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.

21 GRAND

449B 23rd St. (between Telegraph and Broadway), Oakland, (510) 444-7263, 21grand@21grand.org.

FRIDAY (April 30): The "Love and Other Difficulties Edition" of the monthly "Independent Exposure Screening Series" presents 10 short films and videos, including Debra Grossman's Salt (about the secret life of Lot's wife), Raymond Salvatore Harmon's Tiny Inconsistencies, and David Witzling's The Secret Life of Androids. $5-10 sliding scale 8 p.m.

ACT ONE/TWO

2128 Center (at Shattuck), Berkeley, (510) 464-5980, www.landmarktheatres.com. $9.25 save as noted. One of this venue's two screens is a "calendar house" for Landmark Theatres. A midnight series continues this week. For additional Act One/Two screenings, see our Showtimes page.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: La Vie Promise (The Promised Life, Olivier Dehan, France, 2002). See Ongoing for review 7, 9:15 p.m.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (April 30-May 6): A timely release of Jonathan Demme's The Agronomist (2004). See Opening for review 7:15, 9:20 p.m.; also Sat & Sun 1, 3:05, 5:10 p.m.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY (April 30 & May 1): Wes Anderson's debut feature, the splendid Bottle Rocket (1996), made back when Owen Wilson's act was fresh. $7.50 midnight.

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

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

WEDNESDAY (April 28): Provincial housewife and traffic cop Florence Vignon's struggle for a career as a singer is detailed in Hometown Blue (Stéphane Brizé, 1990) 7 p.m.

SATURDAY (May 1): Hometown Blue 2 p.m.

AQUARIUS

430 Emerson (at Lytton), Palo Alto, (650) 266-9260, www.landmarktheatres.com. $7.25 for this midnight series. For additional Aquarius screenings, see our Showtimes page.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY (April 30 & May 1): Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi enjoy their mission from God in The Blues Brothers (John Landis, 1980). Prize drawings on Saturday midnight.

ARTISTS' TELEVISION ACCESS

992 Valencia (at 21st Street), 824-3890, www.atasite.org. $5 save as noted. This venue offers all manner of strange and unusual video and film.

THURSDAY (April 29): The S.F. Underground, a documentary film festival, screens Burma Behind Bars and Big Noise Films' Zapatista! (2003), a doc on Chiapas. $8 8 p.m.

FRIDAY (April 30): "Myths of Thee Underground," a party to celebrate both ATA's 20th anniversary and issue No. 2 of its Webzine, will screen work by Luke Hones, Lise Swenson, Marshall Weber, Ant Farm, Eva König, Charles Gute, Kent Howie, Catherine Czacki, and others 8 p.m.

SATURDAY (May 1): Mark International Workers' Day with a program of "Mayday Mayhem" including the anti-consumer culture Surplus (Erik Gandini, Sweden, 2003) plus videos by Billy Talen, Robby Conal, and Ivy McClelland 8:30 p.m.

SUNDAY (May 2): Something called Gong Show!, with no other info on the ATA site at press time 8 p.m.

TUESDAY (May 4): Monthly meeting of the Super 8 Militia , a small-gauge film club. Free 7 p.m.

AUCTIONS BY THE BAY

Movie Palace Auction Sales Room, 2700 Saratoga (near West Red Line), Alameda, (510) 740-0220, www.auctionsbythebay.com. $7. Classic films in 35mm (save as noted) screen in a former U.S. Navy theater.

FRIDAY (April 30): Phil Kaufman's very-1970s remix of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) -- scream and scream again 7, 9:30 p.m.

SATURDAY (May 1): No film today.

SUNDAY (May 2): A double bill of Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (Fred Sears, 1956; 1:30, 5 p.m.) -- the one in which a saucer decapitates the Washington Monument -- and the U.S.-release version of a famed British sci-fi film, The Creeping Unknown (aka The Quartermass Experiment, Val Guest, U.K., 1956; 3:15, 6:45 p.m.). Separate admission: Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers 8:30 p.m.

CASTRO

429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com. $8 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: The famously infamous surrealist classics that kick-started the film career of Luis Buñuel (with an assist from Salvador Dali), L'Age d'Or (1930) and Un chien Andalou (1929) 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 p.m.

THURSDAY: Closing Night of the 47th San Francisco International Film Festival screens the neo-screwball Laws of Attraction (Peter Hewitt, 2004). $25 for film only, $85 for film and party to follow. Film at 7 p.m.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (April 30-May 6): Clay Bird (Tareque Masud, Bangladesh, 2002); see Opening for review 7, 9:15 p.m.; also Sat, Sun, & Wed 2, 4:30 p.m.

CLAY

2261 Fillmore (at Clay), 267-4893, www.landmarktheatres.com or www.8tales.com for this series. "Bling -- 8 Incredibly Random Tales," a midnight movie series, continues. For additional Clay screenings, see our Showtimes page.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY (April 30 & May 1): David Fincher's Fight Club (1999); Tyler Durden says, "Use soap!" On Saturday, a Celebrity Death Match is promised. $7 midnight.

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.

DAILY: The Animatrix (2003), a group of short cartoons set in the Wachowski Brothers' Matrix universe and markedly superior to either of 2003's sequels. Screens through May 16 8, 9:30 p.m.; also Fri-Sun 11 p.m.