Miracles, satanic cults and other footage folly
Found Footage Festival: Who is this mysterious New Age guru, and how can he help you achieve nirvana? Or some such nonsense. “New Age Miracles: Fact or Fiction” is just one of the “found” videos that populate the traveling festival, which hits Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 26, and San Francisco’s Roxie Theater on Friday, Oct. 27, and Saturday, Oct. 28.
Founded by Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett, who will host in-person, the FFF is a compilation of VHS treasures recovered from trash cans, Goodwills, garage sales and personal collections that is never less than hilarious.
“New Age Miracles: Fact or Fiction” was found in the Bay Area. Other highlights include “The Law Enforcement Guide to Satanic Cults,” part of a collection of “satanic panic” videos from the 1980s; outtakes and on-air bloopers from years of North Dakota local news; and commercials by the late Don Davis, a legend in Indiana for his hilarious ads for his Don’s Guns stores (“I don’t wanna make any money folks. I just loooove to sell guns”).
Speaking of Indiana, Prueher, a former researcher for the Hoosier State’s own David Letterman, got his old boss to donate his personal VHS collection of odd stuff when he retired in 2015. Several of those gems are presented this weekend.
8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, at the Grand Lake Theatre, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. (510) 452-3556; and 9 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Oct. 27-28, at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., S.F. (415) 862-1087. Tickets are $15 at www.foundfootagefest.com. Another Hole in the Head Film Festival: The 14th annual horror and genre festival by the folks at S.F. Indie (Indie Fest, Docfest) returns to New People Cinema in Japantown with 29 features and 94 short films. Local talent at the festival that runs through Nov. 8 include retrospective tributes to Christopher Coppola (“The Art Film Triology,” “G-Men From Hell”) and Dave O’Shea (“Day Job”). The festival closes with Norbert Keil’s “Replace,” starring festival favorite Barbara Crampton. A contender for most over-the-top is “Empire of the Sharks” (Nov. 7), in which a young woman with supernatural powers goes up against an army of sharks. Move aside, “Sharknado.” Through Nov. 8 at New People Cinema, 1746 Post St., S.F. http://sfindie.com Errol Morris in person with “Wormwood”: The legendary documentarian will screen his new four-hour film about the mysterious death of military scientist Frank Olson in 1943, which is set to drop on Netflix in December. While the miniseries is a documentary, actor Peter Sarsgaard plays Olson in Morris’ re-creation of events. 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, at the Vogue Theatre, 3290 Sacramento St., S.F. (415) 346-2228. www.sffilm.org