Reps Etc.

MARIN CIVIC CENTER

Showcase Theatre, 3501 Civic Center (at Avenue of the Flags), San Rafael, 499-6800 and www.italianfilm.com for this series. The 2003 Italian Film Festival screens at this Frank Lloyd Wright-designed complex for six weeks. $10.75.

SATURDAY (Oct. 11): A repressed wedding planner goes off her meds and finds happiness in Francesco Falaschi's comedy I Am Emma (2002) 7:15 p.m. screening is sold out; tickets available at press time for 9:15 p.m.

MECHANICS' INSTITUTE LIBRARY

57 Post (near Market), 393-0100 and www.milibrary.org for information; phone or e-mail rsvp@milibrary.org for reservations. $5. This cultural asset of long standing hosts an ongoing film series on projected video, with salon-style discussions to follow.

THURSDAY (Oct. 9): Patrick McGilligan, author of biographies of Robert Altman and Fritz Lang, among others, turns his attention to Alfred Hitchcock with his latest, Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light. He'll appear for an in-person discussion with host Terrance Gelenter at 6:30 p.m.

FRIDAY (Oct. 10): A monthlong Alfred Hitchcock series continues with McGilligan introducing the rare silent film The Farmer's Wife (U.K., 1928) 6:30 p.m.

METREON

Action Theater, 101 Fourth St. (at Mission), Second Floor, 369-6098 and www.metreon.com/events for information, www.acteva.com/go/metreon for advance tickets. $15 admission includes all films, plus workshops, guest appearances, and tournaments.

SATURDAY (Oct. 11): A day of Japanese animation comprises the Third Festival of Anime, with programs including the forthcoming revival of Astro Boy and the new anime feature Witch Hunter Robin 10 a.m.-11 p.m.

MOVIE PALACE AUCTION SALES ROOM

2700 Saratoga (near West Red Line), Alameda, (510) 740-0220, www.auctionsbythebay.com. $7. Classic films in 35mm screen in a former U.S. Navy theater, the Alameda facilities of Auctions by the Bay.

FRIDAY (Oct. 10): Stanley Kubrick's time-traveling nihilistic thriller The Killing (1956) 7, 9 p.m.

SATURDAY (Oct. 11): John Ford explains what makes a man wander in his classic western The Searchers (1956), with John Wayne 7, 9:30 p.m.

SUNDAY (Oct. 12): Alfred Hitchcock explains what makes people fall off buildings in Vertigo (1958), with James Stewart 7, 9 p.m.

OPERA PLAZA

601 Van Ness (at Golden Gate), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. This multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater. For the rest of the Opera Plaza's schedule, see our Showtimes page. $9.25.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion (Tom Peosay, 2003). See Ongoing for review. Call for times.

STARTS FRIDAY: No films on calendar.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE

2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch), Berkeley, (510) 642-1124, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. $8, second show $2. 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: A series of films by Peruvian-born Dutch filmmaker Heddy Honigmann continues with Metal and Melancholy (1993), interviews with Lima cab drivers 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: A series of films on genetic mutations continues with Megan Holliday's comedy about a clone with an ID crisis, The Snowflake Crusade (2002), plus shorts 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: A range of Brazilians recite erotic poetry by a famed author, and then discuss their own erotic histories, in O Amor Natural (Heddy Honigmann, Brazil, 1996) 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: A series of new Latin American films opens with Crane World (Pablo Tropero, Argentina, 1999), about a 50-year-old man's attempt to make a new career operating a crane 5:10, 9:20 p.m. A dying man's reveries constitute Japón (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico, 2002) 8:30 p.m.

SUNDAY: Japón 5:30 p.m.

MONDAY: Theater closed.

TUESDAY: A three-Tuesday series of experimental films by Ernie Gehr continues with his exploration out of a Rear Window (1986-91), his "cubist still life" Table (1976), and more, including his recent Glider (2001). Filmmaker in person 7:30 p.m.

PARKWAY

1834 Park (at Lake Merritt), Oakland, (510) 814-2400, www.picturepubpizza.com. $5 save as noted. Pizza, beer, and movies on two screens. Call theater for programs, booked a week in advance. The Parkway also offers occasional scheduled special programs.

THURSDAY (Oct. 9): "Horror Host-Palooza" -- Live and in person, not one but two cable-access TV horror hosts, Berkeley's Doktor Goulfinger and Sacramento's Mr. Lobo, fronting for a double bill of the ultra-gory Zombie (Lucio Fulci, Italy, 1979) and Voodoo Black Exorcist (Manuel Caño, Spain, 1973), "about a witchdoctor/zombie/mummy on the rampage, or something like that, but by then, you'll be drunk anyway, so a good time is promised for all." $8 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY (Oct. 14): Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989) screens as a benefit for the Destiny Arts Center for youth. $7 6:30, 9:30 p.m.

MIDNIGHT SHOW (Saturday): The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975), with live performance by Barely Legal. $6.

RAFAEL FILM CENTER

1118 Fourth St. (at A), San Rafael, 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $9 save as noted. This three-screen repertory theater, now officially the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, is operated by the California Film Institute. Programs are complex; check carefully and call for confirmation.

WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: The 26th Mill Valley Film Festival continues here and at the Sequoia Theater in Mill Valley through Oct. 12. See www.cafilm.org for programs.

STARTS MONDAY: Casa de los Babys (John Sayles, 2003); see Ongoing for review. Call for times and other films.

MONDAY: Bay Area film figures Eddie Muller and Terrance Gelenter introduce Alfred Hitchcock's justly celebrated thriller The 39 Steps (U.K., 1935) 7 p.m.