2025 FALL CINEMA SERIES
Most films screen Wednesday nights at 7pm* in the Carole L. Ellis Auditorium on the SRJC Petaluma Campus (*exceptions marked below). Guests are invited to attend an optional pre-show program at 6pm. Click here for pricing, directions, and additional information.
September 17: SINNERS
Ryan Coogler 2025, USA, 137 min.
The Cinema Series opens with Ryan Coogler’s genre-defying musical blockbuster Sinners. Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown to open a juke joint in 1930s America. Their dream however soon turns into a nightmare when they awaken a chilling supernatural force rooted in Southern Gothic folklore and racial history. Featuring an electrifying blues-infused score and searing production design that evokes both authenticity and myth, the film unfolds as a haunting yet soulful cinematic hymn to African American resilience, culture, and communal power. Begins at 6:30pm.
September 24: THE LIFE OF CHUCK
Mike Flanagan, 2024, USA, 111 min.
The Life of Chuck recounts the quietly extraordinary journey of an ordinary man—Charles Krantz (Tom Hiddleston)—tracing his life backward from an apocalypse-tinged finale to his formative childhood. Mike Flanagan adapts Stephen King’s mystical novella into three visual movements reflecting on the beauty of fleeting human connections and the wonder of our place in the cosmos. Winner of the Audience Award for Best Film at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
October 1: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA w/ live music
Rupert Julian, 1925, USA, 93 min.
When a mad, disfigured composer falls in love with a young soprano, he decides to wreak havoc on the Paris Opera House, obsessively manipulating events from the shadows. Celebrated for its groundbreaking production design, Lon Chaney’s transformative make-up, and the early use of two-strip Technicolor during the iconic masquerade sequence, The Phantom of the Opera remains one of most visually striking horror films of all-time, one hundred years after its original release. Featuring live piano accompaniment by Greg Pane.
October 8: THE ASSESSMENT
Fleur Fortuné, 2024, UK/Germany/USA, 114 min.
In the not-too-distant future when resources are scarce, a young couple must appeal to the state in order to have a child. When an assessor is assigned to evaluate their parental fitness, she puts them through a series of awkward and invasive tests that forces them to question the very foundations of society and what it truly means to be human. With incredible visual styling and an eerie, unsettling score, director Fleur Fortuné delivers a riveting psychological thriller with knockout performances from Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen, and Himesh Patel.
October 15: MAGAZINE DREAMS
Elijah Bynum, 2023, USA, 123 min.
When Killian, a socially isolated amateur bodybuilder, obsesses over gracing the cover of a fitness magazine, his relentless drive for perfection pushes him toward an emotional breaking point. Elijah Bynum’s remarkable character study probes the impacts of loneliness and mental illness for outcasts and incels as well as society-at-large. Featuring dreamlike cinematography, arresting sound design, and a knockout performance from Jonathan Majors, Magazine Dreams is a tense, timely, and poignant meditation on masculinity and mental health. Creative Vision Jury Prize Winner at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
October 22: ALL OF US STRANGERS
Andrew Haigh, 2023, UK/USA, 105 min.
The everyday routine of a lonely London-based writer (Andrew Scott) is interrupted when he meets his mysterious neighbor (Paul Mescal), one of the only other tenants in their nearly-vacant sky rise. What follows is provocative and emotionally resonant love story exploring memory, family, and grief. Constantly moving in directions you least expect, from ghostly apparitions to time travel, Andrew Haigh crafts a dream-like cinematic journey that is haunting, profound, and completely unique. Nominated for six BAFTAs including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay.
October 29: BRING HER BACK
Danny & Michael Philippou, 2025, Australia/USA, 104 min.
When teenage step-siblings Andy and Piper are placed into foster care after tragedy befalls their family, they must adapt to the bizarre behavior of their newly appointed guardian (Sally Hawkins) or risk being torn apart. Australian filmmaking duo Danny and Michael Philippou’s intelligent, intense, and endlessly inventive thriller combines expert storytelling with exquisite cinematic craftsmanship cementing their status as a significant global force in the modern horror genre.
November 5: MR. K
Tallulah Schwab, 2024, Netherlands/Norway/Belgium, 94 min.
When a traveling magician (Crispin Glover) checks himself into a mysterious and supernatural hotel, he finds it nearly impossible to find his way out. Inspired by the work of Franz Kafka, Dutch filmmaker Tallulah Schwab crafts a sumptuous and surreal feast for the eyes that blends fantasy, science fiction, and gothic tragedy into an endlessly surprising allegory. With Crispin Glover’s quietly bewildered performance at the center, the film’s disorienting geometry, uncanny production design, and fluid Lynchian atmosphere coalesce into a hypnotic meditation on existential entrapment and the absurdities of existence.
November 12: CHECKPOINT ZOO
Joshua Zeman, 2024, Ukraine/UK/USA, 103 min.
In the early days of the Russian-Ukrainian War, a group of Ukrainian zookeepers and volunteers risk their lives to evacuate thousands of animals from Feldman Ecopark—caught between Russian shelling and advancing front lines. Through a visceral and immersive mix of firsthand footage, rescue mission captures, archival news clips, and intimate interviews, Joshua Zeman’s riveting and deeply suspenseful Checkpoint Zoo showcases a story of human compassion, bravery, and sacrifice during Ukraine’s darkest hours, shining a light on the best of humanity when it is all too easy to focus on the worst.
November 19: A NORMAL FAMILY
Hur Jin-ho, 2024, South Korea, 116 min.
Two brothers’ families collide in this twisty urban tale of privilege, nepotism, and moral decline. Jae-wan is a successful defense attorney whose work is frequently at odds with the ethos of Jae-gyu, his pediatrician brother. Punctuated by monthly fine dining meet-ups between the brothers and their wives, secrets are revealed, alliances betrayed, and consciences tested as their families become increasingly entangled in unexpected ways. Based on the celebrated Dutch novel The Dinner by Herman Koch, the film is exquisitely shot and features impeccable performances from a multi-generational cast, ultimately inviting us to reflect on what we’re willing to sacrifice to protect the ones we love.
December 3: THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Henry Selick, 1993, USA, 76 min.
Jack Skellington, Halloweentown’s beloved Pumpkin King, accidentally discovers Christmastown and, with a renewed sense of spirit, attempts to take over the holiday by unleashing chaos from his dark imagination. Now considered a landmark in stop-motion animation, the film blends Gothic fantasy with whimsical musicality, creating a richly textured visual world where the macabre meets the magical. Characterized by Tim Burton’s signature set designs, intricate puppetry, and Danny Elfman’s memorable score, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a timeless, atmospheric work of cinematic art.