California Film Institute

09/01/2026

SELENA lights up the Rafael this September in our HISPANIC CINEMA series! ✨

Jennifer Lopez and Edward James Olmos star in this joyful celebration of Selena Quintanilla Pérez — a South Texas girl with global talent, endless charm, and a voice made for stardom. At just 23, she was on the brink of pop superstardom before her life was tragically cut short.

📍 SAT, SEP 5 | 11:00 AM | Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael
🎟️ $5 Series — bit.ly/4guzKKn

Special thanks to our community partner for this series: KWMR Community Radio!

08/29/2026

🎬 Thanks, San Francisco Chronicle, for the love on MVFF49 Opening Night!

The 49th Mill Valley Film Festival opens with WILD HORSE NINE, Martin McDonagh's tense new thriller set on the eve of Chile's 1973 coup, starring John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Mariana Di Girolamo, Ailín Salas, Tom Waits, and Parker Posey.

⭐️ Martin McDonagh, Sam Rockwell, and Mariana Di Girolamo are expected to attend — followed by an extraordinary opening night celebration!

The next night, we're paying tribute to Sam Rockwell, celebrating one of the boldest, most fearless careers in American film.

📍 Opening Night: THU, OCT 1, Tribute to Sam Rockwell: FRI, OCT 2

📰 Read the full story from the SF Chronicle: → bit.ly/3ULDRdP

PS - The last chance to lock in our current CAFILM Member price is Mon, Aug 31 and Early Bird Deals end on Wed, Sep 9!

08/29/2026

It's going to be a great Fall season, thanks KQED!

MVFF49 is Oct 1-11 at the Smith Rafael Film Center, Sequoia Cinema, Lark Theater, and Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive!

PS - The last chance to lock in our current CAFILM Member price is Mon Aug 31.
Carpe diem!... cafilm.org/membership

Big releases, brand-new festivals and international offerings make for a delectable fall movie schedule.

08/27/2026

🎬 Due to demand, additional screenings have been added for this important documentary. ❤️‍🩹

AMERICAN DOCTOR follows three American physicians — Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian — who volunteered in besieged hospitals in Gaza and returned determined to keep fighting for the patients and colleagues they left behind. What starts as a story of medicine becomes a gripping battle that reaches all the way to the halls of Congress.

📍 Now Showing | Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael
🎟️ bit.ly/4xGN4SW

Watermelon Pictures

08/26/2026

🍿 What're you up to this weekend?

🎞️ Smith Rafael Film Center:
🎙️ THE BIG CHEESE, SUN, AUG 30 with cheese tasting!
AMERICAN DOCTOR (Encore screenings)
LATE FAME
TEENAGE S*X AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA
COLORS OF TIME
WILD INSIDE
THE RIVALS OF AMZIAH KING
SURFILMUSIC
MY HINDU FRIEND, Hector Babenco Series $5

🎞️ Sequoia Cinema
FINDING EMILY
TONY

🎟 rafaelfilm.org | sequoiafilm.org

08/26/2026

🎺 A world-famous conductor just found out he has a brother — a school cafeteria worker who moonlights on trombone in the local marching band. Naturally, he decides it's his job to fix fate.

THE MARCHING BAND is a Cannes crowdpleaser and French box office smash — equal parts hilarious and heartfelt.

📍 Opens this Friday! | Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael
🎟️ bit.ly/4y6LB8S

08/26/2026

In September, celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month with four unforgettable films spanning Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, and the U.S. — stories of identity, family, memory, and belonging.

🎬 SELENA • SAT, SEP 5
🎬 LAKE TAHOE • SAT, SEP 12
🎬 LA CIÉNEGA • SAT, SEP 19
🎬 ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA • SAT, SEP 26

📍 Saturdays at 11AM | Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael
🎟️ $5 Series — bit.ly/4guzKKn

08/25/2026

America's greatest cheesemongers attempt the impossible: beating France at the Olympics of Cheese. THE BIG CHEESE follows a scrappy U.S. team battling cultural clashes, self-doubt, and melting cheese in pursuit of a historic victory.

Stick around after the film for a cheese tasting in the MFR with Nicasio Valley
Cheese, Maker to Monger, and Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company.

🎬🧀 THE BIG CHEESE: Film + Cheese Tasting
📍 SUN, AUG 30 | Smith Rafael Film Center
🎟️ bit.ly/4qB7FFN

Columbia Cheese Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Nicasio Valley Cheese Company

08/25/2026

Looking for love and finding chaos. Angourie Rice and Spike Fearn star in FINDING EMILY, from the producers of Bridget Jones’s Diary and Love Actually.

Opens FRI, AUG 28 | Sequoia Cinema
🎟 bit.ly/4c9BLKH

08/24/2026

Join us with Town of San Anselmo, CA for our final Movie Night in the Park of the summer! 🌟🎬

We’re ending the season with an epic Star Wars double feature:

⭐ STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE at 5 PM
🚀 STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK at 7:30 PM

As always, bring your chairs, blankets, family, friends—we’ll supply the FREE popcorn! 🍿