#film noir festival

NOIR CITY Returns to Bay Area!

Let’s try this again! The NOIR CITY film festival returns from COVID hiatus for an incisive and inspiring four-day festival at a new venue, Oakland’s historic Grand Lake Theatre, March 24-27. Produced, programmed and hosted by Film Noir Foundation president Eddie Muller, 2022’s edition, subtitled “They Tried to Warn Us!”, showcases 12 movies from mid-20th century Hollywood sure to resonate with contemporary viewers. Included are shockingly prescient films focusing on megalomaniacal politicians, corrupt businessmen, neo-Nazis, racism, anti-Semitism, sexual predators, serial killers, police brutality — even a viral epidemic! This NOIR CITY program could not be more timely or topical.

For the return to in-person screenings, Muller has shifted the event to Oakland after many years at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre. The Grand Lake’s vintage movie palace atmosphere and the care and upkeep of the venue work perfectly for the type of show NOIR CITY loyalists have come to expect. To ensure festival attendees’ safety, proof of vaccination is required and mask protocols will be enforced.

NOIR CITY 19: The Bay Area Film Noir Festival will open Thursday night, March 24, with a double bill. First up, All the King’s Men (1949), the noir-stained 1950 Best Picture Oscar winner, starring Broderick Crawford as Willie Stark, an ambitious Southern politician who doesn’t let ethics interfere with his meteoric political rise. Crawford won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance. It’s paired with the world premiere of the FNF’s latest 35mm restoration — The Argyle Secrets, a 1948 B-picture directed by Cy Endfield, returned to circulation this year through the partnership of the Film Noir Foundation and UCLA Film & Television Archive. The film’s mystery centers around “The Argyle Album” containing the names of U.S. politicians and industrialists who abetted the Nazis in World War II.

Weeknight shows will be presented as double bills, with one $15 admission price for two movies. Saturday and Sunday shows will have separate admissions ($12.50) for each screening. All-access Passports, granting admission to all 12 films, are available for $100, a $30 savings over the purchase price of individual tickets. FNF proceeds from the NOIR CITY festival benefit the foundation’s efforts to rescue and restore noir films in danger of being permanently lost or damaged.

The full schedule, program notes are available atNoirCity.com