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.

ACT I & II

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: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Park Chanwook, Korea, 2002). Call for times.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Sept. 2-8): Reel Paradise (Steve James, 2005). 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. 31): Frédéric Gélard is in Beau fixe (Paul Vecchiali, France, 1983) when his cousin and her friends start in on the practical jokes 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.

SATURDAY (Sept. 3): ATA's venerable Other Cinema opens its fall season with a program of mass-media pranks, including host Stoney Burke in Stoney Does Houston (1990), the Billboard Liberation Front in Subvertizers, clips of the Yes Men in action, and more 8:30 p.m.

BALBOA

3630 Balboa (at 38th Avenue), 221-8484, www.balboamovies.com. $8.50 save as noted. This great neighborhood house shows films of all sorts. See our Showtimes page for additional listings.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Intimate Stories (Carlos Sorin, Argentina, 2002) 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 p.m.

STARTS WEDNESDAY: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Dai Sijie, China, 2004). See Opening for review 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7, 9:15 p.m.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Sept. 2-8): The Ninth Day (Volker Schlöndorff, Germany, 2004). See Opening for review 12:40, 2:45, 4:50, 7, 9:05 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 on the Mighty Wurlitzer.

WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: The drip drip drop of a limited fuel supply powers The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror (Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohy, 2004) 7, 9:15 p.m.; also Wed, Sat, & Sun 1, 3, 5 p.m.

MONDAY: A Cold War series opens with two unfunny apocalypses (you know the funny one), Fail-Safe (Sidney Lumet, 1964; 2:15, 7 p.m.), with Henry Fonda letting New York take it on the chin for the sake of world peace, and On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959; 4:20, 9:05 p.m.), with Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Fred Astaire despairing survivors.

TUESDAY: You can't go yellow on these submarines: Richard Widmark hunts down Soviets in The Bedford Incident (James B. Harris, 1965; 7 p.m.), and Howard Hughes' favorite movie, Ice Station Zebra (John Sturges, 1968; 9 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: Jewish refugees from Germany find themselves Nowhere in Africa (Caroline Link, Germany, 2001) "Starts at dusk."

MONDAY: Closed.

STARTS TUESDAY: Call for program.

LARK

549 Magnolia (at Post), Larkspur, 924-5111, www.larktheater.net. This single-screen art deco theater mixes new and repertory programming. Separate admission for different films screened on the same day. $8.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: The animated Valiant (Gary Chapman, U.K., 2004) Wed 4, 5:30, 7 p.m.; Thurs 4:25 p.m.

FRIDAY: A James Dean retrospective opens with his widescreen debut, East of Eden (Elia Kazan, 1954) 8:45 p.m.

SATURDAY: East of Eden 6:45 p.m. Dean's apotheosis as the Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955) 9 p.m.

SUNDAY: James Dean floats through the air with an umbrella in a family-film screening of Mary Poppins (Robert Stevenson, 1964) -- no, that's Julie Andrews 4 p.m. Rebel Without a Cause 7 p.m.

MONDAY: Mary Poppins 4 p.m. Julie Andrews taps through Montmartre -- nope, that's Gene Kelly in An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951) 7 p.m.

TUESDAY: East of Eden 7:30 p.m.

LUMIERE

1572 California (at Polk), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. This multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater; for the rest of the Lumiere schedule, see our Showtimes page. $9.50.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Park Chanwook, Korea, 2002). Call for times.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Sept. 2-8): Reel Paradise (Steve James, 2005). See Opening for review. Call for times.

NILES ESSANAY SILENT FILM MUSEUM

Edison Theater, 37395 Niles (near G Street), Fremont, (510) 494-1411 and www.nilesfilmmuseum.org. A weekly "Saturday Night at the Movies" series screens silent films in this historic theater. $5.

SATURDAY (Sept. 3): Buster Keaton goes to College (James W. Horne, 1927), an acrobatic silent comedy with Buster going in for gymnastics. It screens with Charlie Chaplin as The Adventurer (Chaplin, 1917) 7:30 p.m.

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: The Talent Given Us (Andrew Wagner, 2004). Call for times.

STARTS FRIDAY: Call theater for program.

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.