Do-Over Music Series - Huegel / Glenn / WK / Cooper
Thursday, March 5, 2026
7pm
Admission: $10 (discount for members)

The Do-Over Music Series at Shapeshifters Cinema, organized by Lisa Mezzacappa and Jordan Glenn, is a monthly series of sound performances presented by a rotating cast of local luminaries and special guests. The first set features performances of creative - improvised - composed - electronic - acoustic - music. The second set opens up to a live improvised collaboration of sound and visuals made using images culled from the Shapeshifters 16mm film collection.

Set 1 (7pm): Warren Huegel & Jordan Glenn DRUM DUO

Set 2 (8pm): expanded cinema + improvised music with:

Isabelle WK (guitar)
Chris Cooper (guitar)
Warren Huegel (drums)
Jordan Glenn (drums)
Films, film loops and other visual interventions by the Shapeshifters Performance Group (Ellie, Kathleen & Gilbert)

Gravitational Lensing, Program 13: Memory, Archives & Reclaiming History
Presented in association with San Francisco Cinematheque
Friday, March 6, 2026
7pm
Admission: $15 (discount for members)

Memories and archives are not stories set in stone—their contents can be dismantled and re-configured in as many ways as there are perspectives. Sometimes they need to be reconstructed from nothing, or re-inscribed after new information comes to light, or just plain corrected. The films in this program pull threads from personal memories and experiences, weaving new stories through dominant narratives to make a fuller historical tapestry.

Screening: Crow Requiem (2015, DV) by Cauleen Smith, Slow wave (2023, DV) by Pooja Kadam, The Letter From Tomorrow (2023, 16mm shown on DV) by Nataliya Bek-Gergard, Why some people be mad at me sometimes (2024, DV) by mahlet cuff, Tracing History (2023 DV) by Jalena Keane-Lee, Dominion (2023, DV) by Bea Mariano, Agua y mas agua (2022, double-8mm shown on DV) by Francesca Svampa, Birthmarks (2007, DV) by Naima Lowe and Oolite (1995, 16mm film) by Anna Geyer.

Promotional image from The Letter From Tomorrow by Nataliya Bek-Gergard.

Makeshift Spring Market
Sunday, March 8, 2026
12-6pm
Free admission

Join us Sunday, March 8th for a boardwalk-wide bonanza, with vendors, food, music and more hosted by Shapeshifters Cinema, Shapeshifters Café and Oakland Secret. Dozens of artist-vendors will be set up in and around the entire Bret Harte Boardwalk selling all kinds of handmade and crafted wares! Artists who will be setting up for the Makeshift Market (at Shapeshifters) include Rock Paper Scissors Collective (zines, prints), Anna Firth (riso prints, stickers) Octavia Veeder (gemstone jewelry), Desert Glass Jewelry (jewelry, bolo ties), Dogbotic (sound-based recordings, DIY kits, books), Sadie Greyduck (stained glass), Miriam Campos-Quinn (riso prints), and more. Shapeshifters storefront shop will be open where we have re-stocked some of our most popular items. Shapeshifters Café will also be open for food and drinks, including a selection of our housemade beers on tap. Come out and support local artists and arts venues. Admission is free!

The Lizard Point & Aux Meadows
March 12, 2026
7pm
Admission: $15 (discount for members)

Named after the opening track of Brian Eno's Ambient 4: On Land, The Lizard Point are Conor Devlin (Half Film, [the] caseworker) and Geoffrey Scott (Slowness). The Transatlantic duo craft elegant instrumentals that evoke a nocturnal, pastoral space. This performance is a celebration of their third LP, In The Red Earth, which will be released March 10, 2026 on Hidden Shoal Recordings.

Oakland-based Aux Meadows is an instrumental "ambient country" and Cosmic Americana trio formed in 2021 by J. Imwalle (synth), C. Royalty (guitar), and S. Dawson (lap steel/dobro). Known for their "lonesome planet sound," they blend traditional country instrumentation with ethereal, spacey, and experimental textures.

Shadow Puppets! Shadow Film! Shadow Animation! Workshop
Instructor: Lydia Greer
Sunday, February 22, 2026
12-5pm
In-person at Shapeshifters Cinema
Admission: $65 + $10 materials fee (Discount for Shapeshifters members)

This workshop is an exploration of shadow puppets, props, masks, and performing objects for film, animation, performance, and immersive environments. All levels are welcome, and everyone participating in the workshop is encouraged to play with shadow! This is a hands-on workshop, and participants will have the opportunity to create a puppet, set, mask, and/or experiment with shadows with support from instructor Lydia Greer, artistic director of Facing West Shadows Art Collective. At the end of this workshop, participants will have learned to improvise and play with light and shadow and will have discovered its interdisciplinary possibilities for film, animation, media installation, and performance. Technical, conceptual and logistical information and support will be provided.

Material Cinema Workshop for Teens
Instructor: Ellie Vanderlip
Saturday, February 28, 2026
2-4pm
In-person at Sunnyvale Public Library
Free admission!

Join Shapeshifters Education and Outreach Director Ellie Vanderlip at the Sunnyvale Public Library for a free two-hour Material Cinema Workshop designed for teens. Participants will learn how to paint, scratch, puncture and otherwise manipulate photochemistry on film for interesting, unique and sometimes totally unpredictible results!

