Check out the latest exclusive engagements and premieres, including the best in new indies, foreign films, documentaries and restored classics, by downloading a PDF of Landmark’s San Francisco Film Calendar, with all-new programming from February 11 through May 13!

Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema

In 1922 Dr. Albert C. Barnes created The Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, five miles outside of Philadelphia. His astounding collection of Post-Impressionist and early Modern art, intended to serve as an educational institution, includes 181 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos, 16 Modiglianis, and 7 Van Goghs. Dr. Barnes deliberately built his Foundation away from the city and cultural elite who scorned his collection as "horrible, debased art." But tastes changed, and soon the very people who belittled Barnes wanted access to his collection. When Barnes died in 1951, he left control of his collection to Lincoln University, a small African-American college, with strict instructions that the paintings may never be removed. More than fifty years later, a powerful group of moneyed interests have gone to court in a rancorous, Machiavellian attempt to take the art—recently valued at more than $25 billion—and move it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Official Web Site Director Don Argott on the passion of Dr. Albert C. Barnes Kenneth Baker's San Francisco Chronicle review...

Now Playing at the Lumiere Theatre

An unsentimental elegy to the American West, Sweetgrass follows the last sheepherders to trail their flocks up into Montana’s Beartooth Mountains for summer pasture. Without commentary, this astonishingly beautiful film reveals a world in which nature and culture, animals and humans, climate and landscape, and vulnerability and violence are all intimately meshed. "In the summer of 2003, a group of shepherds took a herd of sheep one final time through the Beartooth Mountains of Montana, in the extreme northwest of the United States. It was a journey of almost 300 kilometers through expansive green valleys, by fields of snow, and across hazardous, narrow ridges—a journey brimming with challenges. The aging shepherds do their very best to keep the hundreds of sheep together; the panoramic high mountains are teeming with hungry wolves and grizzly bears." —International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam Official Web Site Peter Hartlaub's San Francisco Chronicle review...

Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema

An Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Ajami is a brave, apolitical look at Jews and Arabs in Jaffa's multi-ethnic Ajami neighborhood—a searing debut by Israeli and Palestinian co-directors Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, whose balanced perspective and use of non-professional local actors lend a palpable authenticity to a complex, cross-cultural drama. Shakespearian in its scope and themes—revenge, loyalty, hope and despair—the film draws us into the lives of two brothers fearing assassination; a young Palestinian refugee working illegally to cover his mother's medical expenses; and a Jewish cop obsessed with finding his missing brother. Through its unprecedented authenticity and immediacy, Ajami forces us to look at the Middle East conflict through the commonality of the human condition—and the tragic consequences of enemies living as neighbors. Official Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review...

Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema
Must End Thursday, March 18!

In the romantic dramedy The Good Guy, ambitious young Manhattanite and urban conservationist Beth (Alexis Bledel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) wants it all: a good job, good friends, and a good guy to share the city with. Of course that last one is often the trickiest of all. Beth falls hard for Tommy (Scott Porter), a sexy, young Wall Street hot-shot. But just as everything seems to be falling into place, complications arise in the form of Tommy's sensitive and handsome co-worker Daniel (Bryan Greenberg). Beth soon learns that the game of love in the big city is a lot like Wall Street: high risk, high reward — and everybody has an angle. Directed by Julio DePietro. Official Web Site

Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema
Must End Thursday, March 18!

Variety says, "First-time documaker Dan Merchant calls for a culture-war ceasefire in Lord Save Us From Your Followers, an admirably bold if carefully calculated attempt to bridge the great divide separating believers from nonbelievers. Merchant himself being a man of faith, it's no surprise that his apologies on behalf of Christian wrongdoing come wrapped in a message that seeks to present the gospel in the best possible light. Yet his levelheaded approach to a hotly debated issue makes this a valid, valuable exercise in social outreach." Official Web Site

Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema

Condemned to six years in prison, 19-year-old Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), part Arab, part Corsican, cannot read or write. Arriving at the jail entirely alone, he appears younger and more fragile than the other convicts. Cornered by the leader of the Corsican gang who rules the prison, he is given a number of "missions" to carry out, toughening him up and gaining the gang leader's confidence in the process. But Malik is brave and a fast learner, daring to secretly develop his own plans. Directed and co-written by Jacques Audiard (The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Read My Lips). Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. Official Web Site Director Jacques Audiard on the common language of film Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review...

