News & Events

Belushi (Showtime) Directed by R.J. Cutler

The Rolling Thunder Review: A Bob Dylan Story (Netflix) Bicentennial parade footage Directed by Martin Scorsese

Oddball Films is celebrating 25 years of iconic, eye-popping images! THE HISTORIC BALBOA THEATRE * 3630 BALBOA STREET * SAN FRANCISCO * JULY 11 TH * THURSDAY EVE * 8PM Joshua Moore's Emmy award-winning film "Oddball" will be screened. "Oddball" features a beautiful portrait of Oddball Films and its founder Stephen Parr. Come witness a unique and magical vision of the lifework of a remarkable visionary artist, and all the unusual, mystical, and spellbinding images of an iconic San Francisco landmark. "So Wrong They're Right” by director Russ Forster -in attendance!- tells the story of a 10,000… Read more

Oddball Films is excited to recommend this one-of-a-kind exhibition spearheaded by our friend, the multi-talented artist Warner Graves. Warner has co-edited, along with Ann Japenga, a book of photographs chronicling the story of his grandmother Lula Mae Graves and her cousin, Susie Keef Smith as they travelled through the southwest in the 1920s armed with a pistol, a camera, and an eye for the desert’s beauty. Recently Warner took the time to travel through many of the spots that his grandmother Lula Mae and her friend Susie visited and painted the landscapes he saw there. Lula Mae and Susie’… Read more

2018 Productions Featuring Footage Provided by Oddball Films Parts Unknown: EP 611 Lower East Side (CNN) Series finale, screened at the Food Film Festival in New York City Footage of NYC/ LES & CBGB Club (Photo by David Scott Holloway)

In our story of O, a vintage neon letter O was found by Stephen Parr and Tara Lee Ford and deemed worthy of showcasing on our Oddball wall. It was recently installed by dear friend of Stephen's, Robert Burg, Lead Scenic Artist for San Francisco Ballet. Here are Tara and Robert doing the honors.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Oddball Films! We're all grateful that we have the opportunity to work amidst thousands and thousands of oddball images like those in this 1946 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Thanks to our founder Stephen Parr who rescued films that were tossed aside, unwanted or otherwise abandoned. He remains our hero for making sure all of these cinematic treasures are still with us and being projected out into the world for everyone to see.

Oddball Films and SMFA are initiating a film preservation project. Our first focus is on detecting and measuring the severity of acetate deterioration ("vinegar syndrome") in our film collections. Shown here is lead archivist Megan Needels using A-D strips to measure these levels on this 16mm film print.

ATA will be projecting 8mm, Super-8mm, 9.5mm, and 16mm films. If you would like to see your film up on the ATA screen, bring it early, during the inspection period from 1:00pm to 2:00pm. Screenings will begin at 1:30pm and will be followed by a special tribute to long-time Home Movie Day host Stephen Parr of Oddball Films and the San Francisco Media Archive. Visit homemovieday.com for more information. Check out the above 2003 NBC 11 news segment on SFMA Home Movie Day with Stephen Parr speaking to reporter Dana Adams. The event is on Saturday, 10/20/18, from 1:30 to 4:00pm, at Artists'… Read more

Our archivists here at Oddball Films are always active in the film community. So in addition to looking for us in the credits, also keep an eye out for the Oddball Films team at film events all around the country. If you attend the Telluride outdoor screenings, peek in the booth after the show and say hello to our staff member, Layton Hebert!

