Vital Signs Film Series
WHAT DOES THAT NATURE SAY TO YOU, by Hong Sangsoo
+ City of Nature, by Kota Ezawa
Sunday, May 3, 2026
2pm
Admission: $15 (discount for members)

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.

Kicking off the series is WHAT DOES THAT NATURE SAY TO YOU (2025) by Hong Sangsoo with opening short City of Nature (2011), by Kota Ezawa.

In his 33rd feature, Sangsoo spins a bitterly comic fable on the trials of living simply and righteously in our world. Donghwa is a fledgling poet in his thirties. He rejects material aspirations and seeks to lead a life dedicated to truth and beauty. Then he meets and has some drinks with his girlfriend's family. (TRT: 108 min. Korean with English subtitles.)

Do-Over Music Series - Taylor / Carson / Pascucci-Clifford / Levis / NC
Thursday, May 7, 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): Sound performance by Matthew Evan Taylor (reeds + electronics)

Set 2 (8pm): Nathan Clevenger's Burden of Dreams with:

Brett Carson - organ
Mark Pascucci-Clifford - vibes
Jason Levis - drums
NC - guitar
Films, film loops and other visual interventions by the Shapeshifters Performance Group (Ellie, Kathleen & Gilbert)

The Third Transmission: A Chainletter Screening
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
7pm
Admission: $12-20 sliding scale

Miss Video 4 You is an alternative video distribution network inspired by and keeping alive the legacy of (pre-internet) DIY and feminist-led media distribution projects like Big Miss Moviola/Joanie 4 Jackie and print zine exchanges. For every 10 videos Miss Video receives, a compilation is made and saved onto a single USB that then gets re-distributed, along with a printed copy of a collaborative zine to all of the participating contributors. Third Transmission is the third chainletter in the series, with works spanning nearly 50 years, made by 10 artists across 10 towns, 2 oceans, 3 countries, 3 continents.

Screening: Babylon (2023, Berlin, Germany) by Alicia Nieto, The Great Path to a Foreign Body (2026, São Paulo, Brazil) by Lau Mota, Snooping (Richmond, USA) by Lenny Farinholt, Who Do You Think You Are (1986, Saunderstown, USA) by Mary Filippo, Prelude (2025, New York, USA) by Paulina Jamieson, Another Great Day (1980, New York, USA) by Ruth Peyser, Embryonic (2023, Ann Arbor, Michigan) by Jackie Blue, Shifting Borders (2025, Middletown, USA) by Tess Usher & Frances Mitchler, Los Angeles Movie (2025, Los Angeles, USA) by Ankha Cros-Rohig, The Red 70s (2015, Cedar Rapids, USA) by Derek Caterwaul

Crystal Powers
Saturday, May 16, 2026
7pm
Admission: $15-20, sliding scale

A journey of discovery in which we wake up together and discover we were never asleep, only to fall deeper into the most delicious dream. Persephone Possum reads from her body of weird-horror prose and queer surrealist theater. Filmmaker Linda Izcali Scobie and musician Beverly Bradley weave together luminous worlds of delight. Sadie Greyduck and Miriam Campos-Quinn gather dried moss for a nest of mirrors and chimes: fairy ambient bass, synth + handmade 16mm film projections.

Sadie Greyduck + Miriam CQ video release! "song which grants wishes for magical superpowers" - a shimmering artifact, a gazing pool, a humid iridescence, a mirror? This video will grant wishes and its live soundtrack performance will endow a listener with magical powers. We believe in the magic of storytelling, love, and hope. We believe in sparkles that swirl through the air.

Linda Izcali Scobie + Beverly Bradley Crystal Palace - Exuberance in neon technicolor, a synthesis between two worlds growing together in unknowable parallel

Persephone Possum - Experimental weird-horror prose and queer surrealist theater, adults only.

Lamfanti Presents: Amusement Ride(s)
Sunday, May 24, 2026
7pm
Admission: $12 (discount for members)

Schools out for summer! Dreams of fun and adventure emerge as children escape the shackles of regimented learning (and parents cope with keeping their offspring occupied). To celebrate, Lamfanti Presents (the sporadic, itinerant presentation series founded by Antonella Bonfanti and Jeff Lambert) is excited to showcase a group of moving image artifacts dedicated to amusement rides, theme parks, and related ephemeral activities. Centered around the late great Tomonari Nishikawa’s 16mm Amusement Ride (2019), the program is designed to thrill and delight. 16mm works by Stan Brakhage and Sophie Michael will be presented alongside other projected surprises to guide you on a temporal journey exploring dark rides, the magic of movement while seated, and the world as amusement park. Strap in and enjoy the ride.

Introduction to 16mm Filmmaking
Instructor: Silvia Turchin
Saturday, May 16, 2026
11am-3pm
In-person at Shapeshifters Cinema
Admission: $70 + $50 materials fee (Discount for Shapeshifters members)

Learn how to shoot on motion picture film in this beginner-friendly 16mm filmmaking workshop with filmmaker and educator Silvia Turchin. Attendees will be exposed to the history and practice of 16mm filmmaking, learn how to load, expose, focus, and shoot 16mm film with a Bolex H16, and receive a digital scan of the footage captured during the workshop. No prior experience with filmmaking necessary! All materials provided.

Summer Camp Registration is Now Open!

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: June 22-26 and July 20-24 covering panorama crankies, found sound, cut paper collage animation, multimedia poetry, material cinema, shadow puppets, virtual sound making, apparent motion, creative coding and phytography. Guest artist-instructors this year are Cheryl E. Leonard, Lydia Greer, Risa Lenore & Jon Leidecker.

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

Find out more and register now

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.

Sacramento State University, Open Faculty Positions: The Film Program at Sacramento State University seeks to fill two faculty positions: an Assistant Professor who specializes in contemporary approaches to narrative and/or documentary filmmaking, with an emphasis on short film storytelling; and an Assistant Professor in Cinema Studies whose research focuses on narrative film history, indigeneity, migration, diaspora, decolonization, and/or ecology & climate change. Positions are open until filled. Find out more.

Chicago Underground Film Festival Late Deadline: Since 1993, CUFF has been home to unruly, risk-taking cinema, championing work that breaks rules, takes risks, and confronts audiences—formally, politically, or personally. CUFF 33 is scheduled to take place in Chicago September 23-27, 2026. The late deadline to submit is Wednesday, April 29th. Find out more.

Media City Film Festival Call for Submissions: Media City Film Festival is a trailblazing international festival for film and digital art, presented in Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan since 1994. Media City seeks entries for its 28th edition which will take place in person in Windsor–Detroit, September 15–19, 2026. Deadline to submit is May 1, 2026. Find out more.

Little Scuzzy Film Fest Call for Work: Initiated in 2012, Little Scuzzy is a rag-tag event held on a farm on the outskirts of Carbondale, IL. Films are screened outdoors with festival-goers setting up blankets and chairs around fire pits. They are seeking work by artists who especially feel aligned with this ethos. This year’s fest will take place on Saturday, June 13, 2026. Deadline to submit is May 15, 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.

California Arts Council, Region 3 Bay Area Individual Artist Fellowship: California Arts Council, in association with Kala Art Institute, is offering a new fellowship program that supports individual artists and culture bearers across all disciplines in the Bay Area. By providing unrestricted funding, the fellowship empowers artists at pivotal moments in their careers, enhancing their ability to contribute meaningfully to California’s diverse communities. This grant program identifies three career tiers in which artists may benefit from this support: Legacy Artist, Established Artist and Emerging Artist. Deadline to apply is June 5, 2026. Find out more.