Now Playing at the Lumiere Theatre
Must End Thursday, March 18!

Prodigal Sons tells the story of three fascinating siblings: filmmaker Kim, a transgender woman; Todd, a gay man; and Marc, their adopted brother who discovers he’s the grandson of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth. The bond between longtime rivals Marc and Kim, which defies both Kim’s gender and Marc’s pedigree, exists as the fascinating heart of the film, and is orbited by a colorful, articulate cast of characters, including jailhouse chaplains, Montana farmers, intrigued high school classmates, and Orson Welles’ soul-mate Oja Kodar, among others. Carol, the remarkably resilient mother who accepts her children’s surprises with grace and optimism, provides a strong backbone for the family, as well as a clear-eyed entry-point to this drama of Wellesian proportions. All along the way surprising revelations abound: Marc’s innate savant ability to play the piano, Kim’s smooth acceptance from schoolmates and community, and their younger brother Todd’s well-adjusted attitude about being gay. After pulling for this family through its trials and tribulations, we learn that a poignant sense of hope will carry them through. Official Web Site David Wiegand's San Francisco Chronicle review...

Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema

Roman Polanski directs this atmospheric and suspenseful political thriller based on the novel The Ghost by Robert Harris. When a successful British ghostwriter, The Ghost (Ewan McGregor), agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), his agent assures him it's the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start—not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang's long-term aide, died in an unfortunate accident. The Ghost flies to the East Coast of the United States to work on the project, but the day after he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA—a war crime. The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the island mansion where Lang is staying with his wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams), and his personal assistant, Amelia (Kim Cattrall). As The Ghost works, he begins to uncover clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA—and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind. Also starring Timothy Hutton, Eli Wallach, Tom Wilkinson and James Belushi. Official Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review...

Now Playing at the Lumiere Theatre
Must End Thursday, March 18!

Co-winner of the Freedom of Expression Award from the National Board of Review, Winner of the Special Jury Award at IDFA, and an Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature, The Most Dangerous Man in America tells the story of Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, who in 1971 concluded that the war is based on decades of lies, and leaks 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times—a daring act of conscience that leads directly to Watergate, President Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War. A riveting story of how this one man’s profound change of heart created a landmark struggle involving America’s newspapers, its president and Supreme Court. With Daniel Ellsberg, Patricia Ellsberg, Tony Russo, Howard Zinn, Hedrick Smith, John Dean and, from the secret White House tapes, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, who called Ellsberg “the most dangerous man in America.” Narrated by Ellsberg. Official Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review...

Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema

Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges stars as the richly comic, semi-tragic romantic anti-hero Bad Blake in the debut feature film from writer-director Scott Cooper. Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who's had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician. As he struggles down the road of redemption, Bad learns the hard way just how tough life can be on one man’s crazy heart. Co-starring Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall. Official Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review...

Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema

The Hurt Locker is a riveting, suspenseful portrait of the courage under fire of the military’s unrecognized heroes: the technicians of a bomb squad who volunteer to challenge the odds and save lives doing one of the world’s most dangerous jobs. Three members of the Army’s elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad battle insurgents and one another as they search for and disarm a wave of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad—in order to try and make the city a safer place for Iraqis and Americans alike. Their mission is clear—protect and save—but it’s anything but easy, as the margin of error when defusing a war-zone bomb is zero. This thrilling and heart-pounding look at the psychology of bomb technicians and the effects of risk and danger on the human psyche is a fictional tale inspired by real events by journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with a special bomb unit in Iraq. In Iraq, it is soldier vernacular to speak of explosions as sending you to “the hurt locker.” Acclaimed director Kathryn Bigelow brings together groundbreaking realistic action and intimate human drama in a landmark film starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty, with cameo appearances by Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly and Guy Pearce. Winner of 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Official Web Site Director Kathryn Bigelow on the importance of casting the perfect actor

Now Playing at the Lumiere Theatre
Must End Thursday, March 18!

