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Mock Up on Mu Craig Baldwin’s latest opus, on rocket science and Scientology in California, with the director in person.
Sept. 2. Pacific Film Archive
Obscene A new documentary about Evergreen Review and Grove Press publisher Barney Russet and his many battles on behalf of free speech and real art.
Sept. 5–11. Roxie Film Center
Lost Indulgence and In Love We Trust A pair of films by up-and-coming Chinese directors Zhang Yibai and Wang Xiaoshuai.
Sept. 6–20. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Wattis Theater, 151 Third St., SF. (415) 357-4000, www.sfmoma.org
"History Stutters: Found Footage Films" Bruce Conner’s John F. Kennedy–assassination film Report (1965) and Ken Jacobs’ Malcolm X. assassination response Perfect Film (1984) is on the same bill; program also includes a movie with Ed Henderson.
Sept. 9. Pacific Film Archive
Leave Her to Heaven The 1947 Technicolor noir — and ultimate swimmer’s nightmare — returns with a demonstration of film restoration.
Sept. 12. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael. (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org
"MilkBar International Live Film Festival" Three days of experimental cinema, including more than 20 local short works.
Sept. 12–14. Noodle Factory Performing Arts Center, 1255 26th St. #207, Oakl. (510) 289-5188, www.milkbar.org
"Unknown Pleasures: The Films of Jia Zhangke" At last, China’s vanguard contemporary filmmaker gets an extensive Bay Area retrospective.
Sept. 12–Oct. 17. Pacific Film Archive
"The People Behind the Screen" Local programmers contribute to "Bay Area Now": Jesse Hawthorne Ficks presents girl rock; Stephen Parr of Oddball Films shares a giddy taste of his mega-montage project Euphoria; and kino21 puts together performance cinema; Peaches Christ, Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project, and DocFest also have nights.
Sept. 13–Oct. 18. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Shatfest Thrillville’s tributes to the one and only William Shatner continue with his 1968 spaghetti western White Comanche.
Sept. 18. El Cerrito Speakeasy Theater, 10070 San Pablo, El Cerrito. (510) 814-2400, www.thrillville.net
"Taylor Mead: A Clown Underground" The legendary wit Mead visit for screenings that showcase his best starring roles (1960’s The Flower Thief and 1967–68’s Lonesome Cowboys).
Sept. 18–21. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Forbidden Lies The Roxie is distributing this look at con artist Norma Khouri, which gets a theatrical run after a successful trip through the festival circuit.
Sept. 19. Roxie Film Center
MadCat Women’s International Film Festival Ariella Ben-Dov’s fest turns 12 with eight archival greats (including one by Samara Halperin) and silent films with live rock scores.
Sept. 19 and 23. Various venues. (415) 436-9523, www.madcatfilmfestival.org
"Psychotic and Erotic: Rare Films by Tinto Brass" Ass-fixated erotica that includes talking animals and naked cannibals.
Sept. 24. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
"How We Fight: Iraqi Short Films" Kino21 kicks off a series with Argentine director Mauro Andrizzi’s feature-length compilation of short videos shot by US or British soldiers, Iraqi militia members, and corporate workers.
Sept. 25. Artists’ Television Access
"James Dean Memorial Weekend" Come back to the five and dime, or failing that, the Castro, and be sure to wear your red windbreaker.
Sept. 26–28. Castro Theatre
Film in the Fog Gene Kelley is singing in the rain — and the Presidio fog.
Sept. 27. Main Post Theatre, 99 Moraga, SF. (415) 561-5500, www.sffs.org
The World’s Largest Shopping Mall The debut or preview of a film by Sam Green and Carrie Lozano is at the heart of a program devoted to psychogeography.
Sept. 27. Other Cinema
Deathbowl to Downtown Coan Nichols’ and Rick Charnoski’s look at the history of NYC street skateboard culture, narrated by Chloë Sevigny.
Sept. 29. Castro Theatre
"Bette Davis Centennial" She’ll tease you, she’ll unease you — all the better just to please you.
Sept.–Oct. Castro Theatre
Dead Channels You can never get enough weird horror and fantasy.
Oct. 2–5. Roxie Film Center
Mill Valley Film Festival The major fall Bay Area festival turns 31.
Oct. 2–12. Various venues. (415) 383-5256, www.mvff.org
Rosemary’s Baby and The Devils Double the demonic hysteria!
Oct. 3. Castro Theatre
"No Wave: The Cinema of Jean Eustache" The series includes 1965’s Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes, his 215-minute masterpiece The Mother and the Whore (1973), his hog-slaughtering documentary — shades of Georges Franju? — The Pig (1970), and a 1997 doc portrait of him.
Oct. 4–22. Pacific Film Archive
"Rediscovering the Fourth Generation" The post-Mao cinema that laid groundwork for directors such as Jia Zhangke gets a SF showcase.
Oct. 4–30. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Wattis Theater, 151 Third St., SF. (415) 357-4000, www.sfmoma.org
Vertigo The greatest San Francisco movie ever — maybe greatest movie ever — gets the outdoor screening treatment from Film Night in the Park.
