Repertory Film Listings

Commentary by Gregg Rickman (greggr2006@yahoo.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.

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $6; members $3.

THURSDAY (Sept. 14): A Panel Discussion of filmmakers attending the ongoing San Francisco Arab Film Festival. Guests include filmmakers Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, Philippe Aractingi, Samir Nasr, Sufyan and Abdallah Omeish, and famed Tunisian actress Hend Sabri 7 p.m.

ARTISTS' TELEVISION ACCESS
992 Valencia (at 21st Street), 824-3890, www.atasite.org for most programs, www.othercinema.com for Saturday evening programs. $5 save as noted. This venue offers all manner of strange and unusual video and film.

FRIDAY: The 10th Annual MadCat Festival of films by women screens here tonight and next Friday. Rural Women: Finding Independence screens three documentaries, including Water and Atefeh (Nahid Rezaei, Iran, 2001) and The Angelmakers (Astrid Bussink, Hungary, 2005), recalling the mass "arsenic murders" of husbands in 1929. $7-$20 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: ATA's Other Cinema opens its fall season with "Anxious Animation," a program of new short films in 16 mm, including Jim Trainor's handmade animations Bats and Moschops plus more by Lewis Klahr, Jamie Geiser and others 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.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Edward Norton stars as The Illusionist (Neil Burger, 2006; 12:15, 2:35, 4:55, 7:15, 9:30 p.m. ).and in Theatre 2, Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Ferris, 2006; noon, 2:20, 4:40, 7, 9:20 p.m. ).

STARTS FRIDAY: Call for films.

SATURDAY: The Global Lens Film Series screens here weekends this month. See "Night & Day" page 21 for more. Girls bond amid the rubble of civil war in the now very timely In the Battlefields (Danielle Arbid, Lebanon, 2004) 11 a.m.

SUNDAY: Global Lens — Two prisoners are Almost Brothers (Lucia Murat, Brazil, 2005) 11 a.m.

MONDAY: Global Lens — From South Africa, the stylish and entertaining Max and Mona, with director Teddy Mattera in person 7 p.m. The excellent Border Café (Kambozia Partovi, Iran). Separate admisson 9 p.m.

BAY MODEL
2100 Bridgeway (at Spring), Sausalito, 332-3871 for venue, 381-4123 and www.tiburonfilmfestival.com for the event-sponsoring Tiburon Film Society. Free.

THURSDAY (Sept. 14): Railway porter John Hyrns, a.k.a. Johnny Berlin (Dominic J. DeJoseph, 2005) tells tales of his adventures (like trying to sell his liver for cash) 6 p.m.

CASTRO
429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120 and www.thecastrotheatre.com. $10 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 & THURSDAY: Viva Pedro!, an eight-film series of new prints of films by Pedro Almodovar, continues with The Flower of My Secret (Spain, 1995), about a romance novelist who takes on a second career as a journalist — criticizing her romance novels 7, 9:15 p.m.; also Wed 2:30, 4:45 p.m.

FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: Viva Pedro! — Antonio Banderas stars in the still controversial Law of Desire (Spain, 1987) 7, 9:15 p.m.; also Sat & Sun 2:30, 4:45 p.m.

MONDAY & TUESDAY: Viva Pedro! — Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz enjoy their Live Flesh (Spain, 1997) 7, 9:30 p.m.

CLAY
2261 Fillmore (at Clay), 267-4893, www.landmarktheatres.com. A midnight movie series starts this weekend at this single-screen jewel. $8.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY (Sept. 15 & 16): Dead aliens in the trunk, generics everywhere, who knew how prophetic this deserving cult classic would be? Repo Man (Alex Cox, 1984) midnight.

DARK ROOM THEATRE
2263 Mission (between 18th and 19th "between the pawn shop and the laundromat"), 401-7987, www.darkroomsf.com. Live cabaret, plus regular film screenings with audience cat-calling encouraged.

SUNDAY (Sept. 17): It's Shatner Month at the Dark Room's weekly "Bad Movie." Tonight's film is Pray for the Wildcats (Robert Michael Lewis, 1974), with Shatner an adman dragged into desert motocross to please mad client Andy Griffith. $5 8 p.m.

EL RIO
3158 Mission (at Precita near Cesar Chavez), 282-3325, www.elriosf.com; www.madcatfilmfestival.org for the MadCat Festival. This neighborhood bar often screens programs on its outdoor patio (or indoors if it rains).

WEDNESDAY (Sept. 13): The 10th Annual MadCat Festival of films by women screens here. Tonight's program, "Local Ladies," offers a selection of the best 16 mm film from MadCat's first decade, by Donna Carter, Samara Halperin, Greta Snider, and others, plus new works by Kerry Laitala and Jeanne Liotta. $7—20 sliding scale. Free BBQ 6:30 p.m. Movies 8:30 p.m.

TUESDAY (Sept. 19): MadCat — An evening of animation, "Motion Stopped." $7—20 sliding scale. Free BBQ 6:30 p.m. Movies 8:30 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 35 mm, 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: What is truth? asked jesting Pilate, but did not stay to hear the answer. And then he saw Blow Up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966) and realized it didn't matter anyway. Through Oct. 1 "Starts at dusk."

GOETHE-INSTITUT
530 Bush (at Grant), 263-8760 and www.goethe.de/ins/us/saf/en1587184.htm for information on this program. The place to go for German cultural events. $6.