The setting of The White Ribbon is a village in Protestant northern Germany from 1913 to 1914, on the eve of World War I. The story revolves around the children and teenagers of a choir run by the village schoolteacher, and their families: the baron, the steward, the pastor, the doctor, the midwife, the tenant farmers—a cross-section of the entire community. Strange accidents and misfortunes befall the citizens of Eichwald, gradually taking on the character of a punishment ritual. But who is behind it all? Winner of three awards at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, including the prestigious Palme d'Or, this provocative and haunting film from writer-director Michael Haneke (Funny Games, Caché, The Piano Teacher) is stunningly photographed in black and white. Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. Official Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review...

Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema

After almost fifty years of marriage, Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren), the devoted wife, passionate lover, muse and secretary of Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer), suddenly finds her entire world turned upside down. In the name of his newly created religion, the great Russian novelist has renounced his noble title, his property and even his family in favor of poverty, vegetarianism and even celibacy. When Sofya then discovers that Tolstoy's trusted disciple, Chertkov (Paul Giamatti)—whom she despises—may have secretly convinced her husband to sign a new will, leaving the rights to his iconic novels to the Russian people rather than his very own family, she is consumed by righteous outrage. Into this minefield wanders Tolstoy's worshipful new assistant, the young, gullible Valentin (James McAvoy). In no time, he becomes a pawn, first of the scheming Chertkov and then of the wounded, vengeful Sofya as each plots to undermine the other's gains. Complicating Valentin's life even further is the overwhelming passion he feels for the beautiful, spirited Marsha (Kerry Condon), a free thinking adherent of Tolstoy's new religion whose unconventional attitudes about sex and love both compel and confuse him. A tale of two romances, one beginning, one near its end, The Last Station is a complex, funny, rich and emotional story about the difficulty of living with love and the impossibility of living without it. Official Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review...

Now Playing at the Bridge Theatre

Set in Los Angeles in 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, A Single Man is the story of George Falconer (Colin Firth), a 52-year-old British college professor who is struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his longtime partner, Jim (Matthew Goode). George dwells on the past and cannot see his future as we follow him through a single day, where a series of events and encounters ultimately leads him to decide if there is a meaning to life after Jim. George is consoled by his closest friend Charley (Julianne Moore), a 48-year-old beauty who is wrestling with her own questions about the future. A young student of George's, Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), who is coming to terms with his true nature, stalks George as he feels in him a kindred spirit. A Single Man is a romantic tale of love interrupted, the isolation that is an inherent part of the human condition, and ultimately the importance of the seemingly smaller moments in life. Directed and co-written by acclaimed fashion designer Tom Ford (making his feature debut), based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood. Official Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review...

Starts Friday, March 19
at the Embarcadero Center Cinema

The most popular European film of 2009, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is an award-winning mystery thriller based on Stieg Larsson's international best-selling novel about a disgraced journalist and a troubled young female computer hacker who investigate the mysterious disappearance of an industrialist's niece. Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvis) and the tattooed, ruthless computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves. Official Web Site Director Niels Arden Oplev on making the best possible film

Starts Friday, March 19
at the Bridge Theatre

Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning star in this music-fueled story of The Runaways, the ground-breaking, all-girl, teenage rock band of the 1970s. The film follows two friends, Joan Jett (Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Fanning), as they rise from rebellious Southern California kids to rock stars of the now legendary group that paved the way for future generations of girl bands. Joan and Cherie fall under the Svengali-like influence of rock impresario Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) who turns the group into an outrageous success and a family of misfits. With its tough-chick image and raw talent, the band quickly earns a name for itself — and so do its two leads: Joan is the band’s pure rock 'n' roll heart, while Cherie, with her Bowie-Bardot looks, is the sex kitten. Written and directed by Floria Sigismondi, the film chronicles Joan and Cherie's tumultuous relationship on and off stage, as the band starts to break out. Official Web Site

