A Life Illuminated follows pioneering marine biologist Dr. Edith Widder’s lifelong quest to use the language of light to communicate with the most mysterious creatures in the deep sea. Now, she heads off on her greatest journey yet into the deepest depths of our ocean world to understand our biggest questions about bioluminescence and what it can tell us about the future of life on Earth.

In celebration of ADA Day, The Roxie Theater will screen two films, SIGN 504 NOW!–a 30min documentary about the occupation of the SF HHS building by disabled activists in 1977, provided by the GLBT Historical Society– and VIVIEN’S WILD RIDE, a feature-length documentary about iconic local film editor Vivien Hilgrove’s experience with macular degeneration. Between these screenings, we will convene a panel of disabled activists and artists to reflect on the films screened and their greater context.

In an Italian seaside town, young Titta gets into trouble with his friends and watches various local eccentrics as they engage in often absurd behavior. Frequently clashing with his stern father and defended by his doting mother, Titta witnesses the actions of a wide range of characters, from his extended family to Fascist loyalists to sensual women, with certain moments shifting into fantastical scenarios.

Against political resistance and industry skepticism, Luis Valdez pushes Chicano storytelling from the fields to the film screen with Zoot Suit and La Bamba, crafting iconic works that challenge, celebrate, and expand America’s story. Acclaimed playwright and director Luis Valdez recognized early on the profound impact of seeing one’s own humanity reflected onstage and on screen. He used theater to ignite change while working alongside farmworkers and Cesar Chavez, and he made films that amplified Chicano experiences. His work expanded audiences, bringing in people who had rarely seen their stories told before. Now, director David Alvarado reveals the fuel behind his legendary career. Alvarado brings us close to Valdez, charting his career milestones and enduring cultural influence. He employs vibrant stylistic choices, using split screens, remarkable archival footage rescued from decay, and a pachuco narrator who tells it like it is by interjecting candid commentary throughout. Alvarado ensures Luis Valdez’s contributions are unmistakable and that his message — “America is Chicano” — resonates proudly, which feels especially vital for today. - Sundance Film Festival

A wealthy New York investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.

"Ceci N’est Pas Une Porn..." How do YOU define porn? Will you know it when you see it? This short film curation explores the sexual image through creative storytelling and erotic animations.

Thirty years ago, Gail Ritchey, a young woman from a conservative Christian community in rural Ohio, had a stillborn birth alone and left the evidence in the woods. Now a devoted mother of three, her quiet suburban life is shattered when DNA evidence links her to the infamous cold case of “Geauga’s Child,” leading to her arrest for murder. Facing a possible life sentence, Gail must confront the weight of societal and religious pressures—and her own long-buried shame—to fight for her freedom.

BACKROOMS: Everything Must Go Edition w/ Extra Footage

Wrestling with writer’s block for her first film, Bouchra, a queer Moroccan jackal living in NYC, starts having difficult yet overdue phone calls with her mother in Casablanca that begin influencing the project. Balancing the precarity of working as an artist in New York, the rift in her identity between her two homes and an array of friendships and romantic interests, Bouchra’s emotional reckoning with her mother and herself becomes her path to expression. With a lived-in granularity and unmistakable visual style, BOUCHRA, the feature debut from acclaimed visual artists Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki (best known together from their 2020 web series 2 LIZARDS), is a singular portrait effortlessly towing the line between documentary, visual art and resonant family drama. Deeply felt, surprisingly sexy and formally adventurous, Bennani and Barki’s distinctive debut forges new ground that “will make it a classic of queer cinema for years to come” (Next Best Picture).

By Hook or by Crook chronicles the tale of two unlikely friends who commit petty crimes as they search for a path to understanding themselves and the outside world. Silas Howard plays Shy (a transgender man), who leaves his small town after the death of his father, and heads to the big city to live a life of crime. Along the way, he encounters Valentine, a quirky adoptee, in search of his birth mother. An immediate kinship is sparked between these men and they become partners in crime. Suffering money troubles, emotional problems, and physical confrontations, the duo face their issues head on and learn to trust each other and support each other in pursuit of their goals.

Oscilloscope Laboratories presents a compilation of the latest and best cat videos culled from countless hours of unique submissions and sourced animations, music videos, and classic internet powerhouses.

