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.
Anticipating This Year’s Music-Themed Fest With Delight
by Meredith Brody. (January 13,2026)
I love Eddie Muller’s Noir City film festivals; I don’t think I’ve missed a one since his first edition in Los Angeles at the American Cinematheque in 1999, four years before SF’s first Noir City.
I start out perusing the list of 24 films (paired in a dozen double bills) in my usual somewhat-blinkered and mildly narcissistic fashion: which ones are new to me? Since I’ve been seeking out film noir since before I went to college, and my first post-college publication in book form was in Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward’s first “Encyclopedia of Film Noir” back in 1979, it’s not totally a surprise that there are only two that qualify: the British Face the Music aka The Deadly Glove (1954), and The Crimson Canary (1945), neither of which I’ve even heard of.
Jessie Fairbanks Talks About Starting Planning for the SFFILM Awards Night Months in Advance
By Noma Faingold (December 1, 2025)
Hollywood’s award season, culminating with the 98th Academy Awards next March, has begun. SFFILM’s 2025 Awards Night (in its 68th year) on December 8 is an early stop and proven momentum builder during the circuit. Director of Programming at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Jessie Fairbanks, starts her preparation to secure the four recipients in June by reaching out to studios and the teams behind the talent.
The 2025 Iteration of SF’s Famed Silent Film Festival Unspools in an Art Deco Gem in Orinda
by Meredith Brody (November 10, 2025)
I bow to no one in my appreciation, nay, adulation, of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (aka SFSFF). It’s not only one of the jewels in the crown of local film festivals, but now has achieved international acclaim, drawing attendees not only from the US but the world. Continue reading
By Noma Faingold
Steve Peletz, 65, underplays his high-risk activities. He’s been scuba diving for more than 40 years. He joins marine biologists on expeditions in remote, exotic waters off the coast of Costa Rica, Columbia, Mexico and the Galápagos Islands. As a volunteer “citizen scientist“ his task is usually to tag different types of sharks so they can be tracked.
In 2019, he took up swimming in the ocean, specifically with a group at China Beach on the West Side of San Francisco. Peletz brought his GoPro camera on virtually all of more than 1,000 swims. He combined his lifelong love of photography and the ocean into his first film, “Lands End,” a nine-minute short getting its world premiere at the Green Film Festival of San Francisco (October 24-30), at the 4-Star Theater. “Lands End” will be screened along with “The Last Dive” on October 26 at 3:30 p.m. Continue reading
The United Nations Association Film Festival returns to the Bay Area with another urgent, globally expansive lineup. Running from October 16–26, the 28th edition of UNAFF brings 60 documentary films to venues across Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Stanford University. More than just a film festival, UNAFF is a civic forum—a space for dialogue, reflection, and action.
The Mill Valley Film Festival once again reminds us of film’s boundless capacity to surprise, challenge, and move us.
By Noma Faingold
(July 31, 2025)
The summer camp movie has become its own genre. By now, what audiences have come to expect is low-brow comedy (balanced by a poignant lesson), with hits like, “Wet Hot American Summer” (2001) and “Meatballs” (1979). Continue reading
By Vince Keenan
The 51st Seattle International Film Festival drew to a close on May 25, with a selection of entries available via streaming through June 1. At this year’s fest, I paid particular attention to nonfiction titles spotlighting the troika of subjects that matter most to EatDrinkFilms readers. Let’s begin with a libation.
Wine has its sommeliers, beer its cicerones. As the craft cocktail revolution took hold in the aughts, six authorities on spirits launched a program that would provide similar certification to bartenders. Continue reading
By Gary Meyer. (May 13, 2025)
“A day without laughter is a day wasted” -Charlie Chaplin
I can’t imagine a more wonderful spring weekend than the Charlie Chaplin Days in Niles (Fremont), California, May 16-18. Starting with a tour of Eugene O’Neill’s house where Chaplin’s wife Oona grew up, the celebration includes plenty of restored Chaplin films made by the Essanay Studio on the big screen with audiences laughing uncontrollably at times. There are live presentations, rare footage and photos seen for the first time since they were made, walking tours, rides on a vintage diesel train, and the annual Charlie Look-Alike Contest. Continue reading
A sneak preview of the opening weekend at the oldest film festival in the Americas.
By Meredith Brody (April 23, 2025)
After a five-day iteration in 2024, SFILM returns in 2025 with eleven days stuffed with over 150 movies (narratives, documentaries, and shorts) from 50 countries, special events, workshops and talks, and awards. April 17-27.
eatdrinkfilms.com 