Shapeshifters members are the heart of the organization.

By joining the Shapeshifters Membership Program, you become part of an engaged, diverse, creative community working in and around experimental moving image, sound and time-based art.

In exchange for your generous support, we offer a wellspring of fantastic benefits including:

• 10% discount on tickets, registrations and everything purchased in both the cinema and café (Seer level, $60)

• A special, limited edition beer mug (with original image designed this year by Anna Firth!) + one free beer at every on-site event you attend (Clairvoyant level, $100)

• Shapeshifters T-shirt or tote bag (Conjurer level, $150)

• One free admission to every screening hosted in our cinema (Magus level, $300)

• Named sponsorship of one Shapeshifters Fellow (Shapeshifters level, $500)

Help ensure the future of Shapeshifters Cinema. Become a member now.

Want to support the organization without committing to a membership? Consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, San Francisco Cinematheque, a 501(c)3 nonprofit. All donations go directly towards covering the costs of operating our venue, without which we can’t continue to do what we do. And if the company you work for offers matching donations, you can double your impact! Every donation makes a huge difference and is greatly appreciated.

We have re-stocked our collection of the popular 6-in-1 flipbook series (and added a new one!) in our shop. These are innovatively-designed flipbooks made in Spain featuring six different image sequences in one book. Each book focuses on work by pioneering artists related to pre-cinema and early cinema history, including Eadweard Muybridge, Étienne-Jules Marey, Georges Méliès, Lotte Reiniger, The Lumière Brothers and Josepth Plateau. We have a limited stock of each book. Get them while you can!

Other recent additions to our shop include 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 the items available in the Shapeshifters Shop.

We also have gift cards! Shapeshifters gift cards can be purchased in any amount you choose and can be used in both the cinema and café. That means that your recipient can use it to buy whatever they want! A latte, a book and a ticket to a film screening; or, a beer, a record and admission to a workshop. The variations are endless! Not only are you giving your favorite creative person access to a treasure trove of great things (and experiences), you are also supporting your favorite microcinema/brewery/café. It’s a win-win scenario! Buy a gift card now.

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.

CROSSROADS 2026 Call for Submissions: San Francisco Cinematheque seeks submissions of recent films, videos and works of performance cinema for CROSSROADS 2026, the seventeenth iteration of our annual film festival. CROSSROADS 2026 will be held September 4–6, 2026  at Gray Area/Grand Theater in San Francisco. Submission deadline is February 28, 2026. Find out more.

Kala Media Arts Residency: Kala Art Institute (Berkeley) offers a Media Arts Fellowship that supports artists working on innovative projects in and across film and video, sound, animation, performance cinema, and media arts installation. This opportunity is open to local, national, and international artists. Deadline to submit is March 1, 2026. Find out more.

Videoex Call for Submissions: Videoex invites submissions of experimental, innovative and progressive cinematic and moving image works that explore the possibilities of film as a medium, expanding the idea of film and cinema for Videoex 2026 (May 22-31, 2026, Zurich, Switzerland). Deadline to submit is March 1, 2026. Find out more.

Prismatic Ground Film Festival Call for Submissions: Prismatic Ground is a New York festival centered on experimental documentary and avant-garde film, and for the first time accepting performance, music and poetry/live reading submissions. Hosted with media partner Screen Slate at handful of venues across NYC, the festival will hold its sixth edition April 29-May 3, 2026. Deadline to submit is March 1, 2026. Find out more.

Extremely Shorts 2026 Call for Submissions: Submissions for Aurora Picture Show’s 29th annual Extremely Shorts Film Festival are now open. Extremely Shorts is an open-call, juried competition of three-minutes-or-shorter films and videos of all kinds and from around the world. Screenings will be presented at Aurora Picture Show in Houston, TX in late May, with some participating filmmakers in attendance and receptions. Deadline to submit is March 10, 2026. Find out more.

Creative Capital 2027 Open Call: Creative Capital For Artists seeks proposals from individual artists in all 50 states for new artistic works in Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Film, and Literature. The Creative Capital Award provides unrestricted project grants of up to $50,000 to individual artists to create new work. The new State of the Art Prize provides unrestricted artist grants of $10,000. The application portal opens on Monday, March 2, 2026. Deadline for submission is April 2, 2026. Find out more.

Found Footage Magazine Call for Submissions: Authors are invited to submit essays, interviews, video-essays, film and book reviews for Found Footage Magazine, Issue #12. Deadline to submit is June 1, 2026. Find out more.

Last call for bao buns! 

We’ve been making these delightful treats to order for Saturday brunch service in celebration of lunar new year and this week is the last week they’ll be available.

They feature braised pork belly (or fried egg), pickled daikon radishes and carrots, spicy kimchi, sriracha mayo and fresh cilantro on a fluffy house-made steamed bun.

Great with a warm Brown Sugar Cardamom Latte or ice cold house-made Popcorn Ale (available on tap).

Join us for brunch this Saturday, February 21st, 10am-2pm and get them before they’re gone!

(Shapeshifters Members get a 10% discount in both the cinema and café.)