2016 By the Numbers

I saw 321 "films" on a theater screen in 2016. For these purposes, a film is not just a feature length film but also includes programs (typically from film festivals) which consist of multiple short films. If it was categorized as a single program in a festival guide, it counts as one film entry on my list. Conversely, I saw several programs which consisted of a short film and a feature length film. For my counting purposes, those are counted as a single film entry.

My annual film totals for the past few years are:

2010 - 385 films
2011 - 406 films
2012 - 436 films
2013 - 397 films
2014 - 388 films
2015 - 336 films
2016 - 321 films

For four consecutive years, I have seen fewer films than the previous year.

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The top 10 venues in which I saw films in 2016 were:

1)  Roxie Theater (72 films) - 15 films from IndieFest, 12 films from DocFest and 10 films from various Elliot Lavine and Mid-Century Productions events.  I should acknowledge Elliot Lavine who is moving (to Portland?) and will no longer be programming films in the Bay Area.  The Roxie Theater was my #2 film-going destination from 2013 to 2015.

2) Castro Theatre (65 films) - 15 films from Noir City and 21 films from two Silent Film Festival events.  The Castro Theatre was my #1 film-going destination from 2013 to 2015.

3) Vogue & Balboa (25 films) - 13 films from the Mostly British Film Festival and 7 films from New Italian Cinema.  The Vogue & Balboa are operated by the same people.

4) Landmark Theaters (24 films) - 13 films at the Embarcadero (SFFS Hong Kong Cinema), 7 films at the Opera Plaza & 4 films at the Clay.  I did not see any films at the Aquarius or Guild on the Peninsula or any at the East Bay Landmark Theaters.

5) Camera Cinemas (20 films) - all from Cinequest and all at the now defunct Camera 12 which closed in September.  I did not see any films at the Camera 3 or Camera 7 Pruneyard.

5) Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (20 films) - buoyed by the SF International Film Festival's move from the Filmore to the Mission.

7) Viz/New People (14 films) - 9 films from the Japan Film Festival of SF and 3 films from Another Hole in the Head.

8) Crest Theater (11 films) - this Sacramento theater made the top 10 list due to three trips.  For the first time, I attended both weekends of the Sacramento French Film Festival in June and I attended the Sacramento Mini French Film Festival in November.  These two festivals accounted for all 11 films.

9) Great Star Theater (8 films) - CAAMFest and the Not Just Hong Kong Film Festival accounted for the 8 films.

10) Sequoia Theater (7 films) - I saw 7 films as part of the Mill Valley Film Festival at this theater.

Honorable Mentions:  PFA (6 films), California Theater in San Jose (6 films; all Cinequest), Victoria Theater (6 films; all SFIFF), Lark Theater (6 films; all MVFF), San Jose Rep (5 films; all Cinequest), New Parkway (5 films), 4 Star (4 films), YBCA (3 films), Smith Rafael (3 films; all MVFF) and Oddball Films (3 films)

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On 191 days in 2016, I saw at least one film. The 2016 breakdown is:

On 175 days, I saw zero films.
On 101 days, I saw one film.
On 69 days, I saw two films.
On 9 days, I saw three films.
On 6 days, I saw four films.
On 5 days, I saw five films.
On 1 day, I saw six films.

On December 3 (Saturday), I watched six films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival Day of Silents at the Castro Theater.

On both March 6 (Sunday) and March 12 (Saturday), I saw five films at Cinequest.  On June 4 (Saturday) and June 5 (Sunday), I saw five films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.  On June 18 (Saturday), I saw five films at the Sacramento French Film Festival

Breaking down the number of films by month:

January - 25 films

February - 33 films

March - 45 films

April - 22 films

May - 30 films

June - 40 films

July - 32 films

August - 4 films

September - 14 films

October - 22 films

November - 31 films

December - 23 films

The 4 films I watched in August represents the lowest monthly film total since I started this blog.  August is the busiest month of the year at work for me.  I have been in my current job since September 2012 so 2016 was my 4th "busy" August.  Looking at the last four years, the busy period seems to straddle August & September in the past but was largely confined to August this year.  That's because I decided to travel for Labor Day Weekend whereas in years past, I used that weekend to work. 

I saw 8 films in September 2015 but that number was depressed because I was standing deathwatch at my father's bedside.  Those are the only two calendar months when I watched films totaling in the single digits since January 2010.

Breaking down the number of films by day of the week:

Sunday - 57 films
Monday - 34 films
Tuesday - 30 films
Wednesday - 45 films
Thursday - 33 films
Friday - 49 films
Saturday - 73 films

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2016 was the first year I did not see any films at the Kabuki Theater (which is no longer associated with Sundance Theaters).  CAAMFest and the SF International Film Festival abandoned the Kabuki for theaters in the Mission District (Roxie, Alamo Drafthouse & Victoria).

I also did not see any films at the Camera 3 in 2016.