Reel Local News:

BAMPFA honors documentarian Frederick Wiseman.

Frederick Wiseman, the American documentarian who has spent more than 50 years portraying institutions that range from a hospital for the criminally insane to a ballet company, is the subject of “An Evening With Frederick Wiseman” on Sept. 27 at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

Wiseman, 88, will discuss his long career, touching on how he chooses his subjects and how he tells a story.

The museum also has programmed four Wiseman features: 2017’s “Ex Libris: The New York Public Library;” “Belfast, Maine” (1999), in which Wiseman’s subject is not an institution but an entire New England town; “La Danse: Paris Opera Ballet” (2009), in which he follows the dancers in rehearsals and performance; and “High School” (1969) with Wiseman at the screening.

“Frederick Wiseman: On Documentary,” through Sept. 30, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2155 Center St., Berkeley, $5-$18. https://bampfa.org

Japan Film Festival: Actress Kaori Momoi (“Ghost in the Shell”) will be at Japantown’s New People Cinema on Sept. 30 when her film “Magic Kimono” makes its North American premiere at the sixth annual Japan Film Festival of San Francisco. She plays a woman visiting Latvia who meets a man who looks like her husband — who has been missing for 20 years since a devastating earthquake.

Other notable films that will screen at the festival include the Sept. 28 opening night animated feature, Naoko Yamada’s “Liz and the Blue Bird,” a fable about high school musicians whose friendship changes when the school brass band starts practicing songs based on the titular fairy tale. Director Masato Harada will appear Sept. 29 with his film “Sekigahara,” an adaptation of Ryotaro Shiba’s novel about a 1600 battle during Japan’s Warring States

Frederick Wiseman, 88, will discuss his long career, touching on how he chooses his subjects and how he tells a story.

period. Also on Sept. 29, “Namie Amuro Final Tour 2018 — Finally (Final Performance)” offers fans of the J-Pop superstar the opportunity to witness her last performance. Sept. 28-Oct. 7, New People Cinema, 1746 Post St., SF, Free-$30. www.jffsf.org

Italian Film Festival: “Let Yourself Go (Lasciati Andare)” opens the 42nd Italian Film Festival in San Rafael on Saturday, Sept. 22. Toni Servillo stars in this comedy as a psychoanalyst whose life changes when he starts seeing a personal trainer (Verónica Echegui) at the gym. Among the films showing are “The Last Prosecco” on Oct. 6, a thriller set among grape growers in the Veneto region of Italy, and the closing-night film, “Friends by Chance,” Francesco Bruni’s drama about an unusual relationship between a young man and a poet. Saturday, Sept. 22-Nov. 3, Showcase Theatre, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael, $16. www.italianfilm.com  “The Penalty,” a documentary examining issues of capital punishment in the United States, screens at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18, at the Roxie. Co-director Will Francome and other guests will take questions from the audience after the screening. www.roxie. com

 Eddie Muller hosts a Castro Theatre tribute to Tab Hunter, who died in July, with a double bill of “Damn Yankees” (1958) and “Polyester” (1981) at 7 p.m. Sept. 27. www.castrotheatre.com

Zipporah Films 2017 “Ex Libris: The New York Public Library” is one of four Frederick Wiseman features being screened at the Pacific Film Archive.