San Francisco Cinematheque: Our Mission
San Francisco Cinematheque cultivates the international field of non-commercial artist-made cinema. San Francisco Cinematheque inspires aesthetic dialog among artists, stimulates critical discourse, and encourages appreciation of artist-made cinema across the broader cultural landscape.
Cinematheque’s Mission is accomplished through our work in three primary areas: Curated Public Programming, Publications and Archives.
Public Programs: Each year, San Francisco Cinematheque presents approximately 35 public screenings of artist-made film, video and performance to Bay Area audiences, with an eye for presenting contemporary and historic work from all eras and geo-political locales These screenings include curated thematic programs, in-person artist presentations, guest-curated programs, collaborations with other film and art organizations and more. See our screening archive here. In addition, San Francisco Cinematheque presents the annual CROSSROADS film festival. See the history and details of CROSSROADS here. Additionally, Cinematheque regularly curates and presents programs at local arts organizations and international film festivals.
Publications: San Francisco Cinematheque creates publications documenting the field of artist-made film, including most recently, Craig Baldwin: Avant to Live!, An Urgent S.O.S. Through a Sea of Static, Perpetual Motion, and Cinematograph 7: Speaking Directly. Additionally, Cinematheque maintains an online store of hard-to-find and micro-published books documenting the field.
Archives: The San Francisco Cinematheque Archives consist of physical and digital materials collected during the 60+ year history of the organization and contain information on thousands of films, hundreds of individual film/video artists, hundreds of kindred and collegial exhibition organizations and the curatorial and administrative history of Cinematheque itself. In maintaining and developing archival collections, San Francisco Cinematheque is dedicated to supporting academic and curatorial research into the field(s) of non-commercial artist-made cinema (as described above). For inquiries (general or specific) relating to Cinematheque’s Archives, please contact sfc@sfcinematheque.org. We encourage visitors to explore San Francisco Cinematheque’s Online Archives here!