Upcoming Events

Albany FilmFest and the Berkeley Film Foundation Present

Courage, Hope, Resistance: 5 Films about Social Justice

June 19 - July 17 - August 14 - September 18, 2025 - October 16 — Rialto Cinemas Cerrito

Please join us for this outstanding monthly series of five independent documentary films by award-winning East Bay filmmakers. Stay after the films for a lively panel discussion and interactive audience Q&A with the filmmaker and guests. All films screen at Rialto Cinemas Cerrito, ticket links coming soon!

Thursday, June 19, 7pm: Denise Zmekhol, SKIN OF GLASS

When a celebrated modernist glass skyscraper in Sao Paolo, Brazil, becomes occupied by hundreds of homeless families, the filmmaker (who is also the architect’s daughter) is brought face to face with the intimate, human consequences of an exploding population and global housing crisis.

Thursday, July 17, 7pm: Connie Field, DEMOCRACY NOIR

As Viktor Orbán dismantles Hungary’s democratic institutions, three women — a journalist, a politician, and a nurse — work tirelessly to fight for their country’s soul, facing a well-financed and sophisticated opposition as they try and win back democracy and precious freedoms.

Thursday, August 14, 7pm: Maureen Gosling, THE 9 LIVES OF BARBARA DANE

The underground history of a singer-agitator whose unbending principles guide her through notoriety, obscurity, and finally, music legend. Dane emanated the people-powered connectivity of folk, the defiance of blues and the elemental cool of jazz, propelling major historic events with boldness and subversion that cut through commercial artifice.

Thursday, September 18, 7pm: Helen DeMichiel, BETWEEN THE SUN AND THE SIDEWALK

Two fiercely dedicated young Latino political organizers lead a team of new recruits to mobilize their community to support a sugary drink tax. When the state government passes a stealth law to ban all local soda taxes until 2030, these young activists fearlessly battle the corporate lobbying efforts to block them.

Thursday October 16, 7pm: Rick Goldsmith, STRIPPED FOR PARTS: AMERICAN JOURNALISM ON THE BRINK

The story of a secretive hedge fund that is plundering what is left of America’s newspapers, and the journalists who are fighting back. Backed by the NewsGuild union, they go toe-to-toe with their “vulture capitalist” owners in a battle to save and rebuild local journalism in America.