A Magnificent Life

In 1955, 60-year-old Marcel Pagnol is a well-known and acclaimed playwright and filmmaker. When the editor-in-chief of ELLE magazine commissions a weekly column about Pagnol’s childhood, he sees this as a great opportunity to go back to his artistic roots: writing. Realizing his memory is failing him and deeply affected by the disappointing results of his last two plays, Pagnol starts doubting his ability to pursue his work…MORE INFO

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist

From the Academy Award®-winning filmmakers behind Everything Everywhere All at Once and Navalny; a father-to-be tries to figure out what is happening with all this AI insanity. The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist is a hand-made, eye-opening documentary about the most powerful technology humanity has ever created… and what’s at stake if we get it wrong…MORE INFO

PALESTINE 36

Introduction by Berkeley City Council member Cecilia Lunaperra on Saturday, March 29!

Palestine 36 is a sweeping historical drama set during a pivotal moment in Palestinian history. Set in 1936, as the British Empire tightens its colonial grip on Palestine, the film follows Yusuf, a man torn between his village home and his work in Jerusalem. Against the backdrop of the 1936 Palestinian Revolt, British colonial rule, and the arrival of Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Europe, the lives of Palestinians, British authorities, and newcomers collide in a moment that will shape the region’s future…MORE INFO

MIROIRS #3

During a weekend trip to the countryside, Laura, a young piano student from Berlin, miraculously survives a shocking car crash. Awakening in a nearby house, Laura finds herself in the care of a local woman, who tends to her with motherly devotion. As she recuperates, Laura begins to integrate herself into the lives of the woman and her initially reluctant husband and son…MORE INFO

MARC BY SOFIA

An intimate, unconventional portrait of Marc Jacobs, crafted by Sofia Coppola to capture the genius and singular universe of the iconic American designer….MORE INFO

Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It

Tuesday, March 31 12 & 6:30pm ♿︎

Musical prodigy, admired and beloved by collaborators including Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Sly Stone, and others; dubbed “the fifth Beatle” for his co-credited “Get Back” recording; genius of gospel, rock, and funk as keyboardist, vocalist, and songwriter. Billy Preston was also troubled, underrecognized, and elusive—a closeted gay man raised in a Black church community…MORE INFO

The Drama

Starts Friday, April 3

A happily engaged couple get put to the test when an unexpected revelation sends their wedding week off the rails…MORE INFO

Hundreds of Beavers

Tuesday, April 7 8:45pm ♿︎

JEAN KAYAK finds himself stranded in a surreal winter landscape with nothing but his dim wits to guide him. Against a backdrop of ruthless elements and sinister creatures – all played by actors in full-sized mascot costumes – KAYAK develops increasingly complex traps in order to win the hand of a mischievous lover…MORE INFO

Deepfaking Sam Altman

Wednesday, April 8 6:30pm

Q&A with Director Adam Lough and Zvika Krieger, former Director of Responsible Innovation at Meta/Facebook

Deepfaking Sam Altman is a mordantly funny and deeply personal journey through technology, intimacy, and accountability. When filmmaker Adam Bhala Lough can’t reach Sam Altman, he builds his own version using Altman’s own technology. “Sambot” becomes an AI co-director of the film, one that mirrors Adam’s fears, ambitions, and blind spots. The result is a revealing portrait of our era’s obsession with simulation, power, and the longing for connection in a digital age…MORE INFO

Exit 8

Starts Friday, April 10

A man trapped in an endless sterile subway passageway sets out to find Exit 8. The rules of his quest are simple: do not overlook anything out of the ordinary. If you discover an anomaly, turn back immediately. If you don’t, carry on. Then leave from Exit 8. But even a single oversight will send him back to the beginning. Will he ever reach his goal and escape this infinite corridor?…MORE INFO

The Christophers

Starts Friday, April 10

Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) was once a star of London’s 1960’s and 70’s pop art explosion, but he hasn’t painted in decades and has been broke for years. His two estranged children, desperate for an inheritance, hire Lori, an art restorer and former forger, to pose as a prospective assistant in order to access 8 unfinished canvases Julian has buried deep in storage…MORE INFO

Hamlet

Starts Friday, April 10

In this contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, set in a wealthy British South-Asian family, Hamlet returns home for his father’s funeral and is shocked to learn that his uncle Claudius will now marry his widowed mother. When his father’s ghost reveals that Claudius murdered him, Hamlet becomes consumed by revenge, questioning the corruption at the heart of the family’s business, and his own sanity…MORE INFO

The Stranger

Starts Friday, April 10

Meursault works as a clerk at an office in Algiers during the French colonial occupation. A modest man who keeps to himself, Meursault finds his routine upended by the sudden death of his mother. At her funeral, he faces scrutiny from all corners for his failure to perform his grief. Meursault’s reputation for otherworldly detachment carries over to all aspects of his life, from his tentative romance with Marie to his indifference to professional advancement…MORE INFO

Shuffle

Q&A with Director Ben Flaherty!

Thursday, April 16 6:30pm

An intimate look inside the billion-dollar addiction treatment industry where young people are bought and sold for their insurance policies and ushered into a system designed to keep them sick…MORE INFO

Steal This Story, Please!

Saturday, April 18 6:30pm ♿︎
Sunday, April 19 6:30pm ♿︎

Q&A with Amy Goodman and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Tia Lessin following shows on April 18 & 19!

Fiercely independent journalist Amy Goodman has spent three decades holding the powerful to account, reporting from conflict zones and the Democracy Now! newsroom. In Steal This Story, Please!, Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin craft a riveting portrait of journalism’s power – and peril – in an era of corporate control and political attacks on truth…MORE INFO

The Shepherd and the Bear

Tuesday, April 21 12 & 6:30pm

Set high in the majestic French Pyrenees, THE SHEPHERD AND THE BEAR explores a conflict provoked by the reintroduction of brown bears in the midst of a traditional shepherding community. The film follows an aging shepherd who struggles to find a successor as bears prey on his flock, and a teenage boy who becomes obsessed with tracking the bears…MORE INFO

Suburban Fury

Starts Friday, April 24

In 1975, suburban mother Sara Jane Moore tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford. In an original and compelling new work told in the distinctive style of director Robinson Devor, Suburban Fury explores her radicalization – revealing how isolation and ideology can warp the American dream…MORE INFO

POWER TO THE PEOPLE: JOHN AND YOKO LIVE IN NYC

Wednesday, April 29 7pm
Wednesday, May 13 7pm

Representing the only full-length concerts John Lennon, with Yoko Ono, performed after leaving The Beatles, Power To The People: John & Yoko Live in NYC is a multiscreen concert film of two massive Madison Square Garden live shows. This is a film restoration twenty years in the making, with every frame physically and digitally cleaned by hand…MORE INFO

Space Cowboy

Wednesday, May 6 6:30pm

A pioneer of skydiving cinematography, Joe Jennings looks back on a lifetime of creating iconic moments in film and television, while he tries to pull off his most ambitious stunt yet, turning a dreamlike vision into reality…MORE INFO

Land With No Rider

Wednesday, May 27 7pm

Q&A to follow with Director, Tamar Lando to follow screening!

The last cowboys of New Mexico eke out a fragile survival in a shrinking world of isolation, memories and rugged beauty as an epic drought devastates the American West…MORE INFO