Repertory Film Listings

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: Following Sean (Ralph Arlyck, 2005) 7:15, 9:30 p.m.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Jan. 20-26): After Innocence (Jessica Sanders, 2006). 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. $6 donation save as noted.

WEDNESDAY (Jan. 18): Jacques Nolot wrote, directed, and starred in L' Arrière-Pays (1998) as an actor who returns to his village after his father's death 6 p.m.

THURSDAY (Jan. 19): "Magic and Cinema: The Man in the Moon Has a Headache" is a program of the splendidly imaginative short films of Georges Méliès, made in the late 1890s to the early teens, with live music by the Ahl-I Nafs. Films include The Untameable Whiskers, The Living Playing Cards, and many more. $10 7 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 (Jan. 19): Amnesty International screens State of Fear (Pamela Yates, Peru/U.S., 2005), on the war against the Shining Path guerrillas that convulsed Peru in the 1990s 8 p.m.

FRIDAY (Jan. 20): The world premiere of Voices of Patriots: Why Are We in Iraq? (Valerie Mih and Don Richards, 2006), a half-hour documentary about anti-war people in the military, including a general, national security experts, and war veterans. $10-40 admission includes a DVD of the film; no one turned away for lack of funds. See Night & Day Friday, Page 20, for more 8 p.m.

SATURDAY (Jan. 21): And speaking of our Iraq policy, "Filthy Filthy Puppets" is a night of film, video, and live performance featuring puppets and other objects. Films include Fine Dishes 4 Fine Bitches (Xander Marro). $5; puppets admitted free, $1 off for puppeteers 8 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.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: The Balboa revives the hugely popular, six-hour Italian epic The Best of Youth (Marco Giordana, 2003). Separate admission. Part 1 Wed 3:45 p.m.; Thurs noon, 7:30 p.m. Part 2 Wed noon, 7:30 p.m.; Thurs 3:45 p.m. On the Balboa's other screen, cheetahs prove fleetah in Duma (Carroll Ballard, U.S./South Africa, 2005) 12:30, 2:40, 4:50, 7, 8:55 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Call for films and times.

MONDAY: A "Noir City" series opens here with the first of four straight evenings devoted to films from 1946. Tonight, William Gargan is an adulterous cop who witnesses a murder in Night Editor (Henry Levin; 2:35, 5:35, 9 p.m.) and George Raft pages through a dead Lothario's little black book in Nocturne (Edward Marin; 3:55, 7 p.m.).

TUESDAY: "Noir City" -- From 1946, a murder at an ice carnival causes Suspense (Frank Tuttle; 1:20, 5, 9 p.m.) while a train wreck everyone denies happened leads to Pat O'Brien's Crack-Up (Irving Reis; 3:15, 7 p.m.).

CASTRO

429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com; www.goethe.de/sanfrancisco for Berlin & Beyond. $8 regular admission, $9 for Berlin & Beyond 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 Berlin & Beyond festival of German-language films concludes here today with Namibia Crossings (Liechti, Switzerland) 12:30 p.m. Horst Buchholz ... My Papa (Germany) by Christopher Buchholz, the late actor's son 2:30 p.m. North Wind (Oberli, Switzerland) 4:30 p.m. Til Schweiger's Barefoot (Germany) followed by the Closing Night Party. $15 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Al Pacino goes Cruising (William Friedkin, 1980) 7, 9:15 p.m.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Jan. 20-26): Return to Bareback Mountain with the new documentary Gay Sex in the '70s (Joseph Lovett, 2005). See Opening for review 12:30, 2:15, 4, 6, 8, 9:45 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: 2005 only felt like the end of the world -- see Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, U.K., 1964) for the real deal. "Starts at dusk."

STARTS MONDAY: Dirk Bogarde melts in the sun in Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice (Italy, 1971), through Feb. 26. "Starts at dusk."

LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER

3105 Shattuck (at Prince), Berkeley, (510) 849-2568, www.lapena.org. This cafe for activists offers occasional film screenings. $5-10 sliding scale.

SUNDAY (Jan. 22): A tribute to Fernando Alegría, a Chilean writer/poet and Bay Area resident who died last October, includes a showing of Viva Chile M...! (Uwe Blesching, Chile, 2004), about his life and work 7:30 p.m.

LARK

549 Magnolia (at Post), Larkspur, 924-5111, www.larktheater.net. This single-screen art deco theater mixes new and repertory programming. $9 save as noted.