Studio 8 Film Festival Kick Off: No Nothing Cinema & George Kuchar

Join SF Artists Alumni (SFAA) for the kick off screening of the 3rd annual Studio 8 Film Festival (S8FF), a celebration of bold, experimental, and personal documentary filmmaking connected to the legacy of the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI).

The story behind the program

No Nothing Cinema arose out of a curatorial conflict with San Francisco Cinematheque and became a force of its own from 1982 until it was forced out in 1997. The theater was spearheaded by Dean Snider, who galvanized a small group of local filmmakers, Rock Ross, Michael Rudnick, and Marian Wallace, to build risers, install thirty theater seats, and put together a "state-of-the-(last decade's) art" projection setup for high-quality independent film screenings. The screening room and event space was built inside a doubly abandoned dairy and former porn-shooting stage at 30 Berry Street (also the former home of Film Arts Foundation). A large courtyard provided space for a half-oil-drum barbeque and makeshift bar serving beer, and sometimes slivovitz.

Sausages and slivovitz helped fuel hundreds of shows at No Nothing Cinema, whose mission statement was "No Nothing, something must be happening at all times." Local, national, and international programs ran every Saturday night for over a decade, embellished by bands, performance art, and courtyard gatherings, and promoted entirely through analog, snail-mailed postcards and flyers.

No Nothing's stretch of Berry Street is now the site of the downtown ballpark, home plate sits just about where the projection booth used to be. That transformation is the subject of Michael Rudnick's Dugout on Berry Street (2009, 18 min), screening alongside other early experimental and personal documentaries by the original No Nothing filmmakers.

The screening will include films by: Mark Sterne, Margaret White, Rock Ross, Dean Snider, Michael Rudnick, Marian Wallace and George Kuchar

With this program, SFAA kicks off the 3rd annual Studio 8 Film Festival, honoring 2026 Legacy Award recipient Babeth Mondini VanLoo, filmmaker, producer, and curator who earned her MFA in Filmmaking at SFAI (1975–1979), where she served as Teaching Assistant to George Kuchar and George Landow, and as Assistant to the Chairman of the Film Department, Larry Jordan. The festival continues November 6–8 at the 4-Star and Roxie Theaters.

🎟 Sliding scale tickets are available, from free to $50, to ensure accessibility while also supporting the Studio 8 Film Festival. Contribute what you can; your support makes events like this possible.

Important Notes:

• Museum members and day-ticket holders may attend at no additional charge (reservation still recommended)
• Event reservation does not include access to museum galleries
• Reserve your seat early, space is limited!

Details: 📍 SFMOMA, 151 Third St, San Francisco, CA 94103 📅 Sunday, October 18, 2026 🕐 2:00 PM

More from the 2026 Studio 8 Film Festival:

• Nov 6, doors 7PM, show 7:30PM — Juror Films, 4-Star Theater (2200 Clement St)
• Nov 7, doors 1:30PM, show 2PM — Open Call Selection, 4-Star Theater
• Nov 8, doors noon, show 12:30PM — Legacy Award: Babeth Mondini VanLoo, Roxie (3117 16th St)

Presented by SF Artists Alumni (SFAA), sfaa.art.

Banner image: Still from The Night Could Last Forever (Dean Snider, 16mm), as featured in Dugout at 30 Berry (Michael Rudnick, 2009)