Shapeshifters
Cinema and Brewery

About Us

Shapeshifters Cinema and Brewery is a 40-seat experimental microcinema (and soon-to-include microbrewery and taproom) housed in a beautiful, one-story Victorian located on the historic Bret Harte Boardwalk in Oakland’s Jack London District.

Shapeshifters started in 2012 as a monthly, volunteer-run series focused on expanded cinema. In the fall of 2018 we signed the lease on our own space with a vision of providing a broader range of experimental and expanded film, art and performance as well as a microbrewery and a taproom. We have been working on securing permits and finalizing plans to build out the space, which we anticipate to be fully operational by summer 2020. In the meantime, we continue to host our monthly expanded cinema series at which you will always find a special microbrew (currently created off-site) by head brewer Gilbert Guerrero.

Membership

We are excited to launch the new Shapeshifters Cinema and Brewery Membership Program! Once we are fully operational, our membership program will be a critical way for us to continue as a sustainable, creative, arts-focused venue in Oakland. Choose from the cinema, brewery or combination cinema/brewery membership options. During our Indiegogo fundraising campaign (now through February 29th), we are offering a limited amount of early bird memberships for each category and these are going fast. So make sure you get them while you still can! Visit our Indiegogo campaign to see all the great things that come along with being a member.

Cinema

Our intimate, 40-seat cinema is able to host a range of performances and events by contemporary artists working in film, video, sound, music, multimedia and performance. Along with screenings and performances, you will also find workshops, salons, artist talks and lectures. Our focus is primarily on experimental and artist-made.

Upcoming Programs

Tommy Becker
with special guests Steev Hise and Jon Leidecker
Saturday, March 14, 2020
8:00 pm (doors open at 7:30 pm)
Admission: Free
Artists in person

Tommy Becker returns to Shapeshifters to present "Emotions in Metal,” a twenty minute visual concept album that continues the artist's investigations into expanded storytelling using video, music, poetry, performance and computer-generated design. The nine short works link thematically in their investigations into human-vehicle relationships. Whether, acting out instructional poetry in the garage, documenting the interiors of strangers’ cars or celebrating art world connections to the road, the video work balances playful humor with a critical eye on where society is currently parked. Steev Hise and Jon Leidecker will open the show with a short 20-minute set titled "I WANT TO SAY" exploring the cybernetic possibilities of expanded cinema, special brains and motivated reasoning.

Natural Formulas: Films by Karissa Hahn and Andrew Kim
Friday, May 29, 2020
8:00 pm (doors open at 7:30 pm)
Admission: Free
Presented in association with BAMPFA
Artists in person

Los Angeles-based filmmakers Andrew Kim and Karissa Hahn present recent solo and collaborative moving image work. Kim’s 16mm films explore the limitations of the medium and the abilities of human perception, celebrating the magic that occurs somewhere between the two. Working in various analog, digital and hybrid formats, Hahn’s performative moving image works accumulate a storm of ‘spectra ephemera,’ interrogating the technographic overload of the digital age.

Brewery

Our beer is always fresh and unique, made using locally-sourced ingredients and unconventional processes. We use barley, wheat, rye, and oats that are grown on California family farms using sustainable practices and malted less than 4 miles away at Admiral Maltings in Alameda. We also source hops, native herbs, honey and other ingredients locally. Once the buildout is complete we will have a small taproom serving beer made on-site in our 3.5 BBL small batch brewery as well as a rotating menu of guest beers from some of our favorite local breweries.

In Development

City and county permits have been secured and plans have been finalized. We are working on state licensing and federal approval and then we will be ready to build out the brewery and taproom.