Artists' Television Access

Wonderful small movie theater for 50 people in the Mission of SF.Free and by donation.

This is a true hidden ol' time favorite in the Mission that has not been over taken by hipsters. They do lectures, classes and art installations here. I think I went here over a decade ago for the first time to hear a reading and see a short film on Philip K. Dick. Now, they are changing out the window displays about twice a month to feature a local artist.

ATA is a gem hidden in plain sight right on Valencia Street. This 'underground film' venue is great for monthly screenings and special events. Check it out.

A venue for screening of film and video including Craig Balwdin's Other Cinema on most Saturday nights. There are also art installations in both windows that change regularly.

awesome place to learn more about art in sf, i liked spending time there, this is quiet hide but worths to look for it

Low key cinema setting. Great for intimate screenings, or other special occasion screenings.

Coolest place to watch films in the whole city

Important center for the arts in the Mission.

Tiny, illegal, firetrap. I was required to attend and show my student film there for a directing class at CCSF because the founder was a CCSF professor. There is only one way to exit in a fire. They pack in too many chairs to get more money and leave no aisle for exiting in an emergency. They allow pyro performances during screening if filmmaker wants to supplement their film with a live fire performance. A CCSF student filmmaker accidentally caused fabric to ignite one night I was there for CCSF student screenings. In light of the Oakland fire and my experience there I won't be going back. U have been warned. My conscience is clear. Too bad nobody who knew about the dangers at the Oakland warehouse warned the concert attendees or potential residents. Read about the $176 million paid as settlements by the 100 entities or persons sued in the RI Great White/Station Night Club fire and you will realize anyone involved in this venture in the most indirect way, like the Uber driver who just drives the pyro performer to the location, should get very good liability insurance.

I had an amazing experience here. I'm somewhat interested in experimental film and needed some inspiration so I checked the calendar on the ATA site and decided on a set of short films created by queers. When I arrived, I paid $6 to the queer door person. Then I remembered: I'm in San Francisco; This event is going to be full of queers. And it was. And it was kinda awesome, being a straight guy, watching films that show the perspective, thoughts, lifestyle of queers in a room full of queers. It didn't feel like theater audience; It was a community. Many people stayed after the show to talk. Turned out, most of the filmmakers were in the room. I felt like this experience could not be duplicated in any other city, or even neighborhood. It belonged to the Mission. I'm glad to have been there.

ATA is developing into the place to see cool DIY all ages shows in SF. This bar-rock laden city is sorely missing an avant-space for cool music jams like The Smell and The Il Corral in LA, The Foodhole up in Portland and Sandy Eggo's Che Cafe, not mention the myriad of spaces in the East Bay. Thankfully, due to the collective efforts of booker extraordinaire George Chen and the Club Sandwhich Collective, all ages, DIY avant garde, rock, folk, and even comedy has a home in SF, at least until there's a permanent Club Sandwhich space, right in the mission at ATA. Recently I had the pleasure of volunteering to do the sound for Mount Eerie and Jason Anderson's tour stop with the locals The Gowns and Lazarus. This was one of those magical evenings where every performer had this haunting quality, the crowd was super enthusiastic, and ATA's lack of a stage allowed for lots of audience and performer interaction. In the spirit of the anything goes ethos of places like this, although some people were turned away due to the show selling out, Phil and Jason decided to do a second show for free inside this magical double decker bus parked a couple blocks away that everyone was invitied to, which was even more intimate, haunting and exhilarating. It's a bummer that there are noise limitations and the space has some pretty dreadful acoustics to work with. But even art hardcore acts like Night Wounds and the noisy Abe Vigoda were able to pack two quick and inspiring sets in a month or so back, both which had this amazing energy that is sorely lacking at most bar venues in the city. Brah, get in the pit! Viva ATA!

I'm torn between three and four stars. Seen some excellent indie films here, also seen some real (in my opinion) dogs. The setting is deep mission funky, the space is cozy (read: small) but the people have their heart in what they are doing. Wear something you don't mind ruining in case you have to sit on the floor in a puddle of Two Buck Chuck.

As Tenacious D once wisely said of setting the inner artist free... "We will check out your progress and encourage you TO CONTINUE. Or we will say STOP... and then seriously, you MUST STOP." ATA has presenters in both camps. Either what you see will be much better and cooler than you expected (a documentary about drive-in theatres? HP Lovecraft Halloween slideshows? Vicki Bennett of People Like Us?) or a complete disaster (bad xperimental animation short festivals, transgendered poetry readings, etc.). The great thing is that ATA takes a chance with weird and oddball stuff and some of it works. Drinks are $2 which helps during the MUST STOP shows. I cannot vouch for the artist programs but have heard good things about them.

What a gem! This place is a haven for any and everyone interested in experimental film, video, performance, art, etc. They have a wide array of events and if you're not interested in the work they have or want to add to it, it's really easy to contribute and create your own screening. Either way, it's definitely a place worth checking out and supporting! oh yeah, and if your interested in buying film, craig baldwin has a basement full of fun film prints for sale.

Why isn't there a "six stars" or "off the charts" option? Dangnabit, for this place, there should be! Last night (17Jan09) went to a screening of "Under A Shipwrecked Moon" by director Antero Alli (well worth every penny of the $6!) and realized yet again why I dearly love this city. 25 years of all volunteer and donation support, free access to facilities, friendly folks to meet and greet, WOW, a true deep gem. Stay on top of all the events at ata@atasite.org Although the seating area isn't huge, maybe 50 people would max it out, it invites conversation with neighbors. They usually allow you to bring in outside food to nosh on too, which means pizza and a movie is at your fingertips. Projection is quality, no backyard video party here. This is what underground means.

