Two long-running local film festivals launch their 2026 editions this week. Also in theaters: the lovely “Arco.”
The San Francisco Independent Film Festival, popularly known as SF IndieFest, presents its 28th annual lineup of edgy, zany, quirky, scrappy and otherwise not-made-by-Hollywood movies Feb. 5-15 at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco and online at sfindie.com.
Sixty-eight films screen at the event, which opens with “Santacon,” a documentary about the notorious San Francisco-born experience featuring Santas run amok. Director Seth Porges follows Santacon’s devolution from an anti-commercialism Dada street-theater project to something global, dumb and obnoxious. “Honeyjoon,” Lilian T. Mehrel’s seriocomedy about a grieving mother and daughter who travel to the Azores, screens Feb. 12, the final night of the festival’s theater offerings. “Dead Souls,” a Gogol-inspired Western from indie notable Alex Cox (“Repo Man”), shares the closing night spotlight.
Another highlight is “Still Life,” Lauren Shapiro’s sensitive 1999-set drama about an East Bay teenager trying to go about her daily life while consumed with worry about her dying mother. Additional selections include “This Will Never Work,” a drama about a Black family coming together for an intervention; “Leads,” a dark comedy about a professor whose shaky existence is invaded by her disaster-wreaking brother; and Bay Area docs that include “Tight & Nerdy,” which profiles the burlesque group devoted to “Weird Al” Yankovic, and “Join the Club,” about the Cannabis Buyers’ Club and the activist who launched it, Dennis Peron.
SF IndieFest is the flagship project of the same-named organization, a 1998-born nonprofit. For more information and tickets, visit sfindie.com or call (415) 662-3378.
The Mostly British Film Festival, too, is back, presenting its 18th season from Feb. 5-12 at San Francisco’s Vogue Theater. Celebrating British film as a distinctive cinematic form, the festival shows movies from Britain and places geographically or historically connected to it. Twenty-six films from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Nigeria and South Africa screen this year.
The opening feature is “Mr. Burton,” director Marc Evans’ drama about famed Welsh actor Richard Burton (portrayed by Harry Lawtey) in his teenage years. Toby Jones plays his English teacher and mentor. “Inside,” a gritty Australian prison drama starring Guy Pearce, Vincent Miller, and Cosmo Jarvis, screens on closing night, followed by “I Swear,” an entertaining biodrama about John Davidson (Robert Aramayo, BAFTA-nominated for his performance), a young Scot with severe Tourette syndrome at a time when the disorder was misunderstood. “Christy” is an amiably realistic Irish drama about a teenager ejected from his foster home and forced to live with his estranged half-brother.
Also from Ireland: “Four Mothers,” a dramedy, inspired by an Italian film, about a struggling writer who, loaded with career commitments, finds himself caring for four elderly women. “Look Back in Anger” (1959), “Girl With Green Eyes” (1964), and “Tom Jones” (1963) are featured British classics. Documentaries include “Twiggy,” about the Swinging ‘60s supermodel; and “Rave on the Avon,” about a Bristol community’s fight to protect a portion of the polluted river and a popular bathing site. Also look for “Urchin,” actor Harris Dickinson’s directorial debut, starring Frank Dillane as a charismatic addict; “Bayaan,” a Hindi police procedural; and “My Father’s Shadow,” a Nigerian drama set during Nigeria’s 1993 election crisis.
The Mostly British Film Festival is presented by the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation, whose mission includes saving neighborhood cinemas, and is programmed by Ruthe Stein. Visit mostlybritish.org.
The GLBT Historical Society Museum in San Francisco hosts a program of rare archival footage featuring Black, Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islander trans and gender-nonconforming people talking about their experiences and activism, at 6 p.m. Feb. 4. “In Their Own Words: Trans People of Color Speak From the Video Archives,” includes excerpts from “Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria”; highlights from genderqueer disco queen Sylvester’s 40th-birthday celebration; and clips showing trans and gender-nonconforming life in the Bay Area. Visit glbthistory.org.
A time-travel mishap leads to a beautiful friendship in the animated, rainbow-colored fantasy “Arco” currently in theaters. Charm and emotion make up for lack of novelty in this feature filmmaking debut from French graphic novelist Ugo Bienvenu.
Arco (voiced by Juliano Valdi in the English-dubbed version) is a 10-year-old boy from an idyllic distant future who lives in the clouds with his family. When he steals his older sister’s time-travel cape and takes off into the sky with a rainbow streak, he crash-lands in 2075, when climate change is ravaging the landscape. A girl, Iris (Romy Fay), rescues and befriends Arco. Assisted by her robot nanny — her busy parents (Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo) appear only in hologram form — Iris helps Arco return home. Threatening their mission are not-too-bright brothers (Will Ferrell, Andy Samberg, Flea) seeking to get their hands on Arco’s time-travel gear.
While its “E.T.”-style plot is not noteworthy, the film triumphs visually and emotionally. The animation, which, with its minimalistic characters and colorful detailed backgrounds brings Japan’s Studio Ghibli to mind, is splendid and transportive. The characters’ faces, and their hope and joy at closure time, seal the film’s status as an animated charmer.
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