Film Flam

Locals love to love the crusty beer "garden" at Zeitgeist, but tourists must think they've landed in either heaven or hell. Come to think of it, some locals also hate to love it or even love to hate it. The joint evokes strong emotions: Its long, shared tables, gravel underfoot, and anarchic regulars are just the beginning. The Zeitgeist International Film Festival is an annual chance to check out a bunch of short films from around the world in this jolly, maladjusted venue: It turns out there are hardworking, tattooed, bike-monster-compatible filmmakers in Madrid, Glasgow, and Collingswood, N.J., in addition to obvious S.F. sister cities like Zagreb. Bay Area filmmakers contribute to the fest as well, with titles like Crud: The Intervention and Earth Girls Are Evil. New Yorkers Taly and Russ Johnson's film Side Effects sounds like it truly deserves to be screened in the festival's famous "beeroscope," since it's described as "a montage of drug ads." We're thinking the pair have spliced together the last five seconds of all those TV spots for new medicines that show middle-aged or older people romping moronically through idyllic meadows, while lists of disgusting potential maladies waft around them. Drink to that.