Corked
Thursday, July 31, 7:00

In Person: Filmmakers Ross Clendenen, Paul Hawley & Jeffrey Weissman

The first feature by Sonoma County filmmakers Ross Clendenen and Paul Hawley, this mock-documentary is an uproarious send-up of Northern California’s favorite business, focusing on the rivalry of four distinctly different wineries: Moreno Russo, a corporate family business that trademarked the word “family”; Peña Cellars, a traditional establishment that becomes the plaything of a rich party dude and his L.A. girlfriend; Hannon Winery, all-too-literally (and exhaustingly) a “one-man” show; and Sco-Gar, a long-distance marketing entity that doesn’t even touch the product.

Hats Off
Friday, August 8, 7:00

In Person: Filmmakers Jyll Johnstone & Michael Arlen Davis

“Rise above it” is the daily mantra of the remarkable Mimi Weddell, a 93-year-old actress you’ve seen in ads and spreads in Vanity Fair and Vogue, and onscreen in everything from Woody Allen movies to Sex in the City. This absolutely fabulous documentary profiles the wit and eccentricities of this most unusual woman, who began her acting career at age 65 and, at age 90 was named by New York Magazine one of the “50 Most Beautiful People in New York. Bay Area filmmaker Jyll Johnstone followed Mimi Weddell over the course of 10 years, documenting an extraordinary life that mocks the traditional image of old age.

28th Annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
At the Rafael: Saturday, August 9 to Monday, August 11

The 28th annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival opens July 24 and runs at multiple venues in the Bay Area. Highlights screen at the Rafael from Saturday, August 9 to Monday, August 11. Complete list of screenings at the Rafael is here.

Divorce Italian Style
Tuesday, August 12, 7:00 & 9:15
Wednesday, August 13, 7:00 & 9:15
Thursday, August 14, 9:15

Marcello Mastroianni stars in director Pietro Germi’s wickedly funny classic as a decadent Sicilian aristocrat who is bored with life, and much more so with his wife (Daniela Rocca). Ferdinando’s roving eye settles on his beautiful 16-year-old cousin (Stefania Sandrelli), and coveting her purity and innocence, he sets out to change spouses. Italian law won’t allow a divorce, but our amoral protagonist observes that authorities are lenient toward husbands who kill unfaithful wives in matters of “honor.

Co-presented by the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco.

Burning Man: Voyage in Utopia
Filmmaker Laurent Le Gall in person
Thursday, August 14, 7:00

For one week every year, tens of thousands of participants converge in the Nevada desert, to the sound of electronic rhythms, and surrounded by extravagant artistic creations, to celebrate Burning Man, a festival of radical self-expression. A frequent participant over the past several years is filmmaker Laurent Le Gall, who for a decade has divided his time between the Bay Area and his native France. Attending his first Burning Man after the sudden death of his father, Le Gall found himself particularly drawn to artist David Best, who uses recycled materials to construct a magnificent temple for the memory of the dearly departed.

My Winnipeg
Opens Friday, July 25

Lest you are expecting some kind of travelogue, be assured that visionary Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin is operating on all cylinders with this eccentric, poetic and furiously funny ode to his hometown. Does Winnipeg, Manitoba, really have 10 times as many sleepwalkers as any place in the world? Is there a civic law requiring you to let any former resident of your home stay the night (including said sleepwalkers)? And was there a television serial featuring a suicidal hero called “Ledge Man?”

Man on Wire
Opens Friday, August 8

It was the artistic crime of the century, and likely the most amazing performance of modern times, when young Frenchman Philippe Petit walked a high wire across the new World Trade Center’s Twin Towers on August 7, 1974. This terrific documentary, winner of both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, brings Petit’s extraordinary adventure to life through interviews, reenactments and, most compelling of all, moments captured from that incredible day. Petit was a self-taught acrobat and magician who performed on the streets of Paris and dreamed of accomplishing this act even before the first tower opened in 1970.

Sponsored by

A Man Named Pearl
Opens Friday, August 15

This charming documentary tells the inspiring story of Pearl Fryar, a self-taught topiary artist who has created a wonderland at his home in Bishopville, South Carolina. Thirty years ago, Pearl and his wife Metra were dissuaded from buying a house in an all-white neighborhood, having been told “Black people don’t keep up their yards.” Moving into a “black” neighborhood, Pearl set out to prove the others wrong and to become the first African-American to win Bishopville’s “Yard of the Month” award.