![\"One](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/gay-lions.png\")
<\/p>\nThis documentary festival at the 4 Star Theater offers unexpected glimpses into the animal kingdom.<\/p>\n
Sep 10, 2026<\/p>\n
Updated 10:53 am PT<\/p>\n
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Yes, these lions are doing gay stuff. Find out more by watching \u2018Second Nature,\u2019 narrated by Elliot Page.\u00a0(Courtesy of SF Critter Fest)<\/p>\n
There are two kinds of humans in this world. Those who love animals<\/a> and find comfort and solace in experiencing the world through their eyes, and those who are meat-suit monsters with no soul. (I said what I said.)<\/p>\n Now, in what is bound to be a delight for the former, the geniuses at SF IndieFest<\/a> have created SF CritterFest<\/a>, a film series dedicated to our furry and feathery friends around the world. Running Sept. 17\u201320 at the 4 Star Theater, the festival will include 19 short and feature documentary offerings that examine the realms of deadly sea bunnies<\/a>, mysterious owls<\/a> and \u2014 this is San Francisco, baby! \u2014 a bunch of unabashedly queer wild animals<\/a>.<\/p>\n Notable short films include Bears in Hot Tubs<\/a>, a 17-minute jaunt that follows black bears as they invade the garden amenities of Los Angeles residents. There\u2019s Austin Bat Rescue<\/a>, which provides viewers with an 8-minute visit to a Mexican free-tailed bat rehab in Central Texas. There\u2019s also a 13-minute profile of one German lady and her beloved cow in Gianna & Anne \u2014 Significant Otherness<\/a>. And of particular interest to San Francisco ornithologists will be The Western Snowy Plover<\/a>, which explores the lives of the small shorebird at Ocean Beach.<\/p>\n At the top of the list of inspiring features not to miss is Better Call Babs<\/a>, about a one-woman rescue mission in San Diego. Babs Fry leaps into action to locate and return lost pets to their distressed owners; she\u2019s such an unstoppable badass, she\u2019s now a Red Cross Award recipient. Get to know her \u2014 and her personal struggles \u2014 in this heartfelt documentary.<\/p>\n The festival has also programmed a few free screenings. The Secret Lives of Pets 2<\/a> will play at the outdoor Hayes Valley screen Proxy (432 Octavia Blvd.) on Sept. 18 in association with the San Francisco SPCA<\/a>. Also on offer is Stoner Cats<\/a>, a hugely popular animated short series about a bunch of cats that gain superintelligence (and insatiable munchies) after inhaling too much of their mom\u2019s weed. That one will be available to stream online \u2014 so you can watch it at home with your own kitties.<\/p>\n SF CritterFest<\/a> runs Sept. 17\u201320, 2026 at the 4 Star Theater (2200 Clement St., San Francisco). Tickets can be purchased separately for each screening, and \u2018all film\u2019 passes<\/a> are available starting at $60.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This documentary festival at the 4 Star Theater offers unexpected glimpses into the animal kingdom. Sep 10, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-459663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459663","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=459663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}