SATURDAY: Crying Out Love in the Center of the World (Isao, Japan) 12:15 p.m. Windstruck (Kwak, Korea) 3 p.m. Women of Breakwater (O'Hara, Philippines) followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers 5:10 p.m. Mongolian Ping Pong (Ning, Mongolia) 7:50 p.m. Pulse (Kurosawa, Japan) 9:50 p.m.
SUNDAY: Mongolian Ping Pong 12:45 p.m. Rice Rhapsody (Bi, H.K.) 3 p.m. The Big Swindle (Choi, Korea) 5:15 p.m. The closing-night film is the 1960 Indian historical epic Mughal-E-Azam (K. Asif). $10 8 p.m.
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: March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet, France, 2005) 4:15, 5:30, 6:30, 7:45, 8:40 p.m. Wheel of Time (Werner Herzog, Germany, 2003) 5, 7, 9 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY: Call for films and times.
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. The previously announced (and on the Red Vic's printed calendar) "Midnights for Maniacs" series has been canceled.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Post-collegiate slackers perambulate through life in Funny Ha Ha (Andrew Bujalski, 2004) 7:15, 9:15 p.m.; also Wed 2 p.m.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: A British crime drama from Guy Ritchie's producer, Layer Cake (Don Argott, 2005) 7:15, 9:30 p.m.; also Sat 2, 4:15 p.m.
SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY: Little kids dance through the Mad Hot Ballroom (Marilyn Argrelo, 2005) 7:15, 9:30 p.m.; also Sun 2, 4:15 p.m.
ROXIE
3117 and 3125 16th St. (at Valencia), 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $8 save as noted. Short-run repertory on two screens, separated by a bar, in one of the most adventurously programmed theaters in the USA.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: See what happens at 11:14 (Greg Marcks, 2000) 6, 8, 9:45 p.m. What it's like in Iraq for American soldiers comes through loud and clear in Occupation: Dreamland (Garrett Scott and Ian Olds, 2004) 6:45 p.m. The Power of Nightmares (Adam Curtis, U.K., 2004). $10 8:15 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY: Call theater for program.
SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
Koret Visitor Education Center (save as noted), 151 Third St. (between Mission and Howard), 357-4000, www.sfmoma.org. Screenings are free with museum admission of $12.50.
DAILY (Closed Wednesdays): "Photographers in Focus," a program of shorts 11 a.m. Richard Tuttle: Never Not an Artist (Chris Maybach, 2005) 1 p.m.; also Thurs 7 p.m. Gilbert & George (the EYE) (2002), a documentary by Illuminations 3 p.m.
SPANGENBERG THEATRE
Gunn High School Campus, 780 Arastradero (at Foothill Expressway), Palo Alto, (650) 354-8263, www.spangenbergtheatre.com. This refurbished Center for the Arts offers a 35mm film series on a large 30-foot screen. $5.
WEDNESDAY: Machuca (Andrés Wood, Chile, 2004) 5 p.m. Plan your escape from East Berlin via The Tunnel (Roland Suso Richter, Germany, 2001) 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: Ladies in Lavender (Charles Dance, U.K., 2004) 5:15 p.m. The Tunnel 7:30 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY: Call for program.
STANFORD
221 University (at Emerson), Palo Alto, (650) 324-3700, www.stanfordtheatre.org. $6. This handsomely restored and newly expanded neighborhood palace usually (but not always) screens pre-1960 Hollywood fare in the best available prints, with excellent projection.
WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY: Stanford favorite Audrey Hepburn plays a Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963; 7:30 p.m.) with Cary Grant in this successful comedy-thriller, a rare example of both elements working equally well. She's then endangered by Alan Arkin in Wait Until Dark (Terence Young, 1967; 5:30, 9:35 p.m.).
SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY: It's the misogyny and the ecstasy as gargoyle-ish silent star Gloria Swanson and the titular Elsa Lanchester threaten William Holden and Boris Karloff respectively in Sunset Blvd. (1950; 7:30 p.m.; also Sat & Sun 4 p.m.) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935; 6, 9:30 p.m.).
VICTORIA THEATRE
2961 16th St. (at Mission), 863-7576, www.victoriatheatre.org; www.thisdividedstate.com for this film. This venerable old house frequently rents itself out for special screenings.
THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: This Divided State (Steven Greenstreet, 2005), documenting Michael Moore's appearance at Utah State Valley College amid attendant controversy, plays weekends through Aug. 28. $10 7, 9 p.m.; also Sat & Sun 5 p.m.
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS
701 Mission (at Third Street, in Yerba Buena Gardens), 978-2787, www.ybca.org. $7 save as noted. This venue's Screening Room is a home for film and video programs of all sorts.
DAILY (Closed Mondays): "4 x 4," commissioned videos by Ellen Bruno, Bill Daniel, Sam Green, and Caveh Zahedi, screens through Sept. 25. Free with gallery admission of $6 3 p.m.
WEDNESDAY (Aug. 17): Film Arts Foundation's "True Stories" series screens two works in progress on artists, Jane Levy Reed's My Eyes Were Fresh, profiling photographer John Gutmann, and Phoenix Dance (Karina Epperlein), documenting a dancer's return to performance after losing a leg to cancer 7:30 p.m.
FILM NOTES
The free monthly "Old Oakland Outdoor Cinema" screens Billy Wilder's beloved farce Some Like It Hot (1981) on Ninth and Broadway in downtown Oakland this Saturday, Aug. 20. Limited seating provided; BYO chairs and blankets. For more information, call (510) 238-4734 or visit www.oldoakland.org. Starts at sunset.
