Festival season is upon us, if last week didn't tip you off. This week, we've got two to highlight. First up is the 49th Mill Valley Film Festival. Among the many exciting titles in this year's program you'll find, in just the first week, Julia Loktev in person for My Undesirable Friends, Partt II – Exile, Lee Chang Dong in person for this latest, Possible Love (as well a celebratory screening of his Poetry), Mike Leigh's self-reportedly final film, Tender Loving Care, Karina Longworth in person to present Otto Preminger's Laura, Juliette Binoche and Tom Courtenay in Queen at Sea, Mark Cousins's latest exploration of film history, The Story of Documentary Film, Barbara Kopple's latest exploration of American labor, Union Town, Ira Sachs's The Man I Love, Ryuichi Hamasaki's All of a Sudden, and Cannes prize-winners like Everytime, La Gradiva, Fjord, and La Bola Negra. This week also brings the 9th Drunken Film Festival, with an opening feature doc about a Mumbai court run by female judges followed by six shorts programs that run the gamut at bars all around Oakland.
Monday, local filmmaker JP Allen is in person to present Memorizing Allison at the Roxie, whose staff pick this month is A Welcome Distraction, Jeremiah Johnson is at the Lark, Mike Nichols's The Birdcage is at the Alamo Drafthouses New Mission (NM), Mountain View (MV), and Valley Fair (VF), Nacho Libre and Destroy All Monsters are at the Drafthouses NM and MV, and Filipiñana continues at the New Parkway (also the Smith Rafael).
Tuesday, the Grand Lake has Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. with live orchestral accompaniment (repeats Wendesday), Ice Cream Man is at the Drafthouse NM, Terminator 2 is at the Drafthouses NM and MV (repeats Thurs. at all three Drafthouses), Filipiñana and Gandahar continue at the Roxie, House on Haunted Hill (on 16mm) is at the Balboa, Up is at the Vogue, JP Allen moves to the Smith Rafael to present The Filmmaker, and Footlight Parade is at the Orinda.
Wednesday, Prime Cut (on 35mm) and The Terminator (on 35mm) is at the Drafthouse NM, BAMPFA's spotlight on contemporary Georgian cinema continues with Self-Portrait Along the Borderline with film-maker Anna Dziapshipa in person, Sapphic Cinema Social Club presents D.E.B.S. at the Roxie, where Barbara Forever and Mysterious Skin continue, Mean Girls is at the Balboa, Ed Wood (repeats Thursday) is at the Vogue, The Fifth Element is at the New Parkway, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is at the Lark, and The Stepford Wives is at the Landmark Opera Plaza.
Thursday, BAMPFA's Martin Scorsese series continues with Italianamerican and American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince, Black Swan and Perfect Blue are at the Roxie, and director Olha Zhurba and producer Darya Bassel are in person to present Ukrainian war doc Songs of Slow Burning Earth at the 4 Star.
Friday, the Roxie takes over New People Cinema in Japantown for weekends in October, starting with Hausu and Funeral Parade of Roses, Chronovisor, Isaac Mizrahi doc Unzipped, and Tsui Hark's Don’t Play With Fire open at the Roxie, where flimmaker Colette Ghunim is in person at the opening of her debut film Traces of Home, BAMPFA's last Georgian film of this seasons is Wet Sand, a selection from Italian experimental film fest Analogica is at Artists' Television Access, Fallen Angels is at the Balboa, Trainspotting (repeats Sat.) is at the Lark, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum's talkie Friday this month is Little Shop of Horrors, The Cabin in the Woods is at the Landmark Piedmont, and Sentimental Value is at Proxy.
Saturday, What Comes From Sitting in Silence? opens the Drunken Film Festival at Shapeshifters Cinema, the Roxie presents If I Go Will They Miss Me at New People, Director Kenji Tsukamoto is at the Roxies presenting his rock-climbing doc, Ashima, and Dylan Meyer is in person to present her Kirsten Stewart and Alia Shawcat-starring debut The Wrong Girls, Nightbreed is at the Balboa, The Bad Guys (repeats Sun.) and a fundraiser preview of local fútbol club doc Roll Fog is at the 4 Star, Dracula (1931) is at the Landmark Opera Plaza, Young Frankenstein is at the Orinda, Some Like It Hot and The Craft are at the New Parkway, the Niles' has its monthly comedy shorts night, and Other Cinema presents the latest entry in its ongoing Incredibly Strange Music program.
Sunday, our feature this week, Milagros Mumenthaler's third feature, The Currents, screening as part of Vital Signs at Shapeshifters Cinema, MoAD presents Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story at SFMOMA, BAMPFA's Jean-Luc Godard series continues with Band of Outsiders, the Roxie presents The Last First: Winter K2 at New People, and in its home base has Kwaidan and a Healing WELL fundraiser is at the Roxie with Figaro Up, Figaro Down, Ugetsu is at the Balboa, and Hot Fuzz is at the New Parkway.
