SF Film Fest — screenings and premieres

San Francisco’s film festival starts Friday, April 24, with 11 days of premieres, repertory screenings, and filmmaker events across San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley. (sffilm.org) SFFILM’s 69th San Francisco International Film Festival runs through May 4 and lists 79 programs from 40 countries. Organizers say the lineup includes early screenings, premieres, juried competitions, talks, and school and college programs. (sffilm.org) Opening night returns to the restored Castro Theatre with a double bill on April 24: Kent Jones’ “Late Fame” and Olivia Wilde’s San Francisco-shot “The Invite.” The public schedule also shows weekend screenings at the Marina Theatre, the Premier Theater at One Letterman, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. (sffilm.org, sffilm.org) This year’s festival is also a partial homecoming. KQED reported that the Castro, long treated as the event’s spiritual home, will host only two nights, while most of the program stays centered in the Marina, Presidio, and Berkeley venues. (kqed.org) The festival’s scale is part of the draw for weekend moviegoers who do not want a single red-carpet premiere. SFFILM divides the lineup into documentary, narrative, short film, family, Bay Area, queer, Latin American, retrospective, and competition sections, with many events advertising talent in attendance. (sffilm.org) The competition side is not just filler between gala screenings. SFFILM says its Golden Gate Awards remain one of the main U.S. showcases for emerging global filmmakers, with 2026 competition titles spread across documentary, global vision, new directors, and short film categories. (sffilm.org) Weekend picks already visible on the official schedule include “Time and Water,” “Joybubbles,” “Risa and the Wind Phone,” “The World of Love,” and a family shorts block on Saturday, April 25. KQED also flagged Sam Green’s “The Oldest Person in the World” on April 26 and noted that the new “Films from the Vault” sidebar revives past festival selections such as “The Arch.” (sffilm.org, kqed.org) The retrospective push comes as SFFILM heads toward its 70th anniversary next year. Festival programming director Jessie Fairbanks said the 2026 slate was built to pair new discoveries with older films seen “with fresh eyes,” and the printed guide adds an Industry Conference, Festival Awards, and an evening with director Ritesh Batra. (sffilm.org, images.sffilm.org) Tickets have been on sale to the public since April 3, and several marquee screenings were already sold out earlier this month, according to KQED. For anyone trying to catch the festival this weekend, the practical move is to start with the live schedule and build around neighborhoods, not just titles. (sffilm.org, kqed.org)