Events on Friday, November 20

Oakland Underground Film Festival presents <em>Black Dynamite</em>

Film

Black Dynamite

Friday 11/20 @ The Castro Theatre

Shaft meets Bruce Lee with the wardrobe of Charlie's Angels in this Sundance-delighting, throwback homage to '70s blaxploitation. Black Dynamite must... 

The Fiery Furnaces w/ Cryptacize and Dent May

Music

The Fiery Furnaces w/ Cryptacize and Dent May

Friday 11/20 @ Slim's

Avant-garde sibling act The Fiery Furnaces (aka Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger), liken their latest record, I'm Going Away to music inspired... 

Uncertain Relations: Yvonne Rainer Lecture

Dance

Uncertain Relations: Yvonne Rainer Lecture

Friday 11/20 @ San Francisco Cinematheque

“One Day When I Was Growing Up in the ‘60s…” A Lecture by Yvonne Rainer Event taking place at the San... 

SAMBA DA  plus DJ Vanka

Music

SAMBA DA plus DJ Vanka

Friday 11/20 @ Elbo Room

 fontOngoing Events

Taro Hattori: <em>V</em>

Art

Taro Hattori

Friday 11/20 @ Swarm Gallery

Taro Hattori's sculpture and installation work reflect his background in psychology, incisively and wittily capturing the misfires of desire. The title... 

<em>The House of the Devil</em>

Film

The House of the Devil

Friday 11/20 @ Landmark Lumiere Theatre

Ti West's homage to the trashy occult-horror films of the early '80s requires something rarely asked of contemporary horror-film audiences: patience.... 

<em>Moby Dick</em>

Art

Moby Dick

Friday 11/20 @ CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts

Moby Dick has long been a springboard for grand considerations of everything from transcendental philosophy to racism and political upheaval. Melville's... 

<em>Art & Copy</em>

Film: Documentary

Art & Copy

Friday 11/20 @ Roxie Theater

Official 2009 Sundance selection Art & Copy captures an inside look at the real people behind pop culture's most iconic advertisements.... 

<em>Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans</em>

Film

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Friday 11/20 @ Landmark Embarcadero

For anyone who has written off Nicolas Cage as the debt-saddled has-been who squandered the gifts so apparent in Leaving Las... 

Outdoor Exploratorium

Special Event

Outdoor Exploratorium

Friday 11/20 @ Fort Mason Center

Since 1969, the Exploratorium has merged science and fun with its hands-on collection; now, it brings that curatorial savvy outdoors, with... 

<em>Jews on Vinyl</em>

Art

Jews on Vinyl

Friday 11/20 @ Contemporary Jewish Museum

Jews on Vinyl is a unique exhibition based on Roger Bennett and Josh Kun's new book: And You Shall Know Us by... 

CounterPULSE presents Performing Diaspora

Dance

Performing Diaspora

Friday 11/20 @ CounterPULSE

CounterPULSE's Performing Diaspora Festival gives space to 13 performers who are innovating and experimenting within a range of traditional dance forms,... 

Ara Peterson: <em>Turns Into Stone</em>

Art

Ara Peterson

Friday 11/20 @ Ratio 3

Ara Peterson brings together two bodies of work that both draw on memory and optical illusion to create the colorfully complex... 

CineKink

Festival: Film

CineKink

Friday 11/20 @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Whether you're crazy for leather, proudly polyamorous, or you just like to watch, CineKink's popular, perverse film series educates while it... 

<em>Then and Now: Photographs by Sebasti&atilde;o Salgado</em>

Art: Photography

Then and Now: Photographs by Sebastião Salgado

Friday 11/20 @ David Brower Center

Brazilian photojournalist Sebastião Salgado's work is saturated with a deep affection and empathy for his subjects, who comprise the world's dispossessed... 

<em>One Day: A Collective Narrative of Tehran</em>

Art

One Day

Friday 11/20 @ Intersection for the Arts

An ancient metropolis now home to some eight million residents, Tehran is as complicated, intriguing, and deeply layered as any city... 

Free Night of Theater

Theatre

Free Night of Theater

Friday 11/20 @ Various locations

There may be no such thing as a free lunch but there is such a thing as a free night of... 

<em>Passionate Struggle: Dynamics of San Francisco's GLBT History</em>

Special Event

Passionate Struggle

Friday 11/20 @ 499 Castro St

One of the many transformations that occurs in Gus van Sant's Milk is that of the Castro from a sleepy, working-class... 

<em>She Stoops to Comedy</em>

Theatre

She Stoops to Comedy

Friday 11/20 @ SF Playhouse

A Rubik's cube of shifting love allegiances and convoluted gender bending, David Greenspan's She Stoops to Comedy is a breezy, mischievous... 

Holly Andres: <em>Sparrow Lane</em>

Art: Photography

Holly Andres

Friday 11/20 @ Robert Koch Gallery

Holly Andres reveals only part of the mysterious story behind the lush and saturated images that make up Sparrow Lane. Calling... 

<em>When Lives Become Form: Contemporary Brazilian Art, 1960s to the Present</em>

Art

When Lives Become Form

Friday 11/20 @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

YBCA mounts a colorful tribute to the continued influence of the Tropicália movement in Brazilian art. When Lives Become Form explores... 

