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.

111 MINNA GALLERY

111 Minna (between New Montgomery and Second streets), 864-0660 and www.microcinema.com for information on this program. $5.

MONDAY (Aug. 30): The "Sizzling Summer Edition" of the monthly "Independent Exposure Screening Series" offers 12 art-related short films and videos, including Scott Rice's Perils in Nude Modeling and James Reitano's Mad Villain -- All Caps! 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. For additional screenings, see our Showtimes page.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: A new print of Federico Fellini's hugely popular exposé of the decadent rich, La Dolce Vita (Italy, 1959) 8:15 p.m.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Aug. 27-Sept. 2): The Ramones tell their tale in End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (Michael Gramaglia and Jim Fields, 2004). See Opening for review. Call for times.

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

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

WEDNESDAY (Aug. 25): A Robert Guédiguian series opens with his first feature. The San Francisco-ization of Marseilles is the backdrop to Dernier été (Guédiguian and Frank Le Wita, France, 1981), about blue-collar workers realizing that their city's becoming a tourist destination leaves no room for them 6 p.m.

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.

WEDNESDAY (Aug. 25): "Punk Sound Night" offers two installments of Bikini Kill live shows from D.C., 1992 8 p.m.

THURSDAY (Aug. 26): David Kaplowitz screens and discusses 30 minutes of his new film, Food on Earth, together with pure food experts. Fair trade and organic drinks on hand. $5-15 sliding scale 8 p.m.

FRIDAY (Aug. 27): ATA's monthly "Open Screening" offers a first come, first screened opportunity to budding Bay Area filmmakers. $5, free for artistes 8 p.m.

SATURDAY (Aug. 28): "Sweet & Sour," a queer short-film night, screens Shawna Virago's Shut Up Josephine, Leslie Satterfield's Come Back to Bed, and more. $5-8 sliding scale 8 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: An Ingmar Bergman series screens one of his finest, Cries and Whispers (Sweden, 1972), with Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullmann, and Harriet Andersson as three sisters 1:25, 5, 9 p.m.

THURSDAY: Bergman's highly enjoyable take on Mozart's The Magic Flute (Sweden, 1974) 1, 4:15, 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Aug. 27-Sept. 2): Bergman's autobiographical Fanny & Alexander (Sweden, 1983) 2, 7:30 p.m.

CREEK PARK

400 block of Sir Frances Drake Boulevard, San Anselmo, 453-4333, www.filmnight.org. A summer-long "Film Night in the Park" lands here this weekend. BYO chairs, blankets, and pillows. $5 donation, no one turned away.

FRIDAY (Aug. 27): A "Made in the Bay Area" series screens Sirens of the 23rd Century (Jennifer Kroot, 2003), a campy satire about the future, when beauty is outlawed 8:20 p.m.

SATURDAY (Aug. 28): Orson Welles' bizarro-universe Rita Hayworth vehicle, The Lady From Shanghai (1948) 8:20 p.m.

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 (Closed Mondays): Niki Caro's empowering tweener flick Whale Rider (New Zealand, 2003) screens through Sept. 5 8:15, 10 p.m.

GOETHE-INSTITUT

530 Bush (at Grant), 263-8760. The place to go for German cultural events. $5.

TUESDAY (Aug. 31): A series of the Holocaust-themed films of producer Arthur Brauner opens with Morituri (Eugen York, Germany, 1947-48), about escapees from a concentration camp 7:30 p.m.

ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI CULTURA

425 Washington (at Battery), Suite 200, 788-7142, www.sfiic.org. The Istituto Italiano di Cultura promotes Italian language and culture in Northern California with occasional film screenings. Free.

TUESDAY (Aug. 31): A Sicilian boy grows up in Perduto Amor (Franco Battiato, Italy, 2003) 6:30 p.m.

LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER

3105 Shattuck (at Prince), Berkeley, (510) 849-2568 for venue, www.latinofilmfestival.org for information on this program. The Latino Film Festival continues its annual event here and at other venues around the Bay Area this week. $8.

THURSDAY (Aug. 26): A Guatemalan immigrant's acting ambitions are the subject of the bilingual feature Collect Call (Luis Argueta, U.S./Guatemala, 2002). $8 7:30 p.m.

LARK

549 Magnolia (at Post), Larkspur, 924-5111. This single-screen art deco theater has reopened with a policy mixing new and repertory programming. $8 save as noted.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (Robert Greenwald, 2004). See Ongoing for review 6:30, 8:30 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Call for program.