One Week Only!
Starts Friday, March 19 at the Lumiere Theatre

Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia), who previously filmed Neil Young for Heart of Gold, once again captures Young’s musical and spiritual soul—this time during two shows at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania during the Chrome Dreams II tour. Young surrounds himself with his favorite instruments, played at whim, and a stage set filled with personal icons: a small-scale model of a guitar shop, a red phone and other items. The feeling on the stage is of a favorite place where Young is able to create his music exactly as he wants, supported by long-time touring band friends Ben Keith, Ralph Molina, Rick Rosas, Pegi Young and Anthony "Sweet Pea" Crawford, plus an onstage painter portrayed by Eric Johnson. There are delicately offered acoustic numbers like "Sad Movies" and "Mexico"; mesmerizing electric travelogues into the artist's psyche ("No Hidden Path"); searing, chaotic anthems including "Like a Hurricane" and "Cinnamon Girl"; and rarely performed pieces like "Kansas" and "Ambulance Blues" that provide glimpses of Young's less public persona. Official Web Site

Starts Friday, March 19 at the Clay Theatre

The latest film from award-winning Korean director Bong Joon-ho (The Host) is a unique murder mystery about a mother's primal love for her son. Mother is a devoted single parent to her simple-minded twenty-seven-year-old son, Do-joon. Often a source of anxiety to his mother, Do-joon behaves in foolish or simply dangerous ways. One night, while walking home drunk, he encounters a school girl who he follows for a while before she disappears into a dark alley. The next morning, she is found dead in an abandoned building and Do-joon is accused of her murder. An inefficient lawyer and an apathetic police force result in a speedy conviction. His mother refuses to believe her beloved son is guilty and immediately undertakes her own investigation to find the girl’s killer. In her obsessive quest to clear her son’s name, Mother steps into a world of unimaginable chaos and shocking revelations. Official Web Site

Starts Friday, March 26
at the Embarcadero Center Cinema

Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairytale. It is a story of clashing egos, out of control budgets, escalating tensions... and one of the most extraordinary creative periods in animation history. Director Don Hahn and producer Peter Schneider, key players at Walt Disney Studios Feature Animation department during the mid-1980s, offer a behind-the-magic glimpse of the turbulent times the Animation Studio was going through and the staggering output of hits that followed over the next ten years. Artists polarized between the hungry young innovators and the old guard who refused to relinquish control, mounting tensions due to a string of box office flops, and warring studio heads create the backdrop for this fascinating story told with a unique and candid perspective from those that were there. Through interviews, internal memos, home movies, and a cast of characters featuring Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Roy Disney, alongside an amazing array of talented artists that includes Don Bluth, John Lasseter, and Tim Burton, Waking Sleeping Beauty shines a light on Disney Animation's darkest hours, greatest joys and its improbable renaissance. Official Web Site

One Week Only!
Starts Friday, March 26 at the Lumiere Theatre

In the summer of 1945, with Tokyo under siege by American forces, Japanese Emperor Hirohito remains in seclusion from the world in an underground bunker. Held by his people as a deity, the incarnation of the Sun God, Hirohito is sheltered from the devastation that surrounds him, and waited on hand and foot by his servants. After the razing of Tokyo and bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hirohito finally meets with General MacArthur. And, in August, millions of Japanese citizens hear the voice of their Emperor for the first time as he commands his people to cease all fighting. Acclaimed Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark, Mother and Son, Alexandra) chronicles the events leading up to Hirohito's monumental speech, the historic renunciation of his divine status and his meetings with General MacArthur, who advises his own President not to declare the Japanese leader a war criminal. Featuring a powerhouse central performance by Issey Ogata (Yi Yi), Sokurov creates an intimate human portrait of the infamous Emperor Hirohito as he faces the unraveling of his own power, and the tragedy that besets his country. Official Web Site

Sat, Mar 27 at Midnight at the Clay Theatre!
With The Bawdy Caste LIVE!

The longest-running midnight movie of all time stars Tim Curry as the kinky yet endearing “transsexual from Transylvania” Dr. Frank N. Furter, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick as his hapless guests Brad and Janet, Meat Loaf as motorcycle-riding rough trade and author Richard O’Brien as the hunchbacked butler Riff Raff. It’s harmless musical fun—a delightful spoof of Hollywood horror movies and Old Dark House melodramas. All of our engagements feature live casts who perform scenes during the movie, and the audience is always welcome to respond to the on-screen action. The Rocky Horror Picture was the first—and is still the best—interactive movie experience! Official Web Site

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