A Bay Space celebration of indie movies, “Drag Me to the Cinema” at AMC’s EmeryBay, San Jose’s Cinequest packed lineup, a Sonoma screening of “Flow” and the Largely British competition are highlights in a bustling lineup of upcoming native film occasions.
SF IndieFest, a treasure in its twenty seventh 12 months, continues to be a go-to for true-blue indies and Bay Space-rooted shorts and options; it’s a welcome respite from what Hollywood usually churns out. This 12 months’s program runs Feb. 6 to Feb. 18 on the Roxie and the Vogue in San Francisco with a lot of the slate out there to stream. Tickets value $5 to $20; passes are $90 to $200. For particulars, go to sfindie.com.
“Pavements” from actor-filmmaker Alex Ross Perry kicks issues off in raucous, crowd-pleasing model. The adventurous doc captures the spirit and ingenuity of the Nineties band Pavement utilizing artistic means to chronicle the group’s profession. It screens at 6 p.m. on Feb. 6 on the Roxie with an afterparty at Kilowatt Bar. The closing evening characteristic at 6 p.m. Feb. 13 on the Roxie (and streaming) is the Agbajowo Collective’s highly effective Nigeria-set drama “The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lago.” Temiloluwa Ami-Williams stars as a mother stumbling upon beaucoup bucks and later realizing how greed impacts communities which might be already feeling overwhelmed down.
Additionally beneficial is the fest’s centerpiece choice “The Paper Bag Plan” by Anthony Lucero. It’s been fairly a while for the reason that Oakland native charmed audiences along with his directorial debut, the upbeat 2014 Oakland-set characteristic “East Side Sushi” (lease it should you haven’t seen it)! Over a decade later, with this stunning father-son story, he has taken what might have been a mawkish and manipulative tearjerker and as an alternative made a radiant testimony to a mother or father’s love. It facilities on cancer-stricken father Oscar (Lance Kinsey, in a poignant efficiency) making ready his son Billy (Cole Mass), in a wheelchair attributable to cerebral palsy, for impartial dwelling as soon as he’s gone. In lesser arms, the state of affairs of a dad with a ingesting downside instructing his disabled son how one can bag groceries at dwelling might effectively quantity to torture porn. However not in Lucero’s succesful, caring arms. With nice sensitivity and perception, the screenwriter-director imbues his movie with a uncooked tenderness that’s by no means compelled, cringe-inducing or phony. The 2 lead performances couldn’t be higher. The charismatic, good-looking Mass handles each drama and comedy. However the movie’s tonally excellent closing scene belongs to Kinsey, for dealing with the poignant sequence with such ability, and Lucero, for permitting silent moments to unfold naturally. The emotional depth will rip your coronary heart out. It certain did mine. The film screens at 6 p.m. Feb. 7 on the Roxie with Lucero slated to attend. It streams from Feb. 6- 18.
“Maxxie Lawow: Drag Super-Shero” from San Jose’s Anthony Hand is a pleasant pick-me-up; it screens on the Roxie on Feb. 8. (Courtesy SF IndieFest through Bay Metropolis Information)
For individuals who merely need an escape, and to indicate slightly pleasure whereas doing so, San Jose director Anthony Hand’s sweetheart of an animated confection “Maxxie Lawow: Drag Super-Shero” is simply the ticket. Equal components “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and “Scooby-Doo” (not essentially in that order), Hand’s colourful creation finds a cute, usually frazzled barista named Simon (delightfully voiced by Grant Hodges) placing on a pink wig and remodeling like a superhero into the completely fab, way more assured Maxxie LaWow. Bestie Jae (Erika Ishii) and Simon/Maxxie Lawow enter the lair, aka mansion, the place the diabolical (boo! hiss!) Dyna Bolical (Terren Wooten Clarke) has kidnapped drag queens and is attempting to extract one thing treasured from them. “Maxxie Lawow” mildly performs with innuendo and its fascinating lead character is somebody we’d wish to see once more. It’s written with breezy aplomb by San Francisco’s Michael Phillis, and it’s one which must be seen with a rowdy viewers. It screens at 9 p.m. Feb. 8 with Hand slated to attend; it streams Feb. 6-18.
Different movies piquing our curiosity embrace the world premiere of the sobering hour-long documentary “KCSM 91.1: The Bay Area’s Jazz Station to the World” directed by Bay Space filmmakers Wade Shields, Jasmine Wang and Danny Monico. It screens at 6:45 p.m. Feb. 8 and streams. San Francisco-based filmmaker J.P. Allen (“The Girl in Golden Gate Park”) returns to IndieFest with “Memorizing Alison,” a thriller with actress Allison Ewing a few man attempting to unravel a hit-and-run fatality. It screens at 8:45 p.m. Feb. 6 on the Roxie and streams. Vallejo director Miyoni Nelson’s passionate “Encrypted” focuses on Gia, a younger Black lady realizing she should are likely to her psychological and emotional wellbeing. The just-shy-of-an hour movie is on a double invoice with the 30-minute “Suburban Story” from the Bay Space’s Chris Yen. Showtime is 4:30 p.m. Feb. 8 on the Roxie; each movies stream.
