This is what happens when we break the rules. Once a rising star on HBO’s THE WIRE, Brandy gave up her acting career to start a family.  When her marriage begins to fall apart she decides to reclaim her life as an actor while the domestic world she’s carefully created crumbles around her.  Using elements of staged melodrama and cinema verité, ACTRESS is a beautifully intimate portrait of a performer coming face to face with life's difficult compromises.  It’s a film about starring in the movie of your life. - CM

From well-known artist agitators like Amanda Palmer and Shepard Fairy, to a trio of photographers obsessed with the sky, this shorts program explores artistic inspiration that comes naturally to some and is sprung to life in others from their interactions with the world. - JM

Since 1939, Astor Barber has remained one of NYC’s most beloved institutions and is responsible for some of the most iconic 80’s hairstyles. The Vezza family, their loyal customers and over 50 stylists are featured in historic footage. From the street there’s not much to see but pass through the doors into a cavernous wonderland that celebrates not just hair, but the very essence of a NYC that has endured against all the odds. - JM

Directed by the son of one of Hustler’s Art Directors from 70’s and 80’s, this entertaining documentary reveals the personalities and features that made this the most offensive magazine of all time. The story is told by its publisher as well as the editors, cartoonists, models, attorneys, art directors and even competitors for the first time ever. Larry Flynt opens up about the turbulent history of the skin trade and the major impact it has had on his life. - JM

A deeply moving and inspiring documentary exploring the life of a Queens, NY native training to become a professional oldetime strongman. The story follows his journey from his early days training in his small basement storage unit to his first performance on the big stage at Coney Island. Alongside his trainer he meets living legends and heroes within the strongman community. A long forgotten time is revisited as the men perform feats that defy limitations of human strength and pain. - CM

Raw, behind-the-scenes CBGBs footage of some of the late-70s' finest musicians before they became icons, featuring material from Blondie, Patti Smith, The Ramones, Television, Talking Heads, New York Dolls, The Heartbreakers and more. Poe's punkish attitude toward film structure is more “in-your-face” than “MTV.” Screens with SOUTHBAY HARDCORE, featuring local 25 year music scene vets Sad Boy Sinister.

When Louis Ortiz shaved off his goatee one day in 2008, his life changed forever. He looked in the mirror and he didn’t see himself – a middle-aged, unemployed Puerto Rican father from the Bronx. He saw the face of change, of hope… of money. BRONX OBAMA tells the strange and improbable tale of a Barack Obama impersonator who tries to cash in on the “look of a lifetime” and chases a fevered American dream from opportunity to oblivion. - CM

Marc Halberstadt’s family lost their home to the Nazis and escaped to the US. He hopes to go to Germany and get reparations. But then he has an idea: If Germany owes me for sixty five years of back rent, and I owe the Native Americans for sixty five years of rent too, why not let the Native Americans collect directly from Germany and cut out the middleman? Soon he’s off to Germany along with four Native Americans. Screens with Cowtown Keeylocko. - JM

DocFest, A-Town Agency LLC and SF Zombie Prom present DEAD MANS PARTY, the Doc of the Dead spooky soiree/after party! DJ Rockin, Dancing, Full Bar, Costume Contest, Drink Specials, Zombie décor, Photo Area. $10 for the party only, $15 for the party plus film.

Delving deep into the evolution of the zombie genre in film and literature, this film explores the genre's impact and influence on pop culture, to deliver a comprehensive, fast-paced, highly entertaining look at a contemporary social pandemic of global proportions. The film provides an entertaining dialogue with zombie authors, filmmakers and scholars, and features a host of zombie icons. Screens with Glass Eyes of Locust Bayou. And join us for the DEAD MAN'S PARTY after the Sat 6/14 screening! - CM

DocFest Game Night takes place on Saturday June 8 at 518 Valencia and will feature a Pub Quiz with Quiz Master Mike Keegan (from the Roxie) at 7 p.m. and Hey Ho Bingo at 9 p.m.

Pianos on Bernal Hill, trolls on the Bay Bridge, a dancing cat at the Alemany Farmers Market and an old armory turned porn palace are just a few of the things you’ll discover in this shorts program. Jump in and discover what makes the Bay Area so uniquely special. - JM

Israel Ticas is the only criminologist working in one of Latin America's most dangerous countries, El Salvador. He has made it his mission to find the hundreds of missing teenagers who have fallen victim to the country's brutal gang conflict. He travels from one crime scene to another, always in danger of becoming a victim himself. The filmmakers hold nothing back showing us the grim and graphic realities of his work and his devotion to finding all those lost. - JM

What does it mean to be a documentary filmmaker today when the boundaries of what defines non-fiction are being pushed and pulled from all angles. Come duke it out with filmmakers, academics and critics as they try to make sense of it all.

FAKE IT SO REAL dives head-first into the world of independent pro wrestling. Filmed over a single week leading up to a big show, the film follows a ragtag group of wrestlers in North Carolina, exploring what happens when the over-the-top theatrics of the wrestling ring collide with the realities of the working-class South. They aren’t paid for their passion, but they treat wrestling like any artist treats his work. This is a film about doing something real. - CM

In the same year, Oakland was rated one of the top five destinations in the world and one of the top five most dangerous cities in the country. On February 1st, 2013 those two realities met with the fatal shooting of a teenager during First Friday, a monthly arts festival that has become the symbol of the city's economic and cultural revival. FIRST FRIDAY follows a diverse group of residents as they work to preserve the event that represents a city’s attempt to transform itself. - CM

The young riders in FREELOAD seek adventure and answers on America's freight trains. Brothers Skrappe and Christmas try to rekindle their distant brotherhood while riding the rails. Pony Boy and Rachel are nurturing a new relationship and Dice is a soft-spoken mystic traveling through some of the country's most pristine landscapes. And the teenage Blackbird seems to sum it all up when he tells the filmmakers that "Traveling broke and hungry is the new virus." Screens with Life Under the Bridge. - JM

With no training or background Glena, a single mom of two, decided one day to give cage fighting a try. It turns out she was good, really good. She works hard and trains hard trying to make it to the pros where she knows she can provide for her family. But Glena's world begins to unravel: impending foreclosure, a career-threatening injury, and a painful custody dispute over her young daughter threaten to derail her fighting dreams. Screens with The Pink Helmet Posse. - JM

What happens when we change our relationship from Earth as Mother to Earth as Lover? Local superstars Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle, two devoted ecosexuals, plan to marry the Appalachian Mountains and join the fight to abolish mountain top removal. Documenting a trip back to Beth's hometown of Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, the film examines how small communities face destruction for short-term corporate gain. - JM

In the mid 1960s, the city of Chicago was an incubator for an iconoclastic group of young artists collectively known as the Imagists. Variously pugnacious, puerile, scatological, graphic, comical, and absurd, Chicago's diverse artists followed no trend, preferring a path they ferociously cleared for themselves. From Jim Nutt’s cigar-chomping, amputated women to Christina Ramberg’s studies of corsetry and bondage; from Barbara Rossi’s bejeweled dot paintings to Roger Brown’s secretive, silhouetted figures in windows. - JM