Last Saturday night at 11pm ATA had a mystery machine type van parked in front with a full on sailing apparatus on top of the van. And they were projecting movies onto the sails. Yeah ATA! That's what I'm talking about! Only 4 stars cuz programs are hit or miss and bitches always hitting on my sweetie when I go there. Back off bitches! Watch the movie! I'll throw one of those pink popcorn bricks at your head!

Its not for kids. Its for adults who make movies (not adult movies) and who then can show them in a private theatre.

Yup, it's still crunchy with Lot's of arts school flavor... I like this place for music and musing and those kinds of thing's and if your into that sorta thing well this place is for you and me and them over there and there and here. support your local art's

I have only been in here a couple of times, and were I to review the Turkish Star Wars fiasco on Friday I'd probably give it 1 or 2 stars. Otherwise the venue itself is pretty bland, seems fine for what they use it for and it's hard to tell who worked there and who worked for the event being put on. Therefore, what's left to review? I'll tell you what. Someone there let them cram that place so full that they had people sitting in the aisle and all the way to the door in a manner that is nothing short of unsafe. I get the feeling it's a low-budget kind of place for most things and I can't begrudge them trying to make every dollar possible, but when I walked out of the Turkish Star Wars atrocity and tripped over people all the way to the door, I couldn't help but think fire hazard.

One of those places that you are just happy to know they exist in the city you call home. Awesome artist run space with an eclectic offering of events. Although, I do have to admit, me and ATA did get off to a little bit of a shaky start on my first visit there. This experience was based solely on one of the selections for the programming of the night. We had to sit through an unfortunate display of a recent grad's video piece that was, to be honest, really, REALLY bad. Not trying to be too harsh here, but it was pretty awful by all accounts. The night was saved by a great performance by a band from Oakland called Grand Lake. Check em out: http://www.myspace.com/grandlakemusic Genuine, talented, and just straight up good music. It's nice to see people playing music with a transparent love for doing just that, playing music. Anyways... this is dragging on, but ya, AWESOME place. "An Improvised Movie" was another great all around experience here. If you have a chance, go down and support this place. Consider yourself lucky to have access to it.

Aside from being one of the few remaining platforms for local, emerging film and videomakers, ATA shows works from internationally renowned artists and filmmakers, holds book releases/readings, acts as a music venue (often for audiovisual performance), and sometimes involves a combination of all these things. The two front windows always have installations in them, and there are openings for the artists. ATA calls social, political, economic, and artistic boundaries into question and is one of the few places in town still primarily resistant to the commodification of human relationships and art experience.

film! music! art! this space offers a gallimaufry of media merriment. never dull, and that odd kitchen is cool.

Anybody down to empower themselves or to support budding and independent artists? Come check out this place. Sometimes there's a bunch of people, sometimes there's only a few, but the crowd is a fun, open-minded bunch who want to check out independent, low-budget, or under-the-radar movies. They also have an "Open Screening" where a broad range of people can submit films. Watching people get to show to a receptive audience who would otherwise never get such a venue is great. The films shown range in quality, accessiblity, and topical matters wildly- that's what makes this place so great.

This place is a gem...One of the few remaining spots that made Valencia street so magical back in the day/just a few years ago. The programming, the vibe, the staff...if you haven't been yet, GO! I heard they might be closing soon.

Hole in the wall where you can show your own movie (if you made one) to a random audience on ATA's projector. Their selection process is not strict, and therefore you can view some real crap there too.

There's no place in the world like ATA! This is the real deal. Underground, accessible, and fun! Not to mention strange! What you see here on a daily basis is rare. You'll walk out saying, I doubt there is any way I would have ever seen that if I hadn't come tonight.

I guess I will always be enthusiastic about this place because you never can tell when you will discover the next "Heavy Metal Parking Lot, "Friends Forever" or "Jesco White Dancin' Outlaw"!

Went here for the first time to see the Andre Williams doc Agile Mobile and Hostile for Noise Pop. Awesome space with about 50 seats and a tiny bar in the back with cheap drinks. If you like independent films, drinking, and a volunteer run film house check it out. Artist get 40% of the door and anyone can submit films to show there for free. Also we got free pop chips on our seats which may have been a promo for Noise Pop but bonus free chips!

Small intimate venue to house indie premieres. Came to watch Lucky Express and loved it! Will come back for more....

My friend held a movie premiere for her doc on bike messengers here and I really enjoyed it. ATA is usually busy and has people pouring out of it when events are happening. A very cool performance space, with window displays to match.

This little theatre is a great place for independent film makers to show their work, to have people talk about films, and it has the old retro feel that is important In keeping in dependant film making alive! I have seen Christian Divine talk about the drive in movie craze and a film retrospective on Godzilla all right here!

I love ATA! Craig Baldwin's Other Cinema always has something terrific on its program. I can't tell you the amount of amazing stuff I've seen there. Yeah, there's lousy stuff too, but that is what a community arts center is all about....accessibility. And ATA is one of the few places in this city that is truly accessible to media artists.

this place is great for underground political films. the house-turned-theater style gives it a really cool feel, and there's lots of good folks that hang out and live there. the only thing i miss about it is my buddy norm that moved to san diego!