Over at Emeryville’s AMC Bay Avenue, the primary “Drag Me to the Cinema” queer movie competition kicks up its excessive heels Feb. 8 with 5 themed applications of shorts and a sprinkling of reside performances.
“We Are Family” (midday), aimed for households, contains Bret Parker’s semi-autobiographical deal with “Pete,” which does greater than tag bases because it raises points about gender and youth baseball. “Pure.Queer.Joy” (1 p.m.) skews for a extra mature crowd, that includes director Adam Enright’s “Gay History Tour” through which a New York queer historical past tour information comes undone. “Fantasy Island” (3 p.m.) supplies a spicy escape, with Robby Kendall’s “(Un)Free Will,” a brief comedy in regards to the affect that guardian angels have on an opposites-attract relationship. “Life’s a Drag” (5 p.m.), a celebration of drag performers, contains “Alex Is a Queen,” a few drag queen reconciling with an sudden patron, her dad. It stars Bay Space drag queen Girl Camden and was written by the multi-talented Tony Gapastione of the South Bay. “Adults Only” (7 p.m.) spices issues up, and contains director Nicole de Meneses’ “Last Bite,” a sapphic vampire brief with, effectively, you guessed it: some chew.
For tickets and costs, go to sweetnothingproductions.com/product/dragmetothecinema/.
The South Bay’s Cinequest Movie and Creativity Competition (March 11-23 in particular person and March 24-31 nearly) has an enormous 238 movies (110 are world or U.S. premieres) and guarantees to be one of many main native cinematic occasions of 2025.
Noami Watts performs a author who discovers that it may be “ruff” and pleasant to be a canine proprietor in “The Friend,” the closing evening movie of Cinequest. (Courtesy Cinequest)
The theme is “Luminate,” and it’s considerably mirrored within the opening characteristic, “The Luckiest Man in America” (starring Paul Walter Hauser, it’s a truth-based comedy-drama a few game-show contestant’s very calculated streak of excellent luck) and its closing evening choice, “The Friend” with Naomi Watts as a New Yorker main a snug life that will get ruff when she’s bequeathed (or saddled?) with a Nice Dane.
This 12 months’s Maverick Spirit Award goes to the deserving, award-winning actor Gillian Anderson (TV’s “The X-Files” and “The Crown”), star of the upcoming “The Salt Path,” an inspirational drama getting its U.S. premiere on March 22 through the fest’s run. For particulars in regards to the full lineup, go to cinequest.org
The double Oscar nominee “Flow” hits the large display screen in Sonoma on Feb. 9, 2025. (Courtesy Sideshow and Janus Movies)
Over in Sonoma, catch “Flow,” the perfect animated movie of the 12 months, the double-Oscar nominee (finest worldwide characteristic, finest animated characteristic). Although Gints Zilbalodis’ wordless characteristic from Latvia a few cute cat surviving a flood by way of the help of useful animal associates is streaming, it’s price falling underneath its spell in a theater. The Sonoma Worldwide Movie Competition screens it at 10 a.m. Feb. 9 at Sonoma’s Sebastiani Theatre as half Mimosas & the Films. For tickets, which embrace a mimosa do you have to need to imbibe, go to https://sonomafilmfest.org/year-round/monthly-screenings/move.
Steve Coogan stars alongside a scene-stealing chook in “The Penguin Lessons.’ (Courtesy Mostly British Film Festival)
Among the constants in the life of a Bay Area movie fan is the high caliber of the Mostly British Film Festival. Now in its 17th iteration, this year’s program of terrific films from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and India lives up to its reputation. The San Francisco fest kicks off this week with the always wry and delightful actor Steve Coogan in the opening night feature, “The Penguin Lessons” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6. He performs Tom Michell, an English trainer who will get his schooling groove again on as soon as he discovers that the penguin that insists on being at his aspect in his 1976 Buenos Aires classroom sparks increased studying. Co-starring Jonathan Pryce, the movie is directed by Peter Cattaneo of “The Full Monty” acclaim and is predicated on Michell’s memoir.
Different highlights embrace the closing evening comedy “Jane Austen Wrecked Me” (7:45 p.m. Feb. 13) from first-time characteristic director Laura Piani and a few forlorn bookstore clerk and Austen admirer’s seek for romance and inspiration; director Michael Winterbottom’s thriller “Shoshana” (7:30 p.m. Feb. 7) set in Nineteen Thirties Palestine and centering on a passionate romance between a Polish Jew and a British cop; the emotionally wrenching father-son story “Nowhere Special” (7 p.m. Feb. 9) with its Oscar-sized efficiency from James Norton; and the thriller “American Star” (7 p.m. Feb. 11) with Ian McShane as a ready-to-retire hitman who discovers his final goal is fraught with problems. Tickets value $17.50-$20. Screenings are the Vogue. For particulars, go to https://mostlybritish.org/.
