Curated by Gary Meyer

Noir City returns to the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland, CA from January 15 through January 25, 2026 with a grand line-up of film sharing a musical theme.  We  bring  you  a gallery  of posters, stills, and trailers from the festival for the first half of the Festival.

Make sure to check out Meredith Brody’s preview of Noir City here.

William Gillespie was uncredited for his powerful rendition of the Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer song that became a standard.

  Pianist Jigger Pine (Richard Whorf) has drunken nightmare.

Only watch after seeing NOCTURNE.

We search the Internet and books and our own collections to find images we think you will like. IMDB is a great source and would be the easy way to gather materials but we find more goodies elsewhere.  While their collection is far from complete, the 236 images for GILDA on IMDB are hot!

To Watch without commentary go here. 

 

 

 

 

Only watch after seeing THE STRIP

Watch clips from A MAN CALLED ADAM by clicking here.

We’ll drink to that.  This represents the first half of Noir City at the Grand Lake Theater.

Watch for part two with all the films showing Wednesday, January 21-Sunday, January 25.

You will find the complete schedule here.

And don’t forget to pick up your free program book (cover at the head of this gallery).

And if you don’t live in the San Francisco Bay Area, fear not—-Noir City will be touring “Face the Music” to eight cities this year including Portland, Seattle, Hollywood and New York..Sign up for their announcements. Join the Film Noir Foundation and get the fantastic quarterly online magazine.

Gary Meyer started his first theater in the family barn when he was twelve-years-old. He directed a monster movie there and wanted to show it on the set. It became The Above-the-Ground Theatre screening dozens of silent films with music arranged from his parents’ record collection. Over 250 films were screened along with live productions, workshops and the publication of a literary/arts/satire zine, “Nort!” and a film newsletter, “Ciné.”  After film school at SFSU he calls his first job as a booker for United Artists Theatres “grad school” that prepared him for co-founding Landmark Theatres in 1975. It was the first national arthouse chain in the U.S. focused on creative marketing strategies to build loyal audiences for non-Hollywood fare. After selling Landmark, he consulted on many projects including Sundance Cinemas and the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Rose Cinemas, created several film festivals including the Dockers Classically Independent Film Festival and Tube Film Festival for the X Games, and resurrected the 1926 Balboa Theatre in San Francisco. Meyer joined the Telluride Film Festival in 1998, becoming a Festival Co-Director in 2007-2014.  He founded the online magazine, EatDrinkFilms.com in April 2014 and consults for festivals while offering pro bono advice to independent filmmakers and cinemas. He started EatDrinkFilms to give a voice to writers wanting to explore food, beverage and the movies from unique perspectives. Meyer, Editor/Publisher, also contributes articles.