SATURDAY: From the producers of Whipped and 100 Ft. Wednesday, Fueled (2004) is a new surfing documentary, screening for one night only 6 p.m.

LITTLE ROXIE

3125 16th St. (at Valencia), 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $8 save as noted. Popular holdover programs from the "big" Roxie two doors down.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Tom Dowd & the Language of Music (Mark Moorman, 2004) 6, 8 p.m.; also Wed 2, 4 p.m. Hijacking Catastrophe (Jeremy Earp and Sut Jhally, 2004) 9:45 p.m. See Ongoing for reviews.

STARTS FRIDAY: Call for program.

LUMIERE

1572 California (at Polk), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. This multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater, and also offers a midnight movie series, "The Filth," with just the film on Fridays and audience participation events on Saturdays. For other Lumiere programs, see our Showtimes page. $9.50, midnight show $8.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Aug. 27-Sept. 2): End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (Michael Gramaglia and Jim Fields, 2004). See Opening for review. Call for times.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY (Aug. 27 & 28): Richard Elfman's cult-y Forbidden Zone (1980), with director in person midnight.

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. $8.75.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Imagining Argentina (Christopher Hampton, U.S./Argentina, 2003). See Ongoing for review 2:30, 5:10, 7:45 p.m.

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 Berkeley's Art Museum, thrives at its on-campus location, up the steps on Bancroft between Telegraph Avenue and the Hearst Gym.

WEDNESDAY: An "Exploit-O-Scope" series concludes with Bud Townsend's Nightmare in Wax (1966), with Cameron Mitchell as a Hollywood wax museum impresario on a mission of vengeance 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: A Luchino Visconti series continues with the director's last film, Conversation Piece (Italy, 1974), with Burt Lancaster as an art historian in retreat 7 p.m. Visconti's family melodrama Vaghe stelle dell'orsa (Italy, 1965), with Claudia Cardinale 9:20 p.m.

FRIDAY: A new print of Visconti's much loved, much parodied Death in Venice (Italy, 1970), with Dirk Bogarde as a dying, mascara-melting composer 7 p.m. Giancarlo Giannini's wife Laura Antonelli is Visconti's The Innocent (Italy, 1976) 9:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: The Innocent 5 p.m. Visconti's vision of Nazi Germany, The Damned 7:30 p.m.

SUNDAY: A free screening of Visconti's 238-minute portrait of the art-loving "mad king of Bavaria," Ludwig II (Italy, 1972), with Trevor Howard as Wagner 5:30 p.m.

MONDAY: Theater closed.

TUESDAY: Bill Morrison's amazing compilation of rotting nitrate footage, Decasia (2002) 7:30 p.m.

PARAMOUNT

2025 Broadway (at 20th Street), Oakland, (510) 465-6400, www.paramounttheatre.com. $6. This beautifully restored picture palace's ongoing "Movie Classics Series" regularly includes a feature plus a newsreel, cartoon, previews, and a few spins of the Dec-O-Win prize wheel.

FRIDAY (Aug. 27): James Mason wields weapons of mass destruction 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Richard Fleischer, 1954). Doors open at 7 p.m., film at 8 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 (Aug. 26): Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) leadenly transforms Hunter S. Thompson's high-octane weirdness to the screen. Sponsors Reel Video and Sierra Nevada offer goodies watchable and drinkable, respectively. $5 9:15 p.m.

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

RAFAEL FILM CENTER

1118 Fourth St. (at A Street), 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 & THURSDAY: Stander (Bronwen Hughes, U.K., 2004) 7, 9:15 p.m. Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston, 2004) 6:45, 9 p.m. Seducing Dr. Lewis (Jean-François Pouliot, Canada, 2003) 8:45 p.m. Ongoing for reviews.

WEDNESDAY: A twice-weekly Barbara Stanwyck series screens the Preston Sturgesscripted Remember the Night (Mitchell Leisen, 1941), with Stanwyck a shoplifter taken to a small town for Christmas by her prosecutor (Fred MacMurray). Sweet! 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: The Story of the Weeping Camel (Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni, Mongolia, 2003). See Ongoing for review 6:30 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Mean Creek (Jacob Aaron Estes, 2004); see Opening for review. Maria Full of Grace, Seducing Dr. Lewis, and Stander continue. Call for times.

SATURDAY: A free open-air screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) at the San Rafael City Plaza on Fourth Street, a block from the theater 8:45 p.m.

