We love documentaries -- they're like reality TV, with a popcorn stand! So you know we're totally psyched for SF Indiefest's sixth annual Docfest, which starts up tomorrow and goes through next week! more ›

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: Someone's angry with the Bouncer. Local progressive Adam Werbach is a Walmart sellout. Why won't anyone endorse the mayor? Cover article: the back story about the Haight neighborhood activist killed in an S/M session gone wrong. These drawings illustrating the piece are pretty rad, though (see left) -- did Matt Smith do 'em? A Hank Williams Birthday Karaoke Sing-Off???? There's a tear in our beer too! The anti-war Berkeley Rep Play is uneven. Meredith hits her second good review for SFist Ced. And Let's Get Killed screens some rare rock movies. more ›

"Tales Of Mere Existence" By Levni R. Yilmaz Esq more ›

http://www.peacheschrist.com/underground.html more ›

I'm going to be premiering a new, very different "Tales" movie at the SF Underground Film Fest on Sept 1st at the Bridge Theatre. The show will be hosted by the Great Peaches Christ. This is almost always my fave show of the year. Details here: http://www.peacheschrist.com/underground.html more ›

, a Sundance award-winning documentary about Palestinians incarcerated in Israel for terrorist crimes. It was a stark reminder of the human cost of the subject of the movie (and we are extremely grateful that we live in a place where one security guard is still enough to put people's minds at ease.) more ›

) at the SF Jewish Film Fest, the mood of wicked glee was somewhat sobered by the person that we abruptly realized was security standing in front of the theater. (Nothing happened, though, as far as we know.) more ›

Who woulda thought. . . . we weren’t the only ones not completely immersed in isolation with the final Harry Potter book this weekend... although we did see a couple books neatly tucked under the seats at the Castro Theater on Saturday at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. If you weren’t there, well, then you missed out on a couple of good romantic comedies and one hilarious kiss-off -- and not the kind of kiss-off you might think we’re talking about. more ›

The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF) is the first and only Jewish film festival in the world. At least that's what the President of the SFJFF said at the Castro Theatre last night when he introduced the opening night movie, . This is the kind of thing that makes us so proud to live here. Suck it, New York! We'd give our left nut for one morsel of your pastrami (extra juicy with a side of half sours please) but we have a Jewish Film Festival! more ›

Isn't it awesome to live in this city? It's a beautiful summer, all our political news is extremely entertaining, and we have tons of amazing film festivals all the freaking time! So many, in fact, that you've got not one but TWO to pick from this weekend! more ›

--CounterPULSE is hosting Paint Out!, a breast cancer fundraiser with comedians, slam poetry, and women getting their chests painted ($50 mininum donation to get painted). 3:30-7:30, $25, 1310 Mission St. (x 9th). more ›

Other events: more ›

Droll NPR commentator (who was previously fired for cursing) Sandra Tsing Loh brings her one-woman show, "Mother On Fire," to the Women's Building tonight! For a 9 night run! more ›

After having watched on the very fancy SF Int'l Film Fest screener DVD machines this afternoon, we're thinking the theme of the afternoon was family obligations. (This is as good a reminder as any to get a Mother's Day present for next week, folks!) more ›

We knew very little about the SF Int'l Film Fest's Private Fears in Public Places but were intrigued by the title. Turns out the play is based on an English play by the same name (which explains the British subtitles), and the French movie is actually called “Coeurs” or “Hearts,” which is definitely not as good of a title. more ›

Okay, we're not going to lie. When we read the description of the Iranian movie in the SF Int'l Film Fest guide as "a gorgeous minimalist portrait of a woman crushed by indecision," it made us a little nervous. We tend to like our movies maximalist and chatty! More singing and dancing mermaids, please! But we love the stark look of Iranian films (the "gorgeous" part) and the movie was only 74 minutes, so what the hey? more ›

The SF Int'l Film Festival isn't just about great national and international movies -- they've got music events, gala events, talks about the state of cinema, an online presence through SF360.com, and -- what we stopped by to see this afternoon -- a series of panels about the state of cinema today. more ›

We hope we've worked you into a frenzy with all these free passes to SF Int'l Film Fest movies this weekend! Here's our last set -- after this, you're on your own to catch all the fantastic films they're screening from now until May 10. (Don't forget to check back at SFist for our reviews of the movies too.) more ›

We've been slightly afraid of Tribe 8 lead singer Lynn Breedlove ever since she crashed into us in a riotgrrl mosh pit, causing us moderate injury -- but that shouldn't stop you from checking out her short film "Godspeed," based on her book about speed freak bike messengers, which is screening next Wednesday, April 11, as part of the Third Annual SF Women's Film Festival! more ›

Please don’t mistake us for fans of human suffering but it’s high time a film was made to tell the uninformed public about the genocide in Rwanda. Beyond the Gates, at the Embarcadero, is a smart, engaging, often (rightly) painful view of the conflict from the view of a Catholic training college manned by John Hurt and Hugh Dancy. It’s a tearjerker but it’s really edifying to see how screwed up our international policy was just a generation ago – compared to now when it’s 2-3 times worse. (Watch trailer here.) more ›

This was a good weekend, thanks in large part to the Asian-American film festival. We spent part of the past two days at the Castro checking out a couple of remarkably different films: Lou Ye’s , a Bollywoodesque adaptation of Chitra Divakaruni’s novel, featuring the ever-stunning Aishwarya Rai, aka “the world’s most beautiful woman.” Both films packed the theater. more ›

