Boots Riley's I LOVE BOOSTERS Sets West Coast Premiere at San Francisco International Film Festival

The West Coast premiere of Boots Riley’s latest feature film, I Love Boosters, will take place at Oakland’s historic movie palace, the Grand Lake Theater, as part of the 69th San Francisco International Film Festival. Writer/director Boots Riley will be in person for an onstage conversation. 

The Centerpiece program takes place on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, with two screenings at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland. The first screening will start at 6:30 pm followed by a moderated conversation, and the second screening will start at 9:30 pm beginning with a moderated introduction.

Tickets will go on sale exclusively for SFFILM Members on Monday, March 2, and to the general public on Wednesday, March 4, here. The San Francisco International Film Festival runs from April 24–May 4 in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland. The full program will be announced on April 1.

I Love Boosters follows a crew of professional shoplifters who take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven. The comedy film stars Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Lakeith Stanfield, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, Will Poulter, with Don Cheadle and Demi Moore. It hits theaters on May 22.

"It is such a privilege to showcase local talent in our festival lineup,” said Jessie Fairbanks, SFFILM's Director of Programming. “SFFILM has a long history of honoring local icons, and this is our third time featuring Boots Riley’s innovative work in the Festival. An honoree with the SFFILM Storytelling Award, a former FilmHouse Resident, and Rainin grantee of SFFILM, Riley's visionary film Sorry To Bother You was the Festival Centerpiece in 2018, while his hilarious series I’m A Virgo closed the Festival in 2023. I deeply admire Boots and the way he deploys satire and surrealism as astute critiques of capitalism, institutional racism, and economic paradigms. His work is brave, bold, and wildly unexpected. We could not be more thrilled to anchor this year’s festival with the Centerpiece screening of I Love Boosters.”

Filmmaker Boots Riley added, "I'm hyped as hell to bring I Love Boosters to SFFILM since they were the first organization to recognize me as a filmmaker and to support me in my filmmaking journey. It's going to be extra special to premiere in my hometown at Grand Lake Theater I've been going to since I was a kid. This film is my best work and it's going to be special to see this movie, which is set in the Bay Area, play here."