Movies

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 for venue, www.microcinema.com for this program.

THURSDAY (Sept. 30): Independent Exposure's "Manifest Destiny Edition" screens 10 films on our times, including Kasumi's The Free Speech Zone, Mario Escobar's What to Believe, and Victoria Gamburg's excellent Right Road Lost, about a Gulf War vet's regrets. $5-10 sliding scale 8:30 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: Bang Rajan (Thanit Jitnukul, Thailand, 2000). See Ongoing for review. Call for times.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Oct. 1-7): Gays seek marriage rights in Jim de Sève's documentary Tying the Knot (2004). See review on Page 41. Call for times.

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

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

WEDNESDAY (Sept. 29): The last of a series of Robert Guédiguian's Marseilles-set dramas, A la vie, à la mort! (1990) 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 (Sept. 29): "Punk Sound Night" features Poly Styrene in the documentary X Ray Spex, screening with punk videos 8 p.m.

THURSDAY (Sept. 30): Part 3 of Patricio Guzmán's documentary of Chile's Allende regime, The Battle of Chile: Power of the People (Venezuela/Cuba, 1979) 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY (Oct. 2): Move (Ryan McKenna, Benjamin Garry, 2003), documenting 1985's aerial police bombing of a Philadelphia commune, screens with Ivan Dixon's political satire The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973) 8:30 p.m.

SUNDAY (Oct. 3): Light F/X, a continuous video show by Rudy Lemcke featuring his "experiments in light and shadow," screens for free noon-5 p.m. The rise of the world's worst rock band is chronicled in the indie feature Benny, Marty and Jerkbeast (Brady Hall, Calvin Reader, 2003) 8 p.m.

CASTRO

429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com; www.aff.org for the Arab Film Festival (Saturday). $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: The war that never ends -- a timely screening of Peter Davis' Oscar-winning Vietnam documentary Hearts & Minds (1974) 7, 9:30 p.m.; also Wed 1:30, 4:15 p.m.

FRIDAY: It's Doomsday again with Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964) 7, 9:15 p.m.

SATURDAY: The opening day of the eighth annual Arab Film Festival; see Zoom Lens, Page 49, for commentary. The Arabic news station Al-Jazeera is on camera in Control Room (Jehane Noujaim, 2003); see Ongoing for review noon. Eleven directors' 11 11-minute episodes comprise 11'09''01 (2003; released in the U.S. as September 11); the film's best episode is Idrissa Ouedrago's, from Burkina Faso 1:50 p.m. Recommended -- Rachida (Basir-Chouikh, Algeria) 4:15 p.m. Road to Love (Lange, France/Algeria) 6:15 p.m. Viva Laldjerie (Mokneche, Algeria) 8:30 p.m. Discussion with filmmaker and Opening Night reception follows.

SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Oct. 3-7): Dr. Strangelove 7, 9:15 p.m.; also Sun 4:30 p.m.; Wed 2, 4:30 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.

DAILY (Closed Mondays): 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 (Oct. 5): A series of Germany's Heimatfilm, pastoral escapes from postwar reality, opens with Harald Reinl's The Fisher Girl of Lake Constance (1956), following the fortunes of a young woman courted by the son of a wealthy neighbor 7:30 p.m.

LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER

3105 Shattuck (at Prince), Berkeley, (510) 849-2568.

WEDNESDAY (Sept. 29): The Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project screens Hidden Internment and Caught in Between, two films comparing the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and the detentions of Arabs and Muslims since Sept. 11. Cat Stevens will not be performing. $5-25 donation 8 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: Kamal Tabrizi's good comedy The Lizard (Iran, 2004) puts a convict in priest's clothing 4 p.m.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: A rich young woman debates her chances of getting into heaven in Valeria Tadeshi's It's Easier for a Camel (Italy, 2004) Wed 6:20, 8:45 p.m.; Thurs 9 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Gregory Jacobs' remake of the Argentine Nine Queens, Criminal (2004); see Ongoing for review Fri & Sat 7, 9 p.m.; Sun 6, 8 p.m.; Mon & Tues 6:30, 8:30 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.