April 23, 2003

By Alissa Chadburn

SAN FRANCISCO IS full of movie screens. There are multiplexes, art houses, the Yerba Buena Center theater. You can even see films at the public library. However, a handful of bars, restaurants, and other alternative spaces offer a different kind of cinematic experience. You can take in a classic foreign flick while sipping on your cosmo, enjoy a feast for the stomach as well as the eyes, or join a dance party after the show. While there are other nontraditional spaces in San Francisco that show movies from time to time, the venues listed below offer regular screenings.

Artists' Television Access began more than a decade ago as a cutting-edge video-art gallery in a SoMa warehouse. Now located on Valencia Street in the Mission District, ATA's not quite the party palace it once was, but its anything-goes tradition lives on. From video nights put on by local organizations like the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and Indymedia to Craig Baldwin's "Other Cinema" series to touring programs by internationally recognized curators like Astria Suparak, ATA offers a space for experimental and lesser-known works. In the intimate theater, it often feels like you're watching a home movie with a few friends. 992 Valencia, S.F. (415) 824-3890, www.atasite.org.

Almost every night on a blank wall on San Carlos Street in the Mission, the Electric Mural Project comes alive. Curator Kristie Reinders projects 16mm films selected from her collection of more than 500 old science, educational, and language films, home movies, TV shows, and other oddities. When the war broke out, Reinders put together loops of protest footage that had crowds on the street cheering for hours. Other shows have included mariachi band footage, a Guatemala travelogue, and live feedback of the Mission Street nightlife. San Carlos at 19th Street, S.F. (415) 364-1808.

Combining fine food and film, sleek Mission bistro Foreign Cinema serves up French fare with (mainly) French films (a double whammy to those freedom fryers). A steel-and-glass interior provides a glamorous backdrop to the eye candy on the screen. Outside on the heated patio, patrons can gaze at both the film and the stars. Each table has its own drive-in-theater sound box, but film purists might be annoyed by the their fellow diners' chatter. Still, there are few other places where you can eat, sip a cocktail, and take in a Fellini flick in style. 2534 Mission, S.F. (415) 648-7600.

A self-proclaimed rock and roll bar and microcinema, mixed Tenderloin club Jezebel's Joint offers film screenings Monday through Friday nights in a small digital movie theater. Presented by S.F. IndieFest, the screenings run the gamut from early Hollywood silents to cult classics. Some screenings are programmed to complement the club's regularly scheduled DJ nights – for example, on '80s night Suburbia you'll be sure to find brat-pack faves like Pretty in Pink. After the free movie, you can hang out, dance, and drink with all of the doms, daddies, and other perverts your heart desires. 510 Larkin, S.F. (415) 345-9832, www.jezebelsjointsf.com.

Principally known as an art salon and dance club, 111 Minna Gallery is also a microcinema venue. Independent Exposure, an internationally touring program curated by Microcinema International, makes a regular stop at the downtown alley space. Filmgoers can take their pick of two screens and two bars. This month's program brings an array of short films and videos, from animation to narrative, digital to 16mm. 111 Minna Gallery, 111 Minna, S.F. (415) 974-1719, www.111minnagallery.com.

Outer Mission dive bar El Rio is home to the most extensive outdoor-cinema program in the city. Almost every Tuesday from May to November, the bar shows films on the back patio, under the fruit trees and the stars. Every first Tuesday, "Rodeo" brings B movies and other cult oddities – not for the squeamish, presenters warn. Third Tuesdays' "After School Special," with teen-angst and underground youth-gone-wild classics like Times Square and Suburbia. Last Tuesday offers "Kizimba" moves the screening indoors, presenting films from the African diaspora and African American perspectives, like Marlon Riggs's Ethnic Notions and Ingrid Sinclaire's Flame. El Rio is also home to touring programs like Independent Exposure and the renowned MadCat Women's International Film Festival. 3158 Mission, S.F. (415) 282-3325.

A Potrero Hill bar and restaurant, Thee Parkside is best known for its championing of the garage rock scene, but it sometimes provides visual accompaniment for bands in the form of old '20s and '30s nudie pics, Elvis flicks, and rockabilly videos projected onto the wall. May 12 marks the launch of "Jacked-Up Monkey Shorts," a monthly short comedy film night "for the Hollywood hater in you." The night is curated by Jon Bastian, and featured films this time out include his "On the Go," Jimbo Matison's "New Adventures of Johnny Soco and His Giant Robot," KC Smith's "Inside the Actor's Head," and more. 1600 17th St., S.F. (415) 503-0393.