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
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21 GRAND
449B 23rd St. (between Telegraph and Broadway), Oakland, (510) 444-7263 for venue, www.paratheatrical.com for program.
THURSDAY (Sept. 23): The Orphans of Delirium are 11 performers executing "a series of convulsive initiatic rites" at the hands of video artist Antero Alli. $7-12 suggested donation 9 p.m.
111 MINNA GALLERY
111 Minna (between New Montgomery and Second streets), 864-0660 and www.microcinema.com for information on this program. $5.
MONDAY (Sept. 27): The "Autumnal Edition" of the monthly "Independent Exposure Screening Series" presents 13 short films and videos "as a poignant reminder of Autumn's time of change," including Shannon Silva's The Unbelievable Act of Totally Disappearing, Leighton Pierce's Pink Socks, and Leif Petersen's Museums of Forests 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: On separate screens, Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Last Life in the Universe (Thailand, 2003; 7, 9:30 p.m.), and the Karl Rove documentary Bush's Brain (Joseph Mealey, Michael Shoob, 2004; 7:30, 9:40 p.m.). See Ongoing for reviews.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Sept. 24-30): Bang Rajan (Thanit Jitnukul, Thailand, 2000). See Opening for review. Call for times.
ALBERT PARK BASEBALL FIELD
B Street & Albert Park Lane, San Rafael, 488-8888, www.filmnight.org. The summer-long "Film Night in the Park" continues. BYO chairs, blankets, and pillows. $5 donation, no one turned away.
FRIDAY (Sept. 24): A "Made in the Bay Area" series screens the Pixar-animated Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrish, 2003), a favorite of divorced dads everywhere 8 p.m.
ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.
WEDNESDAY (Sept. 22): The equation of money and happiness is posed in Robert Guédiguian's dramedy L'Argent fait le bonheur (1993) 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.
THURSDAY (Sept. 23): ATA's monthly "Open Screening" allows you to present your homemade masterpiece. Advance submission is encouraged (openscreening@hotmail.com) to reserve space. Free for filmmakers; looky-loos are $5 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY (Sept. 24): The MadCat Women's International Film Festival (www.madcatfilmfestival.org) screens "The Truth of the Matter," films about artists questioning the government, including Diane Nerwen's The Thief of Baghdad, starring Charlton Heston. $7-20 sliding scale 7 p.m. "Patriot Acts," a program of vintage Vietnam-era anti-war films (including Carolee Schneemann's Viet-Flakes, 1966) and new work from Iraq (Sietske Tjallingii's The General, 2004). $7-20 sliding scale 9 p.m.
SATURDAY (Sept. 25): A program of films on biology and law, screening as a benefit for the PATRIOT Act-busted Critical Art Ensemble of Buffalo, includes Dale Hoyt's Transgenic Hair Shirt, Rachel Mayeri's Genome, and films by the CAE. "What's freedom of expression worth to you?" asks Other Cinema. "Put your money where your mouth is, you armchair radicals!" $5-50 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 & THURSDAY: Political corruption in the heat of the sun -- a timely screening of Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974) 7, 9:35 p.m.; also Wed 1:30, 4:15 p.m.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Sept. 24-30): The war that never ends -- a timely screening of Peter Davis' Oscar-winning Vietnam documentary Hearts & Minds (1974) 7, 9:30 p.m.; also Sat, Sun, & Wed 4:15 p.m.; Sat & Wed 1:30 p.m.
EL RIO
3158 Mission (at Precita near Cesar Chavez), 282-3325 for venue; www.madcatfilmfestival.org for this program. The MadCat Women's International Film Festival screens programs here through Oct. 3 on this bar's outdoor patio (or indoors if it rains). $7-20 sliding scale.
WEDNESDAY (Sept. 22): The eighth annual MadCat festival continues with "Growing Up Is Hard to Do," a program of "side-splitting educational films" on themes of growing up and sexuality from the 1950s-80s. Free barbecue 6:30 p.m. Films 8:30 p.m.
TUESDAY (Sept. 28): MadCat -- A program by pioneering French film feminist Germaine Dulac screens her experimental narrative The Smiling Madame Beudet (1922) and her abstract Antoine Artaud adaptation Seashell and the Clergyman (1928). Free barbecue 6:30 p.m. Films 8:30 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.
WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson are Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003) 7:30, 9:15 p.m.
MONDAY: Closed.
STARTS TUESDAY: Ink and paint dance in The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet, France, 2003), screening through Oct. 17 7, 8:30, 10 p.m.
GOETHE-INSTITUT
530 Bush (at Grant), 263-8760, www.goethe.de/uk/saf/enindex.htm. The place to go for German cultural events. $5.
TUESDAY (Sept. 28): A series of the Holocaust-themed films of producer Arthur Brauner screens Hanussen (István Szabó, Germany, 1987), about the famous psychic who predicted Hitler's rise to power ... and what happened after he was right 7:30 p.m.
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