Editorial
December, 2019
- The Continuous Thread: Celebrating Our Interwoven Histories, Identities and Contributions
- James Tissot: Fashion & Faith
- Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983
- November Theater Roundup
- Immersed in Light at Grace Cathedral
- At Minnesota Street Project, the Sky’s the Limit
- Introductions: Tenderloin Museum
November, 2019
October, 2019
September, 2019
August, 2019
July, 2019
June, 2019
May, 2019
April, 2019
March, 2019
- Lauren Yee’s Multi-Layered Play is a Chinese Puzzlebox
- MoAD Hosts Exhibition from Harlem’s Studio Museum
- New Asian Art Exhibition Spotlights Kimono
- New Opera Reimagines “Howards End”
- British Light Artist Bruce Munro Illuminates Montalvo
- Berlin & Beyond Showcases German Film
- Matthew Goudeau Takes Helm of Grants for the Arts
- Art-making From a Trans/Queer POV
February, 2019
January, 2019
December, 2018
November, 2018
October, 2018
September, 2018
August, 2018
July, 2018
June, 2018
May, 2018
April, 2018
March, 2018
February, 2018
January, 2018
December, 2017
November, 2017
October, 2017
September, 2017
- Cunning Sociopolitical Tale Premieres at Crowded Fire
- Why Citizenship? YBCA Invites Artists to Ponder the Question
- Margaret Jenkins Dance Opens 43rd Season
- One-Woman Play Captures Yearning for Home
- Poignant Ballet Examines Homelessness
- Edvard Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed
- Degas: A Tip of the Hat to Milliners
August, 2017
July, 2017
June, 2017
May, 2017
April, 2017
March, 2017
February, 2017
- “The Blues Project”: A Performance for Our Time
- Faith-Based Play Explores Compassion, Belief, Community
- Photo Exhibit Captures a Lost Generation of Syrians
- Noche Flamenca Brings Passion, Soul to “Antigona”
- The Tale of Two Afghan Women at Heart of New A.C.T. Play
- Feb Film Fests: Eclectic, Compelling
- Cal Performances: A Home Away From Home For The Trocks
January, 2017
December, 2016
November, 2016
October, 2016
September, 2016
August, 2016
July, 2016
June, 2016
May, 2016
- Beethoven Pops Up All Over Town
- The San Francisco Symphony Brings Bernstein Classic to the Stage
- Activism Takes Center Stage at SF International Arts Festival
- Ojai at Berkeley Celebrates Josephine Baker, Simone Weil
- SFDanceworks Debuts Inaugural Season
- Bringing the Blues Forward
- CJM Hosts Bill Graham Retrospective
April, 2016
March, 2016
February, 2016
January, 2016
December, 2015
November, 2015
October, 2015
September, 2015
August, 2015
July, 2015
June, 2015
May, 2015
April, 2015
March, 2015
February, 2015
January, 2015
December, 2014
November, 2014
October, 2014
September, 2014
August, 2014
July, 2014
June, 2014
May, 2014
April, 2014
March, 2014
February, 2014
January, 2014
December, 2013
November, 2013
October, 2013
September, 2013
August, 2013

If there’s a through line for cinema in the Bay Area this month, it’s variety.
The mother/daughter relationship of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher, a look at O.J. Simpson through a sociological lens, emerging Italian filmmakers and the unfairly neglected canon of an influential British filmmaking duo are on offer here in November.
The enthusiasm for film noir shows no signs of abating. The trend is borne out by the arrival of a third installment of "The French Had a Name For It," a series that trades in heightened sensuality, an acute awareness of class and a deep probing of psychological excess. After playing to sell-out crowds for the last two years, the series returns to the Roxie with 15 movies, dating from 1939 to 1965, that embody the four-decade love affair between French filmmakers and the classic American crime dramas they made their own. Of particular interest is Pierre Chenal's hard-boiled "The Last Turn" (1939), the first screen adaptation of James M. Cain's novel "The Postman Always Rings Twice," a tale of lust, greed and murder that unfolds when a naïve, good-hearted older man and his much younger, conniving wife hire a drifter. (The steamy American version with Lana Turner would be released seven years later.) A step up in class but no less venal is the tale of an alcoholic doctor (Michel Simon) who succumbs to a god complex and descends into madness in Henri Decoin's "Not Guilty." Following a night of drinking, the provincial family physician runs over a motorcyclist and leaves the scene of the fatal accident. Emboldened by getting way with the crime, he embarks on a killing spree, hoping and ultimately failing to be recognized for his homicidal genius. An entire day is devoted to actor/writer/director Robert Hossein, a triple threat who specialized in upper-class decadence and low-rent B-noir. In "The Secret Killer," based on a true story, he directs and stars as Peter Kurten, a real-life serial killer whose string of brutal murders terrorized Germany in 1929. Blending familiar tropes of horror and noir, Hossein sets up a collision between the manhunt for the monster, a transgressive encounter he has with a beguiling cabaret singer (Marie-France Pisier) and the rise of the Third Reich. Long simmering revenge is what fuels Christian-Jaque's backstage intrigue "A Lover's Return," in which a ballet director believed to be dead (Louis Jouvet) returns to Lyon to orchestrate a cunning payback against the family who tried to murder him. His Machiavellian plot ensnares a raven-haired beauty played by Russian ballerina Ludmilla Tcherina, who became famous two years later in "The Red Shoes."
