Schedules are for Wed/3-Tue/9 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.
ARBOR 4210 Telegraph, Oakl; www.shapeshifterscinema.com. Free. "Shapeshifters Cinema: Tommy Becker," Thu, 8.
ARTISTS’ TELEVISION ACCESS 992 Valencia, SF; www.othercinema.com. $6. "Other Cinema:" United in Anger: A History of ACT UP (Hubbard, 2012), plus shorts, Sat, 8:30.
BERKELEY FELLOWSHIP OF UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS 1924 Cedar, Berk; www.bfuu.org. $10-100. Operation Terror (Cross, 2012), Sun, 7. Benefit for No Lies Radio.
CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $8.50-11. Berlin and Beyond Film Festival," Wed-Thu. Films from German-speaking countries; more info at goethe.de/ins/us/saf/prj/bby/enindex.htm. "Midnites for Maniacs: Fuck Urban Sprawl:" •Candyman (Rose, 1992), Fri, 7:30; District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009), Fri, 9:45; and Attack the Block (Cornish, 2011), Fri, 11:45. One or all three films, $13. •Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (Burton, 1985), Sat, 1:30, 5:10, 8:50, and Beetlejuice (Burton, 1988), Sat, 3:20, 7. •Frankenstein (Whale, 1931), Sun, 7, and Spirit of the Beehive (Erice, 1973), Sun, 8:25. Moonrise Kingdom (Anderson, 2012), Mon-Tue, 2:30, 4:45, 7, 9:05.
CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.75-$10.25. Arbitrage (Jarecki, 2012), call for dates and times. Beasts of the Southern Wild (Zeitlin, 2012), call for dates and times. Detropia (Ewing and Grady, 2012), call for dates and times.
ELLEN DRISCOLL PLAYHOUSE 325 Highland, Piedmont; www.diversityfilmseries.org. Free. The Education of Shelby Knox (Lipschutz and Rosenblatt, 2005), Wed, 7.
EXPLORATORIUM 3601 Lyon, SF; www.exploratorium.edu. $19-25 (includes museum admission). "Exploring Canyon Cinema: Play," family-friendly films from the Canyon archives, Sat, noon, 2, 4.
"FILM NIGHT IN THE PARK" This week: Creek Park, 451 Sir Francis Drake, San Anselmo; www.filmnight.org. Donations accepted. The Hunger Games (Ross, 2012), Fri, 8; Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Stuart, 1971), Sat, 8.
NINTH STREET INDEPENDENT FILM CENTER 145 Ninth St, SF; www.zincgraff.com. Free. Zincgraff (Brown, 2012), Sun, 7.
PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. "Alternative Visions:" "Universal, Unique, Untouched: Bay Area Student Film Festival 2012," Wed, 7. "Rebel Without Applause: The Films of Alex Cox:" Highway Patrolman (1991), Thu, 7; Death and the Compass (1996), Fri, 9; Walker (1987), Sat, 6; Searchers 2.0 (2007), Sun, 4. Alex Cox in person at select screenings. "An Army of Phantoms: American Cinema and the Cold War:" The Next Voice You Hear (Wellman, 1950), Fri, 7; The Steel Helmet (Fuller, 1951), Sat, 9; Fort Apache (Ford, 1948), Sun, 6. Introduced by J. Hoberman. "Grand Illusions: French Cinema Classics, 1928-1960:" The Italian Straw Hat (Clair, 1928), Tue, 7.
ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $6.50-10. Beauty is Embarrassing (Berkeley, 2012), Wed, 9. Detropia (Ewing and Grady, 2012), Wed-Thu, 7, 9. "By + About Cindy Sherman:" Office Killer (Sherman, 1997), Thu, 7, 8:45. "Presidential Election Debate," presented by the Good Ol’ Girls (www.goodolgirls.org), Wed, 6. Bitter Seeds (Peled, 2011), Oct 5-11, 7, 9:15 (also Sat-Sun, 3, 5).
TANNERY 708 Gilman, Berk; berkeleyundergroundfilms.blogspot.com. Donations accepted. "Berkeley Underground Film Society:" Topper Returns (Del Ruth, 1941), Sun, 7:30.
UCSF Cole Hall, Medical Sciences Building, 513 Parnassus, SF; www.pnhpcalifornia.org. Free. The Healthcare Movie (Simons and Sterrenberg, 2012), Sun, 3.
UNITY CHURCH OF MARIN 600 Palm, Hamilton Center, Novato; www.unityinmarin.org. Donations accepted to benefit Unity in Marin and Bread and Roses. Music from the Big House (McDonald, 2010), Fri, 7:15.
VICTORIA THEATER 2961 16th St, SF; www.sfindie.com. $8-10. "Shnit International Short Film Festival," nearly 200 short films from around the world, Thu and Sat-Sun.
VORTEX ROOM 1082 Howard, SF; Facebook: The Vortex Room. $7. "Don’t Fear the Vortex:" •Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (Newland, 1973), Thu, 9, and Alone in the Dark (Sholder, 1982), Thu, 11.
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. $8-10. Never Stand Still: Dancing at Jacob’s Pillow (Honsa, 2012), Thu-Sat, 7:30; Sun, 2.