Robert Townsend, “cookie queens” and a magnificent owl are coming to local screens.
Towsend is the inaugural artist-in-residence at CinemaSFBay’s Balboa and 4-Star theaters, where he’ll present films and appear in discussions Wednesday through Sunday. The comedian-actor-director, a significant figure in modern Black cinema and independent filmmaking, shares nine films — four he directed or acted in, and five that inspired his work.
Visit cinemasfbay.org for tickets and more information.
Here’s the schedule:
- Wednesday, Balboa: “Hollywood Shuffle” (1987), directed by Townsend, 7 p.m.
- Thursday, Balboa: “In the Heat of the Night” (1967), directed by Norman Jewison, 4:30 p.m.; “The Great White Hope” (1970), directed by Martin Ritt, 7:30 p.m.
- Friday, 7, 4-Star: “A Face in the Crowd” (1957), directed by Elia Kazan, 4:30 p.m.; “Network” (1976), directed by Sidney Lumet, 8 p.m.
- Saturday, 4-Star: “Claudine” (1974), directed by John Berry, 4:30 p.m.; “The Five Heartbeats” (1991), directed by Townsend, 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, 4-Star: “B*A*P*S*” (1997), directed by Townsend, 4 p.m.; The Meteor Man” (1993), directed by Townsend, 7 p.m.
Cuteness reigns in “Cookie Queens,” a documentary by Alysa Nahmias (“The New Bauhaus”) that follows four girls as they rush to sell as many cookies as they can during Girl Scout Cookie season. More than 200 million boxes of Girl Scout Cookies are sold during the six-week season, Nahmias informs viewers in the lively nonfiction coming-of-age dramedy opening Friday in Bay Area theaters.
Nahmias’ young subjects hope to place first in cookie sales in their troop or region. Top sellers receive prizes such as international trips. The girls set goals, acquire cookies, and hustle and strategize to sell thousands of boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas and other varieties.
Olive, age 12, from Charlotte, North Carolina, is a media-savvy budding entrepreneur who breaks the state record by selling more than 12,000 boxes. She receives guidance from her mother, her troop’s cookie manager. Nikki, 9, from Chino, California, aims to match the success of her two older sisters and win a large trophy. Because Nikki is young and cute, her sisters use her as a customer-luring “hook.” Shannon Elizabeth, 8, from El Paso, Texas, comes from a working-class home and has set bold sales goals in hopes of funding her admission to summer camp. Ara, 5, from San Diego, has type 1 diabetes and can eat only a tiny amount of the products she sells. In one delightful scene, Ara makes a tempting case for buying a box of 20 sandwich cookies: “That’s really 40 cookies.”
Nahmias doesn’t critically examine the phenomenon of Girl Scout Cookie season, a tradition that asks children to “Sell! Sell! Sell!” and capitalize on their cuteness. But expect to smile. These girls are irresistible.
Penny Lane makes charmingly eccentric documentaries about subjects such as Richard Nixon’s home movies, the Satanic Temple and her experience as a kidney donor. Her latest film, “Wild Inside,” adds a Eurasian eagle-owl to the mix. The entertaining and enlightening film opens at Bay Area theaters this Tuesday, International Owl Awareness Day.
Using archival materials, interviews and crowd-sourced videos, Lane chronicles the post-captivity journey of Flaco the owl. The newsmaking raptor escaped from his vandalized enclosure at New York City’s Central Park Zoo in 2023 and survived on his own for an entire year before succumbing to conditions caused by eating rat poison and diseased pigeons. The film shows the zoo’s failed attempts to recapture Flaco, who, having spent all of his 13 years in captivity, lacks survival skills.
To the surprise of experts, Flaco learns to fly and hunt efficiently. Soon, he’s spotted in the park and around Manhattan. With his orange eyes, 6-foot wingspan and stately and almost otherworldly look, Flaco delights locals as he soars overhead, perches on rooftops and hoots. Birders with cameras track Flaco’s whereabouts. Fans sport Flaco tattoos.
Like Lane’s previous films, “Wild Inside” has a light, friendly tone and satisfying substance. Topics include the question of whether Flaco should be captured and returned to captivity, where he will likely live considerably longer, or whether he should be allowed to remain free. Lane doesn’t take sides. It’s thrilling to watch Flaco evolve into a wild animal. Everyday New Yorkers attribute Flaco’s popularity his appeal as a free spirit and an underdog. One person calls Flaco, a non-native bird, an “immigrant success story.” Sharing Flaco’s story, Lane makes us appreciate the existence and magnificence of the animals who share our world.
A 4K restoration of “White Nights,” Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti’s 1957 adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella, opens at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco on Friday. Marcello Mastroianni and Maria Schell play strangers who meet on a canal bridge and begin a tentative, tangled romance in this acclaimed romantic melodrama.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Fritz Lang — one of German cinema’s most influential directors — the Goethe-Institut San Francisco screen “The Testament of Dr. Mabuse,” Lang’s 1933 mystery thriller and sequel to the silent classic “Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler” at 6 p.m. Thursday at 657 Howard St. Admission is free. Register at goethe.de/ins/us/en/.
CatVideoFest 2026 comes to Bay Area theaters this week, with screenings beginning Thursday at the Roxie and Smith Rafael Film Center. The curated 70-minute global festival features about a hundred videos of felines being their furry, goofy selves. Partial proceeds benefit cat-related charities.
The post Movies: Robert Townsend at CinemaSFBay, ‘Cookie Queens,’ ‘Wild Inside,’ ‘White Nights,’ ‘Testament of Dr. Mabuse,’ CatVideoFest appeared first on Local News Matters.