Taking much of its inspiration from Homer’s The Odyssey, this Coen brothers comedy stars George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson as escaped convicts in Depression-era Mississippi. On a wild goose chase for loot from a previous crime, the trio encounter bluesmen, bank robbers, Bible thumpers and politicos, and become unlikely hitmakers as the “Soggy Bottom Boys” (in real life, the film’s bluegrass-filled soundtrack topped charts and won three Grammys). Costarring John Goodman. The title is taken from the social-realist film-within-a-film Joel McCrea’s character wants to make in Preston Sturges’ SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS!

Part of our series Wild, Weird, Wicked: Film From Before the Code! A woman cannot decide between two men who love her, and the trio agree to try living together in a platonic friendly relationship.

Adnan, a young art student, arrives in New York City to flat-sit for the summer. He begins interning at a gallery where an unconventional older artist he once encountered is being exhibited. As moments from his past and present begin to intertwine, a series of encounters - both artistic and erotic - open cracks in his everyday reality..

The magical inhabitants of a rainforest fight to save their home, which is threatened by logging and a polluting force of destruction called Hexxus.

"A smorgasbord in sexual storytelling!" Experimental, explicit, funny, and just plain fun to watch, these short films span humor and creativity.

An old mother and her middle-aged daughter, the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy, live their eccentric lives in a filthy, decaying mansion in East Hampton.

A French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.

A crew of professional shoplifters takes aim at a cutthroat fashion maven. It's like community service.

Based on the true story of Valerie Solanas who was a 60s radical preaching hatred toward men in her "Scum" manifesto. She wrote a screenplay for a film that she wanted Andy Warhol to produce, but he continued to ignore her. So she shot him.

Rewind Presents ~ Jawbreaker (1999) w/ Drag by Mary Vice! Directed by Darren Stein Join us for this high school cult classic black comedy about a birthday prank gone terribly wrong! Happy hour at Dalva at 8pm - show your ticket and get a discounted drink! “Jawbreaker (1999) is a study of the nature of power relations, a Foucauldian teen comedy that takes positions on sexuality, the criminal justice system, and body image issues. Jawbreaker may be high-key and cartoonish, but, like its namesake confection, it can be a challenge to digest. Courtney, Marcy, Julie, and Liz are the "Flawless Four," the non plus ultra of popularity at their high school. The leader, Courtney (Rose McGowan), is "like Satan in heels," while second-in-command Liz (Charlotte Ayanna), "the Princess Di of Reagan High," rules with kindness. Marcie (Julie Benz) is Courtney's loyal sycophant, while Julie (Rebecca Gayheart) has an independent streak and is critical of Courtney's leadership.” - Cosmo Bjorkenheim (Screen Slate) Follow us on instagram at rewindpresentssf for updates!

A small-town detective searching for a missing man has only one lead: a connection with a New York prostitute.

Law of Desire takes place in a feverish universe in which life is theatre, and to truly live is to overact. Almodóvar takes as his protagonist a prolific writer–director, Pablo (Eusebio Poncela) and through him explores the possibilities of utter desire — desire that is at once a possession, and the wish to possess. Pablo is obsessed with a young lover, Juan, who can't be had; but it is Antonio, a one-night stand replacement for Juan, who teaches Pablo about true obsession when he wakes up the morning after, possessed and possessive.

Part of our series Wild, Weird, Wicked: Films from Before the Code! Virtually unseen for over 90 years, in a sparkling new 4k restoration from Warner Brothers! A socialite begins a shipboard romance with a wealthy man, but is blackmailed by a former lover.

Hiroko is still in the depths of grief from losing her fiancé Itsuki Fujii in a tragic mountain-climbing accident. On the day of his two-year memorial service, Hiroko finds an old address of Itsuki’s, and sends him a letter. Shockingly, she receives a reply, from a woman who also happens to be named Itsuki Fujii. As the two women exchange letters, coincidences and memories of Hiroko’s fiancé bring them together in ways they could have never imagined. “Extremely attractive and succulently filmed” (Variety) by writer-director Shunji Iwai in his feature debut, Love Letter was a box-office phenomenon upon its initial release and has been hailed as “gloriously brilliant” and the “greatest romance story from Japan” (Asian Movie Pulse). Film Movement Classics presents the film in a new 4K restoration. 4K remastering under the supervision of Fuji Television Network, Inc., with all analog and digital processes by Imagica Entertainment Media Services, Inc. Image digitization through high-resolution 4K scanning from the original 35mm camera negative. Restoration, color correction, and final sound finishing supervised by director Shunji Iwai.

