A series of stark, scathing, and playful films from the former socialist republics of Eastern Europe, where absurdity was a fact of life under authoritarian rule—and a source of cinematic creativity.
ViewThree programs of 16mm ephemeral films from the BAMPFA collection—one of place, one of poetry, and one of play—ask us to pause and listen for quiet rhythms, to look closer at what is in front of us, and to celebrate the moment.
ViewRecent releases, restored classics, and special guests grace the Barbro Osher Theater.
ViewOver the course of the six decades since the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62), filmmakers have reacted to the history of this revolutionary period with powerful responses and insightful perspectives. This selection of films deal with the backstory and history of the Algerian... View
Our annual series features an international array of recent and historical documentaries and nonfiction films.
View“Hong Sangsoo’s films seize the material of everyday life in the service of exploring psychology and metaphysics in elegant, subtly profound ways” (Lincoln Center) as revealed in three double-bills and a recent film.
ViewThe completion of Parmar’s new documentary, My Name Is Andrea, an essential and timely corrective to the historical record concerning the late writer and activist Andrea Dworkin, provides a welcome opportunity to invite Parmar to share her work at BAMPFA.
ViewIn his West Coast solo project debut, Uruguayan artist Luis Camnitzer (b. 1937) debuts the new work below/here/above/ahead/was as part of BAMPFA’s Art Wall commissioned series.
ViewEndless Knot: Struggle and Healing in the Buddhist World explores how artists and practitioners across two millennia have understood and utilized one of the core tenets of Buddhism—dependent arising, which posits that cycles of existence (saṃsāra) arise from past actions and... View
Artists, curators, scholars, and others share their insights on BAMPFA exhibitions, the arts, and other cultural topics.
ViewExperience the vitality and range of cultural production in the African diaspora through this multidisciplinary event series.
ViewSecond Saturdays: Hands-on activities and participatory readings designed for kids and their families.
ViewFive Tables is a monthly event coinciding with First Free Thursdays organized by the BAMPFA staff, and periodically by the Student Committee. Drop by the Florence Helzel Works on Paper Study Center for a curated behind-the-scenes experience.
ViewThis is the first solo exhibition in the United States of the work of Israeli-based artist Rina Kimche (born 1934). Kimche’s diminutive sculptures are modern in their reductive, abstract simplicity and in their expression of the material essence of their clay medium.
ViewArts + Design Thursdays
How have artists made use of the screen? What are the opportunities and hazards of using the screen as a vehicle for connection? A stunning roster of artists, curators, designers, and critics consider these questions and more.
ViewPioneers of Queer Cinema celebrates the groundbreaking achievements born from visionary queer filmmakers, ranging from landmark to little-known works.
ViewSouth African artist William Kentridge’s work in animation and live action film is a central element of his interdisciplinary approach. Featured here are many of his short works, including the film cycle Drawings for Projection (1989–2020) and several filmed versions of his staged... View
Abolition Democracy Fellows Spring 2023 Speaker Series
The Black Studies Collaboratory is a collaborative initiative to address racial inequality through bold and unique humanities-based research projects, housed in the Department of African American Studies and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The ... View
Apichatpong Weerasethakul presents several programs and the Townsend Center for the Humanities’s Una’s Lecture during this retrospective of the artist’s haunting, beautiful, and resonant works.
ViewThis exhibition represents a small portion of the vast body of creative work by the late Berkeley-based artist and teacher Frank Moore (1946–2013). Over the course of more than five decades, Moore, who was born with a physical disability, used painting, performance, public access... View
Filmmaker Lizzie Borden presents her New York Feminisms Trilogy: Regrouping, Born in Flames, and Working Girls.
ViewFilmmakers respond to Les Guérillères, Monique Wittig’s 1969 novel—for Oriana, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz sets her film in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, while Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames takes place in New York after a “social-democratic war of liberation.” With shorts by... View
Filmmaker Billy Woodberry presents two nights of his moving-image work and the annual Les Blank Lecture on documentary film.
ViewWe are delighted to welcome Kelly Reichardt, the very first guest in BAMPFA’s long-running Afterimage series in 2009, back to present her most recent film, Showing Up, and to launch a spotlight series of three more films that she has released in the intervening years.
ViewWe are honored to collaborate with the Ukraine’s Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Center on this series celebrating “Odessa’s uncompromising eccentric” (Jane Taubman), with guest curator Stanislav Menzelevskyi introducing three screenings.
ViewAmalia Mesa-Bains: Archaeology of Memory is the first retrospective exhibition of the work of longtime Bay Area artist Mesa-Bains. Presenting work from the entirety of her career for the first time, this exhibition, which features nearly 60 works in a range of media,... View