Description
The Nasser brothers, who built the theater and still own it, also owned several movie houses in the San Francisco area. The interior is luxurious and ornate, with subtly convex and concave walls and ceiling and a dramatic "Mighty Wurlitzer" pipe organ that is played before films and events. The large neon "Castro" sign, visible from much of the city, is emblematic of both the theatre and the Castro District.
Today, the Castro Theatre hosts repertory movies, film festivals, and special events, including gay and multicultural focus, such as the San Francisco International Film Festival, Frameline: the SF International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Noir City: The Film Noir Festival, the SF International Asian American Film Festival, the SF International South Asian Film Festival, Berlin and Beyond: German Film Festival, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, SF Indiefest, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Midnites for Maniacs, and the Shock It To Me! Classic Horror Film Festival. In recent years, the Castro has been the site for gala tributes to many legendary Hollywood stars including Tony Curtis, Ann-Margret, Debbie Reynolds, Jane Russell, and Sandra Dee—many of the events produced by local impresario Marc Huestis.
In January 2008, for the filming of the Gus Van Sant biopic Milk, restorations were made to the neon on the theater's marquee and blade sign, and the facade was repainted. The movie about the life and times of Harvey Milk, the San Francisco city Supervisor who was America's first openly gay elected official (portrayed by actor Sean Penn, who won an Academy Award for his performance), had its world premiere at the theater in November 2008.
The theater can project modern digital formats such as DCP with 5.1 Dolby sound and can accurately reproduce the classic silent film experience by projecting custom frame rates anywhere between 12 and 30 frames per second, including the ability to speed up or slow down during a film. The Castro is capable of showing 70 mm films and is one of the few theaters in the world that can show a 70 mm film with separate DTS soundtrack.
The Castro Theatre is located on Castro Street near the intersection of Market and 17th Streets, across from the Castro Street Station on the Muni Metro subway.
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