Originally opening its doors in 1950, The Chabot movie theater located in Castro Valley was recently granted the title of Best Movie Theater in the Bay Area, as voted by SF Gate readers, celebrating its 75th year of running as one of the last remaining single-screen movie theaters in the East Bay.
They not only show first-run movies, but also repertory screenings of films that are no longer in theaters, ranging from classics from the ‘40s and ‘50s to cult favorites from the ‘90s and 2000s. Outside of film screenings, they also host monthly movie trivia nights, and other non-movie related activities like paint-and-sips, bingo and murder mystery nights. The weekend of Nov. 14, they’ll celebrate their 4th annual Locals Only Short Film Festival.
Started by former Chabot partner Jared Callahan in 2022, the Locals Only Short Film Festival highlights local filmmakers and connects them to not only each other but to local audiences.
“We provide a space for local artists to exhibit their work in front of a live and engaged audience,” says current Chabot director Alex Largusa. “Our community in Castro Valley and its surrounding areas deserve to be able to engage with art in their hometowns.”
The festival is split among three categories across two days. The first day will be dedicated primarily to music videos, with doors opening around 6:45pm. Not only will the second day focus on the main narrative and documentary category, but it will also feature their newly added “Students Only” category, which features films created by students from kindergarten up to 12th grade.
Doors open for the “students only” category around 1:45pm, whereas the “narrative and documentary” category opens at 5:45pm. According to Largusa, the festival might need to add an additional day to dedicate a block to other submitted shorts, depending on how many submissions were received before their deadline on Nov. 7.
“Students had submitted entries in previous years, but we felt uncomfortable screening their films within the same block as films that may contain explicit content, and being in competition with films from teams with several lifetimes of combined experience and an actual budget,” Largusa says. “We wanted to create a space fully dedicated to giving K to 12 students a small push to create something, and put it out into the world [and the big screen].”
Largusa assumed the director role around when the festivals started in 2022. Since then he’s witnessed firsthand that some people meet at these festivals and then decide to work on a project together, proving the experience to be a valuable resource for aspiring filmmakers in the community year after year.
Photos courtesy of The Chabot Theater
Photos courtesy of The Chabot Theater
Examples of submitted films to look forward to in this year’s festival include “INFINITY!,” a story about a Japanese American duo dancing with destiny during the rise of World War II concentration camps, “The Print in the Woods” where a cryptozoology enthusiast’s leisurely hike leads to discovering something extraordinary, and “Boxes” which is about seeking guidance in a post-apocalyptic future.
“Generally when we want to see a show, or attend anything relatively interesting, we have to go out to Oakland, Berkeley or San Francisco,” Largusa says. “I love those cities to death, and I spend time in them frequently, but there’s a wealth of interesting voices in our more overlooked areas, and I want to make sure they’re heard.”
Purchase tickets for the Locals Only Short Film Festival through their website at thechabot.com. Follow any updates through their Instagram @thechabottheater or join their email list, also available through their website.
Locals Only Short Film Festival
Friday, Nov. 14; 7pm
Saturday, Nov. 15; 2pm and 6pm
The Chabot
2853 Castro Valley Blvd., Castro Valley
thechabot.com
Tickets: $15 (individual categories), $35 to watch all three categories