SUNDAY: Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, together again, seek Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) in the classic California noir 7 p.m.

RED VIC

1727 Haight (at Cole), 668-3994, www.redvicmoviehouse.com. $7 save as noted. There's a spot on the couch for you at this collectively owned rep house.

WEDNESDAY: Yoji Yamada's excellent, low-key The Twilight Samurai (Japan, 1961) 2, 4:25, 7, 9:40 p.m.

THURSDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY (Aug. 26-Sept. 1): Improvisational rap's on display in Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme (Kevin Fitzgerald, 2004). See Opening for review 7, 9:15 p.m.; also Sat, Sun 2, 4 p.m., Wed 2 p.m.

ROXIE

3117 16th St. (at Valencia), 863-1087 and www.roxie.com. $8 save as noted. Short-run repertory in one of the most adventurously programmed theaters in the USA.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Bill O'Reilly Outfoxed (Robert Greenwald, 2004); see Ongoing for review 6:15, 8, 9:45 p.m.; also Wed 1, 2:45, 4:30 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Orwell Rolls in His Grave (Robert Kane Pappas, 2004). See Opening for review 7, 9:15 p.m.; also Sat, Sun, & Wed 2, 4:30 p.m.

SOMARTS GALLERY

934 Brannan (at Eighth Street), 673-3080 and www.artworksf.com for this event. Free.

WEDNESDAY (Aug. 25): "Two Halves, One Whole," a program "exploring gender archetypes through art, music, poetry, film and performance," includes a film installation by Vincent O'Brien 5-7:30 p.m.

SPANGENBERG THEATRE

Gunn High School Campus, 780 Arastradero (at Foothill Expressway), Palo Alto, (650) 354-8263, www.spangenbergtheatre.com. This recently refurbished Center for the Arts offers a 35mm film series on a large 30-foot screen. $5.

FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY (Aug. 27-29): Artist Andy Goldsworthy works with twigs, mud, and ice in Rivers and Tides (Thomas Riedelsheimer, 2002) Fri & Sun 5:40 p.m.; Sat 2:30 p.m. Korean monks watch time go by in Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring (Ki-duk Kim, Korea, 2003) Fri & Sun 7:30 p.m. The Story of the Weeping Camel (Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni, Mongolia, 2003) Sat 12:30 p.m.; Sun 3:30 p.m. See Ongoing for reviews.

STANFORD

221 University (at Emerson), Palo Alto, (650) 324-3700, www.stanfordtheatre.org. $6. This handsomely restored neighborhood palace usually (but not always) screens pre-1960 Hollywood fare in the best available prints, with excellent projection.

WEDNESDAY: Talented comic Marion Davies stars as an autograph hound in the silent The Cardboard Lover (Robert Z. Leonard, 1928; 7:30 p.m.), and as Peg O' My Heart (Leonard, 1933; 9 p.m.), as a good Irish lass who inherits a fortune.

THURSDAY & FRIDAY: Two '50s sex comedies shuffle gender roles freely -- Howard Hawks' buoyant Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953; 7:30 p.m.) and Frank Tashlin's stereotype romp Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957; 5:45, 9:10 p.m.).

SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY: Two classic swashbucklers, The Adventures of Robin Hood (William Keighley and Michael Curtiz, 1938; 7:30 p.m.; also Sat & Sun 3:30 p.m.), with Errol Flynn, and The Mark of Zorro (Rouben Mamoulian, 1940; 5:45, 9:50 p.m.), with Tyrone Power. Chapter 10 of Superman (1948) precedes Robin Hood.

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS

701 Mission (at Third Street, in Yerba Buena Gardens), 978-2787, www.YerbaBuenaArts.org. $7 save as noted. This venue's Screening Room is a home for film and video programs of all sorts.

WEDNESDAY (Aug. 25): The Bay Area Video Coalition screens Burials and Borders (Paula Levine, 2004), a chronicle of the filmmaker's first visit to Israel after her brother's death there 7:30 p.m.

FILM NOTES

The Danger and Despair Knitting Circle concludes its "Mostly Pre-Code" series of 1930s proto-noirs, most featuring dangerous blonde Gertrude Michael. On Thursday, Aug. 26, a cop has Four Hours to Kill (Mitchell Leisen, 1935) so he takes his prisoner to a stage show. Why not? The film's introduced by local historian Daniel Hodges 8 p.m. For more info, see www.noirfilm.com; to make a reservation and get directions to the screening locale, contact 552-1533 or e-mail darkmarc@msn.com.