SFFILM Unveils 69th International Film Festival Program, Opening at Castro Theatre

The newly restored Castro Theatre will welcome Greta Lee, Willem Dafoe, and Olivia Wilde to its stage on April 24 when SFFILM opens the 69th San Francisco International Film Festival, the longest-running film festival in the Americas.

SFFILM announced the program this week, unveiling 79 events from roughly 40 countries across 11 days at venues in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley. Tickets go on sale to the general public today at 10 a.m.

Opening night pairs two films on the Castro's newly reopened screen. Kent Jones' "Late Fame," a Magnolia Pictures drama starring Greta Lee and Willem Dafoe about a poet rediscovered by a younger generation, leads the evening; both Jones and Lee are expected to appear in person. The second film is Olivia Wilde's "The Invite," fresh from its world premiere at Sundance and newly acquired by A24, which Wilde will introduce herself. Partially shot in San Francisco, the film also stars Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton and was written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack.

The festival's centerpiece is Boots Riley's "I Love Boosters," a Neon-backed film starring Keke Palmer, set to screen April 28 at Oakland's Grand Lake Theatre, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Riley is expected to appear alongside cast members Poppy Liu, Eiza González, and LaKeith Stanfield.

The program draws a wide range of talent: Tilda Swinton, Dustin Hoffman, Paul Rudd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Danielle Brooks, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Don Cheadle, Charlotte Rampling, and Demi Moore are among those tied to festival selections.

Jessie Fairbanks, in her sixth year as SFFILM's director of programming, described the curatorial vision as "giving audiences opportunities to discover the new, and to experience older films with fresh eyes." That mission runs through the "Films from the Vault" retrospective, a new archival program drawing on SFFILM's own history, as well as a juried competition and industry talks scheduled April 27-30.

Closing night lands on May 4 with a sold-out "Star Wars Day" screening of "The Empire Strikes Back," paired with an onstage conversation between Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO across the saga, and Howard Roffman, a Lucasfilm veteran who serves as SFFILM Board Vice President.

Experimental filmmaker and poet Lynne Sachs will receive the Persistence of Vision Award, which recognizes work outside mainstream filmmaking. The Mel Novikoff Award goes to Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director of Sundance Institute's Artist Programs since 1981, who will be joined in conversation by Bay Area filmmaker Peter Nicks at a screening of the 2012 film "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

The Castro's return as a festival venue carries its own weight. The theater, which underwent a significant renovation and reopened this year, had been absent from the festival circuit for several years. Its re-entry, alongside the Grand Lake's centennial, gives the 2026 edition two venue milestones that together mark one of the more symbolically loaded editions in the festival's nearly seven-decade history.