richard LaGravenese and Ted Demme, 2003). The documentary on Hollywood in the 2000s will be called A Decade Under the Dumpster 2, 4:20, 7, 9:20 p.m.
MONDAY: One of the more offbeat studio films of that era, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (Martin Scorsese, 1974) 7, 9:25 p.m.
TUESDAY: Dennis Hopper's song of the open road, Easy Rider (1969) 7:15, 9:20 p.m.
ROXIE
3117 16th St. (at Valencia), 863-1087, www.roxie.com; www.aff.org and (925) 866-9559 for the seventh annual Cinemayaat Arab Film Festival (Friday and Saturday). $8 save as noted; $9 Cinemayaat screenings. Short-run repertory in one of the most adventurously programmed theaters in the USA.
WEDNESDAY: An R.W. Fassbinder series concludes with the romantic/obsessive The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Germany, 1972) 7, 9:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: In honor of the forthcoming (sometime, maybe) recall election, Green Cine offers a free showing of the rarely screened 1935 musical comedy Thanks a Million (Roy Del Ruth, 1935), with Dick Powell a crooner running for governor. The first 200 requests to www.greencine.com receive a free pass 8 p.m.
FRIDAY: The seventh annual Cinemayaat Arab Film Festival, here today and tomorrow, screens Broken Wings (Malouf, Lebanon, 1962) 6:15 p.m. Invasion (Hassan, Palestine) 8:15 p.m. Night of Destiny (Bahloul, France) 9:50 p.m.
SATURDAY: Cinemayaat -- Lord's Song in a Strange Land (Dembowski) 2:15 p.m. Shorts including Like Twenty Impossibles (Jacir, Palestine) 4:15 p.m. Duel in San Francisco (Luchak) 6 p.m. Under the Sky of Baghdad (Balsamo and Scialotti, Italy) 7:30 p.m. Jeremy Hardy vs. the Israeli Army (Sansour, Palestine/U.K.) 9:30 p.m.
STARTS SUNDAY: George Butler's strongman doc Pumping Iron (1976) shows Arnold Schwarzenegger doing to his rivals what he'll do for the state of California 6, 8, 10 p.m.; also Sun 2, 4 p.m.
SHATTUCK
2230 Shattuck (at Kittredge), Berkeley, (510) 843-3456, www.landmarktheatres.com. $9.25. This venerable theater assigns one of its eight screens to repertory programming. For the rest of the Shattuck's schedule, see our Showtimes page.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Jeanne Moreau is Marguerite Duras in Josée Dayan's Cet Amour-là (France, 2001). See Ongoing for review. Call for times.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Sept. 26-Oct. 2): One of the exSoviet Union's new breed of kleptocrats is profiled in the lightly fictionalized Tycoon (Pavel Lounguine, Russia, 2002); see Opening for review. Call for times.
WHEELER AUDITORIUM
Bancroft & Telegraph, UC Berkeley campus; www.aff.org and (925) 866-9559 for festival information. This college theater hosts screenings from Cinemayaat, the seventh annual San Francisco Arab Film Festival, this week. $9.
SATURDAY (Sept. 27): Independence (Hassan, Palestine) 3:15 p.m. Invasion (Hassan, Palestine) 5:15 p.m. El-Kotbia (The Bookstore, Saheb-Ettaba, Tunisia) 7 p.m. Night of Destiny (Bahloul, France) 9:45 p.m.
SUNDAY (Sept. 28): Souha Surviving Hell (Sabbag, Lebanon) 1:15 p.m. Duel in San Francisco (Luchak) 3 p.m. Shorts including Like Twenty Impossibles (Jacir, Palestine) 4:45 p.m. "Panel Discussion on Arab Cinema" 6:30 p.m. Jeremy Hardy vs. the Israeli Army (Sansour, Palestine/U.K.) 9:30 p.m.
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS
701 Mission (at Third Street, in Yerba Buena Gardens), 978-2787, www.YerbaBuenaArts.org. $6 save as noted. This venue's Screening Room is a home for film and video programs of all sorts.
DAILY (Closed Mondays): Continuous screenings of "Looking Is Better Than Feeling You," a loop of videos by women, through Oct. 5 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
FRIDAY (Sept. 26): H.B. Halicki's drive-in favorite Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) screens in a new 35mm print. "An old-school orgy of auto destruction." $6 7:30 p.m.
FILM NOTES
The San Francisco Performance Cinema Symposium takes place at Dimension 7 video gallery (150 Folsom) this Saturday from noon on (free for afternoon symposia and lectures, $5 6-11 p.m., free for reception at 11 p.m.). Live performances and demonstrations of new software are promised. For more info, contact 695-1663 or see www.kether.com/personal/SFPCS/index.
