New Hours at Shapeshifters Café!

After several years of trying to figure out how best to connect the multiple threads of the Shapeshifters universe, we are making a few changes and are excited to start a new chapter! Starting this week, we are offering new hours in the café to better align with those of the cinema. You can still come by Monday-Friday, 6am-2pm for breakfast and lunch, but we will no longer be offering Saturday brunch service.

Instead, you are invited to join us for our new (occasional) Happy Hours at Shapeshifters Café on Fridays and Saturdays from 4-7pm featuring a rotating menu of small bites, along with several of our house-made (and guest) beers on tap, wine and mimosas, lemonade, Italian sodas + coffee & tea drinks. Happy hours will happen only when we have screenings or events scheduled in the cinema next door.

Check our Instagram page for updates and details.

Summer Camp Starts in Two Weeks!

The Shapeshifters Summer Youth Media Makers Camp is a week-long, hands-on, workshop-style camp for youth, ages 12-17 to learn a variety of DIY, experimental film and sound-based processes from experienced Bay Area-based artists and educators.

This year we are offering two sessions:

Session 1: (June 22-26)
Panorama Crankies, with Risa Lenore
Found Sound, with Cheryl Leonard
Cut Paper Collage Animation with Lydia Greer
Multimedia Poetry, with Kathleen Quillian
Material Cinema, with Ellie Vanderlip

Session 2: (July 20-24)
Shadow Puppets, with Lydia Greer
Virtual Sound Making, with Jon Leidecker
Pre-Cinema Optics, with Kathleen Quillian
Creative Coding, with Gilbert Guerrero
Phytography, with Ellie Vanderlip

Sign up for both sessions and get a 10% discount (applied automatically).

Find out more and register now

Catnapped! by Takashi Nakamura
Presented with an introduction by werring yuli
Screening and Fundraiser for Shapeshifters Cinema
Friday, June 12, 2026
Two screenings! 6pm (dubbed version) & 8:15pm (subtitled version)
Admission: $12-20, sliding scale (all proceeds will support Shapeshifters Cinema)

Created by Takashi Nakamura and released in 1995, this obscure, feature-length anime film tells the story of siblings Toriyasu and Meeko whose dog is stolen away and taken to a phantasmagoric, otherworldly place ruled by cat-people to be used as a weapon. Toriyasu and Meeko face off against the evil Princess Bubulina, whose touch can turn almost anything into a balloon, in order to save their pet and also the cat world.

The film is being presented (with permission from the director) by local artist and anime aficionado werring yuli, along with a short presentation about the film, the director and the significance of both to the world of anime.

There will be two showings of the film:
Screening 1 (6pm) will be a dubbed version of the film
Screening 2 (8:15pm) will be a subtitled version of the film.

Gravitational Lensing: Feminist Film Dialogues
Program 16: Queer Joy, Friendship & Community
Presented in association with San Francisco Cinematheque
Saturday, June 20, 2026
7pm
Admission: $15 (discount for members)

Dovetailing off the history, legacy and celebrations of Pride month, Program 16: Queer Joy, Friendship & Community magnifies the spaces and relationships established, cultivated and celebrated by the LGBTQIA+ community.

Screening: Sisters! (1973, 16mm film) by Barbara Hammer, Swing, Swish, Sway (2026, 16mm film + DV, shown on DV) by TT Takemoto, A Spell for a Queer Home (2023, DV) by A. Madden, The Neighbour (2021, DV) by Cedoy, nakładamy się (2022, 16mm film shown on DV) by ewelina węgiel

Find out more about Gravitational Lensing

Revelations of Divine Love
with director Caroline Golum in person
Sunday, June 21, 2026
2pm
Admission: $15 (discount for members)

An irreverent biopic vividly realized through fantastic psychedelia and handmade sets with an ever-topical feminist approach, Revelations of Divine Love, by Caroline Golum is inspired by and adapted from the memoir of 14th-century mystic and philosopher Julian of Norwich—an account of religious ecstasy, plague, and revolt considered to be the first English-language book to be authored by a woman. Running time: 73 minutes. In English and Latin with English subtitles.

View trailer
Read the NY Times article
Read Guy Maddin's interview with Caroline Golum

Vital Signs is a new film series organized by Bay Area filmmaker and curator Jonathan Kiefer to showcase new and recently-released, feature-length, contemporary, independent and artist-made films that have shown around the international film festival circuit but may or may not have been picked up by distributors and are otherwise hard to find. Films may feature obscure themes, unusual perspectives or eccentric material, but they have all been sifted through the Vital Signs filter so you can be sure they are all films worth leaving your home to see in community with like-minded art film/film art appreciators. Screenings will take place at Shapeshifters every first Sunday at 2pm unless otherwise noted.

Agnes Martian, Matthew D. Gantt, Sally Decker & Mike Nigro
Saturday, June 27, 2026
7pm
Admission: $16 (discount for members)

Started in 2019 as a weekly ritual of open-ended sonic exploration, Oakland-based Agnes Martian soundtracks a pataphysical planetarium that charts undiscovered constellations of deep inner/outer space, exploring tension and transcendence in liminal spaces between propulsive groove, ecstatic repetition, and ambient meditation.

Matthew D. Gantt presents a suite of experimental compositions, game engine simulations, and generative audio-visual environments. Drawing from work with Orange Milk and Oxtail Recordings, this performance bridges live electronic music with 3D digital sculptures, imaginary landscapes, and cross-modulation between sound and virtual site.

Sally Decker is a composer, performer and songwriter working with feedback, synthesizers, text and voice. She explores the emotional potential of sounds as portals of connection. Her approach to form and process is rooted in embodied knowing, healing processes, and sound as a vessel for practicing presence.