Peter Bjorn & John w/ El Perro Del Mar

Music

Peter Bjorn & John w/ El Perro Del Mar

Friday 11/20 @ Great American Music Hall

The mid-'00s enjoyed an indie-pop revival when three fresh-faced Swedes joined the burgeoning Stockholm music renaissance. Peter Moren, Bjorn Yttling, and... 

Ari Marcopoulos: <em>Within Arm's Reach</em>

Art: Photography

Ari Marcopoulos

Friday 11/20 @ Berkeley Art Museum

In his younger years, Amsterdam-born photographer Ari Marcopoulos worked as studio assistant to Andy Warhol and Irving Penn, and their influence... 

<em>Richard Avedon: Photographs 1946-2004</em>

Art: Photography

Richard Avedon

Friday 11/20 @ SFMOMA

Marilyn Monroe caught in a moment of intense vulnerability. The line of a model's Dior gown mirrored in the curves of... 

<em>Punk Passage: San Francisco First Wave Punk 1977-1981</em>

Art: Photography

Punk Passage

Friday 11/20 @ San Francisco Public Library

The Sex Pistols may have imploded after their notorious final show at SF's now-defunct Winterland Ballroom, but the city's own punk... 

Thrillpeddlers presents <em>Pearls Over Shanghai</em>

Theatre

Pearls Over Shanghai

Friday 11/20 @ Hypnodrome

The Cockettes, San Francisco's original acid-fried gender-benders, are the honorary fairy godmothers of every queen who has flown a freak flag... 

<em>There's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak</em>

Art

There's a Mystery There

Friday 11/20 @ Contemporary Jewish Museum

With everyone atwitter about the October release of the Dave Eggers-penned, Spike Jonze-helmed, and Arcade Fire-filled adaptation of Where the Wild... 

<em>November</em>

Theatre

November

Friday 11/20 @ American Conservatory Theater

David Mamet is, arguably, a lot of things: a misogynist, a feminist, underrated, overrated. One thing's for certain, though — he's... 

Carleton Watkins: <em>Discoveries</em>

Art: Photography

Carleton Watkins

Friday 11/20 @ Fraenkel Gallery

Carleton Watkins moved to California in 1851 and soon established himself as one of the most important Western landscape photographers of... 

Mark Baugh-Sasaki: <em>Adaptations</em>

Art

Mark Baugh-Sasaki

Friday 11/20 @ Hayes Valley Park

The work of emerging sculptor Mark Baugh-Sasaki reflects both his San Francisco upbringing  (including an adolescence spent mountain biking through the... 

<em>Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs</em>

Special Event

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs

Friday 11/20 @ de Young Museum

"Wonderful things." So said Howard Carter when the archaeologist was asked what he saw upon peeking into the just-opened tomb of... 

<em>Jews on Vinyl</em>

Art

Jews on Vinyl

Friday 11/20 @ Contemporary Jewish Museum

Jews on Vinyl is a unique exhibition based on Roger Bennett and Josh Kun's new book: And You Shall Know Us by... 

Tiny Kushner — the West Coast premiere of 5 short plays by Oscar nominee Tony Kushner

Theatre

Tiny Kushner — the West Coast premiere of 5 short plays by Oscar nominee Tony Kushner

Friday 11/20 @ Berkeley Repertory Theater

WRITTEN BY TONY KUSHNER
DIRECTED BY TONY TACCONE
  There’s really nothing tiny about... 

Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam & Burma

Art

Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam & Burma

Friday 11/20 @ Asian Art Museum

In the 19th-century Siam and Burma—two neighboring kingdoms in Southeast Asia—were renowned for their golden-roofed temples, lush gardens, and handsomely adorned... 

Moby-Dick

Art

Moby-Dick

Friday 11/20 @ California College of the Arts

Reception: Tues., Sept. 22, 6:30–8:30 p.m.   An eclectic group of 32 international artists, including Damián Ortega, Angela Bulloch, Paulina Olowska,... 

People's Torah

Art

People's Torah

Friday 11/20 @ Contemporary Jewish Museum

It is said that every one of the 304,805 letters in the Torah corresponds to a soul. CJM visitors both to... 

Unfurling: This Land

Art

Unfurling: This Land

Friday 11/20 @ SOMArts

SOMArts Cultural Center’s Main Gallery presents Unfurling: This Land, a group show featuring Mark Bode, Mike Dingle and Isabel Rucker, producing new work... 

As It Is Written: Project 304,805

Art

As It Is Written: Project 304,805

Friday 11/20 @ Contemporary Jewish Museum

It begins with parchment, ink, a hand-sharpened feather quill, and a scribe who states out loud the intention to write a... 

Dispatches from the Archives

Art

Dispatches from the Archives

Friday 11/20 @ SFMOMA

How does a museum best known for showing the work of others choose to publicly present itself? This exhibition showcases museum-produced... 

DEFAMATION

Film

DEFAMATION

Friday 11/20 @ Roxie Theater

Rated: NR Runtime: 93 mins.
What is anti-Semitism today, two generations after the Holocaust? In his continuing exploration of... 

Art

Dispatches from the Archives

Friday 11/20 @ SFMOMA

How does a museum best known for showing the work of others choose to publicly present itself? This presentation in the...