Pulp cinema film festival Noir City is back for its 12th year, taking over the Castro Theatre January 24 through February 2. This year, they’re doing things a bit differently and offering an international slate of classic noir films, dispelling the common theory that the often detective-themed genre was as all American as baseball. Instead, it’s a genre that reverberated throughout the world as proven through this year’s selections from such masters as Japan’s Akira Kurosawa, France’s king-of-cool Jean-Pierre Melville, and in Jule Dassin’s French masterpiece Rififi.

Split up into nights of double and triple features, and grouped mostly by country, things kick off with a Joseph Cotton double feature including Carol Reed’s masterpiece The Third Man. Not only is it a high watermark for the genre, but it’s considered one of the greatest film’s ever made. Other highlights include the aforementioned Kurosawa double feature, the underrated and underseen Two Men in Manhattan from Jean-Pierre Melville, and another British noir classic in Brighton Rock.

Full Program Lineup:

January 24 – Opening Night
7:30pm Journey Into Fear (Norman Foster, 1943)
9:00pm The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)

January 25
Matinee Triple Bill – Mexico
12:00pm Border Incident (Anthony Mann, 1949)
2:00pm In the Palm of Your Hand (Roberto Gavaldon, 1951)
4:00pm Victims of Sin (Emilio Fernandez, 1951)

Evening Show – American Restorations
7:30pm Too Late for Tears (Byron Haskin, 1949)
9:30pm The Hitch-Hiker (Ida Lupino, 1953)

January 26 – Japan
1:15, 6:00pm Drunken Angel (Akira Kurosawa, 1948)
3:30, 8:15pm Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)

January 27 – Germany
7:15pm The Murderers Are Among Us (Wolfgang Staudte, 1946)
9:00pm Berlin Express (Jacques Tourneur, 1948)

January 28 – Double Dose of Death
7:15pm Death of a Cyclist (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955)
9:00pm Death is a Caress (Edith Carlmar, 1949)

January 29 – Britain
7:15pm It Always Rains on Sunday (Robert Hamer, 1947)
9:00pm Brighton Rock (John Boulting, 1947)

January 30 – Argentina
7:15pm Never Open That Door (Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1952)
9:00pm Hardly a Criminal (Hugo Fregonese, 1949)

January 31 – South America
7:30pm The Black Vampire (Roman Vinoly Barreto, 1953)
9:00pm The Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953)

February 1
Matinee Triple Bill – France
12:00pm Pépé Le Moko (Julian Duvivier, 1937)
2:00pm Jenny Lamour (Henri-Goerges Clouzot, 1947)
4:00 Riptide (Yves Allegret, 1949)

Evening Show – France
7:15 Two Men in Manhattan (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1959)
9:00 Rififi (Jules Dassin, 1955)

February 2 – The Far East, Hollywood Style
1:00, 7:00pm Singapore (John Brahm, 1947)
3:00, 8:45pm Macao (Josef von Sternberg, Nicholas Ray, 1952)
5:00pm The Shanghai Gesture (Josef von Sternberg, 1942)

For more information and advance tickets head over to Noir City’s official website.

• Tag: Castro Theatre, Noir City, San Francisco Film Noir Festival