Mike Nigro is an American electronic musician and label operator currently based on Sydney, Australia. He'll present a set of new work based off of field recordings from the Southern hemisphere, intertwined with his signature blend of rippling arpeggios, cloud-soft chords, and self-schooled sound design with a nod to the 70s kosmische cannon.

Printing Imperfect Movies At Home
Instructor: Alex Mejia
Sunday, June 28, 2026
1-5pm
In-person at Shapeshifters Cinema
Admission: $60 + $15 materials fee (Discount for Shapeshifters members)

DIY printing using copy machines and home printers is a living tradition across movements and subcultures as an accessible and cost-effective way to create things like personal zines, poetry chapbooks, scene reports, and insurgent manifestos. In this workshop led by Alex Mejia, participants will experiment with this wonderfully imperfect, lo-fi, high-contrast, black & white aesthetic using text, found footage and animations as source material that will be printed directly onto 16mm film leader to create homemade movies without cameras or photochemical processes. Building on the lo-fi zine aesthetic/practice, participants will engage in simple writing exercises that respond to the images – turning mistakes, glitches, and distortions into language-based material. Participants will leave the workshop with handmade, printed 16mm film loops, as well as video capture of the footage, to carry into future moving image projects.

New Member Glasses Have Landed!

Shapeshifters members at the Clairvoyant level and higher get one free beer at every event hosted at Shapeshifters Cinema (and 10% off every beer thereafter) that are served in a special member glass.

The image for this year’s glass (that we are affectionately calling a tall-girl glass) was created by Bay Area illustrator and animator Anna Firth and features a two-sided, interactive design that changes with the level and contents of the glass. Immerse yourself in the magic of this design as faces and shapes appear and disappear! Did that really happen? Have another beer and find out!

If you are currently a Shapeshifters member at the Clairvoyant level or higher, your glass will be waiting for you in the cinema to enjoy your member beer every time you come in for a screening or event. At the end of your membership year, the glass is yours to keep.

Come on by and enjoy your next member beer in this new member glass!

Take a look at all the great perks waiting for you when you join the Shapeshifters Membership Program.

The Shapeshifters shop features a variety of media (LPs, audio cassettes, books, prints, DVDs and more) all made by artists who have presented or performed in our space, and/or that represent and celebrate the spirit of our DIY, creative community.

Recent additions to the Shapeshifters shop include Sadie Greyduck’s audio casette baa, Covering the Surface audio cassette by Marcia Bassett & Sergej Vutuc, Lynne Sachs and Lizzie Olezker’s Hand Book: A Manual on Performance, Process, and the Labor of Laundry, Marielle V Jakobson’s Star Core LP and Analog Cookbook, Issue #8: All Recipes.

Take a look at all available items.

Volunteer at the Taste of Jack London Food and Beer Fest! The Jack London Improvement District is proud to present the Taste of Jack London Beer and Food on Saturday, August 15, 2026. The festival is looking for volunteers to help with set up, ticket sales, MOOPing, and potentially working at a food or beer booth. In exchange you will receive a free tasting ticket so you can enjoy the beers and food. Volunteer shifts are only for the first part of the event or at the end of the event, so all volunteers will have at least 2 hours to enjoy the party. Must be 21+ to participate. Find out more.

ATA Monthly Open Screenings: Artists’ Television Access (ATA), the stalwart experimental microcinema holding ground in SF’s Mission District since 1984, hosts Open Screenings every first Thursday. This free community film/video show welcomes short format work (15 min or less) from all genres made by independent filmmakers, experimental artists, rogue visionaries and inspired tinkerers who work with the moving image. ATA’s Open Screenings happen the first Thursday of every month at 8:00 pm. Entries must be received by 7:00 pm on show night. Find out more.

Communications Coordinator Position, Audium SF: Audium (San Francisco) is seeking a thoughtful and creative Communications Coordinator to join its small, passionate team of artists, technologists, and sound lovers. This is a flexible, part-time role (up to 15 hours/week) with room to grow. They are looking for someone excited to help shape the public face of a one-of-a-kind sound theater and to connect their work with new audiences. Positions is open until filled. Find out more.

UC Berkeley Dept of Art Practice Open Positions: The Department of Art Practice at the University of California, Berkeley, invites applications for a pool of temporary lecturers to teach studio courses, including but not limited to ceramics, printmaking, drawing, photography, painting, sculpture, video, foundations of visual thinking, and seminars in contemporary global art. Duties include teaching a studio and/or lecture course (or courses), advising enrolled students, and holding a regular office hour. (First) deadline to apply is June 8, 2026. Find out more.

Squeaky Wheel Animation Fest Call for Submissions: Squeaky Wheel announces the call for submissions for its 23rd annual Animation Fest showcasing short films and artworks made in a diverse variety of animation techniques, including stop-motion, claymation, 3D animation, hand-painted film, motion graphics, and more. The festival will be held online and in-person on Friday, December 4 2026 at the Buffalo (NY) AKG Art Museum. All genres are welcome. Deadline to submit is June 26, 2026. Find out more.

Exploratorium Artist-in-Residence Program: The Exploratorium is currently accepting applications for the 2026–2027 Artist-in-Residence Program. The Exploratorium AIR program allows artists to embed within the unique culture of the institution, affords access to a dynamic and distinct staff, and provides opportunities for cross-pollination with a diverse public. Residencies typically unfold over two years and include both an exploratory and project-development phase. Applicants to the program should be inherently curious and deeply invested in inquiry as a part of their practice. Deadline to apply is June 29, 2026. Find out more.