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[Cartoon] Network
An Irish animation studio comes to SFMoMA, heavy metal meets the orchestra, and SF Music Week is back
When I lived near Temescal, I'd run past Pixar's Emeryville campus just to catch a glimpse of their iconic lamp and ball statue. If you know Luxo Jr., Pixar's very first short, you know why it brings me joy: the animators managed to have two lamps and a ball create curiosity, humor, and impact, all in under two minutes. Animation brings 24 little works of art per second to life, turning a mouse into a little chef, a garbage bin into a hopeless romantic, a glove into a figure of authoritarianism. The Animation Obsessive Staff writers have deepened my appreciation for just how much craft hides behind the art form, and this week's anchor event is a celebration of the medium.
Enjoy a director screening from a beloved Irish animation studio, hear heavy metal reborn as classical music, and celebrate fifty years of the SF Ballet Orchestra.
Director Screening | Cartoon Saloon with SFFILM
Category: Film
Date: Sunday, March 1st @ 11am (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: SFFILM and SFMoMA are screening a selection of short films from Cartoon Saloon, the celebrated Irish studio behind four Academy Awards and over 25 years of handcrafted animation. The program draws from the studio’s back catalog of Irish-themed work, as well as their newest award-winning short, Éiru. After the screening, director Giovanna Ferrari will join remotely for a Q&A and a behind-the-scenes look at the film. She’ll also sketch live with the audience, a reminder that every frame starts with an artist’s hand.
Opening Reception | Spin, Always Never, & a duo exhibition
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, February 28th @ 6pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: pt.2 gallery (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: pt. 2 Gallery's opening reception brings together four artists across three simultaneous exhibitions. Spin features drawings and paintings by JP McNicholas, whose work finds rhythm and movement in everyday life. In Always Never, Linda Geary presents abstract paintings that play with material manipulation and visual camouflage. And in the duo exhibition, married artists Martha and Richard Shaw bring their respective practices into conversation, with Bay Area Funk, ceramics, and painting all showing up in the mix.
MainStage 3: Seeing Double
Category: Music
Date: Sunday, March 1st @ 3pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: First Congregational Church of Berkeley (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra's Seeing Double is a free program that opens with Scene Symphony, a commissioned work by Bay Area composer Jens Ibsen, whose music pulls heavy metal energy into orchestral form. Next, internationally acclaimed harpsichordist Jory Vinikour joins the SFCO for Philip Glass's Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra, making his debut with the ensemble. The program closes with Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 49, "La Passione".
Check out Ibsen's additional performance dates in Palo Alto and SF if East Bay isn’t in the cards.
Book Talk | Hossein Khosrowjah: Abbas Kiarostami and Iranian National Cinema
Category: Literary & Film
Date: Wednesday, February 25th @ 1:30pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: California College of the Arts (CCA) - Double Ground - N203 (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: CCA professor and author Hossein Khosrowjah is leading a public discussion of his recently published book, Abbas Kiarostami and Iranian National Cinema, alongside a fellow faculty member. Kiarostami is widely regarded as one of the most significant filmmakers to emerge from post-revolutionary Iran, and the book examines how his films engage with questions of national identity. I've had the chance to study a few of his films, which is exactly why this event caught my eye. And with CCA closing its doors after next academic year, spending an afternoon on campus feels worth it in its own right.
SF Ballet Orchestra Community Concert
Category: Music
Date: Thursday, February 26th @ 7:30pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra is marking its 50th anniversary with a free community concert that spotlights the next generation of orchestral composers. Three works from the Legacy Orchestral Composition Competition will be performed, drawn from a pool of nearly 200 young composers who wrote pieces intended for dance. The program also includes Mendelssohn's Overture from A Midsummer Night's Dream, which holds a soft spot for me, having gotten a behind-the-scenes peek at the orchestra rehearsing it before SF Ballet's 2024 production. Celebrate further at their 50th anniversary concert on March 8th, and at their annual free concert at Piedmont Piano Company.
JFI WinterFest 2026 | Benita
Category: Film
Date: Saturday, February 28th @ 4:30pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Vogue Theatre (SF)
Price Range: $20
Why I Care: Benita is a documentary screening as part of the Jewish Film Institute's 2026 WinterFest, telling the story of experimental filmmaker Benita Raphan, whose short films brought an avant-garde lens to portraits of eccentric visionaries like utopian architect Buckminster Fuller. Raphan ended her own life at 58, and the loss reverberated through the communities she had spent her career helping to see the world differently. Friend and filmmaker Alan Berliner made this film to honor her legacy and will attend the screening.
SF Music Week: Industry Summit
Category: Music
Date: Friday, February 27th @ 10am (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Swedish American Hall (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: SF Music Week is back for its second year, and the Industry Summit is a free, all-day event open to anyone curious about the state of the Bay Area music scene, no industry credentials required. Panels and discussions will dig into topics like the survival of independent venues and where technology is taking live music. The day wraps up with a happy hour, and if there’s one crowd that knows how to pick a DJ, it’s this one.
Next Drop: Thursday, March 5th
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