Fall Arts: Flicks and festivals to check out

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks' unstoppable "Midnites for Maniacs" series, devoted to exhibiting mostly-1980s faves in glorious 35 mm, plans a triple bill of films at the Castro on Friday, Sept. 17, under the theme of "Reinventing Prom." Screenings include Peggy Sue Got Married; a 25th anniversary screening of Back to the Future; and at the stroke of midnight, Scott Baio in Zapped! A horror program follows on Oct. 15, and then at the Roxie on Nov. 20, Baio returns in the Afterschool Special, Stoned (1981), plus two more in a similar vein.
www.midnitesformaniacs.com

On Sept. 18 and 19, the Iranian Film Festival will present a tribute at the San Francisco Art Institute to actress Fakhri Khorvash, a star for 50 years, and screen her 1974 classic, Prince Ehtejab, about the last days of a dying prince.
www.iranianfilmfestival.org

The San Francisco Film Society sponsors the NY/SF International Children's Film Festival at the Embarcadero Center Cinema Sept. 24-26. Films to catch with your kids aged 3-18 include Sounds Like Teen Spirit, a documentary about contestants at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest; Turtle — The Incredible Journey, following its 6,000-mile migration; and much more, including Secret of Kells director Tomm Moore in person with an interactive encounter with his film.
www.sffs.org

The 33rd Mill Valley Film Festival screens Oct. 7-17 at three venues in Marin County. Locally made films premiering at this always worthwhile event include Taggart Siegel's Queen of the Sun, about the ongoing worldwide bee extinctions; Leave Them Laughing, a comedic musical about life with a terminal illness; and Yoav and Shira Potash's Food Stamped, depicting the week they spent just $1 per meal — in Berkeley, where it costs $10 just to use the sidewalk in front of Chez Panisse!
www.cafilm.org

In this year's horror comedy All About Evil, Natasha Lyonne plays a woman who inherits the Mission's Victoria Theater and turns it into a home for her murderous movies. It's appropriate, then, that the Victoria will screen this, local celeb Peaches Christ's feature, Oct. 21-24.
www.peacheschrist.comgregg Rickman