Nov. 3 → 7 at the Roxie Theater;
roxie.com
"The Red Shoes," which follows the fortunes and tragic fate of an ambitious young ballerina (Moira Shearer), is part of "Arrows of Desire: The Films of Powell & Pressburger," a series at BAMPFA by the British writer/director/producer team Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They made 24 features together, drawing on eclectic sources from Surrealism and German Expression to mysticism, but their most extravagant productions were reserved for the worlds of opera and dance. "The Red Shoes," for instance, which has a 20-minute ballet sequence roughly based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name, was shot in Technicolor by the brilliant late cinematographer Jack Cardiff. The pair followed up that film with "The Tales of Hoffmann," a colorful, lavish ode to movement and music featuring dancing, over-the-top special effects and a lush Offenbach score connecting a poet's magical-albeit ill-fated-romantic adventures. Romantic fantasy also animates "A Matter of Life of Death," a sentimental war-time love story, also shot in Technicolor by Cardiff; David Niven plays a dashing RAF fighter pilot who falls for an American radio operator shortly before leaping from his bomber, sans parachute, perhaps to his death…or perhaps not.
Through Dec. 30; bampfa.org.
Documentaries are popular in San Francisco, which has consistently turned out award-winning topical films. Doc Stories, a boutique festival organized by
the San Francisco Film Society, provides a showcase for the latest features and shorts, ranging from insightful personal portraits to examinations of hot
button social issues, while offering opportunities for audiences to engage with leaders in the field. Among those special guests is Werner Herzog, the
existential poet of documentarians. Here he discusses his recent exploration of the unbridled power of nature, the aptly titled "Into the Inferno," which
focuses on the science, mystery and mythology of volcanoes. With co-director and famed volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, the film offers wondrous imagery
and Herzog's singular commentary, taking viewers on an exotic journey from Vanuatu in the South Pacific to North Korea. The fest kicks off at the Castro
Theater
with Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens's affectionate show business exposé "Bright Lights: Starring Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher," a peek behind
the curtain at the eccentric, sometimes fractious mother-daughter relationship between the two Hollywood actresses. On the domestic front, Haitian
filmmaker Raoul Peck's "I Am Not Your Negro" uses archival footage of the Civil Rights movement and the writings of James Baldwin to weave a portrait of
the American black experience. The nature of that experience is also investigated in "13TH," from "Selma" director Ava DuVernay. Through in-depth research
and interviews with Newt Gingrich, Angela Davis, Cory Booker and others, she makes connections between a loophole in the 13th amendment, which abolished
slavery in 1865, and the methods later employed to demonize, criminalize and imprison African-Americans. And finally, though it may seem that there is
nothing to add to the "literature" on O.J. Simpson and the so-called trial of the century, Peabody/Emmy award-winner Ezra Edelman has made one of the best
documentaries of the year on the subject. His enthralling multi-part opus, "O.J. Simpson: Made in America," which aired on television this summer, is a
probing examination of the confluence of race, celebrity, journalism, the media, the failures of the justice system and the history of the troubling
relationship between African Americans and the LAPD. Edelman discusses his approach to the material in an on-stage interview on Nov. 4.
Nov. 3 → 6, the Vogue & Castro theaters and the San Francisco Jewish Community Center; sffs.org
New Italian Cinema, an avidly attended mini-fest in a city with a rich Italian cultural heritage, is an annual sampler of the work of new and veteran directors from the country that gave us Neo-Realism and Fellini. Many of the films portray complicated relationships. In the opening night feature, "Second Spring," for instance, a lonesome architect, whose wife has died under mysterious circumstances, becomes infatuated with the wife of his younger friend. In "Like Crazy," Paolo Virzi sets his story of unlikely cohorts in a mental institution where the effusive Beatrice, who tells everyone she meets that she's a billionaire countess, and Donatella, a tattoo-covered introvert, bond and plot their escape. One of only three documentaries here, Haider Rashid's "Street Opera" illuminates the lives and artistry of several thoroughly committed masters of rhyme in the Italian rap scene; their monikers-Clementino, Damage and Torment-say it all.
Nov. 16 → 20; at Vogue Theater;
newitaliancinema.org