{"id":191800,"date":"2026-02-24T19:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T19:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/191800\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T19:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T19:35:10","slug":"bampfa-announces-expansive-spring-film-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/191800\/","title":{"rendered":"BAMPFA announces expansive spring film season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even as most of Berkeley\u2019s iconic movie theaters have shuttered, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive<\/a> is enjoying some of its highest film attendance in years, drawing audiences to a program of vibrant world cinema.<\/p>\n

Spring film season at BAMPFA, 2155 Center St., March 1-May 10.\u00a0 See website<\/a> for schedule and related activities.<\/p>\n

Even a recent New York Times Magazine<\/a> article called out BAMPFA as a prime example of the growing number of resurgent independent movie theaters that are bucking the post-COVID home-viewing trend. BAMPFA, it noted, \u201chas seen its screenings grow more crowded every year since the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

That energy is on full display in BAMPFA\u2019s spring film season, a globe-spanning lineup that has just been unveiled online.<\/p>\n

Running from early March to mid-May, BAMPFA\u2019s spring season encompasses seven diverse and wide-ranging film series, from\u00a0a trippy cinematic journey into altered consciousness to the perennially popular African Film Festival.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a deeper look at what\u2019s in store:<\/p>\n

Psychedelia & Cinema<\/a> (March 1-May 10)<\/p>\n

The season kicks off with a cinematic head trip that explores films about expanded consciousness \u2014 and films that produce it through image, sound, rhythm and narrative experimentation. BAMPFA has joined forces with UC Berkeley\u2019s Center for the Science of Psychedelics to assemble more than a dozen classics in the psychedelic film canon, ranging from the beloved masterpiece \u201c2001: A Space Odyssey\u201d<\/a> to the cult favorite\u201cThe Holy Mountain<\/a>\u201d and local legend \u201cSpace is the Place\u201d<\/a> \u2014 an Afrofuturist space opera inspired by onetime UC Berkeley professor Sun Ra.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cSpace is the Place\u201d is an Afrofuturist space opera showing at BAMPFA March 21. Courtesy of BAMPFA<\/p>\n

Fassbinder and the New German Cinema<\/a> (March 6-May 17)<\/p>\n

Taking its inspiration from the rebellious spirit of its titular auteur, \u201cFassbinder and the New German Cinema\u201d showcases films from the country\u2019s distinctive film movement in the 1960s and 1970s \u2014 a time when a fierce young generation of filmmakers brought new energy to German movies. In addition to Fassbinder \u2014 German cinema\u2019s enfant terrible, who directed more than 40 feature films before his untimely death at the age of 37 \u2014 the series includes important work by trailblazing filmmakers, including Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders and Volker Schl\u00f6ndorff.<\/p>\n

Iranian Cinema: From Aesthetics to Politics<\/a> (March 7-April 23)<\/p>\n

Against the backdrop of fraught geopolitics, BAMPFA offers a clarifying glimpse into the world of Iranian filmmaking \u2014 a cinematic tradition that has flourished despite an oppressive government regime. The series includes 4K restorations of seminal Iranian films like \u201cThe Postman<\/a>\u201d and \u201cBashu, the Little Stranger<\/a>,\u201d as well as a guest appearance by the influential Iranian filmmaker and screenwriter Rakhshan Banietemad, who will present her films \u201cUnder the Skin of the City<\/a>\u201d and \u201cGilaneh<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The Iranian film \u201cBashu, the Little Stranger\u201d airs at BAMPFA March 29. Courtesy of BAMPFA<\/p>\n

African Film Festival<\/a> (March 8-May 9)<\/p>\n

Each spring, BAMPFA offers a survey of the most exciting contemporary moviemaking happening on the African continent and its worldwide diaspora. The 2026 installment of the African Film Festival centers on coming-of-age stories and portraits of urban life, including movies from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, French Guiana, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria and the United States.<\/p>\n

Impulses and Abstractions: Sound and Music in 1960s French Cinema<\/a> (March 14-29)<\/p>\n

This short series zooms in on a moment in French film history when filmmakers and composers treated sound as a vital aesthetic complement \u2014 rather than just an accompaniment \u2014 to the images onscreen. Drawing inspiration from the French New Wave, the series includes Alain Resnais\u2019 \u201cLast Year at Marienbad<\/a>,\u201d Agn\u00e8s Varda\u2019s \u201cCl\u00e9o from 5 to 7<\/a>,\u201d and Jacques Rivette\u2019s \u201cParis Belongs to Us<\/a>,\u201d plus a program of shorts that illustrates how radical \u201cclassic\u201d cinema can feel when you watch (and listen) closely.<\/p>\n

Sentimental Education: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha at the Pacific Film Archive<\/a> (April 2-19)<\/p>\n

Designed as a complement to BAMPFA\u2019s exhibition<\/a> of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha\u2019s work as a gallery artist, this film series highlights her identity as both a filmmaker and a cinephile \u2014 a practice that began at BAMPFA, where the young artist worked as a film usher during her years as a UC Berkeley undergraduate. The series highlights key touchstones of world cinema that Cha absorbed at the Pacific Film Archive \u2014 among them, \u201cThe Passion of Joan of Arc\u201d<\/a> and \u201cFloating Weeds<\/a>\u201d \u2014 as well as a survey of the artist\u2019s own moving-image work.<\/p>\n

Lucrecia Martel: Un destino com\u00fan<\/a> (April 4-19)<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most acclaimed auteur of contemporary South American cinema, Lucrecia Martel makes provocative films about class, complicity, colonialism and the stories societies tell themselves to maintain the status quo. Her films return to BAMPFA following a celebrated survey of her work in 2018, this time with the new work \u201cOur Land\/Nuestra Tierra<\/a>\u201d \u2014 her first-ever documentary \u2014 that explores the struggles of Indigenous life in 21st-century Argentina. Martel will appear in person for this and a range of screenings that showcase the luminous artist\u2019s remarkable body of work.<\/p>\n

Tickets for BAMPFA\u2019s spring season are now on sale and can be purchased at bampfa.org\/film<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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