If poetry had a pop icon, Mary Oliver would be it. Celebrated best-selling poet, Pulitzer Prize-winner, lover of dogs and long walks in the woods, openly queer but intensely private, Oliver was America’s unlikely contemporary mystic, stalking the ponds and forests of Cape Cod for nearly fifty years in order to open herself – and her readers – to the known and unknowable world. From a lonely childhood to literary fame, Oliver’s life was shaped by devotion to nature, paying attention, and the long journey toward learning to love and to be loved. Her poems inspire liberals and conservatives, atheists and believers, naturalists and urbanites, speaking directly to contemporary anxieties about attention, presence, and the human relationship with the natural world – issues that feel especially pressing in an era of climate crisis, digital distraction, and social fragmentation. Featuring interviews with her close friends, including John Waters, never-before-seen personal photos, notebooks, and correspondence from her archive, and recitations of her work by Stephen Colbert, Lucy Dacus, Steve Buscemi, and Oprah Winfrey, Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World considers the poet’s long lifetime of work in context, capturing the uniqueness of her world and the natural beauty that inspired her.

A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

São Paulo, 1983: Women’s soccer has just been legalized in Brazil. A group of rebellious young women form the Gayvotas Football Club and begin training for their first match. But as the team quickly becomes a media sensation, its members are forced to confront the prejudices of the conservative military dictatorship that they live under. Banned shortly after its premiere at the 1983 São Paulo International Film Festival and never released outside of Brazil until now, Ícaro Martins and José Antonio Garcia’s Onda Nova: Gayvotas Football Club is a defiantly queer and gleefully anarchic sex comedy that still packs a subversive punch (or kick?) all these years later. New 4K restoration by SPAMFLIX.

Bergman's modernist masterpiece explores the volatile relationship between an actress who refuses to speak and the nurse overseeing her convalescence. After a mischievous montage 'explaining' the film's origins, the narrative proper gets underway, charting the increasingly tense battle of wits between the chatty Alma (Andersson) and the mute Elisabet (Ullmann), who are isolated together in a cottage on the island of Fårö. With a rich, resonant mix of related themes - the vampiric nature of art, the complex fragility of personality, the difficulty of communication - the film is arguably Bergman's most audacious and formally innovative work, multi-levelled yet utterly lucid. Sven Nykvist's lustrous camerawork, the subtle sound design and matchless lead performances combine to create a mesmerisingly beautiful work of unforgettable, haunting mystery.

From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away, and Academy Award®-winning director Hayao Miyazaki, comes an epic masterpiece that has dazzled audiences worldwide with its breathtaking imagination, exhilarating battles, and deep humanity. Inflicted with a deadly curse, the young warrior Ashitaka heads west in search of a cure. There, he stumbles into a bitter conflict between Lady Eboshi, the proud people of Iron Town, and the enigmatic Princess Mononoke, a young girl raised by wolves, who will stop at nothing to prevent the humans from destroying her home and the forest spirits and animal gods who live there.

"Mother married a photo of Father," says director Firouzeh Khosrovani in the opening of this deeply personal documentary. She's not speaking metaphorically though. Her mother Tayi literally married a portrait of Hossein in Teheran -he was in Switzerland studying radiology and was unable to travel back to his homeland for the wedding. The event illustrates the abyss that still exists in their marriage: Hossein is a secular progressive and Tayi a devout, traditional Muslim. But this family history is also a sort of x-ray, laying bare the conflicts of Iranian society in the run-up to, and aftermath of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Besides Khosrovani's commentary, we hear letters being read aloud and recollections of conversations between her parents. At the same time, we see photographs and videos from the family archive. These fragments of intimacy are interspersed with stylized shots of the filmmaker's parental home, its decor and furnishings subtly reflecting each new phase in her parents' marriage-and in Iranian society.

"Balancing insightful documentaries and sexy fun." Beautiful, candid, and uncensored, these short adult documentary films offer new perspectives on sexuality.

Ku Stevens wants to be an elite runner, but when the remains of Native children are found, Ku must face his family's past while attempting to run towards his future.

