Castro Theater's June 2016 Calendar

I did not go to the Castro Theater in May.  It's unusual for me not to attend a single screening there for an entire calendar month.

The highlight for the June calendar is the 2016 San Francisco Silent Film Festival from June 2 to 5.  Frameline also occupies the Castro for 11 days in June.  The theater is closed or booked for private events for 8 days during the month.

I'm also planning a trip to the Sacramento French Film Festival in June.  The program has not been announced but the festival dates will be June 17 to 19 and 24 to 26.  For the first time, the festival is screening films at a second venue.  The primary venue remains the Crest Theater but on June 19, the festival moves a few blocks down K Street to the Esquire IMAX Theater.

I should also note that the 2016 San Francisco Documentary Film Festival (DocFest) is running from June 2 to 16 which means it conflicts with the Silent Film Festival.  The DocFest venues are the Roxie, the Vogue and the Great Star.

Looking at the Castro's programming, the highlights are:

June 8 - Sugarland Express (1974) which was Steven Spielberg's feature film directorial debut.  It's paired with Midnight Special with Michael Shannon & Joel Edgerton.

June 9 - Under the Cherry Moon, a 1986 film starring & directed by Prince which I barely recall from its original release.  A commercial & critical flop, it seems to be alternative programming in response to multiple screenings of Purple Rain since Prince's death.  It is paired with Absolute Beginners which I enjoyed.

June 10 - Jesse Hawthorne Ficks continues his months long tribute to John Carpenter with a Midnites for Maniacs double bill of In the Mouth of Madness and Prince of Darkness.  Speaking of which, Ficks is at the Roxie tonight screening Carpenter's The Thing and Bone Tomahawk (San Francisco theatrical premiere).

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Castro Theater Calendar - June 2016

Castro Theater's May 2016 Calendar

I haven't been writing much.  I'm still dealing with my father's estate and I was in a minor car accident in March which has taken up an outsized portion of my time & attention.  I've also been seeing quite a few movies and seeing a film always takes precedence over writing about a film.

The Castro Theater's May 2016 calendar is underwhelming for me.

I'd like to catch the double feature of Mommie Dearest and Gypsy on May 4 but that is the penultimate night of the 2016 San Francisco International Film Festival and I have purchased tickets to 2 films that evening.

Similarly, I have never seen Valley of the Dolls which screens May 10 with The Miracle Worker as part of a Patty Duke tribute.  Unfortunately, I have other plans that evening.

Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (May 14) caught my attention.  From May 13 to 16, the Roxie in conjunction with Midcentury Eclectic! (Elliot Lavine, Don Malcolm, et al.) is screening 12 films under the series title Archaeology of Arthouse.  I've bought a pass and plan to see several films in the series.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to get away to the Castro to see Argento's film.

I have yet to visit the new PFA.  There are three film series beginning in May which will likely lure me to Berkeley:  Mexican Film Noir (May 7 to June 11), The Films of Seijun Suzuki (May 7 to June 30) and the UCLA Festival of Preservation (May 15 to June 26).

Not shown on the Castro's May calendar is the 2016 San Francisco Silent Film Festival which runs from June 2 to 5 at the Castro.

Many years ago (the early 1990s), one of my first visits to the Roxie was to see a Pedro Almodovar film.  I think I caught a double bill or a couple films over a few night.  I recall one film distinctly as Tie Me Up!  Tie Me Down!  The other film was Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls like Mom which I thought was unbelievably outré at the time.  I subsequently seen films which renders Pepi, Luci, Bom...as passé.  Almodovar has a special place in my cinematic pantheon as I relate those films with my early days in SF.  I mention this because the Roxie is screening six of his early films as part of a retrospective from May 20 to 26.

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Castro Theater Calendar - May 2016