{"id":457073,"date":"2026-09-08T10:05:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T10:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/457073\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T10:05:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T10:05:22","slug":"movies-bernal-heights-oakland-twin-peaks-stanford-musicals-sci-fi-shorts-festivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/457073\/","title":{"rendered":"Movies: Bernal Heights, Oakland, Twin Peaks, Stanford musicals, sci-fi shorts festivals\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Outdoor movies, Oakland stories, Hollywood\u00a0musicals\u00a0and Twin Peaks make for a wide range of festival\u00a0fare\u00a0this week. Also noteworthy: a new indie from the Philippines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema \u2014 three days of free screenings in public spaces in San Francisco\u2019s Bernal Heights neighborhood \u2014 presents its 23rd edition Thursday through Saturday.\u00a0Dozens of locally created short films will screen at the event, which is designed to bring attention to Bay Area film artists and celebrate the Bernal Heights community.\u00a0Two indoor film crawls and one big outdoor festival and film screening are the primary components.\u00a0First up is a Mission Street film crawl, on Thursday, from 7 to 10 p.m. The Magic Patio,\u00a0STEMful, Cafe Seventy8, and Studio45 are participating venues.\u00a0A Cortland Avenue film crawl\u00a0follows\u00a0on Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. Inclusions Gallery, Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center,\u00a0Baukunst, Bernal Heights Library and Progressive Grounds Coffee House are the venues.\u00a0On Saturday, from 6 to 9:30 p.m.,\u00a0Precita\u00a0Park becomes an outdoor cinema\u00a0for the annual Under the Stars celebration. Pre-screening festivities include picnicking, musicians, family-friendly games, and community tables. The screening features more than a dozen short films.\u00a0Visit\u00a0bhoutdoorcine.org.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 24th Oakland International Film Festival opens Wednesday, presenting dozens of films and related events over\u00a011 days.\u00a0Venues include the Grand Lake Theatre and Northeastern\u00a0University\u00a0Oakland.\u00a0Oakland stories, global\u00a0cinema\u00a0and independent voices are the focus of the festival, which is presented by the Oakland Film Society. \u00a0Films include \u201cThe Bill Patterson Story,\u201d a short documentary about the civic leader who dedicated seven decades to public service in Oakland; \u201cComparsa,\u201d a feature-length documentary about two sisters in Guatemala who, through art and performance, help violence survivors to heal; \u201cBrewin\u2019 Stew,\u201d a short doc about Bay Area jazz-guitar giant Calvin Keys; \u201cSet Her Free,\u201d a documentary about trauma, incarceration and how the system fails to protect domestic-violence survivors; and \u201cWhat We Dreamed of Then,\u201d a drama about a swim coach who keeps his homelessness a secret.\u00a0Visit\u00a0https:\/\/oiff.org\/<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Sherilyn Fenn and Kyle McLaughlin star in the original \u201cTwin Peaks,\u201d which is featured in a festival on Sept. 11-12 at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco, Calif.\u00a0(Paramount Pictures via Bay City News)<\/p>\n

Twin Peaks Fest will take over the Balboa Theater Friday through Sunday, presenting a marathon of episodes from David Lynch and Mark Frost\u2019s surreal, genre-blending TV series and pop-culture sensation.\u00a0The lineup consists of episodes from the original \u201cTwin Peaks\u201d series; episodes from \u201cTwin Peaks: The Return\u201d;\u00a0and\u00a0the feature film \u201cFire Walk\u00a0With\u00a0Me.\u201d\u00a0A live\u00a0performance\u00a0of\u00a0\u201cTwin Peaks\u201d music\u00a0provided by San Francisco\u2013based Marc Capelle of Red Room Orchestra is set for 7 p.m.\u00a0Saturday.\u00a0Visit\u00a0www.balboamovies.com.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSeptember Musicals\u201d is the theme of a six-film series at Palo Alto\u2019s Stanford Theatre\u00a0featuring\u00a0Movies from Hollywood\u2019s Golden Age. Here\u2019s the lineup: On\u00a0Sept. 11-13, it\u2019s\u00a0\u201cAlexander\u2019s Ragtime Band\u201d (1938)\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cTin Pan Alley\u201d (1940); on\u00a0Sept. 18-20,\u00a0\u201cMoon Over Miami\u201d (1941)\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cDown Argentine Way\u201d (1940);\u00a0and\u00a0Sept. 25-27,\u00a0\u201cSun Valley Serenade\u201d (1941)\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cOrchestra Wives\u201d (1942).\u00a0Visit\u00a0stanfordtheatre.org.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The San Francisco Science Fiction Short Film Showcase presents its third annual edition on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Marina Theatre.\u00a0Award-winning sci-fi short films, online videos, and TV episodes screen, with\u00a0some\u00a0featured filmmakers\u00a0in\u00a0attendance.\u00a0Visit lntsf.com\/marina-theatre<\/a>\u00a0for more information.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Isabel (Jorrybell Agoto, right), a 17-year-old from the rural north of the Philippines, works at a posh country club outside Manila in \u201cFilipi\u00f1ana,\u201d screening Sept. 7-22 at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, Calif. (Kino Lorber via Bay City News) <\/p>\n

