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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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: The Baxter (Michael Showalter, 2005). Call for times.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Sept. 23-29): Dear Wendy (Thomas Vinterberg, Denmark, 2005). See Opening for review. Call for times.
MIDNIGHT SHOW (Friday & Saturday): Use the force, Ralph! With Pat Morita as Yoda. The Karate Kid (John G. Avildsen, 1984).
ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.
WEDNESDAY (Sept. 21): Dying of cancer, French director Claude Sautet participated in the interviews that comprise the tribute Claude Sautet ou la magie invisible (N.T. Binh, 2000) 6 p.m.
AQUARIUS
430 Emerson (at Lytton), Palo Alto, (650) 266-9260, www.landmarktheatres.com. $8 for this midnight series. "Midnight Moovies" continues, with Bunny the Cow hosting a pre-film show with prize giveaways and cartoons/TV programs on Saturdays only. There will be additional screenings Saturday and Sunday "around noon" (call for more info). See our Showtimes page for the Aquarius' regular listings.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY (Sept. 23 & 24): Jean Renoir said that directors kept making the same film over and over, and Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1989) certainly illustrates this -- save that this seems more original than his more recent photocopies midnight.
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. 22): An Amnesty International screening of Stolen Childhoods (Len Morris, 2002), a documentary on global child labor, winner of a "Best Feature for Children's Advocacy" award at the 2005 Activist Film Festival 8 p.m.
FRIDAY (Sept. 23): The ongoing ninth annual MadCat Women's International Film Festival offers "Unpacking Histories," a program of documentaries including Cade Bursell's record of her trip south, Moving Movie, and Leslie Thornton's Let Me Count the Ways -- Minus 10, 9, 8, 7, a critique of violence incorporating footage of her father, a pilot in Hiroshima. $7-20. See www.madcatfilmfestival.org for more info 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY (Sept. 24): Other Cinema's program of "Dispatches From Iraq" includes Ashwan Raman's Iraq: The Endless War, David Martinez's 500 Miles to Babylon, the Lost Bead Collective's Fallujah Verité, 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: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Dai Sijie, China, 2004) 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7:10, 9:15 p.m. The World (Jia Zhangke, China, 2004) noon, 2:50, 5:40, 8:30 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY: Touch the Sound (Thomas Riedelsheimer, Germany, 2004). See Opening for review 12:40, 2:45, 4:40, 7, 9:05 p.m. Call for other films and times.
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: The International Latino Film Festival screens "six daring intellectuals in a delirious game of musical beds" in the Cuban comedy Love by Mistake (Gerardo Chijona , 2004) 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: A double bill of two Warren Beatty vehicles, the paranoia-inducing The Parallax View (Alan J. Pakula, 1974; 7 p.m.) and a stand-up comic doing Kafka in the memorable and rare Mickey One (Arthur Penn, 1964; 9 p.m.).
FRIDAY: The ninth Arab Film Festival screens here today through Sunday. See Night & Day for more; also visit www.aff.org. Abouna (Haroun, Chad) 10 a.m. The Dreams of Sparrows (Daffar, Iraq) 1 p.m.Waiting for Quds (Blachor, Israel/Palestine) 3:30 p.m. Opening Reception 5:30 p.m. Sabah (Canada) followed by Q&A with filmmaker Ruba Nadda 7 p.m. Exils (Gatlif, Algeria/France) 9:30 p.m.
SATURDAY: Arab Film Festival -- Short film program including Cousines (Salem, Algeria) 11 a.m. The Sleeping Child (Kassari, Morocco) 1 p.m. The Syrian Bride (Riklis, Israel) 3 p.m. Douar de Femmes (Algeria) followed by Q&A with filmmaker Mohamed Chouikh 5 p.m. Beb el Web (Allouache, Algeria) 7:30 p.m. Terra Incognita (Salhab, Lebanon) 9:30 p.m.
SUNDAY: Arab Film Festival -- I Love Cinema (Fawzi, Egypt) 11 a.m. The Concrete Curtain (Palestine/U.S.) and Q&A with filmmaker Benny Brunner 1:15 p.m. Tenja (Legzouli, Morocco) 3:15 p.m. Looking for Freedom (Egypt) and Q&A with filmmaker Inas El Deghedi 5 p.m. Occupied Minds (Dajani and Michaelis, Palestine/U.S.) and Q&A with filmmakers 7:45 p.m. The Magic Box (Behi, Tunisia) 9:30 p.m.
MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Sept. 26-29): French cinema has never been cooler than in this double bill of new prints of Jean-Luc Godard's Masculine-Feminine (1966; 7 p.m.; also Wed 3 p.m.) and Band of Outsiders (1964; 9 p.m.; also Wed 1, 5 p.m.).
CLAY
2261 Fillmore (at Clay), 267-4893, www.landmarktheatres.com or www.8tales.com for this series. "Eight Tales," a weekend midnight movie series, continues. For additional Clay screenings, see our Showtimes page. $8.
