2023 PRESS - NOIR CITY 20

COEN 'N' NOIR
Lincoln Spector, Bayflicks

"With Joel Coen and Frances McDormand at the BAMPFA, and NOIR CITY at the Grand Lake, the East Bay was popping with cinephilia. I couldn't have seen everything. Here's what I caught. Does any other film festival open with a double feature? But then, NOIR CITY may be the only festival that gives you two movies for one ticket. This year the festival started with two films considered masterpieces: Key Largo and The Lady from Shanghai." MORE

SCREEN GRABS: CATCHING RIGHT UP TO 75 YEARS AGO AT NOIR CITY
Dennis Harvey, 48Hills.org

"But others still screening in the program are relatively obscure, like low-budget The Hunted (which the festival-mounting Film Noir Foundation itself has preserved); or The Velvet Touch, in which Rosalind Russell plays an imperious Broadway star frantic to protect her career from a murder she's inconveniently committed. Others may have passed you by because they're not really noir, albeit noir-adjacent: The serious drama of All My Sons, with Edward G. Robinson and Burt Lancaster as father and son in an adaptation of Arthur Miller's first successful play (a year before the bonanza of Death of a Salesman), and black comedy Unfaithfully Yours, with Rex Harrison with murderous ideations—a flop for the genius writer-director Preston Sturges, but also his last great movie." MORE

BLACK AND WHITE AND NOIR AS ALL GET OUT
Ben Terrall, eatdirnkfilms.com

"As in past years, there will be surprise guests and live music, somewhat like what audiences in 1948 might have experienced as part of a night out watching a new release. Muller's erudite and informative onstage introductions, and his infectious enthusiasm for the material, brings an extra kick to the Noir City experience. He takes his job of providing useful historical context and interesting background information seriously, but his wit and spontaneity guarantees that the result is never pedantic. When I spoke to Muller he was researching relevant events from 1948 to touch on in his pre- and post-screening comments, which will allow him to talk about what happened in the U.S. that year in relation to the original release dates of the films." MORE

NOIR CITY 2023 Gallery of Posters and Trailers on eatdirnkfilms.com

"Hold on to your seats as we take you on a ride through rare posters and trailers for the films showing at this year's 20th NOIR CITY Film Festival."  PART 1 • PART 2

THE SAN FRANCISCO LOCATIONS THAT MADE THIS FILM A 'MASTERPIECE OF MOOD'
Brian Darr, SF Gate

"The Bay Area is still the center of Muller's noir universe, however. "The Lady From Shanghai," much of which was filmed in San Francisco and Sausalito, is an opening-night selection for the latest edition of Noir City, which starts Friday at Oakland's Grand Lake Theatre (the festival's new home, at least while the Castro's future as a film venue remains in doubt). Spotlighting films released in 1948, this will be the region's first full 10-day Noir City festival since the COVID-19 pandemic. It's also the first time Muller will show "The Lady From Shanghai" locally since it played at that first 2003 festival." MORE

NOIR CITY 20 SETTLES INTO NEW HOME AT OAKLAND'S GRAND LAKE THEATRE
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

"Like the world-weary antihero of any good film noir, the Noir City film festival has gone up against tough adversaries, became entangled in labyrinthine plot twists and been chased out of town. Just when there seemed to be no escape from impending doom, a hot tip leads to the key to solving the case." MORE

IT'S A DARK AND FOGGY FILM FESTIVAL
Lincoln Spector, Bayflicks

"Every year, Noir City has a different theme. This year, it's "the heart of Hollywood's noir movement," films released in 1948." MORE

NOIR CITY 1 - 19 SCREENINGS

→ View our complete list of films screened at NOIR CITY 1-19 here.

2017 NOIR CITY 15

The 2017 incarnation of the world's most popular film noir festival returned to the legendary Castro Theatre January 20�29 with 24 exceptional films exploring, in films both suspenseful and comedic, the desperate lengths to which people will go to beat the system and hit the big time. "The Big Knockover" was a veritable history of the heist film. MORE

2016 NOIR CITY 14

NOIR CITY returned to San Francisco's majestic Castro Theatre for its 14th edition, January 22-31, 2016. Its timely theme, given the threat traditional arts face from the technology revolution and its accompanying skyrocketing living costs, was "The Art of Darkness"—a collection of 25 noir-stained films exploring the pressures, pitfalls, paranoia and pain of being an artist in an indifferent and often cruel world. MORE

2015 NOIR CITY 13

Movie lovers from around the globe had a grand time at the 13th annual edition of NOIR CITY: The San Francisco Film Noir Festival, held January 16–25, 2015. MORE

2014 NOIR CITY 12

The 12th edition of the world's most popular film noir festival went international, exploding the long-held belief that noir stories and style are a specifically American phenomenon. MORE

2013 NOIR CITY 11

NOIR CITY's 11th year festival kicked off with a tribute to guest of honor Peggy Cummins, legendary for her ferocious performance as outlaw Annie Laurie Starr in Gun Crazy. MORE

2012 NOIR CITY X

NOIR CITY celebrated its tenth anniversary as the world's most popular film noir festival with a 10-day extravaganza featuring San Francisco treats, a Dashiell Hammett marathon, freshly preserved 35mm rarities, by-popular-demand encore screenings, and super special guest star ANGIE DICKINSON. MORE

2011 NOIR CITY 9

NOIR CITY 9 audiences proved to be noir-nuts, packing the Castro Theatre for ten days and nights of wonderfully entertaining craziness. Loyal customers saw the ultimate payoff from their patronage: three brand new 35mm prints funded by the Film Noir Foundation: High Wall (1947), Loophole (1954), and The Hunted (1948). MORE

2010 NOIR CITY 8

The 2010 NOIR CITY 8 at San Francisco's Castro Theatre broke its previous record for attendance. Many of the regular patrons declared that the 2010 edition of the world’s most popular film noir festival had the best “vibe” yet, as hundreds of loyal Bay Area attendees mixed with an amazing influx of out-of-state and international fans, in town for the festival’s duration. MORE

2009 NOIR CITY 7

The theme of the NOIR CITY 7 running from January 23 through February 1, 2009, was Newspaper Noir, with many of the films set in the world of newspapers, publishing or radio. Programmers Eddie Muller and Anita Monga made a special effort to have NOIR CITY's nightly double bills reflect the traditional programming of theaters in the 1940s. MORE

2008 NOIR CITY 6

Neither the brutally inclement weather, nor the traffic-stopping logistics of having Gus van Sant and (NC4 special guest) Sean Penn shooting a film right outside the theater could deter record crowds from packing the Castro Theatre during the 10-day festival spanning January 25 – February 3, 2008. Go here to read about the highlights of the NOIR CITY 6 including press links and photos..

2007 NOIR CITY 5

Held January 26 through February 4, 2007, NOIR CITY 5 saw more than 11,000 people attending the ten-day series at the Castro Theatre, establishing a new box office milestone for the festival. Go here to view NOIR CITY 5 photo and media coverage.

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