Oct 9 – Oct 11, 2026
3rd i San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival 2026
3rd i lists its 24th San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival October 9–11, 2026. The program is branded Beyond Bollywood. Specific venues and tickets are not posted.
3rd i South Asian Independent Film is listing its San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival for Friday through Sunday, October 9–11, 2026. The homepage calls this the twenty-fourth anniversary and brands the slate Beyond Bollywood.
That brand line matters for the reader. The festival has long treated Bollywood as one lane among many, not the whole map. The 2026 page names award-winning films from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, France, South Africa, the UK, and the US, plus festival guests, spanning dark comedy, drama, social satire, and documentary.
What it does not name is a theater. Venue & Map sits in the nav, but the live homepage still leaves the room blank. Older years used rooms like the Roxie and New People. Do not print those as 2026 venues until thirdi.org does. Venue TBA is the honest line until the grid drops.
Tickets are not on the homepage either. There is a Buy Tickets path in the menu and a Sign Up Now box for the e-newsletter. Volunteer mail is volunteer@thirdi.org if you want to work a shift rather than sit one. The festival-screenings path on the site has 404'd in recent checks. Refresh the home page and the Programs and Registration link when you are ready to buy.
3rd i is a Bay Area South Asian independent film org that runs year-round screenings, not only this October weekend. The anniversary framing is a continuity pitch: same city festival, same diaspora lens, a new slate you cannot yet map seat by seat.
The same weekend is 626 Night Market at the Alameda County Fairgrounds and Sanskriti Durga Puja in Newark. If you want a screening instead of a fairgrounds night or a puja hall, this is the city film date. Plan the drive after the room posts, not before.
SVAPFF lands later, October 22–25, with De Anza opening night and AMC Sunnyvale on its 2026 postcard. Two Bay Area Asian film weekends, different calendars. Hold 3rd i for the San Francisco South Asian slate; use SVAPFF when you want the South Bay Asian Pacific stack.
Who this is for: South Asian film people who already follow 3rd i and can wait a few weeks for a ticket link. Skip it if you need a seat map tonight, or if Pleasanton's night market is already your Friday plan and you will not circle back for a screening.
Our take: keep October 9–11 on the calendar. Do not drive to a guessed theater. The date and the Beyond Bollywood brand are the lock; the room and the pass come when thirdi.org says so.
When: October 9–11, 2026 (venues and tickets TBA)
Where: San Francisco (theater not posted)
Festival home at thirdi.org.
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