Filmmaker Rafael Manuel uses a posh golf-course setting to satirize capitalism and colonialism in his native Philippines in his dryly comic, quietly scathing debut feature, \u201cFilipi\u00f1ana,\u201d\u00a0now\u00a0playing at the Roxie Theater\u00a0in San Francisco.\u00a0Manuel\u2019s class-themed coming-of-age tale begins on the sweltering streets of Manila, where water\u00a0is being rationed.\u00a0Then\u00a0there\u2019sa\u00a0contrasting picture: a country-club golf course where sprinklers are liberally watering the greens, keeping them verdant for wealthy, elite clientele. \u00a0Seventeen-year-old Isabel (Jorrybell Agoto, who holds the screen) is a \u201ctee girl\u201d \u2014 a ludicrous job that involves teeing up balls for entitled golfers. \u00a0Isabel, who comes from the rural north, is enticed by the country club\u2019s luxurious interiors and fancy dessert spreads.\u00a0She\u2019s\u00a0especially curious about Dr. Palanca (Teroy\u00a0Guzman), the patriarchal club\u2019s president.\u00a0Instructed to bring\u00a0Palanca\u00a0his misplaced golf club, Isabel, while searching for him, discovers unsavory truths about the golf course, Palanca, and his link to her family\u2019s traumatic history, memories of which\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0suppressed.\u00a0Additional\u00a0characters include Clara (Carmen Castellanos), an expatriate visiting her industrialist uncle (Carlitos\u00a0Siguion-Reyna) and troubled by how the club disrespects its workers.\u00a0The movie\u2019s unhurried pacing and lack of dramatic thrust may frustrate some, but Manuel\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0seem interested in standard suspense-building. Instead, he immerses\u00a0viewers\u00a0in an artificial, soulless, creepy environment and\u00a0presents capitalist mindsets and class divides \u2014\u00a0represented\u00a0by golf courses, which date back to the Philippines\u2019 American colonial period \u2014 with absurdism and drollness\u00a0in scenes\u00a0with\u00a0synchronized movement, of\u00a0workers\u00a0stacking chairs and\u00a0golfers\u00a0swinging clubs,\u00a0for\u00a0example.\u00a0\u00a0At the same time,\u00a0the movie is\u00a0dead-serious\u00a0and\u00a0hard-hitting\u00a0about the Philippines\u2019\u00a0history and national identity, complete with a disquieting ending. (Don\u2019t\u00a0leave the theater too soon.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cDear You,\u201d a hit Chinese film about a debt-ridden grandson who travels to find the grandfather he believes abandoned their family, screens in Bay Area theaters. (Well Go USA via Bay City News) <\/p>\n

A debt-plagued grandson travels from China to Thailand to find his long-absent,\u00a0reportedly rich\u00a0grandfather, and discovers decades of secret devotion and sacrifice, in \u201cDear You,\u201d directed by Lan Hongchun (\u201cBack to Love\u201d). A major hit in China, the drama\u00a0contains\u00a0themes of family,\u00a0migration\u00a0and the Chinese tradition of\u00a0qiaopi\u00a0letters. It is currently in Bay Area theaters.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Outdoor movies, Oakland stories, Hollywood\u00a0musicals\u00a0and Twin Peaks make for a wide range of festival\u00a0fare\u00a0this week. Also noteworthy: a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[180346,180347,180348,180349,180350,180351,180352,84740,180353,180354,180355,180356,180357,180358,180359,180360,101,103,102,180361,180362,104,106,105,180363,111512,180364],"class_list":["post-457073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-bernal-heights-outdoor-cinema","tag-bill-patterson-story","tag-brewin-stew","tag-calvin-keyes","tag-carlitos-siguion-reyna","tag-carmen-castellanos","tag-comparsa","tag-david-lynch","tag-dear-you","tag-filipinana","tag-jorrybell-agoto","tag-lan-hongchun","tag-marc-capelle","tag-mark-frost","tag-oakland-international-film-festival","tag-rafael-manuel","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-san-francisco-science-fiction-short-film-showcase","tag-set-her-free","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-teroy-guzman","tag-twin-peaks","tag-what-we-dreamed-of-then"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}