2024 PRESS - NOIR CITY 21

By hook or by crook, Noir City 21 hopes to draw younger crowd to Oakland
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

"The theme this year is “Darkness Has No Borders,” in which each of the 12 double features in the 10-day festival features an English-language film paired with a foreign-language noir. “I’m just trying to show how with cultures there’s more commonality than there is difference,” Muller said. “Even though the language and the setting are different, it’s the same story. Why is it so hard to see that?." MORE

Noir City 21: A Cinematic Journey into the Depths of Film Noir
Kelly Vance, East Bay Express

"The trick in cooking up a festival devoted to a cinematic movement that peaked in the 1940s is to stir constantly over continuous banked heat. After 21 years of Noir City—an annual event in seven North American markets—Muller has it down to an art. “What pleases me most is that it didn’t happen quickly. It wasn’t an overnight thing” says Muller, via email. “It’s part of my overall job—keeping classic films accessible and essential for this generation and beyond.” MORE

Darkness has no borders at NOIR CITY
Lincoln Spector, BayFlicks.net

"Walls, fences, and armed guards. Borders of all kinds keep us in. But on the big screen at The Grand Lake Theater, you can get away, whether you need a heist, a prison break, another language, an illicit affair, or maybe an old-fashioned murder." MORE

Noir City returns, bringing darkness from abroad
Scott Strickland, The Movie Gourmet

"One of Noir City’s greatest gifts to noiristas, and to cinephiles in general, has been introducing us to previously unfamiliar foreign noir classics. It is ONLY because of Noir City that I’ve seen some of my favorite movies: Los tallos amargos (The Bitter Stems), Black Gravel, El vampiro negro (The Black Vampire), Ashes and Diamonds, La noche avanza (Night Falls), …And the Fifth Horseman Is Fear and Girl with Hyacinths." MORE

Pass the Remote: International films join the lineup of Noir City 21 in Oakland
Randy Meyers, Bay City News Foundation

"Noir City 21: Darkness Has No Borders” rolls in like fog to Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre on Friday. Muller co-programmed and co-hosts (with Imogen Sara Smith, featured often on the Criterion Channel) the 10-day fest built around femme fatales and desperate guys getting tangled up in big-time, hard-boiled trouble. All 24 titles in Noir City’s run from Jan. 19 to Jan. 28 look sinfully delicious. But we’d lose our job if we decided to call in sick to camp out at the Grand Lake to catch every screening." MORE

Setting the Noir Bar – Eddie Muller’s Cocktail Recipes
EatDrinkFilms.com

"As Noir City 21 plays January 19-28 at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland, California —and is coming to cities across the country, EatDrinkFilms is pleased to offer a few more goodies to quench your thirst for a great movie and an inspired drink. The lineup is an exciting collection of double features pairing classic American and British Noir with rarely seen international works for audiences to discover from Argentina, Egypt, France, South Korea, Italy, Mexico, and Japan, fulfilling this year’s theme, “Darkness has no borders.” MORE

NOIR CITY 1 - 20 SCREENINGS

→ View our complete list of films screened at NOIR CITY 1-20 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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