Preview for the movie , which premiered last night at the SF Int'l Asian-Am Film Fest. (Movie's not rated but this clip probably should be rated R for violence.) The clip is a pretty good example of what the movie's like (though the movie is better lit). more ›

, or, as we've been calling it all week, "Ross Mirkarimi's cats." (N.B.: Ross Mirkarimi is not Japanese.) more ›

At the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Wednesday the 21st, the Film Arts Foundation is presenting a documentary on twenty years of the SF Graffiti scene, called Piece by Piece. more ›

It's almost Noise Pop time in San Francisco again! While SFist (and Bagel Radio DJ!) Krissy keeps you covered on the nonstop jingle-jangle clang-clang of the local indie rock scene, don't forget that NoisePop always presents an excellent array of music-related film as well. more ›

a tooth-grindingly good job making lemonade out of lemons for the write-up. Tooth-grindingly good! Also, we are tres into the "Best Meta" award, which goes to Aardvark Books, who will now have to take down their homemade "Never Been Voted Best Anything" sign. And congrats to the SFPartyParty, who won Best Fighters For Your Right To Party. We'll see you guys at the Best of the Bay shindig! Other highlights of this week's issue: they also point out that last week's SF Weekly and EBX cover articles were the same. SFist Eve's horoscope: your blog will win best local blog this week! We made it up -- but it's true! more ›

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express. The man who invented the suction-cup Garfield was defrauded by a friend. A civilly-disobedient city of Walnut Creek refuses to sign a California state loyalty oath, and can't get paid. Cover article: Michael Savage. The title "Savage Hate" is pretty good. Cat show this weekend. SF Jewish Film Fest. I Like Eating satisfies as always, at the second brewpub in California, and the new food critic checks out new restaurant 900 Grayson that's gotten its evening hours permit tied up in Berkeley city politics. Dave Grohl played an unfortunately-named "a-foo-stic" set last week. And Dan, not Michael, Savage tries advising people to enter marital counseling for a change. more ›

The crowd at the Kabuki Theater on Friday night had more hip-hoppers than usual, as SF Int'l Asian-American Film Fest attendees eagerly lined up three-deep for the sold-out showing of No Sleep Til Shanghai, a documentary following Chinese-American rapper Jin Au-Yeung's 2-week 8-city tour of Asia. The excitement reached a fever pitch in the pre-screening intros, with eager Asian-American MCs shouting out "Holla!" as Jin himself called in on the producer's cell phone to say hi. "There's probably a lot of Asians there, right? So TURN OFF YOUR CAMCORDERS!" Best part: everyone laughed.... but no one actually turned their camcorder off. Jin is a Queens-based rapper who stormed into battle dominance on 106th and Park with his quick rhymes and sharp racial analysis -- he's often been called the Asian Eminem, though to Jin's credit, he seems profoundly uncomfortable with that title. Jin was then signed to the Ruff Ryders label, and released his first album, "The Rest Is History" in 2004. In support of that album, he went on an 8-city 2 week tour of Asia, camera crew in tow. It was his first time in Asia (other than Hong Kong). After the jump, Jin meets some lovely Asian ladies, freestyles in Cantonese and Mandarin, and does an awful lot of interviews. Picture from No Sleep Til Shanghai more ›

In case of Wednesday, this car will be unoccupied. Tonight! The group NetSquared is holding its monthly get-together at Varnish Art Gallery at 77 Natoma Street (at 2nd). NetSquared's mission is effecting social change through the Internet, and tonight's topic is how blogs can save the world (really!). 6-8 p.m., free admission, RSVP required. Thursday: We are so psyched for the Asian-American Film Fest this year! We're (seriously) thinking about taking the whole week of March 16-23 off from work! Help kick off the festivities at their launch party, running from 9-12 at 111 Minna. Music from DJ AJAX from NRG 92.7 and they'll be showing film clips. Oooh, show something from Chinese Restaurants!! $5 admission, free for Center for Asian-American Media members. and Friday: The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra is dedicated to free performances of chamber music for the public. Tonight's theme: "Valentines to a Cello." Acclaimed cellist Matt Haimovitz will be performing an unaccompanied Bach suite (you know, the famous ones, like Yo-Yo Ma played on the West Wing) and one of Schoenberg's last tonal pieces before he went all serialist screeek-schronk-schreek on us. Free! more ›

We're getting ready for Valentine's Day! Take your pick: sex parties, the South Bay, the Dating Game, theater, or the gift that keeps on giving, fennel. We're also in full-fledged festival mode: IndieFest, the Korean-American Film Fest (check out our interview with Korean auteur Kang Je-gyu -- thanks, contributor Mihi!), WonderCon. Lots and lots and lots and lots of movie reviews! And we hope you had a nice time at our two Dalva parties -- it's always great to see you. Welcome to our new column, Whines And Dines, which covers SF from the dog's eye view. SFist Jeremy is proud to announce the winner of our online 7x7 poll, "I will take and maybe read a free 7x7" at 30%. "Earth First should punish 7x7 for wasting trees" came in third, at 27%. It was a week of police brutality by the Chron, and Chron brutality by the police. Cab fares and real estate are both going up -- and lumber is falling down. Plus -- news flash! SF hates Bush. (We are loving the "rename Bush Street" movement a well-meaning someone has launched.) Plus -- Mavericks ruled. more ›