SF Film Fest — Screenings and Events This Weekend

San Francisco’s film festival starts Friday, April 24, with opening-night screenings at the Castro Theatre and a weekend slate spread across San Francisco and the East Bay. (sffilm.org) The 69th San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 24 through May 4 in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley, with 79 programs from 40 countries, according to SFFILM. Public ticket sales opened April 3, and standard general-admission tickets are listed at $20 before fees. (sffilm.org 1) (sffilm.org 2) Friday’s opening night is a double feature at the Castro: Kent Jones’ “Late Fame” at 5:30 p.m. and Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite” at 8:30 p.m. SFFILM says the festival is returning to the restored theater for marquee events after recent editions were centered elsewhere. (sffilm.org) (kqed.org) The weekend program then shifts across venues including the Marina Theatre, the Premier Theater at One Letterman, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Saturday listings include the family-oriented “Shorts Block 5: Family Films” at 11 a.m., Chie Hayakawa’s “Renoir” at 11:30 a.m., and Sara Dosa’s climate documentary “Time and Water” at 12:30 p.m. (sffilm.org 1) (sffilm.org 2) SFFILM describes the festival as the longest-running film festival in the Americas, with roots going back to 1957. This year’s program also adds “Films from the Vault,” a retrospective series drawn from the festival’s archives. (sffilm.org) (sffilm.org) The Castro’s partial return is one of the main changes this year. KQED reported that only a handful of festival screenings are back at the theater, while most of the lineup remains in the Marina, Presidio, and Berkeley venues. (kqed.org) The festival is also built to be more than a screening calendar. SFFILM says the 2026 program includes Festival Talks, an Industry Summit for filmmakers, College Days, and schools programming for local students. (sffilm.org) Some of the higher-profile conversation events land after the opening weekend, including “An Evening with Ritesh Batra + The Lunchbox” on April 27 at the Premier Theater at One Letterman. SFFILM’s printed guide also lists festival awards, jury competitions, and parties among this year’s special events. (sffilm.org) (images.sffilm.org) For moviegoers deciding what to see first, the opening weekend offers the clearest snapshot of the festival’s mix: new fiction, documentaries, repertory screenings, and a children’s shorts program in a single day. The full schedule and ticketing are posted through SFFILM as the festival opens Friday. (sffilm.org)