Oct. 4. Union Square, SF. (415) 453-4333, www.filmnight.org
"Spirit of ’68" and "Know Your Enemy" A pair of programs compiled by Jack Stevenson
Oct. 5. Oddball Films, 275 Capp, SF. (415) 558-8117, www.oddballfilm.com
Manhattan and Muppets Take Manhattan Mariel Hemingway, meet Miss Piggy.
Oct. 7–9. Red Vic Movie House, 1727 Haight, SF. (415) 668-3994. www.redvicmoviehouse.com
"French Cinema Now" A new minifestival from the San Francisco Film Society.
Oct. 8–12. Various venues. (415) 561-5000, www.sffs.org
"Superstars Next Door: A Celebration of SF Amateur Sex Cinema from the ’60s" Stevenson looks at that time in SF when everyone would take off their clothes for a camera — with film in it.
Oct. 9–11. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
"Midnites for Maniacs: Back to School … in the ’90s" Jesse Hawthorne Ficks serves up Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1991), Romeo and Juliet (1995), and Starship Troopers (1997).
Oct. 10. Castro Theatre
"Envisioning Russia: A Century of Filmmaking" The expansive 16-film program extends across eight decades.
Oct. 10–30. Pacific Film Archive
"Protest-sploitation" A lecture-demo by Christian Divine looking at six "youth" films made in 1970, along with a screening of that year’s The People Next Door.
Oct. 11. Other Cinema
RR James Benning’s train film finally reaches a Bay Area destination.
Oct. 14. Pacific Film Archive
Arab Film Festival The festival turns 12 this year.
Oct. 16–Nov. 4. Various venues. (415) 564-1100. www.aff.org
DocFest IndieFest’s doc extension turns seven this year with a slate of at least 60 films.
Oct. 17–Nov.6. Roxie Film Center and Shattuck Cinema, 2230 Shattuck, Berk. (415) 820-3907, www.sfindie.com
Leslie Thornton A three-program SF Cinematheque series devoted to the director behind Peggy and Fred in Hell (1985–present) and other experimental works, with Thornton in-person.
Oct. 19–26. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
United Nations Association Film Festival Environmentalism is the focus of the festival’s 11th year.
Oct. 19–26. Various venues. (650) 724-5544, www.unaff.org
"I Love Beijing: The Films of Ning Ying" Ning and her acclaimed Beijing trilogy — which spans from the Peking Opera to dogs, cops, and taxi drivers — visit the Bay, capping things a screening of her 2005 "Chinese Sex and the City" feature Perpetual Motion.
Oct. 23–27. Pacific Film Archive
The Werewolf of Washington The president’s speechwriter is a lycanthrope in this Nixon-era flick.
Oct. 31. Pacific Film Archive
"The New Talkies: Bollywood Night" Kino21 presents six works of live narration to Bollywood film scenes.
Nov. 1. Artists’ Television Access
"Occult on Camera" Erik Davis charts out the Aleister Crowley–Kenneth Anger–Led Zeppelin triumvirate-of-evil — what does Jimmy Page’s appearance in the closing ceremony of the Olympics mean?
Nov. 1. Other Cinema
Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine The SF premiere of a new documentary devoted to the sculptor.
Nov. 2–3. Red Vic Movie House, 1727 Haight, SF. (415) 668-3994, www.redvicmoviehouse.com
Ghosts Nick Broomfield’s excellent first non-documentary feature, about the abuse of Chinese immigrants in the United Kingdom.
Nov. 7–13. Roxie Film Center
San Francisco International Animation Festival The burgeoning fest and showcase turns three with a program that includes the Cannes favorite Waltz with Bashir.
Nov. 13–16. Various venues. (415) 561-5000, www.sffs.org
Luther Price New works by one of the more scathing and harrowing filmmakers on the planet, presented by SF Cinematheque.
Mid-November. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
New Italian Cinema Will it include Matteo Garrone’s Cannes critic’s fave Gomorra?
Nov. 16–23. Various venues. (415) 561-5000, www.sffs.org
"Films by Martha Colburn" A night of kinetic works by the collage creator, presented in conjunction with a show at Berkeley Art Museum.
Dec. 2. Pacific Film Archive
Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy Thrillville stuffs your stocking with a gem from 1957.
Dec. 11. El Cerrito Speakeasy Theater, 10070 San Pablo, El Cerrito. (510) 814-2400, www.thrillville.net
James Hong A sneak peek at the local director’s expose on Japan’s rewriting of history, Lessons in the Blood.
Dec. 13. Other Cinema
"At Sea" Peter Hutton’s At Sea (2004-7), about the life and death of a colossal container ship, is the centerpiece of an oceanic SF Cinematheque program.
Dec. 14. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
ARTISTS’ TELEVISION ACCESS/OTHER CINEMA
992 Valencia, SF
(415) 824-3890
CASTRO THEATRE
429 Castro, SF
(415) 621-6120
PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE
2575 Bancroft Way, Berk.
(510) 642-5249
ROXIE FILM CENTER
3317 16th St., SF
(415) 863-1087
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS
701 Mission, screening room, SF
(415) 978-2787