The death of his son causes McElwee, an autobiographical filmmaker, to look back on his life’s work. He eventually turns to his archive of home movies. To what extent did his camera affect their relationship when Adrian was alive? To what extent does it define that relationship now that he is gone? Meanwhile, an effort to adapt McElwee’s first feature, Sherman’s March, into a work of fiction lurches along, giving the filmmaker another perspective from which to meditate on movie making and mortality.

With her mother's diary in hand, Marina's search for official documents for university leads her to her biological family on the Atlantic coast. What starts as an administrative quest reveals long-buried family secrets.

Three decades ago, the Rose of Nevada vanished at sea, along with its crew. Now, it has returned. In a remote fishing village, its reappearance is embraced as an auspicious sign, with the local citizens convinced the luck of their economically devastated community may turn, if only the ship sails again. Joining the crew is Nick (George MacKay), desperate to provide for his young family, and Liam (Callum Turner), a mysterious drifter eager to escape his past. After a successful voyage, they return to harbour, only to find that nothing is as they remember it. Shooting on a 16mm Bolex camera and constructing all the sound in post, Mark Jenkin writes, directs, edits and scores a haunting and hallucinatory time-travel mystery that further solidifies him as one of the most distinct, singular artists working in film today. Jenkin conducts a cinematic séance, conjuring a portal into another world that forces us to confront the past and our relationship to it.

"If you think you know porn, think again!" From fantastical roleplaying to representation that matters, these short films reflect the wide range of what sex looks like on camera.

After his family is murdered by a notorious and ruthless bandit, a former police officer enlists the services of two outlaws to capture the bandit.

Charlie is a hapless San Francisco poet whose commitment aversion causes him to bottle out every time he gets a girlfriend. When he meets the girl of his dreams, he determines to overcome his fears and tie the knot. But then he begins to suspect that maybe his beloved is a Black Widow killer, a maniac who disposes of her husband every time she goes on honeymoon. Is he just being paranoid or has he really married an axe murderer?

A psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.

Being connected to nature, what does it mean? Father knows and father shows. The director's father is 84. We follow in his footsteps into the mountain home. Into nature's smallest life and out to grand panoramas, where he grew up.

In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a macabre universe.

Set in 1851, a mute Scottish woman arrives in colonial New Zealand for an arranged marriage, with her precocious young daughter and beloved piano in tow. Her practical new husband refuses to transport the piano to their home and makes a deal with his neighbor, George Baines to take the piano off his hands. Attracted to Ada, Baines agrees to return the piano in exchange for a series of piano lessons that become a series of increasingly charged sexual encounters. As pent-up emotions of rage and desire swirl around all three characters, the savage wilderness begins to consume the tiny European enclave.

In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. Even if it's paid, how could they get away?

Watch a Banned Book! The Roxie partners with Books Not Bans to present the camp classic Valley of the Dolls. Divas! Drugs! Catfights! Join Books Not Bans for an interactive viewing party in celebration of female friendship, show business, and all the drama you can handle. With local burlesque legend Sgt. Die Weis for preshow entertainment. Fabulosa Books will be on hand to sell books! Follow Books Not Bans on Instagram at @booksnotbans

WELCOME SPACE BROTHERS tells the unbelievable yet entirely true story of the Unarius Academy of Science, an extraterrestrial-channeling spiritual school and self-healing community founded in Glendale, California, before relocating to El Cajon in the 1970s. Under the outlandish direction of its charismatic leader, Ruth E. Norman — known to followers as “Archangel Uriel” — Unarius evolved from a fringe spiritual movement into a wildly prolific public-access television phenomenon of the 1980s. Director Jodi Wille (The Source Family) brings this singularly American story to the screen with the same wide-eyed fascination its subject demands.

Marcello Mastroianni, as a lonely city transplant, and Maria Schell, as a sheltered girl haunted by a lover’s promise, meet by chance on a canal bridge and begin a tentative romance that quickly entangles them in a web of longing and self-delusion. Luchino Visconti’s WHITE NIGHTS is an exquisite adaptation of Dostoevsky’s legendary novella, transforming this romantic, shattering tale of two restless souls into a ravishing black-and-white dream.

A Eurasian Eagle-Owl named Flaco escapes from the Central Park Zoo and sets off on a magical odyssey through the island of Manhattan. Flaco overcomes his years of captivity and lack of survival skills to answer the call of the wild – and discovers he was wild inside all along.

A worldly ambitious monsignor clashes with his older brother, a cynical Los Angeles homicide detective who is investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.