Our annual series features an international array of recent and historical documentaries and nonfiction films.
ViewIn this hybrid series, shown in-theater and via BAMPFA’s streaming platform, we interview filmmakers who specialize in animation and ask them to discuss how they develop their stylistic approaches, and how they distill time, gesture, and mood, frame by frame, into the basic unit... View
In this hybrid series, shown in-theater and via BAMPFA’s streaming platform, we interview filmmakers who specialize in animation and ask them to discuss how they develop their stylistic approaches, and how they distill time, gesture, and mood, frame by frame, into the basic unit... View
We are delighted to present eight recent additions to our film collection: new silent 16mm films by local filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky, most made during the COVID-19 pandemic, photographed in San Francisco across different seasons.
ViewIn our first series to explore the breadth of Indigenous media currently being made in the Americas, we place works in relation to one another across geographies and stylistic approaches, with filmmakers from South and North America in conversation.
ViewRomantic. Elegant. Fantastical. We welcome back to the BAMPFA screen one of the greats, Federico Fellini, a “larger-than-life maestro who created an inimitable cinematic style combining surreal carnival with incisive social critique” (Criterion).
ViewA collection of narrative and documentary works on artists, writers, and ordinary citizens in China, presented in conjunction with the Townsend Center’s In Dialogue with China: Art, Culture, Politics.
ViewFrom defining Asian American identity on-screen in Chan Is Missing and The Joy Luck Club to adapting the writing of Paul Auster and working with Jennifer Lopez, Wayne Wang is a filmmaking original. This series features new restorations of his work.
ViewAn overdue tribute to one of the giants of world cinema, Malian director Souleymane Cissé, a former projectionist, jailed dissident, and fiercely antiauthoritarian, proudly African filmmaker whose work includes Brightness, The Wind, Baara, and The Young Girl.
ViewBAMPFA is proud to partner with the SFFILM Festival, an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and a major cultural event in the Bay Area.
View“Since my first film I have attempted in a very deliberate and stubborn way to portray women capable of making independent decisions,” wrote acclaimed Hungarian filmmaker Márta Mészáros, who at age ninety is the subject of this major retrospective featuring new digital... View
This series showcases an impressive range of world cinema that has been preserved thanks to a concerted effort by The Film Foundation and the World Cinema Project over more than thirty years.
ViewA selection of films in which a dance scene crystallizes the experience of the movie, a moment leaving its imprint more than the plotline or even the characters.
ViewCelebrated for her performances in films by iconic directors, Tanaka also made a significant contribution to the golden age of Japanese cinema as a director. This series features new restorations of all six of Tanaka’s films, along with works representative of the scope of her... View
Ten essential films from Samuel Fuller’s influential oeuvre confront prejudice and inequity head-on, chronicling the grit, resilience, and soulful struggle of misfits, foot soldiers, petty criminals, detectives, and reporters surviving in the face of moral misgivings or... View
Bring a blanket or lawn chair to BAMPFA’s huge outdoor LED screen for three free screenings.
ViewThis year our annual series showcases current and historical experimental films by local filmmakers, as well as works by artists from Brazil, Canada, Iran, Poland, Rwanda, and the United Kingdom.
ViewAfter two years of pandemic-related cancellations or virtual screenings, we are proud to welcome the African Film Festival back to BAMPFA. This year, open your eyes to new horizons, new heroes, and new narratives.
ViewIncluding historical and contemporary documentaries, essay films, and works of fiction, this series reflects on the inherent racism and inhumanity of the prison industrial complex while celebrating courageous voices and acts of resistance from inside and outside of prison... View
Highly regarded as a comedian, screenwriter, playwright, and actress, Elaine May had a more tempestuous ride as a film director—often at odds with the Hollywood studio executives. Her films are championed by many for their ironic humor, sense of spontaneity, authenticity, and... View
This fall BAMPFA is honored to have Rithy Panh present two of his recent films in person, his haunting and personal investigation into the Cambodian genocide, The Missing Picture, and Irradiated, an exploration of the man made cataclysms and atrocities of the twentieth... View
Presented in conjunction with the Townsend Center’s In Dialogue with China: Art, Culture, Politics, these films show how three contemporary Chinese filmmakers—Chan Tze Woon, Li Dongmei, and Luo Li—use inventive and subtle techniques to approach themes of family, memory, change,... View
This retrospective of the influential Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975) features 35mm restorations, many done by Cineteca di Bologna in partnership with Cinecittà.
ViewAmong the treasured special collections within our film archive are the rare and distinctive holdings of Georgian cinema produced during the Soviet era and since the country’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. This series features works by leading Georgian auteurs.
ViewThis small series features new restorations of works by three filmmakers from Lebanon who bear witness to its difficult history: Borhane Alaouié, Jocelyne Saab, and Heiny Srour.
ViewRecent releases, restored classics, and special guests grace the Barbro Osher Theater.
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