Shapeshifters Cinema

About Us

SHAPESHIFTERS CINEMA provides a venue and support for contemporary artists working with experimental and artist-made film, video, sound, music and other types of mediated performance. We host screenings and performances by local and visiting artists in our intimate 40-seat theatre and offer workshops on a variety of experimental and DIY moving image and sound production. Our storefront shop specializes in print publications, DVDs, sound recordings and other kinds of media made by artists who have screened or performed in our venue.

SHAPESHIFTERS BREWERY makes a variety of small-batch, seasonal, hand-crafted beers, brewed on-site in a space right behind the cinema. These are served (to 21+) at all our events as well as some off-site events. Find out more at shapeshiftersbrewery.com

SHAPESHIFTERS CAFÉ, is right next door to our cinema! We offer freshly-made salads, sandwiches, coffee, tea, pastries and more. Open Monday-Friday 6am-2pm and every Saturday 10am-2pm. Find out more at shapeshifterscafe.com

Staff

Gilbert Guerrero - Operations Director & A/V Tech
Kathleen Quillian - Programming Director
Ellie Vanderlip - Education & Outreach Director

The Shapeshifters Membership program provides crucial, sustaining support for our small, DIY, volunteer-run organization. By joining the membership program, you become part of an engaged, diverse, creative community working in and around experimental moving image, sound and time-based art. Each level offers a range of access to members-only resources and events, discounts, comps and more. Find out more and join now!

Cinema

Gravitational Lensing: Feminist Film Dialogues is a series curated by Amy Reid and Kathleen Quillian that is dedicated to exploring the visions, voices, concerns and lineage of women, non-binary, genderqueer and trans filmmakers through public film screenings, workshops, conversations and presentations. New programs are presented monthly at Shapeshifters. Find out more.

Upcoming Programs & Events

Gut Instinct - a Film by Doug Dillaman + Live Music Performance by Kyle Bruckmann
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
7pm
Admission: $10-20, sliding scale (discount for members)

A post-apocalyptic found footage instructional film on acid, Gut Instinct blends plausible science fiction, outrageous science fact, black comedy and intense visual freakouts in service of a singular cinematic trip.

After alien microbes with a thirst for dopamine invaded our guts, bringing about the collapse of civilization and the death of 93% of humanity, life has been...less than ideal. But no longer! Interself's revolutionary Gut Instinct Audiovisual Purification Programme will free your mind - and your guts - forever!

Making its international premiere at Shapeshifters direct from New Zealand, this special interactive screening of Gut Instinct includes an introduction and post-screening Q&A with director Doug Dillaman, as well as a brief pre-show collection of shorts and an electronic music performance by Bay Area composer/performer, educator and New Music specialist Kyle Bruckmann whose music features prominently in the film.

All ticket-holders will also receive a code to download a complementary copy of GUT INSTINCT: An Aural Purification Enhancement debuting July 8th on Bandcamp.

Gravitational Lensing: Feminist Film Dialogues
Program 9 - Labor
Presented in association with San Francisco Cinematheque
Friday, July 11, 2025
7pm
Admission: $15 (discount for members)

From the daily responsibilities of caring for one's children, to the uncredited tasks of (under) paid labor, the films in this program examine both the physical and psychological states of women at work.

Screening: A Movement Against the Transparency of the Stars (2023, DV) by Esy Casey, Maternity (2019, DV) by Nataliya Ilchuk, Hello, Whale (2023, DV) by Laura Ohio, Fake Fruit Factory (1986, 16mm) by Chick Strand, Fannie's Film (1979, 16mm shown on DV) by Fronza Wood and Fucked Like a Star (2018, DV) by Stefani Saintonge.

Promotional Image from Fannie's Film by Fronza Woods.

Find out more about the Gravitational Lensing: Feminist Film Dialogues series.

Melissa Dyne: Neue Age Soundbath
Monday, July 14, 2025
7pm
Admission: $12 (discount for members)

Melissa Dyne is a composer, synthesist, and installation artist who lives and works in NYC. Often collaborating with science and industry, she works across genres and media creating compositions, performances, sound design, and installation works exploring the emotional and performative properties of sound and light. She is also one half of the experimental-electronic-pop band The Blow.

Melissa will be performing a healing sound bath of ambient electroacoustic compositions with soft poppy vibes from her forthcoming solo album Neue Age.

Workshops

A Few Good Magic Tricks
Instructor: Kirk Pearson
Thursday, July 10, 2025
7-9pm
In-person at Shapeshifters Cinema
Admission: $25 (Discount for Shapeshifters members)

Magic is the oldest performing art in the world—which means we've had thousands of years for some terrible tricks to be invented. Magic has been hijacked by bad magicians doing bad magic, and frankly, it's time for a comeback. Because when a trick is good—really good—it can be transcendent. A Few Good Magic Tricks is a low-stakes workshop for anyone who wants to dabble in the dark arts of sleight-of-hand, misdirection, and charmingly-suspicious behavior. Instructor Kirk Pearson will share approachable tricks that are fun to learn, impressive to perform, and built on time-tested techniques and simple props. You will not only learn how the tricks work, but also why they work—plus the performance skills that turn a trick into a miniature miracle of theatrical mischief. This is magic for regular humans—artists, weirdos, introverts, extroverts, skeptics, believers, and the magic-curious. All genders, ages, and experience levels are welcome. No experience necessary. Props will be provided. Smirks encouraged. Top hats optional.

Film Editing Basics in Shotcot
Instructor: David Cox
Sunday, July 27, 2025
12-5pm
In-person at Shapeshifters Cinema
Admission: $60 (Discount for Shapeshifters members)

Using freely-available content from the Internet, filmmaker David Cox will teach the basics of Shotcut, a free video editing tool that runs on Mac OS, Windows, or Linux. The workshop will cover continuity editing (standard narrative film cutting), montage editing (making montage sequences), and compositing skills, as well as match cuts, eyelines, cutting on action, and use of sound/dialog cutting to improve continuity. Students will need to bring their own laptop, and where possible external storage (2 or more gb).

Cel Jam
Instructor: Anna Firth
Sunday, August 3, 2025
12-5pm
In-person at Shapeshifters Cinema
Admission: $75 (Discount for Shapeshifters members and students)

Try your hand at handmade animation in this all-levels workshop with Oakland-based experimental animator, Anna Firth. Part history lesson and part materials exploration, participants are invited to paint a simple scene, one transparent layer at a time, to contribute to a greater group vision. We will use a slightly DIY approach using supplies you can easily source from local craft stores so you can continue to paint cel beyond the workshop. All materials provided and any level of experience welcome! Feel free to bring any of your favorite materials (collage/drawing/photos/etc.) to customize your background art.