Founded by filmmaker Bruce Baillie in 1961, San Francisco Cinematheque is the Bay Area’s premier venue for avant-garde/experimental, underground and personally expressive film, video and performance work. In its dedication to exhibiting works of aesthetically radical cinema from all historical eras and geo-political locales, Cinematheque cultivates the international field of artist-made cinema, inspiring aesthetic dialog and critical discourse and encouraging appreciation across the broader cultural landscape.

Inaugurated in 2010, CROSSROADS is San Francisco Cinematheque’s annual film festival, dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary avant-garde film, video and performance work. Artists featured in previous years have included Malic Amalya, Ephraim Asili, Stephanie Barber, Stephen Broomer, Peter Burr, Emily Chao, Paul Clipson, Colectivo Los ingrávidos, Susan DeLeo, Nathaniel Dorsky, Erin Espelie, Kevin Jerome Everson, Adrian Garcia Gomez, Karissa Hahn, Mike Hoolboom, Ken Jacobs, Rosa John, Kerry Laitala, Alexandre Larose, Laida Lertxundi, Saul Levine, Jeanne Liotta, Cherlyn Hsing-Hsin Liu, Simon Liu, Azucena Losana, Jodie Mack, J.M. Martínez, Jesse McLean, Cristiana Miranda, Michael A. Morris, Jeremy Moss, OJOBOCA, Alee Peoples, Michael Robinson, Margaret Rorison, Lynne Sachs, Daïchi Saïto, Rajee Samarasinghe, Talena Sanders, Tulapop Saenjaroen, Sylvia Schedelbauer, Scott Stark, Jamilah Sabur, Jonathan Schwartz, Cauleen Smith, Deborah Stratman, Makino Takashi,  Paige Taul, Robert Todd, Kit Young and Antoinette Zwirchmayr.

CROSSROADS is curated annually by Cinematheque’s Artistic Director Steve Polta.
A history of CROSSROADS (including past line-ups) is available here.

Cinematheque seeks submissions of recent films, videos and works of performance cinema for CROSSROADS 2022, the thirteenth iteration of our annual film festival. Pending resolution to the COVID-19 pandemic, CROSSROADS 2022 will be held in early June 2022 (San Francisco venue to be determined) with the festival line-up to be announced mid-April 2022. CROSSROADS 2022 will also be presented with a strong online component at www.sfcinematheque.org.