Artist Elizabeth Briel visited Oddball Films last Monday to document the infamous 17 Reasons sign for an upcoming project. Learn more about the history of the 17 Reasons sign here . Our beloved founder, Stephen Parr, went through great lengths to salvage the sign when he saw it was being torn down from the roof of the old Thift Town building (since displaced after losing their lease) back in 2002. Elizabeth's "Untitled Project" is a series of paintings-in-progress that display an imagined life lived here in the Bay Area among iconic and culturally important artifacts and locations. Elizabeth… Read more

On Friday, July 13th, at 8:00pm, the short film ODDBALL , made by Joshua Moore, will be featured on KQED TV as part of their Truly CA: Our State, Our Stories program. ODDBALL is a stunning profile of Stephen Parr, the man behind what is likely the world's most remarkably eccentric archive film collection, Oddball Films. The film has screened nationally at Mill Valley Film Festival, Dallas Video Fest, SF IndieFest, Florida Film Festival, Taos Shortz, Disposable Film Festival, and Marfa Film Festival. Don't miss this one-of-a-kind feature about a one-of-a-kind artist, archivist, and peerless… Read more

On June 21st, the Oddball Films staff took a field trip to attend Arthur Bressan's groundbreaking film, Buddies, at the Castro Theatre. Presented by Frameline42, this screening was the world premiere of the 2K digital restoration created by Vinegar Syndrome. Also attending the film, along with a very enthusiastic crowd, was Arthur Bressan's sister, Roe Bressan, pictured here alongside Oddball Films Director, Tara Lee Ford. Photo by Pearl Martin-Eagle.

DocFest starts this weekend and Oddball Films is co-presenting several shows. On Sunday June 3rd, Oddball Films is proud to present, Getting Lucky , a profile on local eccentric troubadour Mr. Lucky. Mr. Lucky is a private investigator, a musician, and an invoker of ages past. He was a close friend and supporter of Oddball Films founder Stephen Parr. Additionally, on Saturday, June 2nd, we’re co-presenting the 2018 Vanguard Awardee , Penny Lane’s The Pain of Others , a found footage documentary about Morgellons, a mysterious illness. Next, don't miss the Frameline42 Film Festival on June 14-… Read more

Oddball Films invites you to the historic Castro Theater on Monday, April 9th, at 8pm for a special 16mm screening and live music event: A Celebration of Oddball Films with Marc Capelle’s Red Room Orchestra . This show, part of the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival, was culled from the greatest hits and favorites of Stephen Parr, our beloved founder, who passed away in October. Featuring zany industrials, sublime art films, goofy animation, local news outtakes, and much more, all drawn from Oddball’s vast archive. Deftly remixed, reworked, and retracked by Marc Capelle and his… Read more

Learn about the history of Oddball Films and its future in a new interview profile (and fashion shoot!) in Bob Cut Magazine .

Thank you to everyone who attended the memorial for Stephen Parr. We appreciate the support. The memorial can be viewed in full at this link . The video tribute that was made for the memorial can be viewed here .

Sadly, founder and Director of Oddball Films and the San Francisco Media Archive, Stephen Parr, passed away suddenly on October 24, 2017 after a struggle with declining health. His family and Oddball staff have come together and are carefully working on ensuring a productive future for both entities while preserving the proud tradition of providing the most eclectic footage to our customers. Oddball continues to fill your orders for the most unusual and hard to find material for your projects. Concurrently, we are accessing the arts community of the most creative city in the world to help… Read more

The Oddball Cinema Soiree with Jennifer Kroot scheduled for October 26th is being postponed. The new date of the event has yet to be confirmed. Thank you for your interest, and stay tuned for updates. We are are pleased to announce that local documentarian and director of The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin Jennifer Kroot and her co-director/editor Bill Weber will be joining us at the archive for the next iteration of our Cinema Soiree series, and are thrilled to have provided over five minutes of rare archival material for the film. The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin examines the life and… Read more

Due to popular demand, Oddball Films is teaming up with author and historian Erik Davis to present a second screening of The Holy Haight: How the 60s Counterculture Changed American Religion Forever at the Roxie Theater on July 26th at 7:00 PM. If you missed it at Oddball in May, come out for a second chance to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love with us! Davis will draw on a kaleidoscopic array of clips from our vast archive of 60s and 70s era stock footage, amateur films, home movies, documentaries and experimental films. James Whitney 's celebrated visionary short Lapis… Read more